forums

Ben Bradley, what are our

Advertisement
Wow, missed that. With no impact DT, we can expect moderate improvement, nothing more. Was hoping out D would drop to holding teams to low 20's. Not a chance with same
Personnel coming back on the dline. Shame.
 
Advertisement
immars said:
Wow, missed that. With no impact DT, we can expect moderate improvement, nothing more. Was hoping out D would drop to holding teams to low 20's. Not a chance with same
Personnel coming back on the dline. Shame.
Click to expand...

I maybe overly optimistic here, but a i expect much more than just a moderate improvement, if Porter comes back. Pierre is heading into his 3rd year, about the time most DTs actually make an impact. Up to this point I feel Pierre has been **** good considering the circumstances, and this is the year I feel he emerges. Now keep in mind I dont expect him to emerge as the next Suh or Sapp, but a solid solid kid that will make a big difference. Then I also expect Ivery to step up and have a year similar to what Pierre had, nothing impressive but will make his fair share of plays. Now if Luther actually plays I feel he is worth 15 solid snaps a game. At DE, I expect McCord to make a bigger impact with getting to the QB, and Bond will give us a great change of pace. Now this is hardly a recipe for a championship caliber defense, but it should be a major improvement over what we saw last year, and at the end of the day we play in the ACC. You couple that with our offense, and there is no reason we should not win atleast 9.
 
bobbydigius said:
immars said:
Wow, missed that. With no impact DT, we can expect moderate improvement, nothing more. Was hoping out D would drop to holding teams to low 20's. Not a chance with same
Personnel coming back on the dline. Shame.
Click to expand...

I maybe overly optimistic here, but a i expect much more than just a moderate improvement, if Porter comes back. Pierre is heading into his 3rd year, about the time most DTs actually make an impact. Up to this point I feel Pierre has been **** good considering the circumstances, and this is the year I feel he emerges. Now keep in mind I dont expect him to emerge as the next Suh or Sapp, but a solid solid kid that will make a big difference. Then I also expect Ivery to step up and have a year similar to what Pierre had, nothing impressive but will make his fair share of plays. Now if Luther actually plays I feel he is worth 15 solid snaps a game. At DE, I expect McCord to make a bigger impact with getting to the QB, and Bond will give us a great change of pace. Now this is hardly a recipe for a championship caliber defense, but it should be a major improvement over what we saw last year, and at the end of the day we play in the ACC. You couple that with our offense, and there is no reason we should not win atleast 9.
Click to expand...
Agreed. The guys already on the team improving will have more impact than almost any first year player could have.
 
immars you do understand that we played several true freshmen at DT last season. Those kids will get bigger and better, and our defense will get better as well. The key for next season is Porter.

immars said:
Wow, missed that. With no impact DT, we can expect moderate improvement, nothing more. Was hoping out D would drop to holding teams to low 20's. Not a chance with same
Personnel coming back on the dline. Shame.
Click to expand...
 
Advertisement
cowboycane said:
Nope. We saw everyone's ceiling this year. Freshmen never improve.
Click to expand...

People might see your post and miss the sarcasm, at least I hope it is sarcasm.

To think that our Freshman and first year Dline players last year will not improve is ludicrous. I've said this before on my short time on this site, but to expect an incoming Freshman or JUCO transfer to seamlessly make the transition to big time College football wishful thinking. To think a Freshman DT will come in and absolutely dominate, well that is just dreaming because it may happen once a decade. Players may be stars 3 years into playing but most look pretty lost their first time out. I'm not talking about running backs or wide receivers, but linemen, lb's, db's, qb's.
I'd be ecstatic if we don't start any freshmen next year. If we do start a freshman next year then that just means we are still not a championship level team.
 
Genuinely appreciate the analysis and breakdown.

I guess I am a bit cautious in my outlook. I will agree with a few points mentioned above: there has to be improvement, freshmen and even some juco's do not make immediate impact on the DL.

My "on the fence" stance is because: Unless we see a complete different 3G (losing some weight, getting more speed) we cannot expect a MAJOR pass rush form that side of the line right? Can Pierre make that big of a jump???

I looked at some stats after giving an imaginary goal. Last year's D was remarkably better then this year's even though the players had to learn a whole new system in less then a year. In 2011 our D was giving up 20.8 pts per game - compared to 30.5 in 2012. In 2011 we gave up 359 yards per game, in 2012 we gave up 486 per game. Total defense rank in 2011 - 45, in 2012 #121. In comparison to the better defenses this year: Kansas St. gave up 21 pts per game, ND gave up a crazy 10 pts per game, and Ohio St. gave up 22.8 pts per game.

Why all those numbers? cause the "goal" i mentioned earlier, in my mind, is that if our D can equate the performance of 2011, then I believe we can potentially win every game. In 2011, the 359 yards per game an 20.8 are consistent with this year's numbers...Oio state gave up 359 yards per game and also held the opponents to low 20's at 22.8. My point??? that my imaginary goal of keeping teams to the 20-22 pts per game and about 300-350 yards per game WITH THE POTENTIAL of our offense gives us an amazing chance of running away with it. Of winning a ton of games.

But all depends on the Dline. That is why I was/am so skeptical as to what our current players can do/will do based on what we have seen. I agree, Mccord looks to be a super star and Bond may allow us to quicken throws, 3rd and longs, 3 and outs, and TO's. Porter has proven to be a difference maker. But I just don't see such a huge jump. I looked at Temple's numbers on D. In 2006 they gave up 41.3 pts per game. In 2007 - 26.25. In 2008 - 23.25. Our defense is stuck in between year two and year three with their defense. Add the intangibles: more athleticism, a higher quality player. And I guess we really should see a bigger improvement with our D. Not sure we will have this kind of jump - although I am hoping for it of course - but ND in 2011 was giving up 20.7 pts per game...in 2012 they shrunk that to 10.3 !!!!!

In any case, those are my concerns and analysis. Yes there has to be improvement. Just how much I am not so sure.
 
Another person that I also expect to really step up next year is 3G. He was put in a horrible spot this year by our fans and team. The kid had to shoulder to big of a load and he wasnt yet ready physically coming off a good freshman campaign, on top of that our horrible class that Al had to cut and paste in a month made him one of the only bright spots on paper along with Perryman. That to go along with his MVP performance in the all star game opposite of the freak Clowney made fan's expectations way to high. Chicklillo is not an elite guy but he can be a very solid player for us, and I expect that to happen next year.

Chickillo, Pierre, Porter, McCord is a pretty **** solid DL for ACC standards, the question is gonna be who else can step up to in the 2 deep. A Juco DE and DT would do wonders here next year. Remember we hit rock bottom it can only get better from here.
 
Advertisement
Back
Top