Changing the defensive scheme WITH D'Oonofrio.

[fivecent]

With Jimmy we were in 4-3 over like Michigan State, when Butch came back from the cowboys we shifted more to the Under. Now a days we run a lot of cover 3 and cover 4. I don't know how much pattern matching we do but I know we do some from the interviews after one of the losses where the players were saying they were cutting someone loose and nobody picked them up

i stand corrected

 

[poncho0091]

If the defense starts doing better because of a scheme change, they will use that as ammo to say it was the talent level. How about you play the scheme and stop blaming the talent. If the scheme works then we will see players out of position. As it is right now, the players position is so far away from the ball,that it doesn't matter what they do. These players are never going to learn anything the way our defense is played.

If we never improve, how long are they going to keep blaming the players?

 

[Jmhcane]

If we get valentine, Thomas,and wyche we'll be fine. Our problem has been consistent pressure on the quarterback. We have a bunch of rejects on our line this past year and it showed. Some adjustments obviously need to be made in terms of different blitz packages but just the talent should help significantly I believe

I think there will be changes because I do NOT think they are stupid (or brilliant) but stubborn. The finish to the season has to open their eyes.
Tackling still has been a problem that doesn't make sense at this level. Kevin ***an or Leavitt have been mentioned, but how come Barrow can't teach this?

 

[WestEndZone]

In case you guys haven't noticed, Golden and Dorito are incapable of coaching a competent defense that doesn't involve their scheme. They are a one trick pony that are only comfortable with their philosophy. Wait 5 years when most of the players are seniors. Then you will see the fruit of their mediocre labor.

We saw those fruits the 1st half of the bowl game. Also G&D run a 4-3 under on 3rd down, same 4-3 under Butch and Jimmy ran( although I have no clue whats going on in the secondary). I am disappointed too about the performance the last 3 years but I see hope with the 1st half performance in the bowl game and the incoming recruiting class.

Jimmy and Butch based their defenses on quarters coverage. It was something between classic cover 4 and cover 2. Many schools use "other" terms to describe this coverage like cover blue, read 2, palms, etc.

The coverage they used was based on pattern reads. Any pattern read based coverage really ends up being man coverage after the routes have been dealt. We have never been known to be a man coverage (with help) team like some people like to believe. We run the same stuff today (along with other stuff). Everyone runs it.

The coverage can be tweaked in many ways, it can be soft or hard -- whatever. We like to play a soft quarters when we do actually use it. Remember T. Howard's pick during the UF game? That was a textbook quarters read. He skated with the #1 receiver, while keeping his eyes on #2, broke on the pattern and made a play on the ball.

People don't understand that you can't base out of a 2 man coverage. You're going to get murdered in the run game, especially when the quarterback is a threat. It's mostly used on pass downs. 43 man coverage teams usually base out of an under front, coupled with cover 1 or "man free" in the back. (outside leverage man with help in the middle). Teams like USC and UF (charlie strong) made this famous.

A lot of people lose sleep on scheme "problems," and I just think it's silly. Pretty much everyone runs the same stuff. The biggest problem is execution ,TALENT and DEPTH. That falls on the players, coach, and recruiting -- everybody. It's unfair to scapegoat one dude. He can't possibly be that bad of a coach. There have to be other problem areas.

 

[hharvey09]

WestEndzone I would like to see us go more over front. More of an aggressive under/over defense with corners pressed in cover 1 and 3 pattern match behind it. Mix in some quarters and two, with some 3 deep/3 under zone blitz. What would you like to see?

 

[WestEndZone]

WestEndzone I would like to see us go more over front. More of an aggressive under/over defense with corners pressed in cover 1 and 3 pattern match behind it. Mix in some quarters and two, with some 3 deep/3 under zone blitz. What would you like to see?

I really don't care too much. It's actually been nice to see us in odd fronts. We look a lot more like Howard's teams --different is good sometimes. It's been a much more stimulating experience this year.

