Injuries and Expectations

[The Dude]

The depth thing is pretty huge for several reasons.

1. You lose a starter. You lose your best guy. This is pretty straightforward.

2. Your backup is now the starter, which means you right there have a reduction in play quality

3. Your third-stringer is now the backup. Now, when this player comes into the game as will probably be necessary a certain amount of time, you have a reduction in quality here as well.

4. Given that you're already starting a backup, coaches may be reluctant to substitute as much as they would have, given this drop-off in quality of play already. So now you have a choice between either a) having your new starter be tired or b) bringing in someone who isn't as good at the job( your former 3rd string guy). Both options suck.

5. You lose leadership on the field.

6. Any injury at that position is now much more magnified. Depth is a buffer against injuries, but when your depth has already been compromised, you have no more buffer.

So basically what I am saying is that we shouldn't pretend that this is irrelevant, next guy up, etc etc.

Yep, it's part of the game.

 

[Scratchtown]

I guess though if Rose had Bando beat out mentally. I don't think that comes as a surprise. #Bikelocks

 

[tschu]

Yep, it's part of the game.

It is, absolutely. Injuries and whatnot will happen to every team. What makes this situation more alarming than your average fall camp situation is that we have 3 losses, all for the entire year, in a similar area of one side of the ball. If we had lost an OL and a Safety and a WR all for the year, it would absolutely suck, but not as badly. The positional location of these losses/injuries is what makes it worse than your average injury situation. It's like when Georgia lost their top 3 WRs and top 2 RBs last year - those aren't 5 random injuries, those are injuries that collectively cripple your offense.

Again, better to have this happen in the first week of fall camp rather than the first week of October though.

 

[alwayshusking]

Is there a reason Trevor Roach isn't in the conversation at MLB? I expected him to get time at the position relieving Rose through the year. Now with Rose gone do we have a better option?

He's backing up Banderas now.

 

[alwayshusking]

Any time you lose a starter the level of play is going to decrease. They are a starter because believe it or not, they are better than their backup. I know, weird, right? Just because you have bodies to throw out there doesn't mean they will be able to play up the level of the guy that was injured. Losing almost 30% of your projected starters, especially one at MLB which is one of the more important positions on the field is going to hurt...bad.

This is understood but not always is the level of play a severe drop off. The tone here seems to be a bit desperate and hurried. Like I have said earlier. Great DT play makes great LB's even if they aren't as talented. Seriously.

Communication between MLB and the rest of the defense are vital to Bo defenses succeeding. He has said as much. If you have someone in there not making the correct calls at the line of scrimmage, it could be very detrimental. That's where Rose had Banderas beat, the mental part of the game, which is why the defense played better down the stretch last season.

Yep, had him beat so much that he was sharing equal number of snaps with the #1's. Let's not make this into an even bigger loss with exaggeration.

A week into preseason practice...

Im going by what I saw last year. When Rose started the latter half of the season, the defense played better than when Banderas started the first month or so.

I hope there is no drop off. I guess we will see three weeks from today

Rose was better last season. Banderas was also a true freshman while Rose was a redshirt frosh.

Asking Banderas to win the MLB job as a true frosh was too much to ask imo. I imagine the gap has been closed some with Josh getting more experience.

 

[HuskerShark]

IMO, we are finally starting to see depth being developed team-wide, and all 3 of the guys that are hurt/suspended have able bodies lined up ready to go. The one that probably hurts the most is Charles Jackson, but Cockrell looked outright explosive and fast at the spring game, so I hope he plugs right into that spot.

 

[carlfense]

What pisses me off more than losing these three top contributors is that this just starts to pad the excuse list. It seems for the last few years there is a rather large faction of fans always willing to relieve Bo and staff of any responsibility for what happens on the field. This has to end. All teams have player loses and injuries. They are not an excuse for subpar performance. Sure it sucks but big boys nut up and do what needs to be done. Based on our schedule and where this program should be at this point in time, more than two losses will be met with serious questions from this fan.

+1

 

[Saunders]

What pisses me off more than losing these three top contributors is that this just starts to pad the excuse list. It seems for the last few years there is a rather large faction of fans always willing to relieve Bo and staff of any responsibility for what happens on the field. This has to end. All teams have player loses and injuries. They are not an excuse for subpar performance. Sure it sucks but big boys nut up and do what needs to be done. Based on our schedule and where this program should be at this point in time, more than two losses will be met with serious questions from this fan.

To me, it depends if you're naive enough to look at the season through a vacuum. Case in point, #4 Georgia and #12 Florida last year. Both were highly rated, and had expectations. Injuries killed those pretty quickly. If the team takes a nose dive, then you'll get all kinds of flack (Muschamp), but if you struggle, and still get a couple decent wins, the media will have your back (Richt). It all depends on how it goes down.

 

[Thanks_Tom RR]

The B1G is an up-the-middle, run-first, linemen's conference. The key to winning the B1G the last 15 yrs has been a solid running game and a defense that can stop the run. The defense needs to start with the front 4 (really 7) and be strong up the middle (DT, LB, S). Solid corners are a luxury, but we are not facing any world-beater QBs (though some are solid players like Ruddock from Iowa).

