Nickel

[FrancisSawyer]

If the season started tomorrow, who is on the field in nickel formation? I have to think Bandy slides inside, and Dean plays outside.

We've had decent production from true frosh at the CB position over the last decade. But usually you don't see them until maybe October.

Is Quan at nickel even an option, or is he cemented at safety? Realistically, who will we see first - Carter/Knowles/Dean, or a true frosh?

Luckily we don't face any major QB threats early on. Gives us a chance to figure out the proper personnel.

That's a great question and I think that we would most likely see Bandy slide inside and have Dean, Ivey or Frierson play the other outside CB spot. It's hard to say right now as fall camp will go a long way towards telling us who can handle what etc.....

Gurvan Hall will also be a huge factor in terms how flexible we are out of our different alignments and personnel groupings. Personally I believe Hall is going to make a huge difference in that regard. As Hall becomes more comfortable, Diaz could have Jaquan at nickel with Hall at FS, Red at SS and MJack and Bandy at CB. It's always nice to have options.

 

[BigDikCane]

Bandy and Carter have to stay on the field at all times... McCloud is good but he's not consistent

 

[MainLineCane]

If they want a striker that can really strike and put the hurt on people they'll try and get Frierson in there

 

[BeastMode]

I think it will be Hall at the 5th spot if we think it will be a passing down. If it’s a run situation the 5th “striker” will be Finely or Smith. I’m really not sure how much we will see McCloud and our base 4-3 this year.

 

[rok]

I have a suspicion that we'll transition back to a 4-3 base in cold weather games against BC, VT, GT, UVA.

 

[dukebeeasy305]

Mike cb
Frierson cb
Bandy nickel
Quan S
Rdwine S
Smiff/Carter in the box "Striker" take Pickney off the field when we go "Nickel" and have Shaq as the only true LB

 

[Nmcane814]

Diaz can become real exotic with Greg, these big safeties & athletic strikers. Couple of time Carter was in the A gap pre snap. I expect to 5 DBs on the field with Smith staying on. I think Smith is going to ball at the striker position.

I rather see Redwine come down & cover. Leave JJ with Carter or Hall over the top. Redwine is a former corner easier to slide him down. Bandy & Redwine have the ability to play slot or outside. Diaz already sometime has Redwine playing man from his safety position.

 

[DTP]

AS of right now Bandy and MJ are boundary corners in 4-3 and 4-2-5 personnel. With McCloud as the third linebacker in base and Smith as the striker in 4-2-5. When they go traditional nickle, (no striker) Bandy will move inside to slot and Dean will take his boundary spot opposite MJ.

I believe it was in Barry Jackson's column the other day where Banda said that Carter was out of position too often and was not making progress up the depth chart. He also said that Redwine is head and shoulders above everyone else at his safety spot right now.

 

[rok]

I'm pulling for Dean to start opposite Jackson because 4 senior starters at DB gets me aroused.

 

[cane since birth]

The striker won't (shouldn't?) be used on obvious passing downs. I think that is more of a base defense - Manny refused to get out of 4-3 base against 3 wide last year, esp on 1st and 2nd down. We saw Bandy/nickel on obvious passing 3rd downs. Meaning, the striker package and the nickel won't have the same personnel.

We played primarily in the nickle/striker last year against syracuse, same with clemson, i want that as our base the whole 4-3 should only be used on the crap teams and the ground and pound teams IMO

 

[scrantoncane]

Diaz can become real exotic with Greg, these big safeties & athletic strikers. Couple of time Carter was in the A gap pre snap. I expect to 5 DBs on the field with Smith staying on. I think Smith is going to ball at the striker position.

I rather see Redwine come down & cover. Leave JJ with Carter or Hall over the top. Redwine is a former corner easier to slide him down. Bandy & Redwine have the ability to play slot or outside. Diaz already sometime has Redwine playing man from his safety position.

I didn't even consider Redwine getting another look at CB. Considering who we play early on, we can probably get away with Jackson & Redwine at CB, Bandy at nickel, and Quan & Knowles/Carter at S.

It's probably more likely that we see a true Fr than this lineup, but I am just always reluctant to rely on Fr starters at any position that early in the season. I prefer them as rotational guys that get in when the score & field position are conducive. It sounds like Frierson is the most ready to plug and play right now out of the Fr.