I would love to see that pattern read Cover 3 too. Saban call it rip/liz match. It's really just cover 3 to the field and man coverage to the boundary. We don't have the personnel for that yet. Of course 3deep/3under fire zone goes perfectly with that too.

At lot of teams are doing 4 underneath 2 deep these days, that's pretty cool to see. That would go well out of a 2 shell look. I think we need to be multiple. We need to run coverages that suit our personnel. I just don't think we're good enough yet to do those advanced things. We're going to be simple-stupid for another year, I think.

 

[fivecent]

If the defense starts doing better because of a scheme change, they will use that as ammo to say it was the talent level. How about you play the scheme and stop blaming the talent. If the scheme works then we will see players out of position. As it is right now, the players position is so far away from the ball,that it doesn't matter what they do. These players are never going to learn anything the way our defense is played.

If we never improve, how long are they going to keep blaming the players?

You obviously didn't watch the 1st half of the bowl game. We did improve. Although its one game, there is hope. The biggest concern is the new/unproven players that we will have to play next year.

 

[DaU83]

our defense will continue to improve as the players improve, next year our better players will be Juniors and Sophomores as opposed to sophomores and freshman, that will help.

 

[Jmhcane]

In case you guys haven't noticed, Golden and Dorito are incapable of coaching a competent defense that doesn't involve their scheme. They are a one trick pony that are only comfortable with their philosophy. Wait 5 years when most of the players are seniors. Then you will see the fruit of their mediocre labor.

We saw those fruits the 1st half of the bowl game. Also G&D run a 4-3 under on 3rd down, same 4-3 under Butch and Jimmy ran( although I have no clue whats going on in the secondary). I am disappointed too about the performance the last 3 years but I see hope with the 1st half performance in the bowl game and the incoming recruiting class.

Jimmy and Butch based their defenses on quarters coverage. It was something between classic cover 4 and cover 2. Many schools use "other" terms to describe this coverage like cover blue, read 2, palms, etc.

The coverage they used was based on pattern reads. Any pattern read based coverage really ends up being man coverage after the routes have been dealt. We have never been known to be a man coverage (with help) team like some people like to believe. We run the same stuff today (along with other stuff). Everyone runs it.

The coverage can be tweaked in many ways, it can be soft or hard -- whatever. We like to play a soft quarters when we do actually use it. Remember T. Howard's pick during the UF game? That was a textbook quarters read. He skated with the #1 receiver, while keeping his eyes on #2, broke on the pattern and made a play on the ball.

People don't understand that you can't base out of a 2 man coverage. You're going to get murdered in the run game, especially when the quarterback is a threat. It's mostly used on pass downs. 43 man coverage teams usually base out of an under front, coupled with cover 1 or "man free" in the back. (outside leverage man with help in the middle). Teams like USC and UF (charlie strong) made this famous.

A lot of people lose sleep on scheme "problems," and I just think it's silly. Pretty much everyone runs the same stuff. The biggest problem is execution ,TALENT and DEPTH. That falls on the players, coach, and recruiting -- everybody. It's unfair to scapegoat one dude. He can't possibly be that bad of a coach. There have to be other problem areas.

WEZ, did you ever go by the name Dynasty on Grassy?

Is this a case of football IQ lacking with our D and is it something we could reasonably correct?

 

[WestEndZone]

In case you guys haven't noticed, Golden and Dorito are incapable of coaching a competent defense that doesn't involve their scheme. They are a one trick pony that are only comfortable with their philosophy. Wait 5 years when most of the players are seniors. Then you will see the fruit of their mediocre labor.

We saw those fruits the 1st half of the bowl game. Also G&D run a 4-3 under on 3rd down, same 4-3 under Butch and Jimmy ran( although I have no clue whats going on in the secondary). I am disappointed too about the performance the last 3 years but I see hope with the 1st half performance in the bowl game and the incoming recruiting class.

Jimmy and Butch based their defenses on quarters coverage. It was something between classic cover 4 and cover 2. Many schools use "other" terms to describe this coverage like cover blue, read 2, palms, etc.

