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LB depth a problem in 3-4

BlackKeysFan

BlackKeysFan

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You'd think that with us losing 2 linebackers and having 2 freshman in the 2 deep, with pretty much nothing but converted ends behind them, it would be harder for us to run 3-4 right? Simple math of having one more of them on the field will be very difficult to sustain, even at full strength. An injury, especially to a starter, would make it pretty much impossible you'd think.

Am I just crossing my fingers on this one, or is there something to this?
 
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IT will most certainly be used as an excuse if/when the D gets a train ran on them against a ho hum opponent this year.
 
3-4 OLB's are basically 4-3 DE's. Don't we have a number of those on the roster?

AQM
McCord
Smith
Thomas
Armbrister
Harris

Actually that's kinda scary. Not much experience there.
 
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Smith is like 210....he isn't a fit at 3-4 OLB until he gains 30 pounds.

Thomas could prolly fit in there at Sam right now, he's 260.....only issue is pass coverage, I don't know if he can play curl to flat zone or cover anyone in man. You are missing Owens, Wildcat. He is versatile enough to cover or rush but needs some more weight.
 
DJWilliams55 said:
Smith is like 210....he isn't a fit at 3-4 OLB until he gains 30 pounds.

Thomas could prolly fit in there at Sam right now, he's 260.....only issue is pass coverage, I don't know if he can play curl to flat zone or cover anyone in man. You are missing Owens, Wildcat. He is versatile enough to cover or rush but needs some more weight.
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Oh, my bad. I thought Smith was supposed to be an outside pass rushing specialist or something. Thought he was in the DE/OLB mold. Didn't know he was that light.
 
WildcatDefense said:
DJWilliams55 said:
Smith is like 210....he isn't a fit at 3-4 OLB until he gains 30 pounds.

Thomas could prolly fit in there at Sam right now, he's 260.....only issue is pass coverage, I don't know if he can play curl to flat zone or cover anyone in man. You are missing Owens, Wildcat. He is versatile enough to cover or rush but needs some more weight.
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Oh, my bad. I thought Smith was supposed to be an outside pass rushing specialist or something. Thought he was in the DE/OLB mold. Didn't know he was that light.
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He is supposed to be an edge pass rusher but doesn't have the proper weight for it in college yet. This site's roster lost has him at 221, I saw 210 somewhere else. Either way he has to gain some weight.
 
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Figueroa and Blue would be the real saviors of Miami football.
 
WildcatDefense said:
**** yeah! Let's learn a whole new defense baby!
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And all before Labor Day! We can't help but dominate with a 4-3, even if we run it in a half-assed way. Just let the players play! Press Man 2-Deep, Tampa two, send a backer every once in a while. Can't lose!

/sarcasm

Learning a whole new system would take as long to implement as it has to switch from the Shannon 4-3 to the NoDFrio Multiple 3-4.

While I wouldn't mind eventually switching back over to a 4-3 eventually (if/when another DC gets hired), trying to call for it to happen overnight like that would solve all of our defensive problems is absolutely useless.

We run a Multiple 3-4 right now. Deal with it, folks. I don't like that it doesn't work all that well, and that's on Golden/NoDFrio to fix. But to continually see posts calling for the 4-3 to be implemented ASAP is pure craziness and desperation.
 
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WildcatDefense said:
3-4 OLB's are basically 4-3 DE's. Don't we have a number of those on the roster?

AQM
McCord
Smith
Thomas
Armbrister
Harris

Actually that's kinda scary. Not much experience there.
Click to expand...

So if runs this 3-4 does does he have the right to make excuses about depth? A real coaches changes his scheme to fit the talent he has in hand and stops maken ****en excuses
 
WildcatDefense said:
3-4 OLB's are basically 4-3 DE's. Don't we have a number of those on the roster?

AQM
McCord
Smith
Thomas
Armbrister
Harris

Actually that's kinda scary. Not much experience there.
Click to expand...
You missed Demetrius Jackson. But yeah--we're young, but there's a ton of potential in those guys you listed. Maybe the start realizing some of it this year (hopefully).

One thing I would like to see us experiment with a little is to play smaller at the ILB spots, and put Perryman at that Jack/Rush/Hybrid role. He's running around at about 240, and is fast enough to beat some OT's off the edge. He's not terrible in coverage either, so allowing him to drop off into a flat zone as opposed to the middle would optimize his skills there. If you put, say, Grace/Armbrister in the middle and let them cover bigger zones up the hashes...maybe their speed helps there.

I know what folks will say to that...that DP52 is a beast MLB and why would you move him? Well...if we can cover the ILB spots with more speed pursuit and coverage, and Perryman can use his athleticism and strength to rush the passer...it's a wrinkle none of us have seen yet. Why not try it? I'm sick of seeing blitzes where we never mix up our path to the QB. If you play Perryman some on the outside, and he twists inside (or vice-versa), then that's something the OL has to account for instead of saying "ok, 52 is going to come from the strong ILB spot straight up the A or B gap, just have to read him to get the pass-pro right".

Let me clarify--I'm not saying move Perryman out of the middle full-time...I'm saying move him around more often. Make him a guy that the OL has to look for on every single snap, and adjust to depending upon where he's coming from.
 
If what you mean by a 3-4 is what Virginia used to run with 3 DLs on the line of scrimmage and 4 LBs in conventional LB positions, we did not run that last year and I doubt that we intended to do so this coming season. Sometimes we were in formations that morphed into a 3-4 after the snap of the ball, but we did this only rarely.
 
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WildcatDefense said:
**** yeah! Let's learn a whole new defense baby!
Click to expand...

The 3-3-5 scheme is derived from the 3-4 scheme so it should be a quick learning curve. Charlie Strong developed it in one off season, and UM runs something similar in our Nickel package. Not to mention the 3-3-5/3-2-6 ( mustang) defense is what John Chavis at LSU has used to own Petrino when coached Arkansas.

Also I am not saying change the whole defense just add in lets say 30-40% of the time a 3-3-5 philosophy.

Go Canes
 
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timujian said:
If what you mean by a 3-4 is what Virginia used to run with 3 DLs on the line of scrimmage and 4 LBs in conventional LB positions, we did not run that last year and I doubt that we intended to do so this coming season. Sometimes we were in formations that morphed into a 3-4 after the snap of the ball, but we did this only rarely.
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Yes we did.
 
Has anyone seen anything where our defensive formations have actually been charted game to game? I'd be real interested to see a breakdown of how many guys we have on the LOS and how our DL gap game by game. I think it would clear up a whole lot of confusion when it comes to the hybrid of a defense that we run.
 
We could put this site's best 11 posters out there on defense and there won't he much difference.

These jiggas gon have to outscore errbody if we want to win.
 
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