(Long reply)
People correlate a great defense with causing havoc and thats just not true. Bama has had some of the best defensive units year in and out over the last 10 years and I will bet money they havent had more than 1-2 guys who had more than 8-10 sacks in a season. MAYBE Courtney Upshaw and Quinton Williams. Their defensive scheme isnt reliant on havoc. Its playing sound and assignment football AND stopping the run at all costs.
I think Manny has the DL to do this type of scheme even if he cant create the usual havoc he likes.. A DT rotation of Ford, Nesta, Miller and JHH should absolutely be stout against the run this season. Ford, as much as people have given up on him, looked like a man on a mission this Spring. You stop the run and I like our chances against anyone with the secondary we have. (and I have been on the record in saying this could be the best secondary we have had since 2005. I think they can be that great) I have also said many times I think this will be the most underrated DL we have had here ever when the dust settles at the end of this season.. I like what we have in the room. No babies in this room. All full grown men.
If this OL cant get it done than I dont think we will have an OL that does for years. A rotation of Zion-Rivers-Gaynor-ND-Williams/Scaife is probably on paper the best OL we have had since the Golden era when we had Seantrel, Linder, Feliciano and McDerm. Every mock draft has Zion going in the first round. (not saying I agree but it is what it is) Every poster on here has said ND is NFL ready. And Williams/Scaife both are solid OTs. Rivers was a big time recruit. So fine, Gaynor isnt a stud, but lets see how he does this season. If they can just not get bytched against Bama and hold their own..confidence wise they will know they can hang with any DL on the schedule and become a force as the season goes on.
Mallory will be just as good as Brevin and I think most people will agree on that. I think he shocks people. I think Likens and Manny have made it clear they are ready to move on from Pope and Wiggins. I know posters have PTSD when it comes to that but Manny isnt getting fired because of those 2 and neither is Likens. There is a big reason why Rambo was brought in and it aint for him to sit behind Wiggins. And Pope will have to fight off X for his job.
Not sure what you mean by Team Speed bro but remember we went 8-3 last year and we didnt lose 3 games because we were slow. Clemson and UNC were just plain better and unfortunately Okie State we came out flat and just couldnt recover.
KR/PR game is useless period now in football because of the rules change. I dont see many PR and KR for TDs in the sport anymore. But I get your overall point. Fair point.
Last but not least, Manny...he is betting on himself. Gotta respect that. He is basically saying that with Lashlee running the offense and him running the defense...UM will be a force. His DC record at UM speaks for itself. People want to give him astericks and say his scheme is for clowns and the stats are an illusion because of the scheme but the reality is he has results to back up his claim that he can be an elite DC. AND now he has Bob Shoop, Simpson and T-Rob having his back. And he has the deepest UM team in over a decade. Last year he passed the test of beating the teams he is DEFINITELY supposed to beat. Posters dont like to talk about that but give the man his due when warranted if we are going to kill him when he phucks up.. We would have beaten Okie State if we had WRs who could catch the ball. And UNC and Clemson were both 50/50 games at the time. We have one 50/50 game this season. UNC. (I am counting Bama has a 75/25 game) We will be favored in 10 games this season. Time for him to put up or shut up.
10-2/11-1. (regular season) No excuses. Get it done.