The Defense

#1
ursaminotaur

ursaminotaur

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#1
So what do we think about the defense now? There's been legitimate universal concern for several months about depth and skill on the defensive side of the ball. Recently, the staff has grabbed some significant pieces - from the line back to the secondary. Some of those pieces have stars, some have experience, some have both. Now it's up to the staff to get in the kitchen and see if they can throw it all together.

In your opinion - how does the defense look? How does the run-stop look to you? Can we get push on the QB? Can we cover?
 
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#3
#3
I think we pick up one more DB in the portal. At that point, I don't have concerns anymore on depth. I really like that we have been active in the portal. If we get one more DB, on defense we would have picked up 2 DL, 2 LB, 2 DBs. all from power 5 schools that were in the 2 deep at their schools.

We at least won't be 1 injury away from being bad and have the potential to be pretty good.
 
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#6
#6
ursaminotaur said:
So what do we think about the defense now? There's been legitimate universal concern for several months about depth and skill on the defensive side of the ball. Recently, the staff has grabbed some significant pieces - from the line back to the secondary. Some of those pieces have stars, some have experience, some have both. Now it's up to the staff to get in the kitchen and see if they can throw it all together.

In your opinion - how does the defense look? How does the run-stop look to you? Can we get push on the QB? Can we cover?
Click to expand...

Lots of experienced players on the DL. May not have that "difference maker," but plenty of experienced depth. The starting 5 in the secondary, I think, has a chance to be above average. Concerned about depth. Which brings us to the LB's. More than likely, most of the time we're only going to have 2 on the field. I know what we had in the spring, but of the 21 or so kids that missed spring practice for various reasons, 3-4 were LB's. If we have a couple guys come through at LB, I think our defense has a chance to be middle of the SEC, maybe a little better.
 
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#8
#8
It’s a situation to where we can feed recruits the saying “cone here and you will get playing time”!
 
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#10
#10
Everybody has to be realistic about this team this year. Someone above said 7-5, I think if we get to 7-5 its a homerun! As far as the pickups go, I believe what you have to look at is the # of years of eligibility remaining for these guys. Most of them have multiple years left and that is the most important thing because of all the attrition that we had, all that potential left and you had to replace that.

As for the defense, I tend to rely on numbers to tell me what to expect and if you look at Penn State last year (Tim Banks with the CO-DC), they had a very middle of the road Big Ten defense. How does that translate to the SEC, probably not super well in this first season.

All that to say what I think we all know. Relying on the numbers the offense should be better (had to be right?), the defense is going try to make 4-5 stops a game and hope to win games 35-28 or 42-40. Its gonna be a roller coaster this next season, BUT I like my chances so much better with Heupel than with Pruitt. The entire staff has been upgraded and if we will be patient I think we will see if on the field before long.
 
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#11
#11
I think this defense will be in the lower third of SEC defenses. This is for multiple reasons:
1) they were not coached very well the last couple of years.
2) the best players we had graduated or left in the portal
3) this is the first year in a new defense and DC
4) they will be on the field a lot this year because of the fast paced offense
5) Rodney Garner will make a difference with the DL but they will just not be enough to cover for the rest of the lacking LB's/DB's results.
6) no one on the defense has ever covered a slant pass, it will probably take them a year to understand what a slant actually is.
 
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#13
#13
I don't think the offense will be quite as good as everyone thinks they will right now, and I don't think the defense will be quite as bad as everyone thinks right now.

QB play and outside pass rush is what it comes down to. If we find capable players at those positions, that's the difference between 5-7 and 8-4 or even 9-3.
 
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#15
#15
VolBricks said:
I think this defense will be in the lower third of SEC defenses. This is for multiple reasons:
1) they were not coached very well the last couple of years.
Click to expand...
I'm going to challenge this. They were not coached well as a group. I believe the former staff including Pruitt were as good as anyone in teaching "technique". If the current staff can coach their scheme and teach them to make better reads then the fact that they were previously coached and schemed poorly... may not be a negative.
2) the best players we had graduated or left in the portal
Click to expand...
Remains to be seen. Henry T was an obvious loss. The guys who were kicked off the team were unavoidable. But who by name do you think was irreplaceable.

I'm going to say that the addition of Mitchell takes a lot of the sting out of losing HT. UT lost their leading tackler from last year who averaged 7.6 tackles per game and add Texas' leading tackler who averaged 6.2 tackles per game. Just the little bit I watched of Texas from last fall, Mitchell looked better and more natural in pass coverage.

3) this is the first year in a new defense and DC
Click to expand...
May hurt... but may also help.
4) they will be on the field a lot this year because of the fast paced offense
Click to expand...
I think we are all concerned about that. They need to play a lot of guys even if they have to "protect" some guys to get a few plays out of them each week.
5) Rodney Garner will make a difference with the DL but they will just not be enough to cover for the rest of the lacking LB's/DB's results.
Click to expand...
What bothers you about the secondary now?
6) no one on the defense has ever covered a slant pass, it will probably take them a year to understand what a slant actually is.
Click to expand...
Well... HT and Crouch were a part of that problem as was Pruitt's scheme. Of course that doesn't mean it will be better... but it could be.
 