From what I see, hear, and read, this 2014 defense is built the right way for B1G play. We are 5-6 deep at DT, solid starting DE run stopping (McMullen) and pash rushing (RG4)---(though thin/young after starters), fast and heavy hitters in the middle of the field (e.g., LB: Anderson and Bando; S: Cooper and Gerry, even freshman Kieron Williams), and talented but very young CB.

CB play could be the weakness of this defense because of youth which could affect our passing defense (like our young front 7 affected the rushing defense early last year), but we should be stout against the run.

If we us nickel as our base defense we should be good.

DE: RG4, Natter, (1 freshman: King, Stoltenberg, or Newell)

DT: VV, Kevin Williams, Kevin Maurice

DT: Collins, Aaron Curry

DE: McMullen, Keels, (1 freshman or walk-on: Gangwish, Dzuris, Newell)

WILL: Z. Anderson, M. Newby, C. Love

MIKE: Bando, Santo, Roach

Nickel: Byerson "Mr. Utility" Cockrell, Joshua Kalu

CB: JMitch, Trai Mosley

CB: J Rose, D Davie, Chris Jones

SS: Cooper, DJ Singleton, Boaz Joseph (Singleton and Joseph are complete unknowns, so depth here is an issue behind Cooper)

FS: Gerry, Kieron Williams

Even at Base 4-3, we still have a decent line up.

Dropping Cockrell from that Nickel spot in as a CB opposite JMitch and making BUCK: Santos, C. Love

Then, on special packages for third down pass rush, we can switch up the front four in our Nickel to our Rabbit:

DE: RG4

DT: Collins

DT: McMullin

DE: M Newby

Ohh, baby!

 

[JJ Husker]

What pisses me off more than losing these three top contributors is that this just starts to pad the excuse list. It seems for the last few years there is a rather large faction of fans always willing to relieve Bo and staff of any responsibility for what happens on the field. This has to end. All teams have player loses and injuries. They are not an excuse for subpar performance. Sure it sucks but big boys nut up and do what needs to be done. Based on our schedule and where this program should be at this point in time, more than two losses will be met with serious questions from this fan.

....and you are going to do what about it????

I'm not going to do sh#t that matters. Be disappointed yet again I guess.......

 

[The Dude]

Yep, it's part of the game.

It is, absolutely. Injuries and whatnot will happen to every team. What makes this situation more alarming than your average fall camp situation is that we have 3 losses, all for the entire year, in a similar area of one side of the ball. If we had lost an OL and a Safety and a WR all for the year, it would absolutely suck, but not as badly. The positional location of these losses/injuries is what makes it worse than your average injury situation. It's like when Georgia lost their top 3 WRs and top 2 RBs last year - those aren't 5 random injuries, those are injuries that collectively cripple your offense.

Again, better to have this happen in the first week of fall camp rather than the first week of October though.

I don't think losing Rose (who was reportedly battling just to keep his spot), Alexander (reportedly cheating to gain an unfair advantage), and Jackson (entirely unproven) is going to be enough to cripple the defense.

Chin up.

 

[JJ Husker]

They are not an excuse for subpar performance.

It's hard to call 9-10 wins per season "subpar". It may not be "excellent" (in all areas)......but "subpar"?

I'm quite certain we don't need to rehash the 9-10 win thing in yet another thread. But for a short explanation, it's how we lose those four games, how we barely win a couple against lesser opponents, and the relative level of competition we have been doing it with. 9 or 10 wins DOES seem like a good stat.......until you look at the games in detail, then not so much imo.

 

[True2tRA]

The B1G is an up-the-middle, run-first, linemen's conference. The key to winning the B1G the last 15 yrs has been a solid running game and a defense that can stop the run. The defense needs to start with the front 4 (really 7) and be strong up the middle (DT, LB, S). Solid corners are a luxury, but we are not facing any world-beater QBs (though some are solid players like Ruddock from Iowa).

From what I see, hear, and read, this 2014 defense is built the right way for B1G play. We are 5-6 deep at DT, solid starting DE run stopping (McMullen) and pash rushing (RG4)---(though thin/young after starters), fast and heavy hitters in the middle of the field (e.g., LB: Anderson and Bando; S: Cooper and Gerry, even freshman Kieron Williams), and talented but very young CB.

CB play could be the weakness of this defense because of youth which could affect our passing defense (like our young front 7 affected the rushing defense early last year), but we should be stout against the run.

If we us nickel as our base defense we should be good.

DE: RG4, Natter, (1 freshman: King, Stoltenberg, or Newell)

DT: VV, Kevin Williams, Kevin Maurice

DT: Collins, Aaron Curry

DE: McMullen, Keels, (1 freshman or walk-on: Gangwish, Dzuris, Newell)

WILL: Z. Anderson, M. Newby, C. Love

MIKE: Bando, Santo, Roach

Nickel: Byerson "Mr. Utility" Cockrell, Joshua Kalu

CB: JMitch, Trai Mosley

CB: J Rose, Chris Jones

SS: Cooper, DJ Singleton, Boaz Joseph (Singleton and Joseph are complete unknowns, so depth here is an issue behind Cooper)

FS: Gerry, Kieron Williams

Even at Base 4-3, we still have a decent line up.