The coverage they used was based on pattern reads. Any pattern read based coverage really ends up being man coverage after the routes have been dealt. We have never been known to be a man coverage (with help) team like some people like to believe. We run the same stuff today (along with other stuff). Everyone runs it.

The coverage can be tweaked in many ways, it can be soft or hard -- whatever. We like to play a soft quarters when we do actually use it. Remember T. Howard's pick during the UF game? That was a textbook quarters read. He skated with the #1 receiver, while keeping his eyes on #2, broke on the pattern and made a play on the ball.

People don't understand that you can't base out of a 2 man coverage. You're going to get murdered in the run game, especially when the quarterback is a threat. It's mostly used on pass downs. 43 man coverage teams usually base out of an under front, coupled with cover 1 or "man free" in the back. (outside leverage man with help in the middle). Teams like USC and UF (charlie strong) made this famous.

A lot of people lose sleep on scheme "problems," and I just think it's silly. Pretty much everyone runs the same stuff. The biggest problem is execution ,TALENT and DEPTH. That falls on the players, coach, and recruiting -- everybody. It's unfair to scapegoat one dude. He can't possibly be that bad of a coach. There have to be other problem areas.

WEZ, did you ever go by the name Dynasty on Grassy?

Is this a case of football IQ lacking with our D and is it something we could reasonably correct?

Nope, not those.

I think our biggest problem currently is experience. We have way too many young kids playing right now to be successful. The football IQ thing, I think, comes down to recruiting. Sometimes a kid gets recruited simply because he's a supreme athlete. It's up to the coaches to find the football players that'll make plays for you. I think that the biggest playmakers on this defense are the young guys. That's promising.

 

[DuffleBagYoda]

If we get valentine, Thomas,and wyche we'll be fine. Our problem has been consistent pressure on the quarterback. We have a bunch of rejects on our line this past year and it showed. Some adjustments obviously need to be made in terms of different blitz packages but just the talent should help significantly I believe

I think there will be changes because I do NOT think they are stupid (or brilliant) but stubborn. The finish to the season has to open their eyes.
Tackling still has been a problem that doesn't make sense at this level. Kevin ***an or Leavitt have been mentioned, but how come Barrow can't teach this?

I honestly don't think they tackle a lot in practice during the season.

 

[sstcane]

This is good football talk. I would add in some 2-4 and 1-5 psycho formations with players moving around to cause
Pre-snap confusion for the QB.

1-5
DT with AQM, McCord, Figueroa, Perryman and Chad Thomas moving around and bring 4-6 guys.

Louisville did this and there we're plays where guys got in the backfield untouched.

As far as the secondary - I think there will be a big jump this season. Guys have played together,
are upperclassmen and should communicate better.

The biggest problem this year was the LB's. They were terrible at reading the run, took themselves out
Of plays, missed tackles etc. hopefully Perryman stays and guys like Figs and Kirby step up. Grace will
hopefully be the nickel backer and be much better than Cornelius.

I still want to see a new DC here next year. D'Onofrio has never impressed me with his playbook, game
planning and adjustments.

 

[NVA CANE]

In case you guys haven't noticed, Golden and Dorito are incapable of coaching a competent defense that doesn't involve their scheme. They are a one trick pony that are only comfortable with their philosophy. Wait 5 years when most of the players are seniors. Then you will see the fruit of their mediocre labor.

We saw those fruits the 1st half of the bowl game. Also G&D run a 4-3 under on 3rd down, same 4-3 under Butch and Jimmy ran( although I have no clue whats going on in the secondary). I am disappointed too about the performance the last 3 years but I see hope with the 1st half performance in the bowl game and the incoming recruiting class.

So not forcing a punt or a turnover in that whole first half was an acceptable performance for you? Why because we didn't let them score that many points? How many yards did UL allow our offense in comparison in that first half. How many points? How many punts and turnovers did they force. Thats a real ******* defense. Don't tell me what we did in the first half was acceptable. It wasn't. You dumb asses are allowing Golden to lower your expectations of what a good defense is.

