Anyone worried about the middle of the Dline this year?

I’m not averse to playing him inside although his run stopping ability inside is still a question mark

I happen to think he's big/strong enough and can use his length to engage blockers or simply swim past people the way McIntosh and Willis did so proficiently. A DE rotation of Rousseau, Roche, Phillips is awesome but I'd hope to see them on the field together more often than not.
 
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So you're saying we have a crappy schedule playing mostly finesse teams or teams that don't play a power game very well.

I'm more concerned when we step up a level and start playing the Clemson's, Bama's GA's or even Wisconsin's.

As you should be. Those teams are vastly more ******* talented than we are, aside from Wisconsin, which is a whole nother topic altogether.

Now, if we start winning meaningful games and are able to begin recruiting at the level of those schools, then maybe we'll be able to match up well with them head to head from a physical standpoint.

As for Wisconsin, they dominated *osu (who had 3 defensive lineman drafted) for the better part of the B1G title game. That program incubates linemen like Jurassic Park. Nobody slows them down when they're rolling.

The fact of the matter remains that if we can string together two or three 10 win seasons, then we'll start to land the type of kids that Clemson, *osu and Bama do on a consistent basis. Until then we're just gonna have to play our asses off and hope not to trip on our ****s...like we did so many times last season.
 
As you should be. Those teams are vastly more ******* talented than we are, aside from Wisconsin, which is a whole nother topic altogether.

Now, if we start winning meaningful games and are able to begin recruiting at the level of those schools, then maybe we'll be able to match up well with them head to head from a physical standpoint.

As for Wisconsin, they dominated *osu (who had 3 defensive lineman drafted) for the better part of the B1G title game. That program incubates linemen like Jurassic Park. Nobody slows them down when they're rolling.

The fact of the matter remains that if we can string together two or three 10 win seasons, then we'll start to land the type of kids that Clemson, *osu and Bama do on a consistent basis. Until then we're just gonna have to play our asses off and hope not to trip on our ****s...like we did so many times last season.

I've been stating that as well. But the point being, comparing our performance against Pitt, GT and UNC is hardly the metric to use in evaluating our performance against a power running team.

People are claiming we have an elite DL, some even saying the best in the country. Maybe their standards are different than mine but when I think of an elite, best in the country DL, I think about one that can match up with anyone.
 
It's just football logic. But people will look at the highlights and see him beating Central Michigan oline and FSU oline in the inside and say its effective. A DC playing GR15 inside is like playing Von Miller or Julius Peppers at NT on passing downs. That DC would get fired before he can even explain himself in a press conference.
Remember the giants? They would kick tuck inside and had osi and strahan coming off the edge and they ate brady food with it. He gets plenty of snaps on the edge y’all dudes just complain about everything.
 
It's just football logic. But people will look at the highlights and see him beating Central Michigan oline and FSU oline in the inside and say its effective. A DC playing GR15 inside is like playing Von Miller or Julius Peppers at NT on passing downs. That DC would get fired before he can even explain himself in a press conference.
I saw the highlights. I saw him making plays on the inside, I saw him making plays on the outside. I saw him not making plays on the inside, I saw him not making plays on the outside. He a versatile player that we can situationally move around. This year, it's going to be important to not lock him into a pattern because teams are going to be looking for it and adjust. The coaches have to keep them guessing.
 
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I happen to think he's big/strong enough and can use his length to engage blockers or simply swim past people the way McIntosh and Willis did so proficiently. A DE rotation of Rousseau, Roche, Phillips is awesome but I'd hope to see them on the field together more often than not.
A proper swim technique from the inside is a thing of beauty on replay....
 
Agree or disagree: the DL rotation should be kept tight/short

DE Rousseau, Roche, Phillips

DT Silvera, Ford, Miller


The rest of the DL is comprised of first or second year players who aren't quite ready yet.

J. Harvey, J. Holley, J. Blissett, J. Hunte, Ca Williams, Ch Williams, Q. Williams, E. Roberts
 
I've been stating that as well. But the point being, comparing our performance against Pitt, GT and UNC is hardly the metric to use in evaluating our performance against a power running team.

