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Unique defensive grouping at practice, per Ivins

MrMachete said:
We have the personnel to run a 3-3-5. Problem is we don’t preach gap discipline/integrity - so we end up getting f’ing gashed. Our leverage is ***** all too often when we’re in a set like that.

I’m ALL for it IF we can coach it up 100x better.

With that said, we can go 4 DL and the back 2-5 should be DEADLY if we put the right personnel on the field. And coach’m up.
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The problem we've had is we almost exclusively use our LB's as Blitzers, if we commit them to stopping the run & more in drop back coverage our scheme diversity will make us a really good Defense.

We've been bad at gap integrity because our LB corps for the last 3 years has been assigned to just rush aimlessly to collapse the pocket, they're pretty much on a timer, as soon as the ball is snapped they wait a good 2 seconds, then just run straight into the hole.

In 2018, when our Defense played its best games the LB's were playing a lot more soft coverage & reading the QB. As much as it pains me to watch it again but the 2018 UVA game might honestly be the best Defensive performance we put up in the Diaz tenure. **** shame Richt figured out how to lose that game with that God forsaken onside kick, but that game we legitimately played smart sound discipline football & was completely suffocating their offense.

From a personnel standpoint we could run a traditional 4-3, 4-2-5 or 3-3-5, because we have multiple hybrid players in this Defense. The key is just utilizing our Safeties in coverage & allowing our pass rush to ease the job on the CB's.

My ultimate hope is that Brooks & TAC get fully healthy by Fall camp & eventually unseat McCloud. I'm happy to have McCloud back as a 5th year Senior, but I think a lot of people have forgotten that his time at Miami been a decline in play since his TF season, he struggled a lot at Sam Backer which eventually lead to Diaz switching from 4-3 to 4-2-5 & essentially using Rome Finley as the 3rd LB. Despite being a veteran upperclassmen he still has some limitations to his game.

In order for our Defense to function at optimum level we need for Huff, Brooks & somebody between Joyner or TAC to step up & make plays. We need team speed at LB to the thrive.
 
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Agree with that mostly - but I’ll reiterate my point that our inability to execute in a 3 DL set is due to our approach and coaching. Diaz is a better DC than Baker. The little things matter and it seemed like we were not focused on the details in 2019 - and were more focused on the concepts...

I absolutely agree that we need more speed at linebacker and in our secondary in order for our defense to really function at an optimum level. And I am not a McCloud fan. Even though his linebacker coach sucks.
 
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Liberty City El said:
The problem we've had is we almost exclusively use our LB's as Blitzers, if we commit them to stopping the run & more in drop back coverage our scheme diversity will make us a really good Defense.

We've been bad at gap integrity because our LB corps for the last 3 years has been assigned to just rush aimlessly to collapse the pocket, they're pretty much on a timer, as soon as the ball is snapped they wait a good 2 seconds, then just run straight into the hole.

In 2018, when our Defense played its best games the LB's were playing a lot more soft coverage & reading the QB. As much as it pains me to watch it again but the 2018 UVA game might honestly be the best Defensive performance we put up in the Diaz tenure. **** shame Richt figured out how to lose that game with that God forsaken onside kick, but that game we legitimately played smart sound discipline football & was completely suffocating their offense.

From a personnel standpoint we could run a traditional 4-3, 4-2-5 or 3-3-5, because we have multiple hybrid players in this Defense. The key is just utilizing our Safeties in coverage & allowing our pass rush to ease the job on the CB's.

My ultimate hope is that Brooks & TAC get fully healthy by Fall camp & eventually unseat McCloud. I'm happy to have McCloud back as a 5th year Senior, but I think a lot of people have forgotten that his time at Miami been a decline in play since his TF season, he struggled a lot at Sam Backer which eventually lead to Diaz switching from 4-3 to 4-2-5 & essentially using Rome Finley as the 3rd LB. Despite being a veteran upperclassmen he still has some limitations to his game.

In order for our Defense to function at optimum level we need for Huff, Brooks & somebody between Joyner or TAC to step up & make plays. We need team speed at LB to the thrive.
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He’s kinda why we implemented our striker position im curious to see him in the mike spot though
 
I think Mc Cloud can succeed in the Mike role as a plugger. He’ll be tasked more with handling running plays inside the tackles and won’t be asked to play in space as much.

