Excited about defense.

[Carl Spackler]

Been watching some stuff. With a full stable of linebackers, a couple of DB's and safeties playing pass first defense, with some time under their belts in the system, and some very well coached and talented defensive lineman, and a hotel sized nose tackle that can move around and play anything from a 0 to a 3T...........oh boy....I think we have a top 10 defense in teh country this year.

The Y - stick? Triangle? The offensive system that put up 70 points on Clemson in the Orange bowl?

Our defense will be able destroy it, and any other offense we face.

If only - ONLY - the offense can start moving the ball against our D in practices........Big things coming for UConn.

 

[ktuck911]

You kinda lost me with the rant " ...The Y - stick? Triangle? The offensive system that put up 70 points on Clemson in the Orange bowl?... "

other than that, the post about our D excites me too.... Here's hoping we have a QB in place that can make the plays needed when needed...

 

[Carl Spackler]

Y-stick offense. Google it. Be nice if we could run anything that looks remotely like it.

 

[noeynox]

We played good defense only to get burned by a huge, back breaking play, many times last year. I'm hoping with a year under their belts, the players don't have so many lapses that led to those breakdowns. I also think we were hurt with the injuries to J Joseph and Blidi Wreh early as well. I am also in the camp that thinks this could be a special team on Defense this year.

 

[whaler11]

A top 10 defense ranked how?

 

[Duncan Idaho]

hope Stephen can play effectively for longer stretches, he can be very good.

 

[mattp]

We played good defense only to get burned by a huge, back breaking play, many times last year. I'm hoping with a year under their belts, the players don't have so many lapses that led to those breakdowns. I also think we were hurt with the injuries to J Joseph and Blidi Wreh early as well. I am also in the camp that thinks this could be a special team on Defense this year.

it seemed like more often than not we got the third down situation we wanted, but then they'd convert on 3rd and 8 or longer. if we can cut those 3rd down conversions in half we'll be dominant

 

[Carl Spackler]

For those interested in a what a pro-style passing offense can potentially look like, read this. x's, o's diagrams and video to go with it.

http://smartfootball.com/passing/sn...f-triangles-yes-triangles-in-the-passing-game

Watching what I've seen of Whitmer, Nebrich, Cochran and J.Mac....3, 5 step drops are what they can do. Nebrich, mostly from the shotgun formation, and the other three from under center. I haven't seen any of them able to keep composure on a 7 step drop.

The receivers we're bringing in and will have on the field this year, are big enough, to run the routes and shield defenders for the ball, if they have to.

IF the offensive line can block well enough in the passing game to keep their gap spacing wide, the running game will open up easily to, because with the wide spacing, they'll have all the angle and levrage theyneed up front at the snap to create running lanes and a little back nobody can see in the trees, or big, fast back, will get through.

It all starts up front, with the 5 guys up there, and their ability to read a defensve front, and commucate up and down the line, to handle any gap pressure the defense may be bringing.

Lastseason, we had guyson the line of scrimmage on offense that were just beginnig to learn how to identify a defense front and adjust to it as a unit.

I expect it to be a lot better up front on offense this year, and going against our defense should help.

It's been way too long that we've not been putting out an effective offensive attack regularly.

 

[businesslawyer]

A top 10 defense ranked how?

This team has the personnel on defense to shut down and contain everyone on our schedule this year. How it would do in the SEC isn't really relevant unless we get an SEC team in a bowl game at the end of the year.

The personnel is there. The experience is there. There is depth at most positions. It requires the players understanding and being confident in their roles in the pass defense. Last year they didn't, but hopefully that was just a one year transition period in doing things differently.

 

[uconndogs]

Defense should be excellent. Wirth looked terrific in the spring game.

We are thin in the defensive backfield and will be inexperienced at the safeties. I have a feeling we may have something special with Lee though.

If Azhiru and Vann give us depth at LB that group could be out of sight and it would not surprise me if Smallwood turns out to be the best LB we've ever had by the time he's done.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Defense should be excellent. Wirth looked terrific in the spring game.

We are thin in the defensive backfield and will be inexperienced at the safeties. I have a feeling we may have something special with Lee though.

If Azhiru and Vann give us depth at LB that group could be out of sight and it would not surprise me if Smallwood turns out to be the best LB we've ever had by the time he's done.

Add Donahue and we can go a solid 6 deep at LB. Should be able to RS all of our incoming LB's.

I worry about 2 things with the defense. One more so than the other.......

1. The depth in the secondary. Who is going to be the nickel behind BWW and Gratz? Mack or Stevenson would be my guesses as the 3rd and 4th CB's. Both are unproven. At safety, both Brown and Jones showed promise, but are still young. Behind them? Youth and inexperience.

2. To much lesser degree, I'm a little worried about our interior line. I know most here are high on Wirth & Stephen (and so am I), but let's face it....neither are the caliber of players that Reyes & Martin were. And who is behind them? Pruitt saw a little action last year, but other than that?