Losing Malik Young hurts. I am high on these freshman we got in the secondary, but until one of them proves himself, we have a slight depth problem.

 

[scrantoncane]

We played primarily in the nickle/striker last year against syracuse, same with clemson, i want that as our base the whole 4-3 should only be used on the crap teams and the ground and pound teams IMO

I don't know that I agree with this. The game is changing, for sure. But we got gashed in the run game at times last year.

I like the idea of the striker, but this isn't a video game where we can just plug in fast guys and expect it to work. IMO, 4-3 needs to be the base, and it gets adjusted to nickel/striker depending on the circumstances, not the other way around.

 

[dukebeeasy305]

I didn't even consider Redwine getting another look at CB. Considering who we play early on, we can probably get away with Jackson & Redwine at CB, Bandy at nickel, and Quan & Knowles/Carter at S.

It's probably more likely that we see a true Fr than this lineup, but I am just always reluctant to rely on Fr starters at any position that early in the season. I prefer them as rotational guys that get in when the score & field position are conducive. It sounds like Frierson is the most ready to plug and play right now out of the Fr.

Losing Malik Young hurts. I am high on these freshman we got in the secondary, but until one of them proves himself, we have a slight depth problem.

No, no way we can move Redwine down to CB and survive with Knowles getting starter reps at safety NO NO NO NO NO.

 

[DTP]

I don't know that I agree with this. The game is changing, for sure. But we got gashed in the run game at times last year.

I like the idea of the striker, but this isn't a video game where we can just plug in fast guys and expect it to work. IMO, 4-3 needs to be the base, and it gets adjusted to nickel/striker depending on the circumstances, not the other way around.

Ideally, you'd use the 4-2-5 as your base against spread teams and 4-3 against traditional pro-set teams and GT. When an offense switches out a lumbering fullback for a lightning quick slot receiver, it only makes sense for the defense to swap out a bigger, slower linebacker for a quicker defensive back. The striker position allows the defense to keep an extra run defender in the box without giving up a huge advantage in pass coverage. A majority of college football offenses are going with a 3 WR set as their base offense so it only makes sense for a defense to add an extra DB.

 

[scrantoncane]

Ideally, you'd use the 4-2-5 as your base against spread teams and 4-3 against traditional pro-set teams and GT. When an offense switches out a lumbering fullback for a lightning quick slot receiver, it only makes sense for the defense to swap out a bigger, slower linebacker for a quicker defensive back. The striker position allows the defense to keep an extra run defender in the box without giving up a huge advantage in pass coverage. A majority of college football offenses are going with a 3 WR set as their base offense so it only makes sense for a defense to add an extra DB.

I do agree in theory. I’m just saying that I wouldn’t abandon the 4-3 so quickly, even against certain 3 WR sets.

I’m curious to see if there is a ripple effect with the striker package. Meaning, does it put more/less stress on our DL? Other position groups? Will we run the same plays, but simply with different personnel? If not, how does the striker effect the responsibilities/performance of other players? Is the striker automatically the player that the opposing QB uses to read our defense pre-snap, or is he used as a decoy?

IMO, there’s a lot we need to learn about this new package before we anoint it our base defense.

 

[DTP]

I'm curious as to whether Manny will use the striker as a replacement for the Will linebacker in his version of the Jimmy Johnson 4-3 over defense or if the striker will actually be used in a safety/rover role. I'm hoping it's the latter, similar to what Gary Patterson has been doing at TCU forever. It's much more versatile and more tuned towards stopping modern, spread offenses.

I still think we'll see plenty of 4-3 against run first teams, even power spread teams. Our linebackers destroyed Notre Dame's power spread and I still think we'll see 3 linebacker sets against teams with run first quarterbacks. I just like the option of an extra DB against balanced spread teams (which is what we see the most in conference play).

 

[cane since birth]

I don't know that I agree with this. The game is changing, for sure. But we got gashed in the run game at times last year.

I like the idea of the striker, but this isn't a video game where we can just plug in fast guys and expect it to work. IMO, 4-3 needs to be the base, and it gets adjusted to nickel/striker depending on the circumstances, not the other way around.

Every top school is doing it, and the spread is becoming a norm in college football gotta get with the times and run a defense that can stop it or we going to keep having guys like benkurt keep gashing us