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One position that is further ahead than I expected...

DMoney

DMoney

D-Moni
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Linebacker. Coach Hetherman said he wanted to prioritize length and athleticism, and it certainly seems that way through two weeks and a scrimmage. Mohamed Toure looks like a legitimate impact player, Wesley Bissainthe is playing well at 230 (over 40 pounds over his freshman weight), Kellen Wiley looks like an alien, and Chase Smith is earning real reps.

Throw in Popo Aguirre, Kamal Bonner (who is generating internal buzz) and the versatile Bobby Pruitt and you have an interesting group. Stopping Notre Dame is a different deal than flying around on Greentree, but the scrimmage was a very good start.
 
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DMoney said:
Linebacker. Coach Hetherman said he wanted to prioritize length and athleticism, and it certainly seems that way through two weeks and a scrimmage. Mohamed Toure looks like a legitimate impact player, Wesley Bissainthe is playing well at 230 (over 40 pounds over his freshman weight), Kellen Wiley looks like an alien, and Chase Smith is earning real reps.

Throw in Popo Aguirre, Kamal Bonner (who is generating internal buzz) and the versatile Bobby Pruitt and you have an interesting group. Stopping Notre Dame is a different deal than flying around on Greentree, but the scrimmage was a very good start.
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Bobby Washington behind everyone?
 
DMoney said:
Linebacker. Coach Hetherman said he wanted to prioritize length and athleticism, and it certainly seems that way through two weeks and a scrimmage. Mohamed Toure looks like a legitimate impact player, Wesley Bissainthe is playing well at 230 (over 40 pounds over his freshman weight), Kellen Wiley looks like an alien, and Chase Smith is earning real reps.

Throw in Popo Aguirre, Kamal Bonner (who is generating internal buzz) and the versatile Bobby Pruitt and you have an interesting group. Stopping Notre Dame is a different deal than flying around on Greentree, but the scrimmage was a very good start.
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@DMoney That's great to hear about the LB group.

I've heard we might have the two most physical safety's in the nation this year. Thomas has been a force and played really well in the scrimmage.
 
DMoney said:
Linebacker. Coach Hetherman said he wanted to prioritize length and athleticism, and it certainly seems that way through two weeks and a scrimmage. Mohamed Toure looks like a legitimate impact player, Wesley Bissainthe is playing well at 230 (over 40 pounds over his freshman weight), Kellen Wiley looks like an alien, and Chase Smith is earning real reps.

Throw in Popo Aguirre, Kamal Bonner (who is generating internal buzz) and the versatile Bobby Pruitt and you have an interesting group. Stopping Notre Dame is a different deal than flying around on Greentree, but the scrimmage was a very good start.
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Who is most like ND's J Love on Miami's roster now and did said individual carve up the LBs yesterday?
 
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The U is back to work said:
A healthy Toure changes that room completely.
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This. Have said it repeatedly since the minute he announced he was coming here. If, and it's a big if, but IF he's 100.0% healthy, he changes the outlook of the entire season, literally. That's not hyperbole. I'm not saying dude is Ray Lewis, but he is an All-ACC linebacker when healthy, and I'm very confident we'll have a good DL. I'm very confident we'll have very good cover corners (what a wild thing to say after the abomination we saw). I'm very confident Wes is no worse than decent. If this kid is a true killer in the middle, the entire floor and ceiling of the defense is raised considerably. Not only is he a very good player, but he knows Heatherman and his scheme better than anyone on the roster. It'd be so so so so so huge for us if this kid plays like he can play when his knee is right.

If he's a shell of himself or gets hurt again, we're in trouble IMO.
 
DMoney said:
Linebacker. Coach Hetherman said he wanted to prioritize length and athleticism, and it certainly seems that way through two weeks and a scrimmage. Mohamed Toure looks like a legitimate impact player, Wesley Bissainthe is playing well at 230 (over 40 pounds over his freshman weight), Kellen Wiley looks like an alien, and Chase Smith is earning real reps.

Throw in Popo Aguirre, Kamal Bonner (who is generating internal buzz) and the versatile Bobby Pruitt and you have an interesting group. Stopping Notre Dame is a different deal than flying around on Greentree, but the scrimmage was a very good start.
Click to expand...
This update excites me. Its a given that Toure should be the leader of that group, but if Wiley is really all that (and I think he is), those two plus Wes give us 3 good sized LBs. Use Pruitt at Safety against ND and we could have a real chance to force ND to beat us through the air. I like our chances there atm.

Besides Beck, this group is the ultimate X factor in how good we can be imo.
 
Been saying all off season LB was not near as concerning to me as most thought

The play slipped later in the year but to me its was just a surface level problem, underneath was guidry getting out schemed and our secondary being terrible at everything from just lining up to executing simple coverages
 
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We'll probably immediately know. Last season, our Safeties were something like I've never seen - lost, missteps, late, obscene angles, etc - in 35+ years of obsessing over football.

But, opponents also legitimately picked on our LBs in high leverage spots. We had guys getting isolated in the passing game on critical 3rd downs and other key game situations (red zone, pinned back, etc.).

I keep reading about the CB room flip, but this LB/Safety insanity needs to end if we want to more consistently get off the field. While we were 49th in the nation in 3rd down stop %, it sure felt like, when we badly needed a stop, we were 1000th.
 
Just picked up my copy of Phil Steele yesterday, and he has the units ranked nationally as follows:

D-Line:
ND - 4 - notes they're loaded with depth and potential and should have a heavy rotation of quality guys especially at edge
Miami - 11 - Notes that Rueben Bain is a stud but less depth

LB:
ND - 3 - predicts Bowen/Sneed to start in heavy rotation with Ausberry and KVA, who he says would start for most schools
Miami - 26 - seems like they have some upperclassmen with late round draft grades, but no studs

Other unit rankings you didn't ask about
QB: ND 64, Miami 9
RB: ND 2, Miami 16
Receivers: ND 14, Miami 23
O-line: ND 3, Miami 6
DBs: ND 1, Miami 24
ST: ND 11, Miami 67

Thoughts? I think he has Miami's LBs and DBs way too low. Also, I think Miamis online is top 4 at worst.
 
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