Full go with 3-4 Defense

[Hstokes1447]

From the Al quote, sounds like this team will be full time 3-4. Notice how there is no mention of AQM, Jackson, or Trent Harris as a DE's.

What has Golden seen out of the defensive line?

"Just deeper and stronger. That's the deepest we've been - no question. You've got Anthony Chickillo, Ufomba Kamalu, Jelani Hamilton and Chad Thomas mixing it in at end. Then you've got Kamalu playing on the other side as well with Olsen Pierre, Anthony Moten and Corey King. Then inside we've got a lot of guys rotating in there at nose - Earl Moore, Calvin Heurtelou, Mike Wyche and Courtel Jenkins. We're getting a lot more speed on the field then we have."

Also this photo of Chad Thomas and Demetrius Jackson playing on the same side is more evidence.

This looks like
WDE Olsen Pierre
SDE Chad Thomas
SAM Demetrius Jackson
There is also a NT being blocked that I can't make out


I am actually very excited about this, it gets more speed on the field as well as more natural pass rushers.

 

[PAL305]

I honestly don't care what type of defense we're running at this point, just get stops and make plays is all I ask.

 

[MIA42178]

I just want to eat crow
Don't care how

 

[frank1886]

We have the NT and the OLB's to run the 3-4 so I hope Golden runs it full time.

 

[AllbouttheU]

I just want to eat crow
Don't care how

lol great post

 

[Gatorhater]

I am not in love with 3 -4 because it requires more beef on our players and they tend to get slower. But if we are going to run it, then run it in the other teams backfield and not 8 yards down-field.

 

[CaneSince4Ever]

Per Golden, we're still gonna run both:

> Do you guys have the size and depth up front to play more 3-4 full time?

“We’ve never really been 3-4 full time," Golden said. "We’re in and out of it depending on situations. It’s become a game of situations. Everyone thinks it’s a game of four quarters, it’s really not, it’s a game of situations and when they go 10 or 11-personnel, three or four wides, excuse me, when they go three or four wides, we’re going to match up a lot of times. Sometimes that means put the nickel out there, so you might see Deon Bush, Crawford or Tracy in the slot, okay, then bring another corner in. If Deon goes down in the slot, we have a bigger guy that’s kind of like a sam in space and we bring a safety in. As it relates to the front, we’re in and out of fronts constantly. Sometimes we’ll be in an odd front which is 3-4 based, other times we’ll be in over or under front, which is 4-3 based. We have the flexibility now because we’re stronger at the point of attack, we’re the strongest we’ve been there. Again, seven guys over 30 reps, that’s a big number. That’s a big number. That was a lot of hard work by Swasey and those guys, great jobs by the guys up front doing that, now we’ve got to see it pay dividends for us.”

 

[FrancisSawyer]

I agree with the lizard hater. I'm not a big proponent of the 3-4 generally speaking but we have been recruiting and transitioning to this for 4 years now so let's do this and see what we've got.

Now that it seems we have the NTs and the Jack/OLB type pass rushers, lets let er rip. All I ask is for Dorito to turn these guys loose more. Let's use our athletes to create pressure. There is no excuse for guys like AQM, McCord, Perryman, Grace, Kirby, Thomas, Jackson, Bush and Carter not to be in postion to consistently make plays.

 

[MoSikes]

It's all about matchups. The players they've assembled can go from a 34 to a 43 in no time flat, so it makes the D harder to prep for. As an OL, the threat of looking at an odd front then seeing Thomas bump inside and Muhammad come down and line up as a wide rusher just moments before the snap would be terrifying.

 

[FrancisSawyer]

Per Golden, we're still gonna run both:

> Do you guys have the size and depth up front to play more 3-4 full time?

“We’ve never really been 3-4 full time," Golden said. "We’re in and out of it depending on situations. It’s become a game of situations. Everyone thinks it’s a game of four quarters, it’s really not, it’s a game of situations and when they go 10 or 11-personnel, three or four wides, excuse me, when they go three or four wides, we’re going to match up a lot of times. Sometimes that means put the nickel out there, so you might see Deon Bush, Crawford or Tracy in the slot, okay, then bring another corner in. If Deon goes down in the slot, we have a bigger guy that’s kind of like a sam in space and we bring a safety in. As it relates to the front, we’re in and out of fronts constantly. Sometimes we’ll be in an odd front which is 3-4 based, other times we’ll be in over or under front, which is 4-3 based. We have the flexibility now because we’re stronger at the point of attack, we’re the strongest we’ve been there. Again, seven guys over 30 reps, that’s a big number. That’s a big number. That was a lot of hard work by Swasey and those guys, great jobs by the guys up front doing that, now we’ve got to see it pay dividends for us.”

