If anybody cares. If not ignore...
Just finished a quick watch of the 2019 Cotton Bowl with PSU beating Memphis. High scoring game with PSU going against their wide open spread O. The D struggled a bit, especially in the first half. Memphis could not stop PSU's O in that half at all. In the second half you could see PSU's D adjustments when they changed from an attack D to contain and stop when it got close to the red zone. Memphis ended up kicking a bunch of FG's instead of getting TD's and PSU picked a couple of passes to ice it.
So, in two bowl games I watched with high quality PSU teams going against high quality opponents I may have seen the philosophy we can expect from Banks on D. Which tells me he probably fits well with CJH's O. Aggressively pass rush and attack the traditional O's using stunts often and as necessary with man coverage outside and two deep safeties to make big plays. With spread O's, typically rush 4 (sometimes 3, or use a late blitzer) and occasionally stunt with man coverage and a single high S some of the time. PSU gave up some big plays with zone and quarters coverage with assignment breakdowns. But their secondary sticks like glue on their assigned receivers in man - so that is a major emphasis with Banks.
As to play calling, I'm sure he was in the booth. Co-DC Pry was making calls on the sidelines. So he was getting the formations and blocking patterns from Banks and probably some play call input. Five years of doing that at PSU while having 4 years as the play calling DC at Illinois and previous G5 DC experience tells me there will be very little transition or assistance needed in becoming the play caller we need.
But fans and posters on here are going to have to get over the OMG aspect of higher scoring games. Once the D gets rebuilt in a few years we can expect them to roll the lesser teams because they flat get after the QB and are physical with WR's at the LOS. That will be a lot of fun to watch. But against Bama, UF, LSU, even Ole Miss - it will be a track meet at times as there can be some big busts when you are that aggressive. I think our odds of winning sooner against aTm and UGA probably went up. Jimbo and Kirby are not wide open in their O concepts. They want a bit more ball control and intermediate routes. With this D philosophy they better have a great QB who can make quick reads and has quick feet because it causes negative plays frequently.
