I have to disagree. This group will not be formidable in 2012. They are brutally undisciplined. Overpursuit and out of control play made S. Miss look like world beaters on the ground. They struggle working off blocks in a very scary way.I am comfortable with Will Compton as the leader. The guy is tough as nails.
I was as dissatisfied with the defensive performance on Saturday as anybody, but what I saw were fixable things, maybe with exception of the D-Line. I can definitely see this defense growing into a formidable group by years end.
Hey, that's alright. I know there are probably more people that disagree with me than people that agree, but I stand by what I said. I just get this weird sense that once this group starts playing with less hesitation and tackling better in space (and they will) they will be fairly stout.I have to disagree. This group will not be formidable in 2012. They are brutally undisciplined. Overpursuit and out of control play made S. Miss look like world beaters on the ground. They struggle working off blocks in a very scary way.I am comfortable with Will Compton as the leader. The guy is tough as nails.
I was as dissatisfied with the defensive performance on Saturday as anybody, but what I saw were fixable things, maybe with exception of the D-Line. I can definitely see this defense growing into a formidable group by years end.
If they can't shed blocks against this team, wait til teams like Wisconsin/Michigan take the field against our beloved team.
Overall, the defensive front continues to scare the hell out of me. The front 4 can't get any pressure on the QB, and the LB's are too slow to play against top notch athletes.
Hey, I hope you're right.....but I don't think you are.![]()
I'm a believer that if you don't have rich talent at D-line, playing a two-gap is a hindrance as it creates passive play.....yes, the opposite of the aggressive play we read about all spring. And with our D-linemen having issues with shedding blocks, we are left with a not-so athletic 2nd level in the LB corps.Hey, that's alright. I know there are probably more people that disagree with me than people that agree, but I stand by what I said. I just get this weird sense that once this group starts playing with less hesitation and tackling better in space (and they will) they will be fairly stout.I have to disagree. This group will not be formidable in 2012. They are brutally undisciplined. Overpursuit and out of control play made S. Miss look like world beaters on the ground. They struggle working off blocks in a very scary way.I am comfortable with Will Compton as the leader. The guy is tough as nails.
I was as dissatisfied with the defensive performance on Saturday as anybody, but what I saw were fixable things, maybe with exception of the D-Line. I can definitely see this defense growing into a formidable group by years end.
If they can't shed blocks against this team, wait til teams like Wisconsin/Michigan take the field against our beloved team.
Overall, the defensive front continues to scare the hell out of me. The front 4 can't get any pressure on the QB, and the LB's are too slow to play against top notch athletes.
Hey, I hope you're right.....but I don't think you are.![]()
Like you, after watching that game, I don't see any improvement at D-Line other than Ankrah, who looked pretty good I thought. I just hope our young guys can step up and be better in the future. Baker just looked like a snail out there. Maybe should have kept him at OL, but what do I know...
I'm a believer that if you don't have rich talent at D-line, playing a two-gap is a hindrance as it creates passive play.....yes, the opposite of the aggressive play we read about all spring. And with our D-linemen having issues with shedding blocks, we are left with a not-so athletic 2nd level in the LB corps.
I just don't see this front 7 stopping any team with athleticism. God, I HOPE I AM WRONG.
Ha! I don't blame you guys for the pessimism. I am an eternal optimist in regards to the team, but I was definitely disappointed with what I saw from the defense on Saturday. I just look at the guys we have out there, and the staff has a lot of confidence in all of them it seems. I really do expect this defense to be much better than what we saw a couple days ago.NESker, I share your outlook and pessimism...
Exactly. I thought Cooper and Harvey Jackson looked pretty good out there in run support. From just roughly watching the game twice, I would say that they appeared to be two of the surest tacklers on the defense.Compton, Stafford, Martin and I believe some of the younger guys will be leaders shortly. Rose, Harvey Jackson, Charles Jackson..maybe Roach or Santos.
Was that first part you posted and then deleted directed towards me? I haven't been overly critical of the way the defense played - I recognize there's a lot of football left and it was only one game. Not sure what you were getting at.I thnk we have some talent on this defense. A leader shows by example and also motivates the others to get better. Who on this defense got better from last year? Seems like everyone pretty much stayed the same or got a little worse. Now lets look at the other side of the ball. Martinez worked hard in the offseason and improved, Burkhead seems to have gotten faster, our Wr's seem to have better hands, Abdullah has gotten stronger, Heard seems to have gotten quicker and our O-line's play has gotten better. Where was that on defense? A leader is vocal out on the field, did you see how our defense got confused quite a few times when southern miss was running the no huddle, our dline got owned and didnt play with that much heart. A leader is suppose to light a fire under their butt's and make them play harder than that. Thats just my opinion, I havent seen compton being that vocal on defense and getting teammates faces to motivate them in the huddle.I would also like to ask how people on here come to the conclusion we have no leaders? The same claims have been made here for years, most noticeably on the offense. What gives? Are you watching the sidelines every play? Do you have a camera/mic strapped to half the defense? Leadership can only take you so far - at the end of every play it comes down to whether or not you did the job you were supposed to. Leadership/motivation isn't always the end-all-be-all to playing good football, not that anyone here is really suggesting it.
The point is there's far more to this game than psychology. I'm not saying sports psychology isn't important, because it is, but sometimes a player just isn't very good and that has little to do with pscyhology.
This. Controlling the line of scrimmage and occupying O-Lineman make's the LB's job that much easier.As Dude said above, an elite DT. In this 2 gap system (see The Duke's explanation on another thread) you need a guy who is strong enough to stand his guy up, read the play and react into the correct gap. See SUH, now look. There in lies the difference. We need a game changing DT in there. IMO, we do not have that yet. Maybe one of the true Freshman. If the O line gets to our LB's, we are screwed (as is really any team that allows the OL to get to the second level), but we are set up to have the DL stuff the line and allow the LB's and secondary to clean up. Missed tackles also doesn't help, but we need those stud D tackles.
A backup defensive end???I think (and hope) Eric Martin will be that guy