2014 Defense

[grover]

I don't see how Hester changes anything this year. Thomas, Wyche and Moten should help immediately.

With Dallas and Carter coming on strong, I agree that the coaches can take more time to develop Hester. Safety depth has turned from a desperate need to a strength. Nice to see. Agree on the DTs. I hope Thomas doesn't have to carry the load. I'd actually love for him to shirt, given we have McCord and AQM, though I expect we'll need him. On a JJ team, both Moten and Thomas would shirt.

 

[drifters1234]

If Wyche comes in and starts this is a top 10 defense. Else top 30.

You must mean top 10 in the ACC, right?

 

[Fountain of Canes]

When i was at the spring game i really wanted to know will this team be different then last years or are we going to be the same team. My question was answered that day and we are going to be way better. the defense was hungry and it was an attitude about this defense that was just after it.

they didn't care who it was, they just attacked and i didnt see many missed assignments. i seen better communication. this team wants to be great this year. I also notice how much they were improved in Zone play. even though we did it alot last year we look lost and unsure. not so this year we look confident about the spots we needed to be in at the right time and thats why i think Olsen had difficulty passing the ball the windows were tight.

The only concern i had was the dline. they didnt have that same attitude that the LBs and Secondary had and that was a concern for me because it needs to be from dline and up. Honestly the only guy i really noticed was Kamalu that had that attitude but i could be missing some people.

Wyche has that attitude on Paper but lets see when he comes will he have that same attitude in pads. I think Hertalou is breaking out of his shell too and getting accumulated. once he can express himself fully i expect him to have that same attitude.

Then you add in confident guys Chad Thomas, D Jackson, Moten and Courtel Jenkins and i think this defense will be better. 2015 will be even better and so on.

 

[JHallCanes]

We'll be better, that's for sure. There's no more excuses. We're now fielding a unit full of kids that everybody in the country wanted.

Pretty much where I am at. Scheme, DC, depth....whatever. The roster is solid, very good in some spots. We lost basically nothing but dead weight.

Teams would kill to have an athlete like Antonio Crawford as their 5th best CB. Safety and outside rush depth is much improved. There's athletes everywhere, and the emergence of Kirby would be huge.

 

[Consigliere]

I don't think people really appreciate the severity of 2013's Defense.

- During ACC play last year, our defense actually allowed 262 Points or 32.75 PPG.
- During those 8 games they forced 14 turnovers.
- Our worst football (in the ACC) last year occurred during the last 4 ACC games. We let up 147 (36.75) points during that span as opposed to 115 (28.75) during the first four games.

Now onto 2014...
- Outflow of Players: Gone ==> Highsmith, Rogers, Green, Cornelius, Porter and Robinson
- Current Better Players are older and more experienced
- Possibly changing the scheme
- No coaching turnover (hahaha)

Want to know the crazy part, if you told me right now, if you were somehow able to guarantee it right now, that our defense would only ACTUALLY let up 25.00 PPG during ACC play....I would probably take it. 25.00 PPG during conference play would be almost a 25% decrease in scoring per game from last year.

 

[capefearcane]

I would say that too.

but our defense got worse as the year went on.

the freshmen/sophomores were supposed to get more experience. instead they got worse.

I think some of that was due to a lack of depth and as earlier noted by another poster the D-Line is also still questionable and lacks depth. Overall we improve, get better but not top 30 - do think we might be playing like a top 30 by the end of season due to new recruits getting more experience. Cancel all of this if the still thin ranks get thinner through multiple or key personnel injuries. It is what it is.

 

[GhostofVenice01]

Love my boy Ridler no homo, realest poster on here

 

[AsylumGodfather]

I am cautiously optimistic about the defense this year. They looked faster and Crawford coming in and laying licks from the safety spot is setting the tone in my opinion. It's also nice to see Kirby, Blue, Grace, and others step up so far. The game at Louisville will tell quite a bit and I think these young guys want some serious payback.

 

[capefearcane]

For reference:

Teams that ranked top 50 in total defense: Buffalo, Penn State, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Marshall, Wake Forest and Oregon.

Teams that ranked top 30 in total defense: Georgia Tech, Baylor, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, USC, Florida

In those groupings of teams are programs that had real scholarship reductions in PSU and USC. There are also up-tempo teams that give the ball back to their opponents faster than we did in Oregon and Baylor. There are also teams who undoubtedly had less talent than their opponents in Syracuse, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State. And there's Florida whose offense was much worse than ours in executing.

And where did we fall last season? 89th. That's pathetic. There are no excuses for our defense to be that bad. None.

There are absolutely no excuses why we shouldn't have at worst a top 30 defense--other than our coaches being terrible at their jobs. For more reference, the 50th ranked D gave up 383 ypg. The 30th ranked D gave up 364 ypg. We gave up 426 ypg.

I went back to 1999 and Miami's worst ranked defense before Golden was 34th in 2000. Golden's best ranked D since he's ,been here was the 2011 defense that was ranked 45th.

Again, there is no ****ing reason in his 4th year at Miami we shouldn't have at worst a 30th ranked defense. And that's lowering the ball to mid-major expectations.

The main thing I get from this post, the guy that mentored our coaches and was a sort of godfather of our defense, was fired from gt because he couldn't get the kids to execute that defense on the field. They hire another guy and get immediate results. Top 30 in year one. Sigh

Hard to argue with that. (sigh...)