 

[Carl Spackler]

You know who's behind them - DL? hank hughes. He's a scary man, that many would be nervous about seeing suited up in gear and having to go head to head with - now, today. I know I would be.

The biggest problem we had on our defense, by my count, last year - was that we had 3 players to play linebacker, all season. By the end of most games, they were gassed, and they got burned on pass coverage....lots of reasons for that, the problems in pass coverage, but late in games - the legs is all you need to look at.

Look at what our defense did vs. WVU in that first post. How many different defensive formations can you count? How many different fronts / alignments? A lot. We were running the entire defensive package against WVU - I think, and we were doing it with 3 linebackers, and a defensive backfield of rookies and guys that did not play defensive back, as pass first. We had them shut down for the best part of 3 quarters, until the legs and field position, turnovers, and our lack of offense caught up with us.

With at least 4 linebackers for the defense, for different packages, and the ability to rotate players out on the DL b/w 3 and 4 man unites, we will have fresh legs in the fourth quarters of games on D, and some safeties and CB's that are conditioned to play the passing game in this defense, I expect significant overall improvement in the defense this year.

 

[RedSoloCup]

You know who's behind them - DL? hank hughes. He's a scary man, that many would be nervous about seeing suited up in gear and having to go head to head with - now, today. I know I would be.

The biggest problem we had on our defense, by my count, last year - was that we had 3 players to play linebacker, all season. By the end of most games, they were gassed, and they got burned on pass coverage....lots of reasons for that, the problems in pass coverage, but late in games - the legs is all you need to look at.

Look at what our defense did vs. WVU in that first post. How many different defensive formations can you count? How many different fronts / alignments? A lot. We were running the entire defensive package against WVU - I think, and we were doing it with 3 linebackers, and a defensive backfield of rookies and guys that did not play defensive back, as pass first. We had them shut down for the best part of 3 quarters, until the legs and field position, turnovers, and our lack of offense caught up with us.

With at least 4 linebackers for the defense, for different packages, and the ability to rotate players out on the DL b/w 3 and 4 man unites, we will have fresh legs in the fourth quarters of games on D, and some safeties and CB's that are conditioned to play the passing game in this defense, I expect significant overall improvement in the defense this year.

Good point on the fatigue... that is the close loss stat - we had a few painful ones last year.

 

[whaler11]

This team has the personnel on defense to shut down and contain everyone on our schedule this year. How it would do in the SEC isn't really relevant unless we get an SEC team in a bowl game at the end of the year.

The personnel is there. The experience is there. There is depth at most positions. It requires the players understanding and being confident in their roles in the pass defense. Last year they didn't, but hopefully that was just a one year transition period in doing things differently.

Exactly last year they had some excellent personnel as well and the results weren't positive. I didn't bring up the SEC, Carl predicted a Top 10 defense, I asked how that was going to be measured. They have depth in some spots and questions in others still. I'll believe they get solid play from the safety position when I see it - it's been a while.

 

[businesslawyer]

Exactly last year they had some excellent personnel as well and the results weren't positive. I didn't bring up the SEC, Carl predicted a Top 10 defense, I asked how that was going to be measured. They have depth in some spots and questions in others still. I'll believe they get solid play from the safety position when I see it - it's been a while.

I thought implicit in your statement was whether it would be one of the ten best statistically, or really one of the ten best. And it's a fair question, because they are different things.

That having been said, if they just understand the change in assignments it should be very, very good.

 

[whaler11]

I thought implicit in your statement was whether it would be one of the ten best statistically, or really one of the ten best. And it's a fair question, because they are different things.

That having been said, if they just understand the change in assignments it should be very, very good.

Yes, that's what I was asking - what's the criteria? If it's relative to their opponents, I guess it's in the realm of possibility, if it's an absolute measure it's a fantasy.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Really? Of all the stuff I"ve put up on this discussion, of all the info in that link......you guys let whaler energy sucker successfully degenerate this into a discussion over the criteria for what a top 10 defense looks like?

Would the energy sucker have written anything else if I had written top 30 instead of top 10?

Anybody out there actually want to talk football? We're a completely different team than we were in 2010.

 

[huskynation]

The biggest isssue with the defense from last year was the lack of explosive speed in the secondary and with the linebackers. I think thats a big issue with the program at this point going foward.

 

[Carl Spackler]

The biggest isssue with the defense from last year was the lack of explosive speed in the secondary and with the linebackers. I think thats a big issue with the program at this point going foward.

I agree, not so much the secondary, but the linebackers, and I think if you watch the clip closely of all of WVU's offensive snaps against us in Oct 2011, chronologic from beginning to end of the game, it's pretty clear. When our LB"s last year were fresh and locked and loaded on their assignments, we were nasty. If they had to read, react, and cover a lot of ground, especially in pursuit vertically, we were in trouble. It became more pronounced as the games and season wore on, and we continued to play a multiple look defense, but only with the three backers.

