Losing Etheridge in the DB room is the problem

[OBLIVION]

Yes, Thornton and Wilson were bad Evals, and we don't have the depth to replace what we lost, the players personnel is just not as good

Personnel certainly plays a part, and I'm not arguing that we haven't missed on evaluations or that losing key players hasn't hurt our depth. But at some point, you have to look beyond the personnel.

Are you telling me we don't have enough talent to stop screens, defend a Hail Mary, generate pressure, or get guys lined up correctly? We have one of the most expensive rosters in college football. We're not asking this defense to be the 2001 Miami Hurricanes. We're asking them to show some basic fundamentals and competence. Take a pick 6 to the house instead of waiting for the player to catch the ball.

Good defensive coaching is about putting the players you have in positions to succeed. You adjust, scheme around weaknesses, create pressure in different ways, slants, stunts, twists and find solutions. You don't just keep running the same things and blame the personnel when they don't work.

If the personnel isn't good enough, that's a roster-building problem. If the players are consistently out of position, can't execute basic assignments, and the defensive scheme isn't producing results, that's a coaching problem. Right now, we're seeing too much of both to put this all on player evaluations.

 

[Canemang]

I'm told Lucas is an NFL corner

 

[skeeter]

The main problem is clearly safety (and nickle) play imo…Yes Lucas is getting beat up a little, but the safeties way worse imo

Poyser actually stepped up vs ND and played pretty well I thought, but he was atrocious against UNC and was heading down here before that. Dunnigan flashes the speed and pop, but misses tackles everywhere and makes a lot of rookie mistakes in coverage. Thornton well his weaknesses are known. Those 3 together are all among the worst missed tackle rates in the country!

O'Connor has had a very good year for us, and Fitz has been fine wherever he's played according corner. Lucas needs to improve/get confidence back or get some pine time to clear his head, but I've seen him play good football here as well.

I think it's fair to at least question DB coaches (especially Harris at this point), and definitely if we don't see improvement by the end of. year. Do I want the corners to improve, yes…But imo they are nowhere near our safety (And LB coverage) issues right now.

 

[skeeter]

I'm told Lucas is an NFL corner

He still can be. He's hit a rough patch but I think he gets his swag back.

 

[Alex_Dynamix]

I don’t know what coverages we were in on the TDs he gave up or who had what responsibilities. But on both, Lucas appeared to be ****ed at the safety. Like he was expecting help that he didn’t get.

To me, we looked much better when Fitz was back there. And I thought Thornton was good when he came in. JJ has a bright future but looks pretty lost to me.

Our corners have been servicable... our safety play has been BEYOND trash, im talking Jaden Harris level bad, we're giving up explosive pass plays consistently because of it. Poyser has been LOL back there n Dunnigan has played well blitzing and closer to the line of scrimmage but in coverage he's doodoo juice, getting OJ and Antoine back would eliminate the need for Dunnigan to play so much and put Bryce fitzgerald back where he excels at FS.

 

[skeeter]

Our corners have been servicable... our safety play has been BEYOND trash, im talking Jaden Harris level bad, we're giving up explosive pass plays consistently because of it.

Ya rough year for Poyser…Shame because he was a good young player for us last year who looked ready for next step

 

[Hurricane23]

Personnel certainly plays a part, and I'm not arguing that we haven't missed on evaluations or that losing key players hasn't hurt our depth. But at some point, you have to look beyond the personnel.

Are you telling me we don't have enough talent to stop screens, defend a Hail Mary, generate pressure, or get guys lined up correctly? We have one of the most expensive rosters in college football. We're not asking this defense to be the 2001 Miami Hurricanes. We're asking them to show some basic fundamentals and competence. Take a pick 6 to the house instead of waiting for the player to catch the ball.

Good defensive coaching is about putting the players you have in positions to succeed. You adjust, scheme around weaknesses, create pressure in different ways, slants, stunts, twists and find solutions. You don't just keep running the same things and blame the personnel when they don't work.

If the personnel isn't good enough, that's a roster-building problem. If the players are consistently out of position, can't execute basic assignments, and the defensive scheme isn't producing results, that's a coaching problem. Right now, we're seeing too much of both to put this all on player evaluations.

I mean great coached definitely know how to adjust the scheme to fit the personnel. I also think we have certain players playing out of position, and we have a communication problem as far as what needs to be done. I would have been put Brown at the Nickle a long time ago, Thornton would have been on the bench, and Fitz would be back at Free Safety with Poyser at Strong, and yes if you can't get pressure straight up, you have to do stunts and different looks to try to confuse the defense, I dont see us doing this

 

[Navy Cane]

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.

Not only that, but these guys were leaders. Who's the leader on D this season? Mo?

 

[OBLIVION]

Our corners have been servicable... our safety play has been BEYOND trash, im talking Jaden Harris level bad, we're giving up explosive pass plays consistently because of it.

If the safeties are struggling, that's something the defensive staff has to account for schematically. You provide help, adjust coverage responsibilities, and put players in positions where they aren't constantly exposed.

You can't keep bringing a safety down to pressure the QB, fail to get home, and leave the rest of your secondary exposed. That's part of the problem. If you're going to sacrifice coverage by bringing pressure, you have to get something out of it. Otherwise, you're just creating opportunities for the offense to exploit the open areas of the field. That's a schematic and play-calling issue just as much as it's a personnel issue.

 

[Alex_Dynamix]

Not only that, but these guys were leaders. Who's the leader on D this season? Mo?

Toure and Moten set the tone but nobody except for lightfoot consistently matches it wit em, sadly our secondary issue is mainly a IQ oriblem with guys playing out of position at key spots, (Poyser,Fitzgerald,Dunnigan) how many times did i look up at Big play given up these past couple weeks and one of these guys were involved smh

 

[Alex_Dynamix]

If the safeties are struggling, that's something the defensive staff has to account for schematically. You provide help, adjust coverage responsibilities, and put players in positions where they aren't constantly exposed.

You can't keep bringing a safety down to pressure the QB, fail to get home, and leave the rest of your secondary exposed. That's part of the problem. If you're going to sacrifice coverage by bringing pressure, you have to get something out of it. Otherwise, you're just creating opportunities for the offense to exploit the open areas of the field. That's a schematic and play-calling issue just as much as it's a personnel issue.

I agree the coaching isn't helping at all but at the end of the day the DB group we had last year is infinitely better then whatever BS were throwing out there this yr and guys were in the spots where they can excel. I'm sorry but Poyser is not a roaming FS here and Fitzgerald is not a natural Nickel..your'e already at a disadvantage by even having em at those spots to begin with, easy pickings for an OC. 2nd half of ND seemed to be a better plan let's hope its a sign for some type of an improvement cause even with the shortcomings they are talented enough to be better then the 120 something ranked unit or whatever it is.

 

[McGahee2TheHouse]

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.

Blaming solely the talent 5 years in is so beyond hilarious. Hopefully we have a complete roster in year 14 guysmmmm

 

[McGahee2TheHouse]

Also think Antoine might be the biggest legend the Miami fanbase has ever built up.

Guy played in 4 games but the board has built him up as some seasoned vet that would turn this DB room around.

I can’t wait until he comes back and doesn’t meet up to the narrative this board has concocted and said board is then saying he doesn’t have talent.

 

[Trav]

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.

A problem. Not the problem.