Positions battles DE

[FrancisSawyer]

Yet people always wondered why I'd speak up about how excessive the mopery of some people had got on here. Y'all just speaking on cway who I've definitely called on things over the years. But it wasn't just him. Let's not forget how rampant that **** was. Very few people saw that same vision towards the progress we were experiencing and would constantly have to argue for that stance. **** was all over here. Now they just act like they all knew what was coming.

I wouldn't know how to classify myself as far as that goes but I'll attempt it. I've always been very critical of Mario when I felt he deserved it yet I was always fair and gave him credit when it was due. As far as players go I have always been super optimistic in terms of them realizing their potential.

If we're talking about before the 2025 season specifically, I knew that Hetherman was going to make a huge difference and that the defense would experience a big turnaround. I loved the DL and the CBs plus the Poyser addition. I liked the Scott and Thomas additions but had no clue how good those 2 would be especially Scott. I liked the Toure addition and liked the LB group with Bissainthe, Aguirre and Smith. I loved the overall depth at DL and knew Bain would be a stud when healthy plus Mesidor getting slimmed down and going to DE full time was exciting but nowhere in my wildest dreams could I have ever imagined how insanely dominant those 2 were last year. Not even close! I knew we would have a very good team but again, I could not have ever imagined navigating the road we did to reach the National Championship Game.

After the SMU loss something changed. Something clicked for both the players and the coaches. The coaches particularly Mario Cristobal and Shannon Dawson stopped getting in their own way and quit being so rigid and the players fed of off that. The team began to galvanize and it really showed in the playoffs. Mario grew tremendously as a gameday coach and you could see his confidence growing. We fell just short but that 2025 team brought this program back in amongst the elite and the 2026 team won't stop until we finish the job and are standing at the very top.

 

[Zombie-Cane]

Glad to say I was wrong on this. Really glad to say that.

I think it speaks volumes about Akheem Mesidor — his commitment, his work ethic — and credit to Jason Taylor too.

I’m really interested to see how Blount compares this year to what Mesidor was last season. Mesidor leaned heavily on his craft — quickness, twitch, pure explosiveness. He took a real jump. Before that, he wasn’t this level of player, but once he got healthy, got in shape, and everything clicked, he hit another gear.

Now with Blount, it’s different. He’s younger coming into it, but Mario Cristobal has been high on him from the jump. I think he’s got an NFL-type season in him. At the same time, I could see him sticking around with Taylor, developing that craft even more — and if that happens, you’re talking about a guy who could be here another year or two and turn into a legit first-round pick.

Yea……

 

[Calinative]

You’re not wrong but i don’t think it should be forgotten that he was a high school senior last year in a natty contenders 2deep. The technique development with his already natural length and power will make him a good pass rusher imo

Definitely disappointed in lowe for not seizing this opportunity, he has the traits to fill bain/mesi shoes but not mentality it seems

Well that’s why I said he needs to make a major improvement.

It’s not even a question he simply has not been a good pass rusher, no matter the excuse. It’s just a statement of fact.

If he doesn’t take the jump we need with Lowe being MIA I guess…. Well that certainly would suck for our Dlines super high ceiling. We will still be better than anyone we play along the dline till playoffs… but we will see

 

[skeeter]

Blount has proven exactly Zero pass rush prowess in 2yrs so far.

Nah this isn't true…Is he a speed rusher? No… Is Lightfoot better as a rusher? Of course, Lightfoot may become one of the most explosive pass rushing edges in CFB

Does he need to show more? Yes

But he has shown some pass rush ability for sure.

 

[AtlAtty]

Well that’s why I said he needs to make a major improvement.

It’s not even a question he simply has not been a good pass rusher, no matter the excuse. It’s just a statement of fact.

If he doesn’t take the jump we need with Lowe being MIA I guess…. Well that certainly would suck for our Dlines super high ceiling. We will still be better than anyone we play along the dline till playoffs… but we will see

I can tihnk of 2 specific plays where Bount’s pass rush caused an INT.
1. Against NCSU on the 2nd INT by Thomas.
2. Against OSU on the late INT by Thomas.

That is 2 plays off the top of my head. Does that mean he has been a great pass rusher, no. But to argue that he has done nothing as a pass rusher also ignores plays he made for the sake of over emphasizing a point.

 

[Calinative]

I can tihnk of 2 specific plays where Bount’s pass rush caused an INT.
1. Against NCSU on the 2nd INT by Thomas.
2. Against OSU on the late INT by Thomas.

That is 2 plays off the top of my head. Does that mean he has been a great pass rusher, no. But to argue that he has done nothing as a pass rusher also ignores plays he made for the sake of over emphasizing a point.

He was 3rd on the team in pass rusher snaps.

He had a 7.2% Win%, worse than anyone on our DLine except Blay pretty much. His productivity is relative to the snaps he plays. So me saying he’s done nothing is entirely accurate relatively. Just cause you can name a couple plays and overvalue the effect of any single pressure and putting the result entirely on him is a bit funny.