As for moving forward, the speed, size issue is clearly (by my opinion) being handled in recruiting for beyond 2012, and we've got a full depth chart of linebackers and safeties and corners to work with this year. Some of the new guys, if they're good enough, may earn their way out of a red shirt in the defensive backfield. I'm more than certain, that the level of competition on the practice fields compeiting for starting jobs, is going to be much higher this year, than it was last - and that's in all three phases.

 

[whaler11]

Really? Of all the stuff I"ve put up on this discussion, of all the info in that link......you guys let whaler energy sucker successfully degenerate this into a discussion over the criteria for what a top 10 defense looks like?

Would the energy sucker have written anything else if I had written top 30 instead of top 10?

Anybody out there actually want to talk football? We're a completely different team than we were in 2010.

Sorry top 1 defense!!!!!! Whoooooooooooo!!!!!

Lets just say stupid crap no matter how ridiculous and call people names when they point it out!!!!!

I don't care how many starters return - we are totally different. And who cares if there is really no evidence to show we are different.

Sorry Carl I'm just 1 of da posters to stoopid too tRy to reckon the type of talkin that u and the intrum commissioner does.

 

[B1GEast]

For those interested in a what a pro-style passing offense can potentially look like, read this. x's, o's diagrams and video to go with it.

http://smartfootball.com/passing/sn...f-triangles-yes-triangles-in-the-passing-game

Watching what I've seen of Whitmer, Nebrich, Cochran and J.Mac....3, 5 step drops are what they can do. Nebrich, mostly from the shotgun formation, and the other three from under center. I haven't seen any of them able to keep composure on a 7 step drop.

The receivers we're bringing in and will have on the field this year, are big enough, to run the routes and shield defenders for the ball, if they have to.

IF the offensive line can block well enough in the passing game to keep their gap spacing wide, the running game will open up easily to, because with the wide spacing, they'll have all the angle and levrage theyneed up front at the snap to create running lanes and a little back nobody can see in the trees, or big, fast back, will get through.

It all starts up front, with the 5 guys up there, and their ability to read a defensve front, and commucate up and down the line, to handle any gap pressure the defense may be bringing.

Lastseason, we had guyson the line of scrimmage on offense that were just beginnig to learn how to identify a defense front and adjust to it as a unit.

I expect it to be a lot better up front on offense this year, and going against our defense should help.

It's been way too long that we've not been putting out an effective offensive attack regularly.

ESPN's Andrea Addelson posted that link on her blog a few days ago

 

[businesslawyer]

ESPN's Andrea Addelson posted that link on her blog a few days ago

I said something but on second thought never mind. I'm going to sleep.

 

[huskynation]

I agree, not so much the secondary, but the linebackers, and I think if you watch the clip closely of all of WVU's offensive snaps against us in Oct 2011, chronologic from beginning to end of the game, it's pretty clear. When our LB"s last year were fresh and locked and loaded on their assignments, we were nasty. If they had to read, react, and cover a lot of ground, especially in pursuit vertically, we were in trouble. It became more pronounced as the games and season wore on, and we continued to play a multiple look defense, but only with the three backers.

As for moving forward, the speed, size issue is clearly (by my opinion) being handled in recruiting for beyond 2012, and we've got a full depth chart of linebackers and safeties and corners to work with this year. Some of the new guys, if they're good enough, may earn their way out of a red shirt in the defensive backfield. I'm more than certain, that the level of competition on the practice fields compeiting for starting jobs, is going to be much higher this year, than it was last - and that's in all three phases.

The linebackers definately suffered from the lack of depth in the 2nd half of games. But the secondary got burned alot due to lack of speed and or fatigue, and any quarterback that could throw the ball with accuracy downfield had career days, especially vertically.

It will be interesting when camp starts how the true freshmen stack up. There's alot of really athletic, physically developed kids at all positions coming in. (don't be fooled by the lack of stars ) Alot of them are going to get redshirted, but coach pasqualoni will not be scared to play one of them if the team is weak at that position due to injury or lack of established starters. But I wouldn't sleep on the redshirt freshmen they should be real hungry to get on the field.

 

[pj]

In the media, they conventionally rank defenses by points allowed or yards allowed. By those standards, we could have a top 10 defense. Who knows. We'll see.

 

[Carl Spackler]

The linebackers definately suffered from the lack of depth in the 2nd half of games. But the secondary got burned alot due to lack of speed and or fatigue, and any quarterback that could throw the ball with accuracy downfield had career days, especially vertically.

It will be interesting when camp starts how the true freshmen stack up. There's alot of really athletic, physically developed kids at all positions coming in. (don't be fooled by the lack of stars ) Alot of them are going to get redshirted, but coach pasqualoni will not be scared to play one of them if the team is weak at that position due to injury or lack of established starters. But I wouldn't sleep on the redshirt freshmen they should be real hungry to get on the field.

I agree. I think that we had a defensive secondary that for some reason, always looked like they were playing run first at the snap, rather than pass first. Don't know how else to say it. I think that changes this year.