Chad Thomas will play OLB: barry jackson sports buzz

[Coach Macho]

Told you guys years ago that this defense will never work down here. So far I've been right. Let's see if I'm eventually proven wrong.

The Grace situation is one of the reasons i pointed to. Majority of the stud athletes we recruit down here will take a couple years to contribute. Grace, Thomas, Smith, Moten, etc...are all guys who could contribute sooner if we were running something that catered to South Florida high school players.

There is no reason why Skai Moore can play at South Carolina as freshman (in the SEC) but Grace can't get on the field for us.

the goal was to redshirt grace. if it wasn't for ncaa Skai would have had that offer but grace and 6 were considered the best. if we got 6 no one would have cared. they were handcuffed and took a shot.

I'm not talking about Skai's offer. I'm talking about the fact that USC's scheme allows a player like Skai to contribute early while our scheme requires a similar player (Grace) to sit on the bench and "develop" for 2+ years.

In our old scheme Grace could get on the field right now, allowing us to field a faster defense with more play-makers. Instead we have to wait for this kid to get fattened up to 240lbs.

 

[fincane]

If he is filling the Cornileus role he'll be on the field before he gets to 240 and not just in third down situations because Cornileus wasn't just a guy that played in 3rd down situations.

 

[Coach Macho]

SDE - Chickillo? Thomas, Hamilton
3DT - Pierre, Kamalu, Moten, Chickillo?
1DT - Hart, Wyche
WDE - McCord, AQM, Harris

SLB - Figs
MLB - Perryman, Kirby
WLB - Grace



Obviously I'm leaving out a few guys but that's just an example. We'd be extremely fast and athletic with a group like that. Less thinking, more aggressive attacking. More speed on the field. Kids contributing early.

 

[Coach Macho]

If he is filling the Cornielus role he'll be on the field before he gets to 240 and not just in third down situations because Cornileus wasn't just a guy the that played in 3rd down situations.

Cornelius didn't belong in that role either. Another square peg.

 

[fincane]

If he is filling the Cornielus role he'll be on the field before he gets to 240 and not just in third down situations because Cornileus wasn't just a guy the that played in 3rd down situations.

Cornelius didn't belong in that role either. Another square peg.

I don't disagree.

 

[RiDLer80]

SDE - Chickillo? Thomas, Hamilton
3DT - Pierre, Kamalu, Moten, Chickillo?
1DT - Hart, Wyche
WDE - McCord, AQM, Harris

SLB - Figs
MLB - Perryman, Kirby
WLB - Grace



Obviously I'm leaving out a few guys but that's just an example. We'd be extremely fast and athletic with a group like that. Less thinking, more aggressive attacking. More speed on the field. Kids contributing early.

Preaching to the choir. This has been gone over so many times; different iterations of 4-3 vs 3-4 debates.

We just have more pieces that better fit the 4-3.

 

[hoover437]

The plan is for wyche and heurtoulu to play nt.

The NT position is so important. If one of them gets injured we are super-****ed.

True, but that can be said about a lot of positions on our team right now though…

Coley injured = we ****ed
Duke injured = we super ****ed
Flowers injured = we ****ed
Perryman injured = we super ****ed...

Can be said for a lot of teams...Hope we miss the injury bug this year...we are due.

 

[RiDLer80]

You are undervaluing special teams play. A common mistake for fans, but he was an important player on special teams most of the year.

We wasted a year of his eligibility. How many players have we complained about this happening to in recent years?

I bet come his senior year we're gonna be wishing he had another year of eligibility.

 

[JHallCanes]

If he is filling the Cornielus role he'll be on the field before he gets to 240 and not just in third down situations because Cornileus wasn't just a guy the that played in 3rd down situations.

Cornelius didn't belong in that role either. Another square peg.

It's getting old being the university of Miami and praising kids for playing hard but are clearly in over their heads

 

[NorthFlaCane]

he would be a monster weakside backer in a 4-3, like Darren Smith

McCord and AQM at 250 at 4-3 DE would also be a problem for defenses.

Not if they want to run the football with some double tight end sets

 

[RiDLer80]

he would be a monster weakside backer in a 4-3, like Darren Smith

McCord and AQM at 250 at 4-3 DE would also be a problem for defenses.

