Some defensive thoughts from the spring game.

[Canesfan1899]

I think you'll see a lot more nickel looks going forward - hallelujah!

No McCord or Muhammad covering wide outs.

Lol that's gonna be Wyche's job...

Probably the new wrinkle they didn't want use in the spring.

 

[Canesfan1899]

Very interested to see how Artie develops. He looked lost and really struggled against Louisville. I always thought he should've been put at safety.

Any DB coach worth their salary should develop Artie into a day 1 or 2 DB by the time he leaves here.

For the upcoming season, how many guys do we use for the CB rotation? And who gets who left out?

Artie, Howard, and Gunter are locks. Then we have Crawford, elder, and hope coming on strong this spring.

As for safety

Carter, Bush, Crawford, and Jenkins will obviously get most of the burn. So expect Hester to start getting more play by around game 4 or 5 and how he performs will determine the rest of his playing time for this season.

Looking at those 5 guys, what a special group we could have in 2015. Those 5 safeties along with the possibility of Jaquan, SBB, etc.

Artie should be developed into a first round CB. If he doesn't are coaching staff failed.

 

[bobbydigius]

Nice post OP.

I saw a lot more Cover-1 as well. I like. I like our CB's over just about any WR unit in the ACC. I think this is the way we need to go against FSU. I feel like Winston will tear up zone defense but struggles against tight man coverage. That's how Bush got his pick in last season's game. We were playing man and Bush was at Safety playing clean-up.

Correct me if Im wrong but I thought the reason for that pick was us playing man and zone at the same time? It confused him and he made an errant throw.

 

[bobbydigius]

I'm a db coach at a d3 school and a former high school dc/db coach so a lot of this focuses on the back end of the defense.

-The corners and safeties were a lot more aggressive in the spring game. A lot more press and a lot more cover 1 and cover 3. if this is any indication of where the defense is heading I like it. Even in zones they're pressing and they're shifting to zones late so it's hard for a quarterback to get a pre snap read of what the defense is trying to do. Even in cov. 4 (quarters) the corners were pressed like Michigan St. I liked it.

-Both safeties are coming to the box or becoming the deep middle safety. This goes along with making it harder for the quarterback in pre snap. You need 2 really good safeties cause both have to be great tacklers, diagnose runs/pass keys fast, and be able break from numbers to numbers. I thought they did a pretty good job doing this and there were hardly any miscommunications, which is what you want in the spring.

-Love Artie Burns and Tracy Howard pressing! You got a track star that can make up ground if he's beat and former 5 star who's a great field corner and led the team in picks. (Would have liked to see him high point the ball on that last pick instead of waiting on it!) I say go mano y mano against the wide receivers in the ACC, outside of FSU I don't think there's a team that can match up those two. I think that caused the qbs to have those bad completion percentages. Fades are the lowest percentage throws and when your going against press man you gotta win those one on ones on the outside.

- I'd love to see Gunter at nickle with that big frame. I think he's physical enough to bring it on runs, can cover slot guys one on one, and play good underneath zone coverage. I wasn't impressed with Tracy at that spot. I don't know if he wasn't comfortable there because he's so used to being outside, but he just wasn't very physical there.

-Saw a lot more "40" fronts and nickle on early downs which I liked. One problem we saw last year was the defense sent out personnel for downs and distance instead of matching the offenses personnel. Switching defensive personnel for Down and distance is fine if you play a team that goes 21 and 12 personnel(backs and tight end) on 1st down and 2 and med and switch to 10 and 11 personnel (more receivers) on 3rd and med to long. But when you play spread teams who go 10,11,00 personnel on all downs you gotta match db to receiver. If not you'll have Shavon Green on a slot receiver on 1st down.

-I thought the D lost focus once the offense start going fast and couldn't get lined up. If you remember last year that was a problem. If they can get this solved it will go along way in beating teams like North Carolina and Louisville who go no huddle and go fast.

-Will go back and look at some front stuff

Great post but Im not that sure about Gunter playing nickel. Yeah he would help if its a running play, but I think he struggles with a quicker slot WR.

 

[Coach Macho]

Nice post OP.

I saw a lot more Cover-1 as well. I like. I like our CB's over just about any WR unit in the ACC. I think this is the way we need to go against FSU. I feel like Winston will tear up zone defense but struggles against tight man coverage. That's how Bush got his pick in last season's game. We were playing man and Bush was at Safety playing clean-up.