People are claiming we have an elite DL, some even saying the best in the country. Maybe their standards are different than mine but when I think of an elite, best in the country DL, I think about one that can match up with anyone.

We have elite talent on our DL, we just don't have elite depth.

ETA: We should however be capable of dominating every team on our schedule in 2020.
 
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Agree or disagree: the DL rotation should be kept tight/short

DE Rousseau, Roche, Phillips

DT Silvera, Ford, Miller


The rest of the DL is comprised of first or second year players who aren't quite ready yet.

J. Harvey, J. Holley, J. Blissett, J. Hunte, Ca Williams, Ch Williams, Q. Williams, E. Roberts
How do you know none of them are ready yet?
 
How do you know none of them are ready yet?

I don't know anything. The point is that we've got 6 grown men and 8 neophytes. From that group of neophytes I'd say no more than 2 or 3 should be relied on to play a lot, and we should certainly RS the 3 incoming freshmen.

Harvey / Hunte / Holley / Blissett in the game together during the 4th quarter of our blowout win over Temple is what I'm envisioning.
 
I happen to think he's big/strong enough and can use his length to engage blockers or simply swim past people the way McIntosh and Willis did so proficiently. A DE rotation of Rousseau, Roche, Phillips is awesome but I'd hope to see them on the field together more often than not.
I still prefer starting the game with a base of GR, Ford, Nesta, Roche/Phillips. Roche is essentially a 3-4 OLB and the combo of him at DE and GR at DT makes the whole unit a bit light against rushing teams. Still, if we're actually able to play with leads in 2020, I wouldn't mind seeing a lot of Roche, Rouseeau, Nesta, and Phillips together. That's a unit that can get after the passer.
 
not worried at all. We are solid not elite there and that is fine.

I will tell you this ...if we can get RJ/Willis kind of disruption from our DTs along with the DE monsters ... oh boy we even can battle Clemson mano a mano.
 
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I still prefer starting the game with a base of GR, Ford, Nesta, Roche/Phillips. Roche is essentially a 3-4 OLB and the combo of him at DE and GR at DT makes the whole unit a bit light against rushing teams. Still, if we're actually able to play with leads in 2020, I wouldn't mind seeing a lot of Roche, Rouseeau, Nesta, and Phillips together. That's a unit that can get after the passer.
J.J. theory of defense. Speed kills
 



Two things to notice in this highlight vid.

1) Look how many times GR made plays from the DT/NT position. He's arguably better inside than outside.
2) There isn't a ton of blitzing going on here. Most of these plays are using a four man rush. Occasionally you'll see a linebacker coming late because he was assigned to spy but the QB doesn't leave the pocket. You have to give offenses different looks and bring pressure from different areas because being predictable gets you beat in today's game.

Yeah when you line up inside you’re closer to the ball, that along with his athleticism and his size isn’t a bad idea on obvious passing downs.
 
Yeah when you line up inside you’re closer to the ball, that along with his athleticism and his size isn’t a bad idea on obvious passing downs.
For sure. He’s a special talent though. Rushing on the edge and rushing up the middle are two totally different skills and very few guys can do both.
 
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When you have to dig back two years to find an opponent who really killed us in the running game, you're really searching. A majority of the defensive players that started against Wisconsin aren't even on the team anymore.
Yup, that wisconsin team is made to move people and run the ball. We **** the bed in the orange bowl, but it was pretty obvious during the pinstripe game no one really cared.
 
Not worried

I think Ford is a good player but not great. This is the year for Nesta and Miller to take the next leap.

When Miller actually gets snaps he makes plays....maybe it’s his conditioning that’s limiting his playing time??

Ford seems very solid vs the run and avg. as a pass rusher but this could be just how they scheme their DTs vs the Pass

It’s been stated that Nesta was playing hurt most of the season but to me he still seems limited vs the run or pass. Can he live up to his hype?? We’ll see soon enough since he’s fully healthy
 
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