 

[fivecent]

In case you guys haven't noticed, Golden and Dorito are incapable of coaching a competent defense that doesn't involve their scheme. They are a one trick pony that are only comfortable with their philosophy. Wait 5 years when most of the players are seniors. Then you will see the fruit of their mediocre labor.

We saw those fruits the 1st half of the bowl game. Also G&D run a 4-3 under on 3rd down, same 4-3 under Butch and Jimmy ran( although I have no clue whats going on in the secondary). I am disappointed too about the performance the last 3 years but I see hope with the 1st half performance in the bowl game and the incoming recruiting class.

So not forcing a punt or a turnover in that whole first half was an acceptable performance for you? Why because we didn't let them score that many points? How many yards did UL allow our offense in comparison in that first half. How many points? How many punts and turnovers did they force. Thats a real ****ing defense. Don't tell me what we did in the first half was acceptable. It wasn't. You dumb asses are allowing Golden to lower your expectations of what a good defense is.

You guys don't give the other team enough credit. I haven't lowered my expectation, I just acknowledge that we were playing a very good offense with a great, number 1 overall draft pick Qb. Its rare to completely shut those guys down. Has Alabama ever shutdown Johnny football. Our defense held them in check for almost the entire 1st half. The guys were tackling and making stops at the line of scrimmage. We hadn't done that all year. If the offense did anything at all to allow the defense a break, the defense might have done ever better. All I',m saying is that in 1 half, of 1 game, when the guys were rested, I saw hope.

 

[813_jrock]

Question about Golden I've seen several post on this board that have said golden was to loyal to his upperclassmen and played them while there were some better younger players golden was making wait their turn, so with this great class coming to miami is going going to let them play early or is he going to make them sit and wait their turn for playing time behind upperclassmen

 

[Jmhcane]

Hopefully young guys will get some PT, but it sounds like part of the problem was being too dependent on them the year before. The point about good "football players" as opposed to great athletes is where Butch seemed to have a special talent.

 

[Pennmed Canefan]

In case you guys haven't noticed, Golden and Dorito are incapable of coaching a competent defense that doesn't involve their scheme. They are a one trick pony that are only comfortable with their philosophy. Wait 5 years when most of the players are seniors. Then you will see the fruit of their mediocre labor.

We saw those fruits the 1st half of the bowl game. Also G&D run a 4-3 under on 3rd down, same 4-3 under Butch and Jimmy ran( although I have no clue whats going on in the secondary). I am disappointed too about the performance the last 3 years but I see hope with the 1st half performance in the bowl game and the incoming recruiting class.

Jimmy and Butch based their defenses on quarters coverage. It was something between classic cover 4 and cover 2. Many schools use "other" terms to describe this coverage like cover blue, read 2, palms, etc.

The coverage they used was based on pattern reads. Any pattern read based coverage really ends up being man coverage after the routes have been dealt. We have never been known to be a man coverage (with help) team like some people like to believe. We run the same stuff today (along with other stuff). Everyone runs it.

The coverage can be tweaked in many ways, it can be soft or hard -- whatever. We like to play a soft quarters when we do actually use it. Remember T. Howard's pick during the UF game? That was a textbook quarters read. He skated with the #1 receiver, while keeping his eyes on #2, broke on the pattern and made a play on the ball.

People don't understand that you can't base out of a 2 man coverage. You're going to get murdered in the run game, especially when the quarterback is a threat. It's mostly used on pass downs. 43 man coverage teams usually base out of an under front, coupled with cover 1 or "man free" in the back. (outside leverage man with help in the middle). Teams like USC and UF (charlie strong) made this famous.

A lot of people lose sleep on scheme "problems," and I just think it's silly. Pretty much everyone runs the same stuff. The biggest problem is execution ,TALENT and DEPTH. That falls on the players, coach, and recruiting -- everybody. It's unfair to scapegoat one dude. He can't possibly be that bad of a coach. There have to be other problem areas.