Correct me if Im wrong but I thought the reason for that pick was us playing man and zone at the same time? It confused him and he made an errant throw.

Pretty sure Winston threw to a WR that was manned up and Bush came over the top and picked the ball off. I could be wrong though.

 

[hharvey09]

I'm a db coach at a d3 school and a former high school dc/db coach so a lot of this focuses on the back end of the defense.

-The corners and safeties were a lot more aggressive in the spring game. A lot more press and a lot more cover 1 and cover 3. if this is any indication of where the defense is heading I like it. Even in zones they're pressing and they're shifting to zones late so it's hard for a quarterback to get a pre snap read of what the defense is trying to do. Even in cov. 4 (quarters) the corners were pressed like Michigan St. I liked it.

-Both safeties are coming to the box or becoming the deep middle safety. This goes along with making it harder for the quarterback in pre snap. You need 2 really good safeties cause both have to be great tacklers, diagnose runs/pass keys fast, and be able break from numbers to numbers. I thought they did a pretty good job doing this and there were hardly any miscommunications, which is what you want in the spring.

-Love Artie Burns and Tracy Howard pressing! You got a track star that can make up ground if he's beat and former 5 star who's a great field corner and led the team in picks. (Would have liked to see him high point the ball on that last pick instead of waiting on it!) I say go mano y mano against the wide receivers in the ACC, outside of FSU I don't think there's a team that can match up those two. I think that caused the qbs to have those bad completion percentages. Fades are the lowest percentage throws and when your going against press man you gotta win those one on ones on the outside.

- I'd love to see Gunter at nickle with that big frame. I think he's physical enough to bring it on runs, can cover slot guys one on one, and play good underneath zone coverage. I wasn't impressed with Tracy at that spot. I don't know if he wasn't comfortable there because he's so used to being outside, but he just wasn't very physical there.

-Saw a lot more "40" fronts and nickle on early downs which I liked. One problem we saw last year was the defense sent out personnel for downs and distance instead of matching the offenses personnel. Switching defensive personnel for Down and distance is fine if you play a team that goes 21 and 12 personnel(backs and tight end) on 1st down and 2 and med and switch to 10 and 11 personnel (more receivers) on 3rd and med to long. But when you play spread teams who go 10,11,00 personnel on all downs you gotta match db to receiver. If not you'll have Shavon Green on a slot receiver on 1st down.

-I thought the D lost focus once the offense start going fast and couldn't get lined up. If you remember last year that was a problem. If they can get this solved it will go along way in beating teams like North Carolina and Louisville who go no huddle and go fast.

-Will go back and look at some front stuff

Great post but Im not that sure about Gunter playing nickel. Yeah he would help if its a running play, but I think he struggles with a quicker slot WR.

Well you can find way to help him out in the nickle by playing man to man on the outside receiver and then play 3 on 2 with the nickle, safety, and backer or 2 on 1 with the backer and nickle that way you can bracket him, high low him and make them beat you with the other guys. Felt like they should have done this against wake forest when they had campanero in the slot.

 

[Coach Macho]

I'm a db coach at a d3 school and a former high school dc/db coach so a lot of this focuses on the back end of the defense.

-The corners and safeties were a lot more aggressive in the spring game. A lot more press and a lot more cover 1 and cover 3. if this is any indication of where the defense is heading I like it. Even in zones they're pressing and they're shifting to zones late so it's hard for a quarterback to get a pre snap read of what the defense is trying to do. Even in cov. 4 (quarters) the corners were pressed like Michigan St. I liked it.

-Both safeties are coming to the box or becoming the deep middle safety. This goes along with making it harder for the quarterback in pre snap. You need 2 really good safeties cause both have to be great tacklers, diagnose runs/pass keys fast, and be able break from numbers to numbers. I thought they did a pretty good job doing this and there were hardly any miscommunications, which is what you want in the spring.

-Love Artie Burns and Tracy Howard pressing! You got a track star that can make up ground if he's beat and former 5 star who's a great field corner and led the team in picks. (Would have liked to see him high point the ball on that last pick instead of waiting on it!) I say go mano y mano against the wide receivers in the ACC, outside of FSU I don't think there's a team that can match up those two. I think that caused the qbs to have those bad completion percentages. Fades are the lowest percentage throws and when your going against press man you gotta win those one on ones on the outside.