Dropping Cockrell from that Nickel spot in as a CB opposite JMitch and making BUCK: Santos, C. Love

Then, on special packages for third down pass rush, we can switch up the front four in our Nickel to our Rabbit:

DE: RG4

DT: Collins

DT: McMullin

DE: M Newby

Ohh, baby!

I'm with ya man, good stuff. I'm all in on our talent this year. When you put all those names on a depth chart it is really convincing. This is where the system becomes important. We've seen talented guys struggle because they weren't comfortable within the defense. We will see if changes are made to help these guys gain a level of comfort at a fast pace, which will lead to faster decision making on the field.

Also, the one thing on your chart that I'm hearing contrary to is that Gangwish is actually pushing for that 3rd spot in the DE rotation behind Gregory and McMullen.

 

[Chaddyboxer]

Yep, it's part of the game.

It is, absolutely. Injuries and whatnot will happen to every team. What makes this situation more alarming than your average fall camp situation is that we have 3 losses, all for the entire year, in a similar area of one side of the ball. If we had lost an OL and a Safety and a WR all for the year, it would absolutely suck, but not as badly. The positional location of these losses/injuries is what makes it worse than your average injury situation. It's like when Georgia lost their top 3 WRs and top 2 RBs last year - those aren't 5 random injuries, those are injuries that collectively cripple your offense.

Again, better to have this happen in the first week of fall camp rather than the first week of October though.

I don't think losing Rose (who was reportedly battling just to keep his spot anyway), Alexander (reportedly cheating to gain an unfair advantage), and Jackson (entirely unproven) is going to be enough to cripple the defense.

Chin up.

Taking roids brah???

Anyways....I agree with ya. It definitely is a hit....more so mentally than physically to the team IMO. There's one position we can't take a hit from and that's at d-end.

The guys that are plugging in may just be as good if not better. The one that really got to me was losing Rose....I just feel he's a smart LB. Realizing Bando is going to be a sophomore this year(only a young freshman who still made solid plays from time to time), I expect big things from him. He's going to need to step up.

 

[Thanks_Tom RR]

The B1G is an up-the-middle, run-first, linemen's conference. The key to winning the B1G the last 15 yrs has been a solid running game and a defense that can stop the run. The defense needs to start with the front 4 (really 7) and be strong up the middle (DT, LB, S). Solid corners are a luxury, but we are not facing any world-beater QBs (though some are solid players like Ruddock from Iowa).

From what I see, hear, and read, this 2014 defense is built the right way for B1G play. We are 5-6 deep at DT, solid starting DE run stopping (McMullen) and pash rushing (RG4)---(though thin/young after starters), fast and heavy hitters in the middle of the field (e.g., LB: Anderson and Bando; S: Cooper and Gerry, even freshman Kieron Williams), and talented but very young CB.

CB play could be the weakness of this defense because of youth which could affect our passing defense (like our young front 7 affected the rushing defense early last year), but we should be stout against the run.

If we us nickel as our base defense we should be good.

DE: RG4, Natter, (1 freshman: King, Stoltenberg, or Newell)

DT: VV, Kevin Williams, Kevin Maurice

DT: Collins, Aaron Curry

DE: McMullen, Keels, (1 freshman or walk-on: Gangwish, Dzuris, Newell)

WILL: Z. Anderson, M. Newby, C. Love

MIKE: Bando, Santo, Roach

Nickel: Byerson "Mr. Utility" Cockrell, Joshua Kalu

CB: JMitch, Trai Mosley

CB: J Rose, D Davie, Chris Jones

SS: Cooper, DJ Singleton, Boaz Joseph (Singleton and Joseph are complete unknowns, so depth here is an issue behind Cooper)

FS: Gerry, Kieron Williams

Even at Base 4-3, we still have a decent line up.

Dropping Cockrell from that Nickel spot in as a CB opposite JMitch and making BUCK: Santos, C. Love

Then, on special packages for third down pass rush, we can switch up the front four in our Nickel to our Rabbit:

DE: RG4

DT: Collins

DT: McMullin

DE: M Newby

Ohh, baby!

I'm with ya man, good stuff. I'm all in on our talent this year. When you put all those names on a depth chart it is really convincing. This is where the system becomes important. We've seen talented guys struggle because they weren't comfortable within the defense. We will see if changes are made to help these guys gain a level of comfort at a fast pace, which will lead to faster decision making on the field.
Also, the one thing on your chart that I'm hearing contrary to is that Gangwish is actually pushing for that 3rd spot in the DE rotation behind Gregory and McMullen.

Yeah, I heard JP was talking Gangwish up to some media guys. I put him immediately behind Keels because although Keels has not been talked about a lot, he has been getting time on the 2nd (and I think 1st iirc) team, and after he heard some negative chatter from fans and media following spring, Keels seemed to get a fire under himself. Still, Gangwish could be that #2 behind McMullen.
I also forgot Daniel Davie at the CB opposite JMitch. He is back from injury and running with the #1 team.