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Losing Etheridge in the DB room is the problem

LouDiamondz said:
The DB room has been night and day from this year compared to last. Yes we lost Keionte and Thomas but we have the majority back this year and they look like a bunch of retards who are scared to cover. I’m starting to believe losing Etheridge is a bigger problem than we expected. Jefferson was key in recruiting this year but it appears the coaching is not the same. All of a sudden Lucas, O’Connor, Poyser, and Fitz are complete trash??? OJ is good but he is not Deion Sanders in his prime so losing him shouldn’t make this room look like garbage. Something doesn’t add up.
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You are one of the least-informed knee-jerk porsters on this board. Not to mention the fact that you used a look-at-me subject line ("Losing Etheridge...IS the problem") followed by a half-*** post of "I'm starting to believe losing Etheridge is a bigger problem than we expected".

Nobody would miss your 46 porsts if you just disappeared.
 
Guys are shell shocked. They are hesitant. They have no idea what’s going on and are scared to death to get beat over the top. They turn and run when they aren’t being pressed vertically. It makes no sense.

No more thinking. Just play press man and take some chances. If you’re gonna get scored on, make it happen in 3 minutes and not 7.
 
NC_Canes_11 said:
Guys are shell shocked. They are hesitant. They have no idea what’s going on and are scared to death to get beat over the top. They turn and run when they aren’t being pressed vertically. It makes no sense.

No more thinking. Just play press man and take some chances. If you’re gonna get scored on, make it happen in 3 minutes and not 7.
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incredibly robotic now ... the o'connor play is case and point
 
LouDiamondz said:
The DB room has been night and day from this year compared to last. Yes we lost Keionte and Thomas but we have the majority back this year and they look like a bunch of retards who are scared to cover. I’m starting to believe losing Etheridge is a bigger problem than we expected. Jefferson was key in recruiting this year but it appears the coaching is not the same. All of a sudden Lucas, O’Connor, Poyser, and Fitz are complete trash??? OJ is good but he is not Deion Sanders in his prime so losing him shouldn’t make this room look like garbage. Something doesn’t add up.
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OJ might even be better. Think back to the playoffs and how easily he locked down NFL-caliber receivers. They put a massive workload on him, having him guard guys like Concepcion, Tate, JJ, Becker, and Surat one-on-one. Now, by contrast, our defense can't even stop an average ACC receiver.
 
We lost playmakers on defense, Scott was a stud back there. No Bain, Messidor, Scott, Thomas and Bissainthe. The more concerning issue is we don't have real depth to replace those losses.

Some of you were dreaming if you thought we were going to be okay in the trenches and secondary before the season started.

This team is closer to the 2024 team than the 2025 team, we don't bully teams like last year.

And key injuries hurt us.
 
blackvern said:
Jimmes and joes not X's and O's
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This. We lost our best corner the 1st series of the 1st game of the year. We lost our second best corner the second half of that same game and he clearly hasn't been right since he came back against FSU. We also lost our best young corner in Jaboree, which I don't think is getting enough attention.

Poyser and Fitzgerald should have been an all-ACC safety tandem but instead, we've had to play our best DB out of position. The Omar Thornton missed eval aside, I'm not sure is having Etheridge on staff would have made much of a difference.
 
NC_Canes_11 said:
Guys are shell shocked. They are hesitant. They have no idea what’s going on and are scared to death to get beat over the top. They turn and run when they aren’t being pressed vertically. It makes no sense.

No more thinking. Just play press man and take some chances. If you’re gonna get scored on, make it happen in 3 minutes and not 7.
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Yup.. The redzone shows this automatically.. Guys still playing it the same like ball ison the 50 yard line, in redzone there is no deep to defend, if you turn and bail after already playing off coverage, you are bailing to the West end zone stands to cover fans.. We coach them like they have no talent and they look more relieved when they make a play than anything else..

They also seem to have no keys on route concepts, situational ball or anything..
 
LouDiamondz said:
The DB room has been night and day from this year compared to last. Yes we lost Keionte and Thomas but we have the majority back this year and they look like a bunch of retards who are scared to cover. I’m starting to believe losing Etheridge is a bigger problem than we expected. Jefferson was key in recruiting this year but it appears the coaching is not the same. All of a sudden Lucas, O’Connor, Poyser, and Fitz are complete trash??? OJ is good but he is not Deion Sanders in his prime so losing him shouldn’t make this room look like garbage. Something doesn’t add up.
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Before we cite coaches, the premise about the room is a bit off. The room is significantly different from a year ago.
Two key players, as stated, are missing in Thomas & Scott. What was thought to be our best corner was gone in the first game, OJ. His possible replacement has been out all season, Antoine. Lucas was out several games & doesn’t look like the same player. Brown is perpetually injured. Fitzgerald has been a Swiss Army knife & having to play out of position. Dunnigan is a helluva freshman, but he’s having to play too many snaps.

Could go on about Poyser playing out of position, Thornton underwhelming, EOC’s lack of physicality & LBs weakness in coverage . . . but maybe the most important take away is the fronts inability to pressure & make QBs uncomfortable. Obviously teams have finally figured the way to attack us is getting the ball out quick, so our blitz often works against us.

Long way of saying our problem is much more than the CB coach.
 
Having Bryce out of position, X and OJ injured is the biggest problem.
JJ is super talented but the game is too fast in his head right now.It hasn't slowed down yet. Remember, the kid is from Manhattan Kansas not GA, TX, or SO Fla.
 
People forget that ND had opportunity to win game last year as their QB was getting foothold as first time starter, and this was all snuffed out by Bain and Mesidor. Those two cats and the DTs made it moot as to whatever scheme we were running.
 
Need more swag from them..without oj everyone is too robotic. Need my CBs to have irrational confidence and arrogance
 
Heatherman looked like a complete genius when he had NFL first-round talent on the defense. Now, over the past five games we're giving up 400+ yards, the defense looks completely lost, and it's been lost all year, just inferior opponents hid it a bit. We can't get to the QB with four down linemen. We can't get there blitzing the linebackers, and we can't get there bringing pressure from the secondary. We couldn't cover old ladies in wheelchairs if we had to.

We've got one of the most expensive rosters in college football, yet we keep leaning on the injury excuse as if nobody else is dealing with injuries. Was Notre Dame not banged up when they played us? Was Clemson not dealing with its own issues, including a QB who couldn't seem to throw the ball consistently? We can't stop screens. We can't defend hail marys. We can't consistently generate pressure, and we can't cover anybody.

At some point, the excuses have to stop. This isn't one bad game or one position group struggling. It's a defensive failure across the board, and the responsibility starts with Heatherman and the defensive coaching staff. The talent is there to do better. The coaching and execution simply aren't showing it.
 
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