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Is there a bigger MUST GET than Wesley Bissainthe this recruiting cycle?

Gooner#44 said:
I never wrote him off, I said he was unimpressive and slow at diagnosing plays. I then said in the same post he was young and can get better.

I take more issue with his take that Ben Boulware is a stiff when in fact he was a great college MLBer.

And let's be clear, any defense that gives up 550 yards rushing needs help EVERYWHERE, but IMO it is weakest at LB followed by CB, those are the NEEDS, and that is why WB is a must get in my book
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Agree. I never understood why so many were so hard on Shaq, dude was legit and his absence was the biggest felt on D this last season.
 
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Cookie917 said:
Again comparing apples to oranges and I think you missed the point.

Boulware was a top 200 player, solid 4star, he wasnt a walk on. And he did those stats as a Senior, comparing him to a freshman Flagg is unfair. The point OP I think (albeit maybe doing a poor job of explaining) is Boulware ran a 4.9 and was not fast. Flagg likely runs close to a 4.9. Boulware racked up all those stats you mentioned yet went undrafted, signed with the panthers after the draft and was released before season started, then signed with the 49ers practice squads and was released 7 days later and since then has been out of the NFL. i.e. you dont need to be an NFL lb-er to play at a high level in college.

You can win a championship with average LB play if you have ELITE dline play, that clemson Dline is what OP is underselling, that thing was stacked and allowed him to get those #s. By his senior year, he did have good instincts. Is it truly a stretch to say Flagg could post those numbers in 4 years with a dline like clemsons? Boulware had 20 and 40 tackles his first two years.
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An ELITE DL can make a average LBing crew look above average....
 
Gooner#44 said:
I'm with you, he was Perryman but man he would have made a HUGE difference on last years D IMO.
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10000%

Shaq his final year had 107 tackles and 15 tackles for a loss.... Our LB play last year?

Jennings-39
Brooks-37
Flagg-15
Steed-15
Ragone- 14
TAC-7
Huff-5
Alford-1
Joyner-1

Total: 134

Shaq legit almost had more tackles than the entire team at LB last year and playing behind a worse DL.
 
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We're not beating Clemson because we have a great LB... we are beating Clemson because we are built in the trenches and have an NFL talent at QB. Simple as that. Bissainthe is a stud and we better land him but we compete with the big dogs landing guys like Shemar Stewart, Nyjalik Kelley, Armella, etc.
 
Ziggy said:
We're not beating Clemson because we have a great LB... we are beating Clemson because we are built in the trenches and have an NFL talent at QB. Simple as that. Bissainthe is a stud and we better land him but we compete with the big dogs landing guys like Shemar Stewart, Nyjalik Kelley, Armella, etc.
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Sure I agree, but we are not beating them with "Studs in the ternches (lol)" combined with the linebacker play we had last year either.

In my eyes we have "serviceable to above average D-Lineman (esp with Taylor) C+/B- range and absolute duds at LB, D-/F+ range.

I get DLine is more important, but you can't have an A Dline and an F LBer group and be good on Defense, no way.

I just want B's in both, in a grade sense.
 
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ScharfCane said:
You win championships by having stacked/talented trenches. Clemson won a ship with a walk on as their starting linebacker.
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Yeah, but Clemson’s defense is much more sound than ours. We have kinda a Gimmicky, zero integrity type of defense, where if the DL don’t get home, it puts Uber pressure on the LBs. We talked about him in my thread, but Shaq did help out tremendously in this defense. Is he in the upper echelon that’s played the position here? No; but he’s been by far our best LB since Perryman, and for all the chit he got, Pinck was a nice compliment.

Since those two left in 2019, it’s not a coincidence that our defense looked like mushed kibbles & bits. Neither Flagg, McCloud, Brooks, or insert LB (here) could do a **** thing to stop the atrocity we saw on defense. We need a difference maker at LB in this scheme. That’s the difference.

I’m FA SHO a trench guy; I preach trenches all day long, but we gotta know who our DC is & the scheme.
 
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Cookie917 said:
10000%

Shaq his final year had 107 tackles and 15 tackles for a loss.... Our LB play last year?

Jennings-39
Brooks-37
Flagg-15
Steed-15
Ragone- 14
TAC-7
Huff-5
Alford-1
Joyner-1

Total: 134

Shaq legit almost had more tackles than the entire team at LB last year and playing behind a worse DL.
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Our linebackers were dreadful DL didn't help
 
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ScharfCane said:
I agree with you 100%. The reason I said DT is more important because back to my original point - Clemson had a slow, un-athletic walk on linebacker and still won championship. They actually used multiple walk-ons at that position for multiple season. Yet they're winning and dominating on defense because of trenches.
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Gooner#44 said:
The ONE "unathletic, slow, walk on LB" you keep mentioning to try to make your case, are you talking about Ben Boulware?
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That walk-on won the Jack Lambert Award so I’m not sure what @ScharfCane is trying to say.
 
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