This also makes sense when we consider the years that we had an elite defense even going just by the eye test or what you read on the boards. 2017 was championship level (or **** close), 2018 also insanely good. 2019 we took a step back, and this year the LB position and to some extent Dline play have relegated us to a slightly above average D
Question is, do you believe it's recruiting or Baker's playcalling? LB recruiting has been weak enough where you can justifiably blame either
As usual, it's a combination of both, IMO. Things are rarely black and white, I say it all the time on this board. Most things lie in a gray area.
I do not think Baker is as good of a pure defensive coordinator as Manny is. I will leave that to guys who understand the nuances of defenses a little bit better to explain....I'm an offensive guy. But listening to people I trust and seeing what I see, I believe Manny Diaz as a DC is superior to Blake Baker. That doesn't mean Baker is horrendous. It just means IMO Manny is one of the better D coordinators in the country, and Baker is not there right now.
AND....he's being hurt somewhat by lack of talent at some spots. The unit overall is still talented, hence the numbers that DMoney keeps referring to. It's not a terrible unit, in part because the talent is not terrible. But I have said 500x on this board since the minute he was mentioned as a commit, Bradley Jennings is JAG. FSU didn't cry when he left, he was JAG then, he's JAG now. We all know Zach McCloud is #bad. Nice kid, team guy, will be a HS coach next year, not being paid to play football. We all had concerns about the #2 corner spot. Ivey is JAG, and even Blades seems to have regressed after such a strong year last year. Amari Carter gets kicked out of every game. Bolden has been nonexistent the past 2 games. Jon Ford is a guy you'd really like to count on, multi-year starter, and got passed up by a redshirt freshman already. JAG.
So, you combine overall above average talent with a step down in pure coordinator from Manny to Baker, you get what you get. Overall a pretty good defense, but one certainly with holes. I SERIOUSLY doubt Manny fires his buddy after this year unless the wheels totally fall off. We are 6-1 at the end of the day, and you don't usually fire a lot of coordinators off Top 10 teams. So what can you do to get better? Well, you better have some hits with the young backers. Flagg, Austin-Cave, Huff, Brooks...a couple of those kids better be studs or else it'll be more of the same. Leonard Taylor helps. James Williams helps. Hopefully getting Tae Williams back would surely help. Kam Kinchens helps. There's some elite level recruiting going on at the defensive level. Let's hope they can get the best out of those kids because they have a **** of a lot of God given abilities.