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#16
#16
sjt18 said:
I'm going to challenge this. They were not coached well as a group. I believe the former staff including Pruitt were as good as anyone in teaching "technique". If the current staff can coach their scheme and teach them to make better reads then the fact that they were previously coached and schemed poorly... may not be a negative.
Remains to be seen. Henry T was an obvious loss. The guys who were kicked off the team were unavoidable. But who by name do you think was irreplaceable. - they are all replaceable, it is just that Heupel and Co have not had long to make waves with recruiting and thus it may take a year or two. Heupel and Co have done as good a job as anyone at using the portal this off season and I actually think long term the recruiting will be fine.

I'm going to say that the addition of Mitchell takes a lot of the sting out of losing HT. UT lost their leading tackler from last year who averaged 7.6 tackles per game and add Texas' leading tackler who averaged 6.2 tackles per game. Just the little bit I watched of Texas from last fall, Mitchell looked better and more natural in pass coverage. - I too have watched Mitchell's tape and feel he is better than Crouch at coverage but maybe a little less of a tackler than HT. All said a great pickup for Heupel and Co.

May hurt... but may also help.
I think we are all concerned about that. They need to play a lot of guys even if they have to "protect" some guys to get a few plays out of them each week.
What bothers you about the secondary now? - Nothing expressly bothers me about the secondary. My "issue" is that I feel the DL will not have enough difference makers to get ample pressure on the opposing QB to make the DB's look better(?). It is not a DB issue, there is no way for a DB to cover for 3-4 seconds with the way offenses are setup now. If DL are not getting pressure in 2.5 seconds a decent QB is going pick them apart. This is not just UT defense this is every teams defense.

Well... HT and Crouch were a part of that problem as was Pruitt's scheme. Of course that doesn't mean it will be better... but it could be.
Click to expand...
- We can only hope that the defense we run this year has less "check with me" and more go get the ball carrier. There were many times over the last 2 years that our D was not set and ready for play at the snap of the ball. Pruitt was supposed to be a defensive guru/genius and I did not see that on the field.
 
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#17
#17
VolBricks said:
I think this defense will be in the lower third of SEC defenses. This is for multiple reasons:
1) they were not coached very well the last couple of years.
2) the best players we had graduated or left in the portal
3) this is the first year in a new defense and DC
4) they will be on the field a lot this year because of the fast paced offense
5) Rodney Garner will make a difference with the DL but they will just not be enough to cover for the rest of the lacking LB's/DB's results.
6) no one on the defense has ever covered a slant pass, it will probably take them a year to understand what a slant actually is.
Click to expand...
You need to actually LOOK at the stats.
Even with a pedestrian offense that put the defense at a constant disadvantage, they were still mid-tier defensively in the conference.
Fla
LSU
Arkansas
South Carolina
Vandy
Ole Miss
Mizzou

All had worse scoring defense than us last year. Mind you, that is with an All SEC schedule and JG giving the opposite team 21 points on the season.

Our secondary was better than average and with ANY pass rush at all will be even better.
Our DL is capable of being good when the offense is actually putting up points for us (team as a whole).
LBs- TBD

We will be top half of the conference. Probably 6 thru 8th in defense.
Hopefully 2nd thru 4th on offense
 
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#18
#18
sjt18 said:
I'm going to challenge this. They were not coached well as a group. I believe the former staff including Pruitt were as good as anyone in teaching "technique". If the current staff can coach their scheme and teach them to make better reads then the fact that they were previously coached and schemed poorly... may not be a negative.
Remains to be seen. Henry T was an obvious loss. The guys who were kicked off the team were unavoidable. But who by name do you think was irreplaceable.

I'm going to say that the addition of Mitchell takes a lot of the sting out of losing HT. UT lost their leading tackler from last year who averaged 7.6 tackles per game and add Texas' leading tackler who averaged 6.2 tackles per game. Just the little bit I watched of Texas from last fall, Mitchell looked better and more natural in pass coverage.

May hurt... but may also help.
I think we are all concerned about that. They need to play a lot of guys even if they have to "protect" some guys to get a few plays out of them each week.
What bothers you about the secondary now?

Well... HT and Crouch were a part of that problem as was Pruitt's scheme. Of course that doesn't mean it will be better... but it could be.
Click to expand...
iu
 
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#19
#19
VolBricks said:
- We can only hope that the defense we run this year has less "check with me" and more go get the ball carrier. There were many times over the last 2 years that our D was not set and ready for play at the snap of the ball. Pruitt was supposed to be a defensive guru/genius and I did not see that on the field.
Click to expand...
Yep. That was a huge disappointment.

After practicing against Huepel's O, UT's D should feel like games are being played in slow motion.
 
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#22
#22
Eastknox865 said:
We can all speculate truth is we want know anything until they play games.
Click to expand...
Well yeah.
But it's May.

Not too much we can do about that.

So I'm going to continue to tell people how Vol football is in for an 8-9 win season in 2021, until I'm proven right.

Beckwith, Small, and Wright are going to be known names by November. I like Evans, but those 3 are going to be hard to keep off the field.
 
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#24
#24
LittleVol said:
Well yeah.
But it's May.

Not too much we can do about that.

So I'm going to continue to tell people how Vol football is in for an 8-9 win season in 2021, until I'm proven right.

Beckwith, Small, and Wright are going to be known names by November. I like Evans, but those 3 are going to be hard to keep off the field.
Click to expand...
I'm not getting fooled again
 
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