To me, the bolded part about being in and out of fronts constantly has been a major factor in terms of all the blown assignments we have seen. If I'm not mistaken, this means our front 7 must learn 2 different sets of gap responsibilities. With the NCAA limit on practice time, successfully installing such a defense is very ambitious and I've always been skeptical of it frim a practical standpoint.

Having said that, if they are able to somehow distill and integrate that defense into a practical college level format then it could be extremely effective.

 

[Cash]

We run a similar defense at my school. Last Friday we scrimmaged another team & first two drives we sat back & played conservative & gave up 110 yards & 2 TD's. Last two drives we blitzed hard (literally 90% of the time) & had 8 TFL's & 4 sacks. *Since it was a scrimmage we were running 11 play series, no 3 plays & punt*

Point being we need to be that aggressive nasty defense. We have enough really good athletes on the field now to be aggressive all the time.

 

[HurricaneU]

Mixed fronts are the norm now.

 

[Calinative]

Well at least this will mean there is no excuse if the D performs poorly. They finally will run THEIR defense, and have the players to completely do it (even though we still fit in the 43 scheme better). Honestly though, Our Defense hasn't looked this promising in a while.

 

[Geo305]

Per Golden, we're still gonna run both:

> Do you guys have the size and depth up front to play more 3-4 full time?

“We’ve never really been 3-4 full time," Golden said. "We’re in and out of it depending on situations. It’s become a game of situations. Everyone thinks it’s a game of four quarters, it’s really not, it’s a game of situations and when they go 10 or 11-personnel, three or four wides, excuse me, when they go three or four wides, we’re going to match up a lot of times. Sometimes that means put the nickel out there, so you might see Deon Bush, Crawford or Tracy in the slot, okay, then bring another corner in. If Deon goes down in the slot, we have a bigger guy that’s kind of like a sam in space and we bring a safety in. As it relates to the front, we’re in and out of fronts constantly. Sometimes we’ll be in an odd front which is 3-4 based, other times we’ll be in over or under front, which is 4-3 based. We have the flexibility now because we’re stronger at the point of attack, we’re the strongest we’ve been there. Again, seven guys over 30 reps, that’s a big number. That’s a big number. That was a lot of hard work by Swasey and those guys, great jobs by the guys up front doing that, now we’ve got to see it pay dividends for us.”

Called it. Was mentioned there in this by golden, said we would be be bringing in some nickel/safety role like a honey badger. Dallas and Deon are playing it.

 

[Gatorhater]

Per Golden, we're still gonna run both:

> Do you guys have the size and depth up front to play more 3-4 full time?

“We’ve never really been 3-4 full time," Golden said. "We’re in and out of it depending on situations. It’s become a game of situations. Everyone thinks it’s a game of four quarters, it’s really not, it’s a game of situations and when they go 10 or 11-personnel, three or four wides, excuse me, when they go three or four wides, we’re going to match up a lot of times. Sometimes that means put the nickel out there, so you might see Deon Bush, Crawford or Tracy in the slot, okay, then bring another corner in. If Deon goes down in the slot, we have a bigger guy that’s kind of like a sam in space and we bring a safety in. As it relates to the front, we’re in and out of fronts constantly. Sometimes we’ll be in an odd front which is 3-4 based, other times we’ll be in over or under front, which is 4-3 based. We have the flexibility now because we’re stronger at the point of attack, we’re the strongest we’ve been there. Again, seven guys over 30 reps, that’s a big number. That’s a big number. That was a lot of hard work by Swasey and those guys, great jobs by the guys up front doing that, now we’ve got to see it pay dividends for us.”

To me, the bolded part about being in and out of fronts constantly has been a major factor in terms of all the blown assignments we have seen. If I'm not mistaken, this means our front 7 must learn 2 different sets of gap responsibilities. With the NCAA limit on practice time, successfully installing such a defense is very ambitious and I've always been skeptical of it frim a practical standpoint.

Having said that, if they are able to somehow distill and integrate that defense into a practical college level format then it could be extremely effective.

It seems to me that since JJ, we just stayed more or less in our base defense with our speed and athletes daring everyone to beat us. It has been a long time since we had players like that, especially at DT, but the more complicated the defense the slower our team seems. I don't know if it is just slower players or the read first, or the extra weight, but we sure are not so fast anymore. My theory is that losing the OB took a lot of our speed. We kept the turf there the shortest of any in college football. We play in something more like a cow pasture now. But even the 40 times for front seven defense positions seem slower than I remember.

 

[caneforlifeforreal]

Per Golden, we're still gonna run both:

> Do you guys have the size and depth up front to play more 3-4 full time?

