Spring Cleaning: Defense

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Once the full team is here for Fall camp, I think Manny will have more tools to work with than last year. I also expect this defense to be as good as last year's, with a group effort making up for the irreplaceable loss of Willis' disruption.

Our DE/LB/Striker talent is best in the ACC. The DTs are stout with upside. Bandy is a proven beast, and Hall was my favorite defensive commit from the 2018 class. So we have 1 CB to fill from a pool of Ivey, Blades, Williams, Couch, and 1 S position to fill from a pool of Bolden, A Carter, and K Smith.

We're definitely thin at LB, S and CB, and multiple simultaneous would put us in a bind. Barring that, we've got the horses to go against anyone. Hill, Bolden, Nnoruka will all be starters or excellent depth, and there's a lot of talent in that freshman defensive class.
 
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@Stefan Adams . Have you or anyone else been in touch with Te'Cory Couch lately? How's he coming along? IIRC, kid's been playing football since he was in diapers, can play the position with his eyes closed but needs to add more muscle.
 
A fear I have is that we give up more long, explosive plays this season. Quan was our last line of defense for the past 3 seasons and single-handidly (literally) saved dozens of would-be TDs.

I find it a bit strange that frierson was moved to striker before Carter. Carter seems like a perfect fit and I thought frierson was rangier. Not sure what to make of that.
That striker spot is put in a lot of positions to move laterally and play in some wide open space. Not sure Carter, who plays more downhill and linear, would be a great fit there. I did expect Frierson to be a Safety, but who knows.
 
That striker spot is put in a lot of positions to move laterally and play in some wide open space. Not sure Carter, who plays more downhill and linear, would be a great fit there. I did expect Frierson to be a Safety, but who knows.
Carters limitations in space showed up when he played safety too. He got roasted a few times.

I shouldn’t have said it’d be the perfect fit. Just that, of the two, I’d think Carter would go to striker before Gil.

Who knows. Maybe Gil will be used more on 3rd down/nickel, and less on run support downs. That would make more sense.
 
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From that analysis I see two primary concerns:

1. We have two starting DTs in Nesty and Ford, a "super sub" in Bethel, a fourth in Miller who may have a "bit role" and Martin behind him. Sounds like a 3 man rotation to me. That is not enough, even if all stay really healthy. The kid from UCLA better come in ready to play real minutes.
2. We knew we had questions at safety. I still don't see answers and expect us to sub a lot, based on what I currently see as a lack of complete and complimentary pairs. I see some potential physical forces, but not a lot of coverage skills or versatility.

Nesta, Ford, and Bethel are starting caliber. Miller has earned snaps and Chigozie is a two year starter at UCLA. That's a 5 man rotation without even counting Martin. We didn't play 5 DTs last year. Willis, Tito and Bethel took almost every snap at DT. In passing situations, Manny would often only use one defensive tackle.
 
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Who do you think replaces each departure from 2018's D?

SS Johnson | Carter or Bolden
DT Willis | Silvera or Ford
DE J. Jackson | Hill or Rousseau
FS Redwine | Hall or D. Smith
CB M. Jackson | Ivey or Blades
DT Odenigbo | Bethel or Nnoruka
CB Dean | Blades or C. Williams
LB Smith | Joyner or Jennings
 
Who do you think replaces each departure from 2018's D?

SS Johnson | Carter or Bolden
DT Willis | Silvera or Ford
DE J. Jackson | Hill or Rousseau
FS Redwine | Hall or D. Smith
CB M. Jackson | Ivey or Blades
DT Odenigbo | Bethel or Nnoruka
CB Dean | Blades or C. Williams
LB Smith | Joyner or Jennings
Carter
Silvera
Hill
Hall
Ivey
Nnoruka
Blades
Joyner
 
Who do you think replaces each departure from 2018's D?

SS Johnson | Carter or Bolden
DT Willis | Silvera or Ford
DE J. Jackson | Hill or Rousseau
FS Redwine | Hall or D. Smith
CB M. Jackson | Ivey or Blades
DT Odenigbo | Bethel or Nnoruka
CB Dean | Blades or C. Williams
LB Smith | Joyner or Jennings

Bolden (by midseason)
Silvera
Hill
Hall
Ivey
Ford
Blades
Joyner
 
On paper our defense for 2019 looks dangerous with these players and their mentality:
DE-Garvin
DT-Chiozie/Ford
DT-Nesta (Savage)
DE-T.Hill (Savage)
SAM-Pinck (Savage)
MIKE-Shaq (Savage)
WILL-Zach/Joyner/Huff
STRIKER-Finley/Frierson/Smith
CB1-Bandy (Savage)/Blades
CB2-Ivey/Bethel
FS-Hall (Savage)/Bolden
SS- Carter (Savage)/Smith
 
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On paper our defense for 2019 looks dangerous with these players and their mentality:
DE-Garvin
DT-Chiozie/Ford
DT-Nesta (Savage)
DE-T.Hill (Savage)
SAM-Pinck (Savage)
MIKE-Shaq (Savage)
WILL-Zach/Joyner/Huff
STRIKER-Finley/Frierson/Smith
CB1-Bandy (Savage)/Blades
CB2-Ivey/Bethel
FS-Hall (Savage)/Bolden
SS- Carter (Savage)/Smith
Garvin isn't a savage?
 
Garvin isn't a savage?
Garvin is talented, but his demeanor doesn't come off as a mean willed person. I've seen Shaq push players after plays, Hall Tackles like he hates people, Denzel Perryman said Pinckney is a bad influence on him (Jokingly), but we all know he talks ****, Carter (duh), Nesta (Double duh), T.Hill acted like he broke the turnover change 2 years ago (Yea it ****ed me off but it's still savage ****). Garvin seems like the type of player who only turns his crazy meter on when the ball snaps and immediately calms down after the whistle.
 
Appreciate the write up but you CANT rate the D Line against our OL.......
- Our DL will play against better OL's that they just did in about 70% of their games

Dont get me wrong, I think we have talent but our OL..... well you know
 
Appreciate the write up but you CANT rate the D Line against our OL.......
- Our DL will play against better OL's that they just did in about 70% of their games

Dont get me wrong, I think we have talent but our OL..... well you know
This passage Doesn’t mean much imo if you have been watching the last 3 years. Our dline has dominated in practice against this or similar olines and has led the country in tfls and top 10 in sacks in each of the last 3 years so they dominated other competition in majority of the games they have played in
 
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On paper our defense for 2019 looks dangerous with these players and their mentality:
DE-Garvin
DT-Chiozie/Ford
DT-Nesta (Savage)
DE-T.Hill (Savage)
SAM-Pinck (Savage)
MIKE-Shaq (Savage)
WILL-Zach/Joyner/Huff
STRIKER-Finley/Frierson/Smith
CB1-Bandy (Savage)/Blades
CB2-Ivey/Bethel
FS-Hall (Savage)/Bolden
SS- Carter (Savage)/Smith
LOADED point blank period. I’d have bolden and hall starting at safety but carter should do well. 3 man rotation with all of them being considered “starters” could happen too this year. Just keep knowles off the field
 
That striker spot is put in a lot of positions to move laterally and play in some wide open space. Not sure Carter, who plays more downhill and linear, would be a great fit there. I did expect Frierson to be a Safety, but who knows.
Carter should have been a Will backer the moment he stepped on campus.
 
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