Defensive Decline

Vol Horn 4 Life

Vol Horn 4 Life

Good Bye To All The Rest!
So what happened from last year? We are now giving up 379 yds and 25 points per game. Both will probably be ranked somewhere between 50-60 when the NCAA stats are updated. We had a couple big play makers leave I get it, but this defense looks totally unprepared in the first quarter of every game which has less to do with talent than coaching. How many games in a row has the opponent scored a TD or FG on the first drive? The first drive!!! That is when the defense should be most prepared to play and they never seem to be. In game adjustments are usually pretty good.

I wonder if he is regretting not taking a HC job now? He certainly isn't going to get offers with this crap this year. Oh yeah, are we gonna hear youth again?
 
Vol Horn 4 Life said:
So what happened from last year? We are now giving up 379 yds and 25 points per game. Both will probably be ranked somewhere between 50-60 when the NCAA stats are updated. We had a couple big play makers leave I get it, but this defense looks totally unprepared in the first quarter of every game which has less to do with talent than coaching. How many games in a row has the opponent scored a TD or FG on the first drive? The first drive!!! That is when the defense should be most prepared to play and they never seem to be. In game adjustments are usually pretty good.

I wonder if he is regretting not taking a HC job now? He certainly isn't going to get offers with this crap this year. Oh yeah, are we gonna hear youth again?
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Orlando gets $2,000,000.00 per year win or lose. He doesn't even have to account for the other teams QB that lights us up during the game and the paychecks keep coming. Life is very good for him for sure.
 
What disturbs me is the apparent lack of progression on defense.

To my untrained eyes...

Sterns, a super talent, seems to have hit a wall. He’ll break through, but it needs to be sooner rather than later.

Boyd is not getting better. He might be the best we have, but it’s just not good enough.

Brandon Jones is inconsistent, and while a force on running plays, he struggles on pass plays, especially the deep ones. Angles and timing are an issue.

Locke is great on running plays and a major liability on pass plays.

Foster is a stud but I’d like to see better techniques, angles, fundamentals. He’ll get there, but we need the help now.

Our most consistent player may be Johnson, who is playing great. Wheeler seems to be MIA often.

On the DL, I think we are solid, but thin.

We are talented but I just don’t see the progression I had expected, particularly after a bye week. That is troubling.
 
Sure would help to have DeShon Elliott, Malik Jefferson, and Holton Hill on the team.

Can you imagine if Kris Boyd was our 2nd-best cornerback and frequently rotated out? If PJ Locke only saw the field in limited duty? If Malik Jefferson and Gary Johnson were still on the field together? If we still had Dickson pinning opposing teams inside their 10?

Take three NFL-quality players off any defense and you'll notice a difference. That's been one of the biggest factors of our decline since 2010: Our best players rarely, if ever, stay for their senior season. Every single year we have 3-4 players leaving early, which is why we keep hearing the excuse "It's a young team." It's always true.
 
Ajo Macho said:
Sure would help to have DeShon Elliott, Malik Jefferson, and Holton Hill on the team.

Can you imagine if Kris Boyd was our 2nd-best cornerback and frequently rotated out? If PJ Locke only saw the field in limited duty? If Malik Jefferson and Gary Johnson were still on the field together? If we still had Dickson pinning opposing teams inside their 10?

Take three NFL-quality players off any defense and you'll notice a difference. That's been one of the biggest factors of our decline since 2010: Our best players rarely, if ever, stay for their senior season. Every single year we have 3-4 players leaving early, which is why we keep hearing the excuse "It's a young team." It's always true.
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next season will be worse our entire starting d line, Gary and wheeler are gone so are both starting corners( insert joke here ) and possibility of Jones leaving is also out there. Fingers crossed we hold onto cj and ljh
 
Few things.

I love Chris Nelson, but he is no Poona Ford, and we are really missing what Poona brought.

Second, We have a senior team, but we also have a lot of seniors that are having sub-par years. Hager, Boyd, to name just two.

I'm not sure if next year we will be better or worse, but we will be younger.

DE - We lose Hager an Omenihu, but Graham has played very well and Roach will be back as well. That is two very good players to replace our starters, we will also be pretty deep with Marqez Bimage, Michael Williams, Daniel Carson, and our freshmen.

DT - Not sure what we have at this point, we lose Nelson and Chisolm, but we bring in Moro Ojamo, who I hear is now shaving once a week, and Keondre Coburn but neither of them is tested.

LB - We lose a ton here. Not sure how we replace Gary Johnson and Anthony Wheeler. I feel good about Jeffrey McCullough and Joseph Ossai. We also have Ayodele Adeoye and Cameron Townsend, but we are going to be paper thin after our starters. Have to also put Overshown here as he might spin down to LB.

CB - We lose Boyd and Davis, but we have a lot of talent behind them. Cook, Boyce, Jamison, Thompson, and Green. Not as deep as I would like.

S - I'm pretty happy here. 50/50 we lose Brandon Jones, but if we do we still have Sterns, Foster and Montrell Estelle, not sure but there is a chance we also have Overshown as well.

I would say we won't be nearly as experienced but we will be more talented.
 
It sure seems like the bonehead plays/blown plays on defense are done by either a) a senior or b) a true freshman. The latter I can understand and hope for better after more experience. The former, meh, just graduate already.
 