Not if they want to run the football with some double tight end sets

They wouldn't play at the same time. They'd both be WDEs and have a guy like Chick or Kamalu play opposite them at SDE.

LSU had one of the top defenses in the country when their DEs were 250 lb-ish Barkevious Mingo and Sam Montgomery. Both were very undersized at DE and played together. DEs don't have to be 260+

 

[cane since birth]

If he is filling the Cornielus role he'll be on the field before he gets to 240 and not just in third down situations because Cornileus wasn't just a guy the that played in 3rd down situations.

Cornelius didn't belong in that role either. Another square peg.

honestly cornelius wouldnt fit in any type of scheme ive never seen a dude make the worst angles and miss tackles in my life

 

[NorthFlaCane]

he would be a monster weakside backer in a 4-3, like Darren Smith

McCord and AQM at 250 at 4-3 DE would also be a problem for defenses.

Not if they want to run the football with some double tight end sets

They wouldn't play at the same time. They'd both be WDEs and have a guy like Chick or Kamalu play opposite them at SDE.

LSU had one of the top defenses in the country when their DEs were 250 lb-ish Barkevious Mingo and Sam Montgomery.

Yeah, but Alabama was able to control them at the LOS due to the lack of real size

Then again, Alabama was able to handle most everyone they played

I do like Kamalu at SDE, isn't his weight in the 280-290 range now? It's too bad Jelani Hamilton hasn't panned out, he would have fit there too

 

[NorthFlaCane]

If he is filling the Cornielus role he'll be on the field before he gets to 240 and not just in third down situations because Cornileus wasn't just a guy the that played in 3rd down situations.

Cornelius didn't belong in that role either. Another square peg.

honestly cornelius wouldnt fit in any type of scheme ive never seen a dude make the worst angles and miss tackles in my life

Cornelius was brought in to play WLB in Shannon's 4-3 defense. Which, generally speaking, is the same guy who stays on the field on passing downs due to his speed and coverage ability. Cornelius, obviously, wasn't cut out for this role even though he physically resembled what you'd want. Grace should be a definite upgrade.

 

[cane since birth]

but golden said the defense was going to be more aggressive this year!!!!!!!!

 

[UMFarArcher]

either way.....you have to be excited about how good this defense could be

Naw, not really.

I've seen what we've done the past three years, and we suck worse now than three years ago.

If Golden and D'Onofrio would send the defense several counties away to train on their own, we might have one vastly improved defense.

 

[RiDLer80]

either way.....you have to be excited about how good this defense could be

Naw, not really.

I've seen what we've done the past three years, and we suck worse now than three years ago.

If Golden and D'Onofrio would send the defense several counties away to train on their own, we might have one vastly improved defense.

It's funny that the best defense we've had under Golden was his first year here with all of Shannon's guys running the traditional Miami 4-3. Although it still had a lot of these soft bend-but-don't-break tendencies that Golden and No D love.

 

[NorthFlaCane]

3 things plagued the defense last year:

1. Being in position to make a play but failing to do so - AJ Highsmith is the poster child for this, followed closely by Jimmy Gaines
2. Lack of a pass rush - It was better than 2012, and we had a bad break when Devante Bond didn't make it into school, but still not what we needed
3. Players wide open underneath - this is the biggest complaint I have when we talk about "scheme" - it feels like our linebackers have no idea what they are doing

I think #1 should be addressed reasonably well. Our safeties should be a better overall group, linebackers too. We're not losing anyone in the back 7 that we will miss. #2 should also improve, but it's hard to say how much. McCord definitely improved (and can continue improving), and hopefully we see more development from Kamalu and Muhammed. #3 is the toughest one, I don't have any reason why that would improve.

Still, our defense should improve this year.

 

[String911]

I just want to see our "pass rush unit" recognize a screen pass, just once, in 2014. Screens and draws, screens and draws.

 

[wonderloaf]

Did anyone else catch this nugget?

"that leaves UM with four healthy backs: Gus Edwards (305 yards, 5.6 per carry last season), Walter Tucker (redshirted in 2013), former walk-on*DeAndre Johnson (the former Iowa scholarship player who had five rushes for*21 carries for UM last season) and Norland walk-on Quincy Casimir."

Did we award DeAndre Johnson a scholarship?