30 pressures, 5 sacks, 17 Hurries. Is it LITERALLY ZERO presures+sacks? No. Lmao

on True Pass Sets his win% was 10%. Which is very very bad for a guy we want to be THE GUY this yr. Anyone acting different is full of crap. Is there hope he will develop in this area? Yes. But just to compare, Mesidor was 36.6%, Bain 30.3, Lightfoot 25%, Moten 20%, Scott 19.6%…again only above Blay at 8.9%. That’s very bad. He had almost 2x as many Rush snaps on true pass sets as Lightfoot and generated 1 more pressure, 2 less hurries, and 2 more sacks. Thats basically doing nothing. We are talking about us having a top 5 defense and potentially the best DLine in the country here. Not comparing his production to a G5 teams guys…

See when you say “has he been great? No” that is absolutely incorrect. He’s been bad. If you want to give him the benefit of the doubt you can say he’s been below average as a rusher. It’s incorrect to say anything else

 

[90scane]

He was 3rd on the team in pass rusher snaps.

He had a 7.2% Win%, worse than anyone on our DLine except Blay pretty much. His productivity is relative to the snaps he plays. So me saying he’s done nothing is entirely accurate relatively. Just cause you can name a couple plays and overvalue the effect of any single pressure and putting the result entirely on him is a bit funny.

30 pressures, 5 sacks, 17 Hurries. Is it LITERALLY ZERO presures+sacks? No. Lmao

on True Pass Sets his win% was 10%. Which is very very bad for a guy we want to be THE GUY this yr. Anyone acting different is full of crap. Is there hope he will develop in this area? Yes. But just to compare, Mesidor was 36.6%, Bain 30.3, Lightfoot 25%, Moten 20%, Scott 19.6%…again only above Blay at 8.9%. That’s very bad. He had almost 2x as many Rush snaps on true pass sets as Lightfoot and generated 1 more pressure, 2 less hurries, and 2 more sacks. Thats basically doing nothing. We are talking about us having a top 5 defense and potentially the best DLine in the country here. Not comparing his production to a G5 teams guys…

See when you say “has he been great? No” that is absolutely incorrect. He’s been bad. If you want to give him the benefit of the doubt you can say he’s been below average as a rusher. It’s incorrect to say anything else

You have Wilson’s win percentage from Missouri? Thanks

 

[Calinative]

You have Wilson’s win percentage from Missouri? Thanks

different systems, but:

But Wilson had a 13.5% overall Win% on 319 total rush snaps. Generated 54 pressures 8 sacks, 37 hurries.
Zion Young for Missouri who is likely a late 1st-mid2nd EDGE this year had 326 rush snaps, 17.4% win%, 57 pressures, 8 sacks, 32 hurries... Young and Wilson were top 2 on team in win%
And Chris McClellan their NT who is likely a 4thish rounder had 312 rush snaps, 9.6% win%, 21 pressures, 5 sacks, 11 hurries.

On TRUE pass Sets Wilson had a 15.7% win% vs Youngs 25.6% Win%...

More concerning thing with Wilson is he only played 184 runD snaps (Young played 238), and only had 5 Run Stops (young had 22). That's a 2.7% Stop% vs Youngs 9.3%

And for our guys Bain had 23 (10.9%) on 336 RunD Snaps, Mesidor had 15 (4.9%) on 314 RunD snaps, Lightfooot had 8 (11.8%) on only 68 RunD snaps.... Oh and Blount had 3 (3.1%) on 96 RunD Snaps....

 

[skeeter]

See when you say “has he been great? No” that is absolutely incorrect. He’s been bad. If you want to give him the benefit of the doubt you can say he’s been below average as a rusher. It’s incorrect to say anything else

No this is incorrect…You are wording it wrong to say he is a bad pass rusher.

You are talking out of your neck

And as usual you don't know how to interpret what you are looking at.

 

[E1k]

different systems, but:

But Wilson had a 13.5% overall Win% on 319 total rush snaps. Generated 54 pressures 8 sacks, 37 hurries.
Zion Young for Missouri who is likely a late 1st-mid2nd EDGE this year had 326 rush snaps, 17.4% win%, 57 pressures, 8 sacks, 32 hurries... Young and Wilson were top 2 on team in win%
And Chris McClellan their NT who is likely a 4thish rounder had 312 rush snaps, 9.6% win%, 21 pressures, 5 sacks, 11 hurries.

On TRUE pass Sets Wilson had a 15.7% win% vs Youngs 25.6% Win%...

More concerning thing with Wilson is he only played 184 runD snaps (Young played 238), and only had 5 Run Stops (young had 22). That's a 2.7% Stop% vs Youngs 9.3%

And for our guys Bain had 23 (10.9%) on 336 RunD Snaps, Mesidor had 15 (4.9%) on 314 RunD snaps, Lightfooot had 8 (11.8%) on only 68 RunD snaps.... Oh and Blount had 3 (3.1%) on 96 RunD Snaps....

After researching more and watching games of Wilson..I tempered my expectations. He will be good for us no doubt but this isn’t a player thats close to mesi, bain, or a first rounder imo.

 

[skeeter]

After researching more and watching games of Wilson..I tempered my expectations. He will be good for us no doubt but this isn’t a player thats close to mesi, bain, or a first rounder imo.

I'm kinda here too…Definitely a good player that can be drafted some point between rounds 4 and 7, would love to see more.

Definitely can rack up some sacks though.

 

[E1k]

I'm kinda here too…Definitely a good player that can be drafted some point between rounds 4 and 7, would love to see more.

Definitely can rack up some sacks though.

Yep and i trust JTs coaching to get him to whatever his ceiling is