Fixing the broken

#27
#27
keckjm said:
I've had some time to review our defense from this year and here's some interesting stats I thought I'd share to all you VOL fans who miss football already like myself:

In 2013 we didn't have a single LB record a sack, but we had 16.5 TFL combined between AJ and Sapp.

In 2013 we gave up 207.3 rushing yards per game.

In 2013 we gave up an incredible 75% conversion rate on 4th down attempts, and a 43% on 3rd down attempts.

In 2013 we gave up a 59% redzone TD rate. To put this in prospective our defense gave up 29 TDs and 7 FGs in the redzone. Our defense only stopped opponets 13 times from scoring anything in redzone out of 49 attempts.

In 2013 Randolph recorded 75 total tackels, 4 Ints, 7 PD, 1 FF, 2.5 TFL, and 3 break ups. He was the MVP of our defense this year IMO.

All together what this tells me is a few things:

One, B. Randolph needs to be put into situations so that he can make plays. I'm talking S blitzes, manning him up on TE's and RBs to get INT's and TFL, and placing him into cover one situations and trusting him to make the right play. He has to learn to take better angles on the ball, as that goes with the rest of our team as well, but he is a natural play maker on defnese.

Two, we need Maggit back healthy, and then we need to utilize him the right way. We need a SLB who can blitz and stop the run. No sacks from a LB is embarrassing. What's even more embarrassing is that up the the KY game our leading sacker on our team was Walls with 4.5 sacks. We generated a whooping 18 sacks as a team, and 4 of them came from Miller in the last game, 5 total from the whole team in KY game. That means that through 11 games we accumlated 13 sacks, 13!

Three, our entire run scheme was a failure this year. Our front 7 failed miserable at stopping the run. It's pretty much that simple.


Four, Jancek, it's time to man up. If we don't start being more aggressive, and less QB spy, we are going to be 5-7 next year. We generated 14 Ints and 8 FF, but most came in points of the game that it really didn't matter. We have to start getting guys like Randolph and a healthy Maggit in positions to generate us some sacks and big plays. We can't go through another year where we have no LBs recording a sack. Again, that's embarrassing.

Five, Carr, J. Miller, Veeren, Hendrix, Henderson, Lambert, C. Thomas, O'Brien, Sauls, Mixon, Brown, Vickers, Barnett, J. Williams, Mosley, and Owen it's also time for you guys to man up. This will be the most athletic D-line we have had here in a long time. It'll be young and inexperineced, but this group has to lay the foundation and mindset that we are no longer letting teams run over and past us. We have to come out hungry, and we need 9-10 of these guys to step up and produce more then 13 sacks through 11 games.

Six, AJ is much needed. He's the leader of this team. He's the best tackler on this team. He lead the team with 8.5 TFL. He blows up run plays in the middle, and he needs to be replaced by Jancek on passing downs in the redzone. AJ is the best MLB we have had in awhile in stopping the run, but Jancek it's time to replace him on passing downs.

Seven, it's time to find replacments at SS, CB, and Nickel CB. McNeil, Swafford/Toney, and Coleman got feed to the lions this year. TKJR, Payne, Mosley, Foreman, L. Johnson, McDowell, Evan Berry, and Gaulden are going to get all the chances in the world to start over these four guys. I hate calling out guys like this because they are VFL, but I'm tried of the BS that I saw over and over again when I watched us play.

Eight, our motto for this defense come 2014 needs to be WORK. Not fist up. Not brick by brick. Just simply, WORK.
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Just wanted to say thanks for a well thought out, well documented post. :salute:
 
#28
#28
Damn good post. Number 8 on your list is what killed me all year. Maybe that's the best they could do. On third and eight and more I at least would've took a chance on a young DB covering the slot.
 
#29
#29
Nice post. Totally agree about the silly slogans. No more fist up, brick by brick nonsense, just do work. Slogans are stupid.
 
#31
#31
Catbone said:
6-6 next year
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IMO, that would take a solid coaching job. Anything better would be super. IMHO, 5 wins would be similar to what six would have been this year. Five could mean trouble. Less than 5 will.
 
#33
#33
sjt18 said:
Coleman and McNeil are better than you give them credit for. Jancek needs to get his head out.

I'm not sure that Jancek likes to blitz or take risks generally.

Development of better DL play is probably the most critical factor in all of it. DT play this year in particular was poor without Saulsberry. DE will be an adventure.

LB could be more solid than many expect with or without AJ.
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I think McNeil would be better suited for LB. He is too slow at safety. Most of it is just reaction time and angles, so he can improve. Will he start next year??? Not unless he shows marked improvement.
 
#34
#34
sjt18 said:
IMO, that would take a solid coaching job. Anything better would be super. IMHO, 5 wins would be similar to what six would have been this year. Five could mean trouble. Less than 5 will.
Click to expand...

I think Utah St is key. They are a good MWC bowl team bringing back lots of starters. We should win this one but it is tough and our first game and we can't be like some games last year where we couldn't score.

W: Utah St. ArkST, Chat, KY, Vandy
L: Bama, OK,
Toss ups: GA, USCe, FL, Ole Miss, Mizzou

USCe isn't losing many seniors...but they could lose Clowney, Quarles, and maybe Byrd to draft. If not, then USCe is probably not very winnable on the road.

FL is losing a lot of offensive players to transfers (good or bad?), they also get rid of Easley & Burton who can only play well against the Vols. They get a new offensive coordinator and probably read option. If they lose a lot of underclassmen defensive players to the draft, then we will be in a good position to break the curse.

GA loses entire offense except for two players (Gurley & Marshall). Defense is young and porous this year...next?

Bama only has a few seniors but should lose up to 8 starters early for draft.

Same for OK.

Mizzou loses key defenders and James Franklin. Great WRs and Mauck return on offense.

Vandy loses 8 or 9 starters on D including entire secondary, Carta-S, Mathews and kicker. They don't have a top 5 draft class either.
 
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