The first order of business. The defense.

[Palatine]

It was another horrible season on the defensive side of the ball. There is simply no other way to look at it. The defense was terrific in the first half against Syracuse. It collapsed in the second half and never recovered.

The defensive line couldn't stop the run and the defensive backfield couldn't stop the pass. Not exactly the complimentary football that coaches preach about. The linebackers acquitted themselves well. Amazingly one unit out of three was enough to help an terrific offense to 9 wins. I will spare you the numbers on the assumption your eyes told you enough.

This is where I would start. 1. Two need two large defensive tackles from the portal. The don't have to be great athletes but they need to be able to stand their ground. 2. A fast defensive end. Mercifully, the line backers are not a complete rebuild. So a couple of strong defensive line pieces and decent pass rush would be a wonderful first step.

 

[Chin Diesel]

First things first. Find out what defensive scheme the new DC wants to run and the recruit to his scheme.

That being said every football coach at everry level wants good depth of strong DT's.

 

[ScottVib]

Based on what Pitt has run (there isn't a lot of intel that I could find on Manalac's tenure at Bucknell) we'd likely be shifting back to a 4 man front... (4-3 base with blitzing)

 

[giddyup]

Give me 2 low center of gravity tackles that get leverage and plug-up holes and can bull rush and drive lineman backwards to flush QBs. Watching smaller more disciplined Army guys manhandle our front and drive them back 4 and 5 yards at a clip was just so maddening. 3 upfront is a loser and always has been unless you have elite level guys that have size, power and speed. Having tweeny LBs or SSs augment a hybrid 4 is like bringing nerf balls to a rock fight. If we never see a 3 front again until we have 4 star d lineman, I’d be happy.

 

[Palatine]

First things first. Find out what defensive scheme the new DC wants to run and the recruit to his scheme.

That being said every football coach at everry level wants good depth of strong DT's.

Scheme matters but we were exposed at DT every single game. Every coach goes into virtuallly every week repeats the phrase "we need to run the ball and stop the run." There is a huge difference between wanting something and doing it.

 

[ZooCougar]

It was another horrible season on the defensive side of the ball. There is simply no other way to look at it. The defense was terrific in the first half against Syracuse. It collapsed in the second half and never recovered.

The defensive line couldn't stop the run and the defensive backfield couldn't stop the pass. Not exactly the complimentary football that coaches preach about. The linebackers acquitted themselves well. Amazingly one unit out of three was enough to help an terrific offense to 9 wins. I will spare you the numbers on the assumption your eyes told you enough.

This is where I would start. 1. Two need two large defensive tackles from the portal. The don't have to be great athletes but they need to be able to stand their ground. 2. A fast defensive end. Mercifully, the line backers are not a complete rebuild. So a couple of strong defensive line pieces and decent pass rush would be a wonderful first step.

It’s a new day Pal. New coaches and new players, new culture.

Forget most of what you saw this year. It’s a reboot. Hopefully we keep some of the studs. I’m optimistic.

 

[DoctorWho85]

There's definitely room for improvement on defense. Taking the bowl game out because the offense wore them out by doing literally nothing the entire game, they've shown stretches of excellent defense. Then would absolutely collapse. They were close I just don't think the 3-3-5 was setting anyone up for success.

 

[History Geek]

Brock's version of the 3-3-5 worked last year because of the quality of the first three. They have to be very, very good -- and the depth behind them have to be good as well to give them a blow. Damonte/Jelani/Yates were great, and Barton et al were quality rotation guys. This year not so much. That was the difference.

 

[Tdaley]

Brock's version of the 3-3-5 worked last year because of the quality of the first three. They have to be very, very good -- and the depth behind them have to be good as well to give them a blow. Damonte/Jelani/Yates were great, and Barton et al were quality rotation guys. This year not so much. That was the difference.

100 percent! There was No defense that Brock could have run with our defensive line that would have improved our defense. By the way, we ran a 4/3 ( by necessity) against Army. How did we do?
Candle will have to make fixing our defensive line his biggest priority for next year.

 

[Jimdish255]

There probably is no "first order of business" as all the Coaches will be out there looking for guys to fill their position groups from day 1. But it's always been my strong opinion that talent does nothing for your offense without a solid OL. Diametrically you have to get pressure on the opposing QB to disrupt their gameplan so in order to really be successfull you need competence at all positions, but one DL and one LB that can bring the heat would be my ideal outcome.

 

[businesslawyer]

100 percent! There was No defense that Brock could have run with our defensive line that would have improved our defense. By the way, we ran a 4/3 ( by necessity) against Army. How did we do?
Candle will have to make fixing our defensive line his biggest priority for next year.

No. We played a 3-3-5 most of the year, a 4-3-4 against Air Force and Saturday we played a 3-4-4. King and Hogg flanked Diomande and Parham at LB.

 

[Woof 101]

Scheme matters but we were exposed at DT every single game. Every coach goes into virtuallly every week repeats the phrase "we need to run the ball and stop the run." There is a huge difference between wanting something and doing it.

Did you notice our two starting D tackles sat out ?

 

[Palatine]

Did you notice our two starting D tackles sat out ?

Not talking about the bowl. Talking about the season.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Based on what Pitt has run (there isn't a lot of intel that I could find on Manalac's tenure at Bucknell) we'd likely be shifting back to a 4 man front... (4-3 base with blitzing)

I could live with this. There really was no excuse for some of our opponents (especially Delaware and Rice) being able to push our defensive line around as easily as they did. I'll give them a pass on Army as it wasn't a full squad and they were trying something they hadn't done (3-4).

 

[FfldCntyFan]

First things first. Find out what defensive scheme the new DC wants to run and the recruit to his scheme.

That being said every football coach at everry level wants good depth of strong DT's.

True, but I seem to remember Rice rotating two nose tackles that were better at stopping the run and pushing the pocket than anyone we had since Travis moved on to the NFL.

They are our there, we need to figure out how to find and develop them.

 

[bobbyinaz]

This CBS article has some crazy numbers. If these are close to accurate it makes loading up on transfer DL very difficult without a big checkbook

College football transfer portal prices: Position‑by‑position ranges surge

A compressed Jan. 2–16 window is fueling fast moves and bigger deals. Here's what each position costs this cycle

www.cbssports.com