DAILY DEBATE: Who starts at LB, Wesley Bissainthe or Jaylin Alderman?

[OrangeBowlMagic]

Alderman 100%.

Wes still hasn't figured out how to not bite on the Mesh & overpursues a lot. He's a good Blitzer but he also misses a lot of tackles due to being undisciplined with his eyes.

Alderman is much better in Pass coverage & Wes is better as a Rusher. Rotate'em both situationally for Run/Pass downs.

IMO neither one of these kids are up to what should be the standard here in Year 3. I think we’re weak at this position with Wes or Alderman. Obviously this is based off what I’ve seen on tape to this point. If either of these kids, or both, have been developed further since December, then this opinion will change. But this spot scares me. I think Kiko is a kid you can win the ACC with at Mike and could start at the majority of schools in the country. I didn’t have that same feeling with Wes or Alderman. Am I wrong?

 

[grover]

'll go Alderman and give Wes the defied role.

Dude was lost a ton...James Williams spent half of his time trying to tell him what to do....But when Wes knows something and is going forward he is very twitchy and reaches it right away.

He looked improved in spring but again that would be with play diagnostics of playing the same guys for weeks. When its misdirection and things of the sorts he gets lost at times.

I would like to see The rotation...also need Popo grabbing some reps along with Bobby, Hayes, And Pruitt being eased in to reps. I think it will eventually be hard to keep Hayes and Pruitt off the field.

They need special teams reps but i need to see some live game action as well.

I saw the same improvement. Hope it’s not just familiarity with Dawson. I think he’s going to take that step. Playing next to Flagg and Kiko has to have rubbed off some.

LB crew is going to shock people at how good it shows out. Very strong and deep crew.

 

[Memnon]

IMO neither one of these kids are up to what should be the standard here in Year 3. I think we’re weak at this position with Wes or Alderman. Obviously this is based off what I’ve seen on tape to this point. If either of these kids, or both, have been developed further since December, then this opinion will change. But this spot scares me. I think Kiko is a kid you can win the ACC with at Mike and could start at the majority of schools in the country. I didn’t have that same feeling with Wes or Alderman. Am I wrong?

I wouldn't say you're wrong because it's subjective, but I'd say Alderman is clearly a more well rounded LB than Wes.

I'd be a lot more worried about LB if Manuel was still our Coach, but with the way Guidreaux uses his LB's I don't think it'll be much of an issue at all.

Alderman is a very good coverage Backer with good sideline to sideline speed. He's a sure tackler & plays with good instincts.

Wes struggles in space & usually has an issue with reading the ball. Where he excels is when he gets to be a Torpedo coming off a Blitz from the Weak side or shooting the B & C gaps on delayed Blitzes.

Alderman is an upgrade from Cloyd, so from that standpoint I'd say we got slightly better at that spot. Similar to DT, the overall improvement of that room will come down to getting the Young guys like Popo Aguirre, Bobby Washington etc., up to speed & ready to contribute.

If we were running a traditional 4-3 Base, I think we could be comfortable with the 3 Mauigoa, Alderman & Bissainthe. In the 4-2-5, we'll actually have more depth & flexibility to rotate LB's if we can get some of the younger backers ready to play.

Tbh, in today's day & age, the LB position isn't as critical to the Defense as it once was, hence why you see fewer & fewer Urlacher, Lewis, Kuechely types in this era. LB by committe (especially in college) is pretty much the way to go unless you have an Elite All-conference caliber player. And most of the time, those guys end up becoming Pass rushers anyway.

But all in all, the Front 7 of the Defense this year is better than it was last year, the question will be what we do with the Secondary.

 

[JHallCanes]

I think the LB snaps will be

Kiko
Popo
Alderman

By the end of the year

 

[AtlAtty]

Wes is a true junior. IMO, he is where he should be in terms of development. People escaped t too much out of underclassmen.
In the 80’s, 90’s and even early 2000’s you rarely saw anyone play as a freshman, and if they played as a sophomore you knew they were the goods. Junior year is when most of the people we remember as being great really took off.

I barely remember Michael Barrow playing until his junior year because we had great depth with players like Tiger Clark in front of him, and Mira in front of Clark. Same with Antrel Rolle.
That is how it should be and will be once our depth is back.
Wes should be really good next season.

