Well, IIRC, Jimmy took smaller athletic guys and bulked them up...high school LBs were turned into DL, DBs into LBs...maybe I have that backwards, but I don't think so. If I'm right, then that kinda shoots down your post, no?
Oh, and Fiesta Bowl, January 2, 1987...ring a bell????
We always moved defensive players forward. Safety LB, LB to DE. The difference is DTs. There we had 6'3" 300lb animals who crushed the middle of the oline back into the offensive backfield. That kept the guards and center off our smaller LB and from double teams on or tall lean, fast DEs. We have not had the proper DTs since Big Daddy. And we have been eaten alive up the middle ever since. Bobby Bowden said if you want to beat Miami all you have to do is take all the DTs. Al's sad *** defense is an alternative way of protecting your LBs-- have your sad *** weak slow DTs hug the oline until the rb is 10 yards downfield. That is our current defense.
Golden's defense is effective against our old teams--urber talented impatient offenses that like to score quick. TN, PSU and OSU used the tactic to beat us. Clearly it doesn't always work because we won 5 titles. Johnnie Majors used it against us first. Rush 3 and drop 8, keep everything in front of you waiting for Vinny to throw 6 picks. Joe Pa stole it from him the next year. It allows endless shorter gains that we watched FSU< VT and Duke take over and over again. Not really suited for our usual type of athlete.
If you are going to use Al's D, the players must be thicker. With the DT in the 2014 class we could possibly convert back to our 4-3 or a more proactive 3-4 like Bama. Howard used one like it for our first NC. It just might not be in Al's DNA. IF he will not change from the passive form he uses, we have little hope and will have to wait for him to leave. JJ's 4-3 was more simple. Line up great SoFL athletes in a base defense and dare the other team to beat them. With the NFL HOF DTs we had it worked very well. We will need them back if we want to play that D.
