manny diaz on wqam

[da canes 305]

Problem is, do you think our front 4 can create pressure?

 

[sfowler06]

Problem is, do you think our front 4 can create pressure?

Not sure if serious...

 

[Gatorhater]

"It really started at Miami back in the 1980s. It is about getting four defensive linemen with their heels cranked out of the ground and when the ball is snapped, they are getting across the line of scrimmage."

Preach brother. How long have we waited for something so simple, so clear, so right to be said.

No plan survives contact with the enemy. When you make that contact occurs on the other side on the LOS and in the face of the QB, it just ruins his day. There is a difference between "extending a play with his feet" and "running for his frigging life". QB can be all read/option but when 300 lb grizzle bear shows up as part of the "read" portion, things can so south quickly. And in the fact that "meet me at the QB" is simple, not much time need to sub or call in play -- limits impact of up tempo too. I am not that high on Manny, Lord how our opponents are going to miss Al Golden.

can't remember the last time I heard an announcer say "the problem with these Miami D Linemen is they play so aggressive from time to time they overrun the play and they get too far up field."

Amen, brother! Sure offenses will come up with some plays to counter us but that is the point -- they are reacting to us not running some "fancy" offense. Instead of uptempo, they will be trying hard or long counts trying to draw us offside.

 

[Classic]

On how tough it is to play defense in this era of college football…

“That is why you better get aggressive and attack these offenses because they are in full attack mode. The game has changed, obviously. You can see that with the tempo and when you have a kid that can extend plays with his legs like the way the kid from Clemson did last night, you can see the problems that can cause. One thing that jumps out to you is that you need depth. Alabama, with their front four, to play those tempo offenses, you can’t play with just four. You have to have a two-deep that you can roll to chase those quarterbacks around. But, the more the game changes, the more it stays the same. Alabama committed only two penalties, they never turned the ball over, and they dominated the kicking game. To me, that is why they won the football game. That has been true no matter what era of football. I am a believer in negative plays and negative plays kill drives. That is what it is all about. You have to find a way to get stops. If you can get your guys off the field, that is what its all about.”

On his attacking style of defense…

“It starts with the word attack and attack doesn’t necessarily mean blitz. We have a great defensive line coach, Craig Kuligowski, who came from Missouri, and he and I are on the same page philosophically. It really started at Miami back in the 1980s. It is about getting four defensive linemen with their heels cranked out of the ground and when the ball is snapped, they are getting across the line of scrimmage. Everyone remembers those games in the 1980s when Oklahoma would come down here and would have that option stuffed up their you know what. That is what the rest of the country tried to emulate. The first thing we want to bring back is getting our feet across the line of scrimmage where we can create havoc in the backfield. The idea of attack and blitz being in the same sentence is not necessarily the case. Attack means a lot of things, but you have to be sound with everything you do because the game is won and lost on explosive plays.”

On if he thought about getting into politics like he dad…

“No, but I joke around with my dad that I think I have a more political job than he ever did. We deal with all kinds of politics. We talk about how there are some similarities between our jobs and I have learned from him for sure.”

On if he has an idea on the type of players he has on his defense…

“We have a general idea. We are going to show up in September and play a football game. We have some guys here who can run and tackle. When recruiting ends, we are excited about getting with the guys in our offseason program and see them move around. We are going to put a defense out there that people will want to watch. This spring is going to be about being simple and playing defense instead of defensive. I am not concerned about being tricky. We just have to line up and we have to stop the run at a much higher level. We have to see who can be responsible for holding point and attacking the line of scrimmage.”

On South Florida having the top talent in the country…

“Yeah, when recruiting opens on Thursday, there is going to be a bunch of airplanes pointing in this direction with college coaches. That is never going to change. It is a lot more competitive now. There is more schools that come down here than did in the 1980s and 1990s and are getting on kids a lot earlier. Recruiting has changed dramatically in the last five years. Kids are so much more accessible now and the world seems so much smaller now. One thing that we have seen in the last week is that there is a lot of kids that still want to come to Miami and still have Miami as their dream school. There is a lot of kids that understand that this city and this university has an us against the world mentality. To me, that is what has got this place rolling and that understanding that the University of Miami is our team. This is home and it is a team that should be filled with guys that are from a short drive to our campus.”

On his recruiting area…

“Right now what we are doing is handling everything by positions and after we get off the road in February, we will start chopping up the state.”

Dude said all of the right things.

An experienced coaching staff who "gets" Miami...be still my throbbing *****.

 

[Jassid82]

i like how people talk about willis, d jax, muhammed, guys like that benifiting from system but forget chad thomas. u know the 5 star recruit everyone wanted even saban and bama. this kid will be a beast in a 1 gap attack scheme.

i look for thomas to move around alot play sde, some dt on rush downs. guy will get double digit sacks , thomas to me is gonna benifit the most from coach kool and diaz. just because he is the most talented dl on team. period.

thomas could be our shaq lawson that guy that every team has to fear and gameplan to stop.

I just assumed that AQM and CT9...you know..are two starters at DE...were a given to be beasts in this scheme. I am talking about guys who more or less are flying under the radar and didnt get a chance to REALLY show their skills in that BS 3-4 scheme and now will be at center stage as well. ALA showed that if you cant go at least 6-7 deep on the defensive front with quality guys (not just bodies) then you cant sit at the big boy table.

 

[MIATL]

I would love to actually get his take on our defense from last year. Turn the Clemson or UNC game on and see if he can even decipher what the heck we are doing. ****, that Cincy loss was about as bad as it gets really.