Phil Elliott said:
It sure seems like the bonehead plays/blown plays on defense are done by either a) a senior or b) a true freshman. The latter I can understand and hope for better after more experience. The former, meh, just graduate already.
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As for seniors, the O-line is another frustration How many holding penalties have Vahe and Shack combined for? And the holding call on Beck that cost us a big play was not even necessary. He had his man thoroughly beaten and then threw him to the ground in the wide open in front of God and everybody!
 
Vol Horn 4 Life said:
I wonder if he is regretting not taking a HC job now?
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What job? While the line of offers was very short (very possibly less than 1), not sure $125,000 a year from Adams State or $250,000 from Eastern New Mexico would be that appealing over Austin.

I would love to see Orlando teach the LBs & DBs to disguise the defensive call rather than making it so obvious that it might as well be displayed on the jumbotron. How many times in the last two years have Orlando's players telegraphed the call before the offense is even set?

Time to take half of that $2 million and bring back Dick Tomey or make Bill Bradley a "defensive consultant".

:hookem2:
 
Texas DC has had a 2nd year curse for a while now. Diaz, then Bedford and now Orlando. Orlando has a chance to break the curse next year the 2 before him didn't in year 3.

Right now it doesn't bode well because the LB roster is very thin. Which is a big problem Diaz and Bedford had too.
 
dukesteer said:
We are talented but I just don’t see the progression I had expected, particularly after a bye week. That is troubling.
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The issue as I've said a few times is that we have some older guys (particularly on the DL) that have hit their ceiling and aren't going to go anywhere from that point. PJ and Boyd are solid players that should not be cornerstones of an elite defense - and for this program to succeed in the Big XII, we have to have an elite defense. We still have something of a donut in our lineup, with a lot of very talented young players and some seniors. I think next year on defense may be challenging but will pay off, because I think we have upgrades coming at just about every position - but that may not show up this year.

If one of the young LBs and one of the DLs steps up next year, then I think we might avoid a drop-off and may even get a little better.

We've got to figure out a way to get impact guys on the front, though. When you don't have a nose blowing stuff up in the middle, it's hard to make Orlando's scheme work, and that's being sorely missed this year. Nelson's solid, and frankly I think he'd be a pretty good option for just about anyone running a 4-3 set, but in our scheme, that position needs to be better than solid.
 
gahornphan said:
This team will be focused. They were embarrassed and called out on national TV. I'm looking for the most complete game of the season.
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I didn't listen or watch, but I wonder if the buckeyes received the same scrutiny and criticism when they were mudholed by the Boilermakers?:idk:
 
24 missed tackles. And that's all I have to say about that.

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Vol Horn 4 Life said:
We had a couple big play makers leave I get it, but this defense looks totally unprepared in the first quarter of every game which has less to do with talent than coaching.
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We did lose two; and then Roach is out; and Hager has not had the all conference season we had expected.

No one is more frustrated by this than Hager. He has been close so many times, and just missed. he is due for a breakout game. Hope this is the week it starts.
 
caryhorn said:
We did lose two; and then Roach is out; and Hager has not had the all conference season we had expected.

No one is more frustrated by this than Hager. He has been close so many times, and just missed. he is due for a breakout game. Hope this is the week it starts.
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None of the injuries have anything to do about being ready to play on the first snap of the game, or total failure from the 4th quarter of the ou game until now.

Every team should be fortunate enough to have a Hager in the locker room. Unfortunately for Hager, he is too small to play the position he has been tasked with and not fast enough to play LB. As a result, he has to guess and is usually guessing wrong.
 
ViperHorn said:
Every team should be fortunate enough to have a Hager in the locker room. Unfortunately for Hager, he is too small to play the position he has been tasked with and not fast enough to play LB. As a result, he has to guess and is usually guessing wrong.
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Maybe he should just go ahead and cut his hair. Couldn't hurt.
 
I think he promised the team and doesn't want to break the promise. He is a senior right. I feel for him. It is way long!
 
AC said:
I think he promised the team and doesn't want to break the promise. He is a senior right. I feel for him. It is way long!
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He is quoted saying something like he hates his hair that long and he desperately wants to cut it because of the length but mostly because the team won the Big XII.
 
WorsterMan said:
He is quoted saying something like he hates his hair that long and he desperately wants to cut it because of the length but mostly because the team won the Big XII.
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Maybe if he cut it, he would have the speed and ability to make the tackle on a running back in the backfield instead of whiffing and resulting a 5 yard gain.
 
horninchicago said:
Maybe if he cut it, he would have the speed and ability to make the tackle on a running back in the backfield instead of whiffing and resulting a 5 yard gain.
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So, your theory is his hair is causing wind resistance and a drag effect on his speed!?

He has whiffed on a bunch of tackles in the backfield....
 
WorsterMan said:
So, your theory is his hair is causing wind resistance and a drag effect on his speed!?

He has whiffed on a bunch of tackles in the backfield....
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Yes. What other explanation could there be? :hookem2:

Edit: He whiffed on one last week that, after a fantastic effort to get into the backfield, set up a 3rd and short vs. 3rd and 6 or 7 or something like that.
 
horninchicago said:
Yes. What other explanation could there be? :hookem2:

Edit: He whiffed on one last week that, after a fantastic effort to get into the backfield, set up a 3rd and short vs. 3rd and 6 or 7 or something like that.
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The good news about the whiffs is he brings pressure from his side while creating havoc in the backfield!
 
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