The funny thing is I saw a lot of the mistakes Baker made last year from Manny during his first two years as DC here. A little too much over reliance on the blitz and getting too attack happy. It’s funny because people complain about “playing soft zone” but I think a majority of Miami’s biggest defensive breakdowns last year were the result of being over aggressive and not just sitting back in coverage more. I like the idea of bringing pressure on early downs and then being a bit more basic on third and long. I’m not saying rush three and play prevent. But there’s no reason to bring these crazy blitzes that take forever to get home while simultaneously leaving dudes wide open for easy gains. You bring a safety who’s not playing near the line and he’s just ending up in no mans land somewhere between the quarterback and the open running back who just caught the five yard pass and turned it up field for a fifteen yard gain. You don’t have to be vanilla but stopping a guy for a five yard gain on third and eight is all you need to do.
 
Liberty City El said:
I'd love to see us implement a 3-3-5 element to this Defense in certain packages.

San Diego St mastered the 3-3-5 & had one of the best Defenses in the country under Zach Barnett who's a Danny Gonzalez/Rocky Long disciple.

When healthy, we have quite a few players that gives us flexibility to infuse scheme diversity & throw different looks out there to create confusion & pressure on offenses.

Due to our DL depth we can mix & match the looks of the front line & put a group of athletes in the Secondary that can all play multiple spots.

For instance:

You can go with 3 down linemen of Rousseau, Miller & Phillips, then have Huff, Brooks & Frierson at LB & the 5 DB's would be Blades/Couch at CB, Hall/Bolden at Safety & the Nickel S would be Keontra Smith.

With Hall playing Deep centerfield, he'll roam & patrol the backfield, Huff will come on a delayed stunt Blitz, while Brooks & Frierson cover the middle of the field & the flats, with Bolden & Smith in quarters coverage, Blades & Couch press man on the outside.

There's probably about a dozen or so combos I could think of in multiple set schemes for our Defense, but the key is to play to our strengths & minimize mistakes being exposed by keeping everything in front of us & allowing the Safety depth to cut down on the Deep ball attacks.

How we stop the short underneath quick passing attack is let all these versatile athletes we have that can be LB/S's just cover the flats & the quick slant routes. If we stop committing our LB's to Blitzing every down we'll have more defenders to put a stop to the death by a thousand paper cuts style offenses we'll face a lot this year.

What we don't want is too many one on ones in the secondary, as long as we have all these Safeties we should be running a majority of our snaps in Nickel & double everything up on the outside.
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Good post. I love the packages you presented but I’d switch the role of Huff and Brooks. Leave Huff in coverage since he played some safety in HS and blitz Brooks since rushing the passer was his specialty in high school. Whatever the case I’m definitely excited by the diversity of our personnel and progressive thinking of our coaches.
 
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RVACane said:
Wasn’t there a dude with a KFC bucket on his head at some point?
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Yea, he was a graduate transfer brought in to just fill a gap. Just a guy that done his job but you can’t build a quality program relying on that type of player.
 
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Dutch said:
Yea, he was a graduate transfer brought in to just fill a gap. Just a guy that done his job but you can’t build a quality program relying on that type of player.
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MrMachete said:
We have the personnel to run a 3-3-5. Problem is we don’t preach gap discipline/integrity - so we end up getting f’ing gashed. Our leverage is ***** all too often when we’re in a set like that.

I’m ALL for it IF we can coach it up 100x better.

With that said, we can go 4 DL and the back 2-5 should be DEADLY if we put the right personnel on the field. And coach’m up.
Click to expand...
Great point. The only way I’d trust us in that Rocky Long D is if Rocky or one of his disciples was teaching it.
 
With our front-line DL talent we should use 5 DL instead of 3 if the gimmicky illusionist Manny Diaz insists on using an odd front on obvious passing downs.
 
Nice thoughts, LibertyCity. Good analysis.

I’d prefer a 4-2-5 over the 3-3-5. Why? The front 4 is our greatest source of talent on the team. The ceiling and depth of this group are outstanding. When you have this unique talent, I would never dilute it by taking one of your best players off the field. A 3 man front = that kind of dilution.

Looking forward, I’m interested to see what we do with Blissett who has now moved to a crowded DE group. Could he be moved inside on obvious passing downs, eg 3rd and long? I loved the old speed rush package of the NY Giants when they won the Super Bowl. How about a Cane package of Rousseau, Blissett, Phillips and Roche?
 
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