Was looking at Brooks' PFF grades compared to Nicholson's to see the differences. In many ways they are polar opposites -
Tahveon is much better in coverage but had a horrendous year in tackling (factors related to his broken forearm?). His tackling was abysmal in the middle of the year but improved later....coinciding with him being targeted more and coverage grades decreasing. He had a billion penalties.
Brooks is a solid tackler and is consistent from week-to-week in that area. His coverage grades are....not great. His biggest weakness is allowing big plays (not great to see with Illinois having so many question marks in the secondary). He only allowed two catches against Washington but they went for a combined 101 yards. He has four games where he allowed a 30+ yard catch. His average yards allowed per completion was 17+ (Tahveon was 12). Tahveon's average coverage grade was 69.3, Brooks is 60.9. There are ways to feel it will improve in B1G: (1) less pass-happy offenses in B1G likely suits his coverage weaknesses but sure-tackling, (2) he's 20 and will improve, and (3) articles out there saying he's bad in zone but solid in man-to-man. Another positive for Brooks is he rarely commits penalties.