“We’ve never really been 3-4 full time," Golden said. "We’re in and out of it depending on situations. It’s become a game of situations. Everyone thinks it’s a game of four quarters, it’s really not, it’s a game of situations and when they go 10 or 11-personnel, three or four wides, excuse me, when they go three or four wides, we’re going to match up a lot of times. Sometimes that means put the nickel out there, so you might see Deon Bush, Crawford or Tracy in the slot, okay, then bring another corner in. If Deon goes down in the slot, we have a bigger guy that’s kind of like a sam in space and we bring a safety in. As it relates to the front, we’re in and out of fronts constantly. Sometimes we’ll be in an odd front which is 3-4 based, other times we’ll be in over or under front, which is 4-3 based. We have the flexibility now because we’re stronger at the point of attack, we’re the strongest we’ve been there. Again, seven guys over 30 reps, that’s a big number. That’s a big number. That was a lot of hard work by Swasey and those guys, great jobs by the guys up front doing that, now we’ve got to see it pay dividends for us.”

To me, the bolded part about being in and out of fronts constantly has been a major factor in terms of all the blown assignments we have seen. If I'm not mistaken, this means our front 7 must learn 2 different sets of gap responsibilities. With the NCAA limit on practice time, successfully installing such a defense is very ambitious and I've always been skeptical of it frim a practical standpoint.

Having said that, if they are able to somehow distill and integrate that defense into a practical college level format then it could be extremely effective.

It seems to me that since JJ, we just stayed more or less in our base defense with our speed and athletes daring everyone to beat us. It has been a long time since we had players like that, especially at DT, but the more complicated the defense the slower our team seems. I don't know if it is just slower players or the read first, or the extra weight, but we sure are not so fast anymore. My theory is that losing the OB took a lot of our speed. We kept the turf there the shortest of any in college football. We play in something more like a cow pasture now. But even the 40 times for front seven defense positions seem slower than I remember.

I hear ya bud but it ain't the ******* Orange Bowl or Sun Life. It's that ****** conservative defensive coordinator

 

[Jassid82]

Said this in another thread today..the excuses for this defense are officially over this year. Dno has EVERY piece to the puzzle that he needs. Hes got WDEs/SDEs/athletic Jacks/Big hitting safeties/CBs who can cover on an island/OLBs with the speed to drop in coverage....****..even Earl "no neck" Moore looks like he can be servicable at NG when Hertolou and Wyche need a rest. The puzzle is finished. The core guys all know the scheme to a tee..They all look big as ****..and from what we have been hearing, they are all really confident.

I dont mind running this defense. I know we look at FSU after they won the title and see a defense that basically should be the exact same thing we should be running..but its all relative. When ALA was winning back to back titles and destroying everybody.. we all wanted the BIG linebackers and DEs..Saying our guys looked like JV kids compared to theres and "how we needed to adjust to the modern college game. The days of 215lb linebackers are over." (That was said MANY times on this board.) But now that FSU trotted not one but TWO 215-220lbs out there and they dominated, now we all want their defense again..

My point is it doesnt matter what defense we run. We have the players to run whatever the **** we want. Now its time for the coaches to coach and the players to play.

 

[Canesfan1899]

As long as the defense produces I don't give a **** what formation we are in, we **** well better get in a nickle or dime though when teams spread the field.

 

[JHallCanes]

I am not in love with 3 -4 because it requires more beef on our players and they tend to get slower. But if we are going to run it, then run it in the other teams backfield and not 8 yards down-field.

Understandable but I think this allows our younger pass rushers to be more effective. Well I hope so anyway. Tyriq and Quan should benefit quite a bit from this I would think.

 

[dycane]

Given the athletes to whom we have access down here, this defense -- in theory -- should be dynamic and more than adequate to defend the spread. Obviously, a few elite, stout tackles would make a marked difference. Nonetheless, Dorito needs to stop trying to be the smartest corch in the room; simplify the schemes; and be more willing to give up the big play by pivoting the focus of his defense to attacking rather than mitigating risk. No reason he can't do that in a 3-4 with the athletes we have now.

While we don't have Vince Wilfork sitting in the middle, this is the most talented defense we have had in a decade. If Dorito is competent in any sense of the word, then there is no reasonable excuse for this defense not being one of the best in the ACC. We're going to give up 30 to FSU. But that's more of a player quality issue -- FSU is more talented and has the best player in the country returning to lead its offense. The real litmus test will be Game 1. In my opinion, the 3-4 is much better schematically against Petrino's offense. If Olive Garden eviscerates Dorito's defense, then the guy is hopeless, especially in light of the talent we have in the secondary.