I bet it would be funny to see his reaction.

He shouldn't be laughing at anyone else's defense. He needs to fix his own issues before he rises to the level of laughing at other DCs. Pop in the Old Urine and Arkansas games from last season if he starts getting too full of himself.

I took away from that article that he's learning from his past mistakes. If he can generate pressure and havoc with the front 4 he won't be as blitz heavy.

I'm not as concerned with his blitzing as I am with his off coverage that allows decent QBs to pick his defenses apart. Hopefully, Kool will turn our front into a group of dragons. Nasty front fours can make everything on the defense immediately better.

Agree that front 4 pressure can make secondary look a lot better. Hopefully we get back to man-man press coverage which will also allow the front 4 to be even more effective.

How does playing man-press "allow the front 4 to be even more effective"?

 

[JgDaCane]

He shouldn't be laughing at anyone else's defense. He needs to fix his own issues before he rises to the level of laughing at other DCs. Pop in the Old Urine and Arkansas games from last season if he starts getting too full of himself.

I took away from that article that he's learning from his past mistakes. If he can generate pressure and havoc with the front 4 he won't be as blitz heavy.

I'm not as concerned with his blitzing as I am with his off coverage that allows decent QBs to pick his defenses apart. Hopefully, Kool will turn our front into a group of dragons. Nasty front fours can make everything on the defense immediately better.

Agree that front 4 pressure can make secondary look a lot better. Hopefully we get back to man-man press coverage which will also allow the front 4 to be even more effective.

How does playing man-press "allow the front 4 to be even more effective"?

By not allowing the wr's to get open aka more coverage sacks.

 

[MIATL]

I took away from that article that he's learning from his past mistakes. If he can generate pressure and havoc with the front 4 he won't be as blitz heavy.

I'm not as concerned with his blitzing as I am with his off coverage that allows decent QBs to pick his defenses apart. Hopefully, Kool will turn our front into a group of dragons. Nasty front fours can make everything on the defense immediately better.

Agree that front 4 pressure can make secondary look a lot better. Hopefully we get back to man-man press coverage which will also allow the front 4 to be even more effective.

How does playing man-press "allow the front 4 to be even more effective"?

By not allowing the wr's to get open aka more coverage sacks.

So, you can't get "coverage sacks" in zone?

 

[Billy D Williams]

He probably would get sick watching Dorito's and Al's no-defense so he knows there is no value in doing so. You know who the players are, line the up in positions, practice and pick the best guys. Simple as that. Doesn't take long to see who the Ballas are vs JAGS. They know they have to recruit better defensive players than in the past so they just out getting it done.

 

[Tad Footeball]

I am a believer in negative plays and negative plays kill drives. That is what it is all about. You have to find a way to get stops. If you can get your guys off the field, that is what its all about.”

On his attacking style of defense…

“It starts with the word attack and attack doesn’t necessarily mean blitz. We have a great defensive line coach, Craig Kuligowski, who came from Missouri, and he and I are on the same page philosophically. It really started at Miami back in the 1980s. It is about getting four defensive linemen with their heels cranked out of the ground and when the ball is snapped, they are getting across the line of scrimmage. Everyone remembers those games in the 1980s when Oklahoma would come down here and would have that option stuffed up their you know what. That is what the rest of the country tried to emulate. The first thing we want to bring back is getting our feet across the line of scrimmage where we can create havoc in the backfield. The idea of attack and blitz being in the same sentence is not necessarily the case. Attack means a lot of things, but you have to be sound with everything you do because the game is won and lost on explosive plays.”

On if he has an idea on the type of players he has on his defense…

“We have a general idea. We are going to show up in September and play a football game. We have some guys here who can run and tackle. When recruiting ends, we are excited about getting with the guys in our offseason program and see them move around. We are going to put a defense out there that people will want to watch. This spring is going to be about being simple and playing defense instead of defensive. I am not concerned about being tricky. We just have to line up and we have to stop the run at a much higher level. We have to see who can be responsible for holding point and attacking the line of scrimmage.”

i need a cigarette

Your heart won't survive the first Kuligowski interview.

 

[kalinis]

Problem is, do you think our front 4 can create pressure?

yes aqm had 5 sacks thomas playing 5 tech 2 gap had 5 sacks moten. jenkings willis should with new 1 gap attack scheme get alot of pressure. playing a 2 gap read and react killed front 4 pressure. system change alone helps these kids.

 

[HurricaneAce07]

How does playing man-press "allow the front 4 to be even more effective"?

By not allowing the wr's to get open aka more coverage sacks.

So, you can't get "coverage sacks" in zone?

You can but it is more difficult and requires your safeties/CBs to be on point. The benefit of man-press is it puts the route timing off for the QB/WR which is what the front 4 needs to get to the QB pre-release. What has killed us the last few years is our zone defense left massive holes in the short game, which provided free release valves for the QB even if we were to get pressure on him. D'Onofrio called it "bend don't break", but I prefer "Death by a thousand cuts" which is much more demoralizing to your team and the fans.

 

[Hardcore Cane]

I would love to actually get his take on our defense from last year. Turn the Clemson or UNC game on and see if he can even decipher what the heck we are doing. ****, that Cincy loss was about as bad as it gets really.

I bet it would be funny to see his reaction.

I actually think the Cincy loss was the worst of last season. Clemson was so completely better than us at every position.....that total meltdown wasn't a surprise. Same goes for UNC since No'D had no idea how to stop an up tempo offense. Cincy didn't have half the talent we had last season but our defense somehow figured out a way to lose that game.

Horrible play calling on the offense also.