 

[CaneAlmighty]

If Wyche comes in and starts this is a top 10 defense. Else top 30.

Not sure if serious

Why wouldn't I be?
You yourself are calling them a top 30.
My premise for them being top 10 is based on Wyche coming in and taking someones job which would automatically raise the quality of the DL from average to above average to possibly solid depending on what type of disruptive force he becomes.
The defense is pretty much set at all positions with above average to elite talent. LB's and DB's are full of studs. McCord is ready to become an top Pass rusher. AQM can be adequate at it. Now imagine adding a disruptive DT?
This leaves Golden and D'onforio's coaching which I think they figured out.
Defense was playing fast and aggressive this spring unlike the last 3 springs. So I have an overall good feel for the defense.

And I haven't taken into account how the offense will be able to better control the ball and convert more on 3rd downs.
If they get to to 45% or over in 3rd down conversion they would possess the ball over 30 minutes which would have an overall positive impact on defensive numbers.
I did an analysis after this season of how converting 3rd downs at a 45% rate would have made allowed the offense to hold the ball 5 minutes more per game to get 30 minutes per game which is the national average. Had they done this the total yards allowed would have been in the 365 per game range putting us at round a top 40 defense.

 

[DNordy]

Let's hope Wyche is who we think he is

 

[OBLIVION]

As stated, it can't get much worse.

Out with a bunch of cardboard standees, and in with with some guys who have some real talent.

The question mark on how much better still lands at the DL feet.

If they can quit with the line dancing party. They seem to have going every week. With the opposing OL. We could see a huge improvement.

Not ready to put a number by them, as to where i see them finishing, at the present moment.

 

[AUcane]

We'll be better, that's for sure. There's no more excuses. We're now fielding a unit full of kids that everybody in the country wanted.

Pretty much where I am at. Scheme, DC, depth....whatever. The roster is solid, very good in some spots. We lost basically nothing but dead weight.

Teams would kill to have an athlete like Antonio Crawford as their 5th best CB. Safety and outside rush depth is much improved. There's athletes everywhere, and the emergence of Kirby would be huge.

Yep, it's basically addition by subtraction. KR3, AJH, Gaines, Green are all guys - God bless them - who were marginal athletes on the field and are being replaced by big time athletes at those positions. You have guys like AQM, McCord, Figs, Bush, Carter, Jenkins, Crawford 1/2, et al who will now get much more PT - those guys are serious athletes.

There's really no excuse for this defense not to be top 50.

 

[Consigliere]

As stated, it can't get much worse.

Out with a bunch of cardboard standees, and in with with some guys who have some real talent.

The question mark on how much better still lands at the DL feet.

If they can quit with the line dancing party. They seem to have going every week. With the opposing OL. We could see a huge improvement.

Not ready to put a number by them, as to where i see them finishing, at the present moment.

truth.org

 

[themonsta15]

I think you just have to look up the offenses and talent the D will face and not worry about rankings…how do we stack up to everyone on our schedule is the key

 

[GonzoCane]

Looks to be more talent on the defensive side of the ball. But the fish rots from the head down. When the D Coordinator says **** like "yards don't matter" the defense goes out and plays like it, promptly giving up 500 a game. Jerome Brown has got to be rolling in his grave. When giving up a foot starts to matter to the guy running the stop troops, then we'll have something.

 

[Bigtip]

Players are in top 20 or so. Coaching is the question. Will they add or subtract to the natural talent and hard work of the players. This year will answer the question what the problem is-- talent or coaching?

coaching isnt a question mark anymore. that has been answered with a resounding THESE COACHES SUCK

 

[Deleted User]

As sad as it is, if the Offense improved it's 3rd down conversion rate by 10% and the defense gave up 10% fewer 3rd down conversions, you would probably see a decent jump in time of possession, total defense and scoring defense. Thats basically getting 1-2 more conversions per game and 1-2 more stops a game on 3rd down. Third down has been a MAJOR issue for both sides of the ball the last 2 years. ****, FSuck converted 3 third down plays on each of their first two touchdown drives. Whether it was the scheme, broken assignments or missed tackles, getting off the field on third downs seemed **** near impossible. ****, I'd spend half of fall camp, on both sides of the ball, working on third down situations: short, medium, and long distances. I'd have set percentages that each would need to convert/deny depending on distance, and for each unit that didn't reach their mark they would hate their ******* life for the rest of ******* practice. Every time they fail on third down, these guys need to feel like someone punched their mothers and spat on her as she was lying on the ground. I also think the winning coordinator and position coaches should actually punch the losing coordinator and position coaches in the ******* gut. At least be ******* accountable for this 3rd down **** we have to watch every ******* week.

 

[DaU83]

If we get good play from the DTs, and good pressure on the QB, we will be markedly better. We have more talented guys on the field this year, with that much more experience in the system.

 

[westcoastcanes]

I think it is unreasonable to expect a bigger jump than from 2012 to 2013 based on the talent shuffle on defense. The safety position obviously has more raw talent, but there are people talking about depending on a DT that isn't even on campus yet.

I also think it is unreasonable to expect the offense to be significantly better with olsen and the O-line losses than morris until we see otherwise (and we haven't yet). At best we will improve about 30 spots and be in the mid 50's if duke stays healthy enough to move the chains for the whole year. Hopefully I am wrong.