WEZ, did you ever go by the name Dynasty on Grassy?

Is this a case of football IQ lacking with our D and is it something we could reasonably correct?

Nope, not those.

I think our biggest problem currently is experience. We have way too many young kids playing right now to be successful. The football IQ thing, I think, comes down to recruiting. Sometimes a kid gets recruited simply because he's a supreme athlete. It's up to the coaches to find the football players that'll make plays for you. I think that the biggest playmakers on this defense are the young guys. That's promising.

I've agreed with a lot of what you have said and I think we have the same viewpoint that scheme is somewhat overrated and that Dono isn't inventing some fatally-flawed defense that nobody else has ever played. I do take issue with this post. I think our principle problem has been a lack of execution and not experience this year. The guys that we played this year are actually quite experienced and in fact that is how we justified them playing and others sitting. As it relates to the thread, this is my primary concern. Dono/Golden may WANT to do a lot of things, but they have yet to show that they can do one thing consistently well. Until we see that, what they want to do does not matter and they'll either fail badly or be forced to scale back. We do have issues with talent and depth, but I have yet to see older players execute at a level that has given me any faith.

 

[WestEndZone]

We saw those fruits the 1st half of the bowl game. Also G&D run a 4-3 under on 3rd down, same 4-3 under Butch and Jimmy ran( although I have no clue whats going on in the secondary). I am disappointed too about the performance the last 3 years but I see hope with the 1st half performance in the bowl game and the incoming recruiting class.

Jimmy and Butch based their defenses on quarters coverage. It was something between classic cover 4 and cover 2. Many schools use "other" terms to describe this coverage like cover blue, read 2, palms, etc.

The coverage they used was based on pattern reads. Any pattern read based coverage really ends up being man coverage after the routes have been dealt. We have never been known to be a man coverage (with help) team like some people like to believe. We run the same stuff today (along with other stuff). Everyone runs it.

The coverage can be tweaked in many ways, it can be soft or hard -- whatever. We like to play a soft quarters when we do actually use it. Remember T. Howard's pick during the UF game? That was a textbook quarters read. He skated with the #1 receiver, while keeping his eyes on #2, broke on the pattern and made a play on the ball.

People don't understand that you can't base out of a 2 man coverage. You're going to get murdered in the run game, especially when the quarterback is a threat. It's mostly used on pass downs. 43 man coverage teams usually base out of an under front, coupled with cover 1 or "man free" in the back. (outside leverage man with help in the middle). Teams like USC and UF (charlie strong) made this famous.

A lot of people lose sleep on scheme "problems," and I just think it's silly. Pretty much everyone runs the same stuff. The biggest problem is execution ,TALENT and DEPTH. That falls on the players, coach, and recruiting -- everybody. It's unfair to scapegoat one dude. He can't possibly be that bad of a coach. There have to be other problem areas.

WEZ, did you ever go by the name Dynasty on Grassy?

Is this a case of football IQ lacking with our D and is it something we could reasonably correct?

Nope, not those.

I think our biggest problem currently is experience. We have way too many young kids playing right now to be successful. The football IQ thing, I think, comes down to recruiting. Sometimes a kid gets recruited simply because he's a supreme athlete. It's up to the coaches to find the football players that'll make plays for you. I think that the biggest playmakers on this defense are the young guys. That's promising.

I've agreed with a lot of what you have said and I think we have the same viewpoint that scheme is somewhat overrated and that Dono isn't inventing some fatally-flawed defense that nobody else has ever played. I do take issue with this post. I think our principle problem has been a lack of execution and not experience this year. The guys that we played this year are actually quite experienced and in fact that is how we justified them playing and others sitting. As it relates to the thread, this is my primary concern. Dono/Golden may WANT to do a lot of things, but they have yet to show that they can do one thing consistently well. Until we see that, what they want to do does not matter and they'll either fail badly or be forced to scale back. We do have issues with talent and depth, but I have yet to see older players execute at a level that has given me any faith.

