This Defense is going to be NASTY

Hstokes1447

Junior
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Jul 17, 2012
Messages
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This Defense will be better this year than it was last year. After watching the highlights of the returning players and new additions I truly believe that this will be the most dominant defense we have seen in years.

Romeo Finley Top Plays 2018


Trajan Bandy Top Plays 2018


Jonathan Garvin Top Plays 2018


Shaquille Quarterman Top Plays 2018


Michael Pinckney Top Plays 2018

 
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Safety and DT are going to be the keys to this defense reaching its potential. If our youngsters step up, and the portal additions pan out - yeah this D could be special.

Side note - watching that Amari Carter video made me think of a post in the Game Day thread when that game was going on - I believe it was @gogeta4 - said "Carter knocked that dude's hairline back" or something to that effect. LOOOOOOL.
 
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It has potential.

We had to replace our entire DB core in 2017. We did that.

We have been told we were screwed at DL and DL coaching. Multiple times. Overcame both.

Ford sounds like the key coupled with early maturity from our safeties in terms of big plays allowed.

This is the 4th year with Diaz as the DC (Baker is the surrogate) and I would and have argued this is the most athletic group of kids we have had here in that time frame.

UF is the barometer. Our schedule is ***.

10 wins+ and ACCCG appearance is the barometer. Anything less and Diaz will never win here.
 
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What Jaquan Johnson did last year (and the previous year) mentally will be incredibly tough to replace. Losing a kid like that, along with someone as athletic and experienced as Redwine....I just can't say the defense will be better. It just doesn't compute in my mind.

Also, I honestly feel that Gerald Willis played like a first-team All-America last season. I watched a ton of football last year, and I didn't see a more dominating kid at that spot in the entire country. If he was a choir boy and played at Texas or OU or Bama, he's on an All-America team. The person above who said there was no noticeable drop-off when he was off the field is laughable. He was an absolute force when he was in the game. Nobody we have is going to play to that level, and in Manny's scheme, having a kid get that much penetration from that spot is imperative to how he designs his defense.

I'm excited as **** for Rousseau. Shaq and Pinckney, as seniors, should be monsters. Garvin is a Top 3 round talent. Finley was awesome last year, and I expect him to improve. The safeties are going to be athletic and fast as ****. On the edges, we should be excellent. Bandy. The young corners. Silvera. There's a ton to be excited about here. Don't get it twisted, I think this defense is going to be violent and terrifying. But last year was absolutely special. I think this is getting lost around here....what we witnessed last year on defense was legitimately special. That defense was THAT good, with literally NO HELP from anyone else. The offense was putrid. The special teams were a stain on the program. Punting was DEAD LAST in America for god's sake. When we turned it over, it was immediate points in many cases. The pick 6 against LSU. The one down the 5 against UVA. The one in the redzone against BC. We didn't turn it over much on the opponent's side of the field last year. Average opponent's field position was one of the worst in the country. We were 87th in the country in time of possession. And the defense still excelled at literally every single metric. All by themselves.

I just can't say it's going to be better this year when you consider what we lost. That's a lot to expect out of the new kids. But **** it should still be an incredibly exciting, fast, violent defense. And if the kids on the backend can gel, look out.
 
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It should be.....we play a lot of trash offenses. I'm moreso worried about UF, FSU, the ACC champ game and the bowl game...those games (esp the last two) will be against a formidable opponent in which we have similar to equal talent on the field and coaching on the sideline.

I'm hoping the scouting during M-F is better...I don't have the numbers on it...it seemed like the first 2-3 opening drives against our opponents offenses would result in points, long drives, success, ect....hoping to see a change in that area.
 
No one should place any limitations of what this defense can be in 2019 based on some recent departures. You can’t at least until the games are started . Just let the games be played and then see what happens. It happens every year in football and each of the last few years we have heard from various posters why these guys “won’t be as good “ , starting 3 true freshman linebackers, when we lost the entire secondary after 2016 season and had to replace them in 2017 people were scared , or after we lost 4 valuable dline members in Thomas, Harris, McIntosh, Norton and people were petrified how the dline would perform. If anything Diaz has shown his ability to adapt and it will happen again this year imo.

Yes we lost Willis but if you go back and watch the games, if he doesn’t get by you with his swim move he would get abused in the play quite a few times or play undisciplined And get washed out the play. He had elite production for sure but there was a few holes in his game. We won’t have a guy with the production he had however we will be much deeper at the dt spot overall with more depth.

Players progress and emerge with another year of development under their belt so guys can jump on the scene with the type of improvement as let’s say a Romeo Finley had or Michael jackson. Diaz system has shown its pretty interchangeable the last 3 years with immediate production after losses of key players. Same thing will happen again
 
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Hall and Carter will be more productive and effective in our defense than Quan and Redwine. Some will think I’m crazy for saying this but I’m sure some will understand what I mean. These young guys had to wait their turn behind some solid vets in Quan and Redwine but they are more athletic and more physical. I’m not saying the 2 guys we lost were scrubs I’m just saying that nobody feared them. Players on offense will learn VERY soon to be aware of where 26 & 5 are at all times. I predict both players will be drafted higher than any of our players from last year.
 
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