Hopefully Alderman is as well

 

[JHallCanes]

Wes is a true junior. IMO, he is where he should be in terms of development. People escaped t too much out of underclassmen.
In the 80’s, 90’s and even early 2000’s you rarely saw anyone play as a freshman, and if they played as a sophomore you knew they were the goods. Junior year is when most of the people we remember as being great really took off.

I barely remember Michael Barrow playing until his junior year because we had great depth with players like Tiger Clark in front of him, and Mira in front of Clark. Same with Antrel Rolle.
That is how it should be and will be once our depth is back.
Wes should be really good next season.

Hopefully Alderman is as well

Wes was also pretty small when he got here. Something it looks like DNich has tried to change with the guys he’s bringing in

 

[AtlAtty]

Wes was also pretty small when he got here. Something it looks like DNich has tried to change with the guys he’s bringing in

He looked like he was under 200lbs. That is very small for a starting LB, but that is not on Wes. He should not have started but for the players ahead of him were not good.

 

[JHallCanes]

He looked like he was under 200lbs. That is very small for a starting LB, but that is not on Wes. He should not have started but for the players ahead of him were not good.

Yeah let’s just pretend the LB recruiting under Manny never happened

 

[Disgustipated]

Wes was also pretty small when he got here. Something it looks like DNich has tried to change with the guys he’s bringing in

Isn't he still pretty small? doesn't look like a workout warrior

 

[Canesfan1899]

If Wes takes the jump we heard about in the spring he starts but Alderman is going to play a lot.

 

[CaneBear0207]

That safety non-safety still ****es me off

Which one?

 

[JHallCanes]

Isn't he still pretty small? doesn't look like a workout warrior

Tough to tell from the spring. He’s just not really a big kid but he was driving guys backward (granted it wasn’t Martinez or Fletcher)

So not too sure just yet

 

[Damiencane86]

Tough to tell from the spring. He’s just not really a big kid but he was driving guys backward (granted it wasn’t Martinez or Fletcher)

So not too sure just yet

I think he should up years back at 190 tops tbh and he looks a legit 215-220 now. Good physical progression. But he'll never be a huge kid. He's definitely one of those X factor guys on defense this year.

 

[LuCane]

Many people have mentioned the leap Wes took in the Spring. Gotta wait to see it in live action against opponents because, as others have said, for him the issues seem to have been in diagnosis. The Louisville game had some rough moments for our front, though I realize we had DTs getting washed.

 

[Jassid82]

Wes is a true junior. IMO, he is where he should be in terms of development. People escaped t too much out of underclassmen.
In the 80’s, 90’s and even early 2000’s you rarely saw anyone play as a freshman, and if they played as a sophomore you knew they were the goods. Junior year is when most of the people we remember as being great really took off.

I barely remember Michael Barrow playing until his junior year because we had great depth with players like Tiger Clark in front of him, and Mira in front of Clark. Same with Antrel Rolle.
That is how it should be and will be once our depth is back.
Wes should be really good next season.

Hopefully Alderman is as well

All I’m saying is Wes had ALOOOOT of hype coming out of HS. Not saying it was his fault..but he has yet to live up to it. He had more hype than Sean Spence and by this time Spence was a star in the ACC. It would be a pleasant surprise for him to breakout this year.

 

[AtlAtty]

All I’m saying is Wes had ALOOOOT of hype coming out of HS. Not saying it was his fault..but he has yet to live up to it. He had more hype than Sean Spence and by this time Spence was a star in the ACC. It would be a pleasant surprise for him to breakout this year.

Agreed. Spence was making plays as a freshman.

Wes hanks flashed but also disappeared. I don’t know if you saw the Spring Game but Wes was definitely making plays. Hopefully that carries over and translates into plays in real games.

 

[Disgustipated]

Tough to tell from the spring. He’s just not really a big kid but he was driving guys backward (granted it wasn’t Martinez or Fletcher)

So not too sure just yet

I mean, he is a physical kid that has want to but he is small for a P5 linebacker.

 

[canecrazy23]

Not a clue about this other guy, but Wes is just alright. Pretty much a theme around here for years at the position by and large. So if the other guy is better than average, then Wes will sit more often than not.

 

[canecrazy23]

Just like in the bowl game?

Ask OSU's LB's how they did against that Rutgers RB and OL. I'll give you a hint it was worse than us.