We did have a good number of seniors playing at times. They didn't execute well. You're right.

I might be missing some but:
Shayon Green
Curtis Porter
Jimmy Gaines
AJ Highsmith
Kacy Rodgers
Tyrone Cornelius

I consider all of them to be starters in some capacity. They also all suck major ****. Only Gaines really had steady playing time over his career.

Can you say the same about our Junior class? I think not. I think the juniors have the same or more experience than our senior class. Those guys have been playing since they were true freshmen. Next year we're going to have a decent, but very small senior class. It should be better the year after that.

I'm not sold either. Far from it. I just think that we need to reserve judgment until we turn back into a well rounded program. Right now our talent and numbers are very bottom heavy.

 

[Pennmed Canefan]

Jimmy and Butch based their defenses on quarters coverage. It was something between classic cover 4 and cover 2. Many schools use "other" terms to describe this coverage like cover blue, read 2, palms, etc.

The coverage they used was based on pattern reads. Any pattern read based coverage really ends up being man coverage after the routes have been dealt. We have never been known to be a man coverage (with help) team like some people like to believe. We run the same stuff today (along with other stuff). Everyone runs it.

The coverage can be tweaked in many ways, it can be soft or hard -- whatever. We like to play a soft quarters when we do actually use it. Remember T. Howard's pick during the UF game? That was a textbook quarters read. He skated with the #1 receiver, while keeping his eyes on #2, broke on the pattern and made a play on the ball.

People don't understand that you can't base out of a 2 man coverage. You're going to get murdered in the run game, especially when the quarterback is a threat. It's mostly used on pass downs. 43 man coverage teams usually base out of an under front, coupled with cover 1 or "man free" in the back. (outside leverage man with help in the middle). Teams like USC and UF (charlie strong) made this famous.

A lot of people lose sleep on scheme "problems," and I just think it's silly. Pretty much everyone runs the same stuff. The biggest problem is execution ,TALENT and DEPTH. That falls on the players, coach, and recruiting -- everybody. It's unfair to scapegoat one dude. He can't possibly be that bad of a coach. There have to be other problem areas.

WEZ, did you ever go by the name Dynasty on Grassy?

Is this a case of football IQ lacking with our D and is it something we could reasonably correct?

Nope, not those.

I think our biggest problem currently is experience. We have way too many young kids playing right now to be successful. The football IQ thing, I think, comes down to recruiting. Sometimes a kid gets recruited simply because he's a supreme athlete. It's up to the coaches to find the football players that'll make plays for you. I think that the biggest playmakers on this defense are the young guys. That's promising.

I've agreed with a lot of what you have said and I think we have the same viewpoint that scheme is somewhat overrated and that Dono isn't inventing some fatally-flawed defense that nobody else has ever played. I do take issue with this post. I think our principle problem has been a lack of execution and not experience this year. The guys that we played this year are actually quite experienced and in fact that is how we justified them playing and others sitting. As it relates to the thread, this is my primary concern. Dono/Golden may WANT to do a lot of things, but they have yet to show that they can do one thing consistently well. Until we see that, what they want to do does not matter and they'll either fail badly or be forced to scale back. We do have issues with talent and depth, but I have yet to see older players execute at a level that has given me any faith.

We did have a good number of seniors playing at times. They didn't execute well. You're right.

I might be missing some but:
Shayon Green
Curtis Porter
Jimmy Gaines
AJ Highsmith
Kacy Rodgers
Tyrone Cornelius

I consider all of them to be starters in some capacity. They also all suck major ****. Only Gaines really had steady playing time over his career.

Can you say the same about our Junior class? I think not. I think the juniors have the same or more experience than our senior class. Those guys have been playing since they were true freshmen. Next year we're going to have a decent, but very small senior class. It should be better the year after that.