- I'd love to see Gunter at nickle with that big frame. I think he's physical enough to bring it on runs, can cover slot guys one on one, and play good underneath zone coverage. I wasn't impressed with Tracy at that spot. I don't know if he wasn't comfortable there because he's so used to being outside, but he just wasn't very physical there.

-Saw a lot more "40" fronts and nickle on early downs which I liked. One problem we saw last year was the defense sent out personnel for downs and distance instead of matching the offenses personnel. Switching defensive personnel for Down and distance is fine if you play a team that goes 21 and 12 personnel(backs and tight end) on 1st down and 2 and med and switch to 10 and 11 personnel (more receivers) on 3rd and med to long. But when you play spread teams who go 10,11,00 personnel on all downs you gotta match db to receiver. If not you'll have Shavon Green on a slot receiver on 1st down.

-I thought the D lost focus once the offense start going fast and couldn't get lined up. If you remember last year that was a problem. If they can get this solved it will go along way in beating teams like North Carolina and Louisville who go no huddle and go fast.

-Will go back and look at some front stuff

Great post but Im not that sure about Gunter playing nickel. Yeah he would help if its a running play, but I think he struggles with a quicker slot WR.

Well you can find way to help him out in the nickle by playing man to man on the outside receiver and then play 3 on 2 with the nickle, safety, and backer or 2 on 1 with the backer and nickle that way you can bracket him, high low him and make them beat you with the other guys. Felt like they should have done this against wake forest when they had campanero in the slot.

Yup.

 

[JackOAT]

Nice post OP.

I saw a lot more Cover-1 as well. I like. I like our CB's over just about any WR unit in the ACC. I think this is the way we need to go against FSU. I feel like Winston will tear up zone defense but struggles against tight man coverage. That's how Bush got his pick in last season's game. We were playing man and Bush was at Safety playing clean-up.

Correct me if Im wrong but I thought the reason for that pick was us playing man and zone at the same time? It confused him and he made an errant throw.

Pretty sure Winston threw to a WR that was manned up and Bush came over the top and picked the ball off. I could be wrong though.

Winston never saw Bush. He overthrew the rec and it landed in Bush's chest

 

[jerzeycane]

Nice post OP.

I saw a lot more Cover-1 as well. I like. I like our CB's over just about any WR unit in the ACC. I think this is the way we need to go against FSU. I feel like Winston will tear up zone defense but struggles against tight man coverage. That's how Bush got his pick in last season's game. We were playing man and Bush was at Safety playing clean-up.

Correct me if Im wrong but I thought the reason for that pick was us playing man and zone at the same time? It confused him and he made an errant throw.

Pretty sure Winston threw to a WR that was manned up and Bush came over the top and picked the ball off. I could be wrong though.

Winston never saw Bush. He overthrew the rec and it landed in Bush's chest

Tracy Howard was underneath the WR and on his hip. Bad decision to even let it go, but it was a poor throw as well.

 

[4000TMNT]

I miss the spring game, is the D formation back at 4-3 or still 3-4.

 

[MedleyCane]

Now see, this is the type of thread I love to read.
No name-calling on players and coaches, but objective nonetheless.

Good to see the adults discussing UM football.
More of this and less of the deranged unwell rejects from Grassy.

Kudos to hharvey, Wildcat, LuCane, and co.

 

[bobbydigius]

Nice post OP.

I saw a lot more Cover-1 as well. I like. I like our CB's over just about any WR unit in the ACC. I think this is the way we need to go against FSU. I feel like Winston will tear up zone defense but struggles against tight man coverage. That's how Bush got his pick in last season's game. We were playing man and Bush was at Safety playing clean-up.

Correct me if Im wrong but I thought the reason for that pick was us playing man and zone at the same time? It confused him and he made an errant throw.

Pretty sure Winston threw to a WR that was manned up and Bush came over the top and picked the ball off. I could be wrong though.

Winston never saw Bush. He overthrew the rec and it landed in Bush's chest

Tracy Howard was underneath the WR and on his hip. Bad decision to even let it go, but it was a poor throw as well.

Yup, it was the second INT I was thinking about.....

 

[Pecos The Diver]

I know one thing, we get more pressure from the DL than we did last season, our DBs will look a lot better. Another year under their belt and i like how the young guns are comin up back there.