I'm not sold either. Far from it. I just think that we need to reserve judgment until we turn back into a well rounded program. Right now our talent and numbers are very bottom heavy.

The problem is that some of these supposedly more talented guys are not playing. We are forced to assume that they are not playing because they cannot execute the playbook. So how long will it take before we can expect anything but a bottom-dwelling defense? Next year we'll be playing guys like McCord and Kirby and Carter that aren't good enough to play now. We'll be supplementing that with a host of freshmen who will apparently take 2+ years to understand and execute the defense since experience has supposedly been an issue and guys like McCord and Kirby aren't playing in their second year. Reality is that this defense has done nothing to give us any hope. The older guys can't execute and the younger guys can't beat them out. In another year, we'll have older guys who can't execute, and younger guys who are too young to beat them out (supposedly).

It's all execution to me. If experience would fix it, the old guys would've executed. They couldn't do so as I saw it. Dono himself said that he's seen a lack of execution since he's been here. Why should we expect anything different year 4?

 

[WestEndZone]

WEZ, did you ever go by the name Dynasty on Grassy?

Is this a case of football IQ lacking with our D and is it something we could reasonably correct?

Nope, not those.

I think our biggest problem currently is experience. We have way too many young kids playing right now to be successful. The football IQ thing, I think, comes down to recruiting. Sometimes a kid gets recruited simply because he's a supreme athlete. It's up to the coaches to find the football players that'll make plays for you. I think that the biggest playmakers on this defense are the young guys. That's promising.

I've agreed with a lot of what you have said and I think we have the same viewpoint that scheme is somewhat overrated and that Dono isn't inventing some fatally-flawed defense that nobody else has ever played. I do take issue with this post. I think our principle problem has been a lack of execution and not experience this year. The guys that we played this year are actually quite experienced and in fact that is how we justified them playing and others sitting. As it relates to the thread, this is my primary concern. Dono/Golden may WANT to do a lot of things, but they have yet to show that they can do one thing consistently well. Until we see that, what they want to do does not matter and they'll either fail badly or be forced to scale back. We do have issues with talent and depth, but I have yet to see older players execute at a level that has given me any faith.

We did have a good number of seniors playing at times. They didn't execute well. You're right.

I might be missing some but:
Shayon Green
Curtis Porter
Jimmy Gaines
AJ Highsmith
Kacy Rodgers
Tyrone Cornelius

I consider all of them to be starters in some capacity. They also all suck major ****. Only Gaines really had steady playing time over his career.

Can you say the same about our Junior class? I think not. I think the juniors have the same or more experience than our senior class. Those guys have been playing since they were true freshmen. Next year we're going to have a decent, but very small senior class. It should be better the year after that.

I'm not sold either. Far from it. I just think that we need to reserve judgment until we turn back into a well rounded program. Right now our talent and numbers are very bottom heavy.

The problem is that some of these supposedly more talented guys are not playing. We are forced to assume that they are not playing because they cannot execute the playbook. So how long will it take before we can expect anything but a bottom-dwelling defense? Next year we'll be playing guys like McCord and Kirby and Carter that aren't good enough to play now. We'll be supplementing that with a host of freshmen who will apparently take 2+ years to understand and execute the defense since experience has supposedly been an issue and guys like McCord and Kirby aren't playing in their second year. Reality is that this defense has done nothing to give us any hope. The older guys can't execute and the younger guys can't beat them out. In another year, we'll have older guys who can't execute, and younger guys who are too young to beat them out (supposedly).

It's all execution to me. If experience would fix it, the old guys would've executed. They couldn't do so as I saw it. Dono himself said that he's seen a lack of execution since he's been here. Why should we expect anything different year 4?

I think execution and experience are somewhat connected. It's also up to the coach to understand the level of complexity that his players can handle. Maybe that's where DnO fails.

I've always been under the impression that Golden was never going to turn his back on the seniors. I'm not sure if he will keep doing that every year (which would suck major ***) or if it was just a byproduct of the NCAA investigation. He's made it seem like the latter.