Comments on: Over-Work Safety

By: Her Loyal Sons » Irish Blogger Gathering: Wherein I Force People Do Things They Don’t Want To Do, Like The Michigan (sucks!) Coaching Staff

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:35:23 +0000

[...] freaking game.Last year, after 2 games, ND’s 2 top tacklers were both the starting safeties. We took note of it and kinda freaked out. We were right to do so. The rush defense last year sucked and had a lot to do with certain losses [...]

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By: Her Loyal Sons » Looking Back on What’s to Come: Them Explosive Tarheels

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:06:52 +0000

[...] big Carolina quick-strike plays that set up so many scores for UNC. Can the Irish be that team? Can a team that depends on so many tackles by the safeties limit the big play? Can Kyle McCarthy and David Bruton chase down Tate and [...]

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By: The Biscuit

The Biscuit — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:19:48 +0000

i think it’s a little of both to be honest. ian is a good, solid player (frosh AA last year). but he’s still young. our rush D wasn’t great last year for a lot of reasons – part of it being that we had a frosh playing a ton (as we do again this year) and part because our defense was ALWAYS on the field (bc of our weak offense). so we can’t say that Ian is great yet – i think we’ll be able to say it next year. like Ethan, he’s young and talented, but will develop more over the next 2 years.

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By: mark

mark — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:29:01 +0000

The reason I lumped Ian Williams with the Frosh is that, while he had lots of tackles last year, especially for only starting a game or two, our run D was still terrible. Considering the number of tackles that Ian and Laws had, you would think we would have had a decent run D, so I am not sure how good Ian is at stopping someone at the line rather than 4 or 5 yards downfield in pursuit. While I think he will be great based on his performance last year, I am not sure that he is great yet.

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By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:54:25 +0000

Not that it excuses the play against SDSU, but our defense was also on the field for the majority of the Michigan game, and their tackling did seem to get worse as they got more tired.

Also, Mark, I wouldn’t lump Ian Williams in with Ethan Johnson or Darius Fleming. He had a ridiculous number of tackles last season for the minutes he played, and more tackles at the line means fewer tackles for our safeties.

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By: domer.mq

domer.mq — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:16:43 +0000

Jim,

That’s a good question. You’d think with Ringer being the main threat, a 4-3 type setup would be preferred, but of our DEs, it might be fair to say they’re better at pass D, so maybe run the 3-4 to get Harrison Smith on the field. He’s got a nose for the ball, even as small as he is.

The blitzes have been a weird mix thus far. We probably haven’t shown much run blitzing, at least in terms of the usual gap-attack type blitzes you might expect. It’s sort of incredible the number of “stacks” we’ve run, or that’s what we called it in HS, where 2 blitzers go thru the same gap, hoping to overload the blocking back. That’s certainly not a run blitz.

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By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:24:59 +0000

Wonder what their run blitzes will look like. I think they have not been shown as yet in any detail. Also wonder what the defensive front 7 will look like both schematically and personnel wise. 3-4 or hybrid 4-3?

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By: The Biscuit

The Biscuit — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:28:20 +0000

it’s a great point mark. i think we have a lot of talent on the D-line, but it’s just so young. ian and ethan will be great, but they still need to develop physically and mentally. we’re definitely making do with a somewhat patchwork edition of the DL. my hope is that Tenuta/Brown can bring together a scheme that allows the LBs to really help out on the run D without exposing us to the short/middle passing game too much.

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By: Trey

Trey — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:38:13 +0000

I agree, Mark. The lack of traditional “sacks”(those not caused by tackling the QB for a loss while on a designed run) is very disconcerting. I dont know what we need to do in Tenuta’s blitz schemes, but I think it’s obvious by now that we either cant or refuse to do it.

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By: mark

mark — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:35:34 +0000

I have not analyzed any stats to back this up, but I just have a gut feeling that having Ian, Darius Flemming (LB), and Ethan Johnson playing a lot in our front 7 does not bode well for our ability to stop the run or sack the passer. I know that many/most of the passes over the past two weeks were 3 step drops, but a good DE should get there sometimes quickly just by beating the OL, occasionally a NT might, and blitzing LBs should too from time to time. We are young everywhere, but the DL, where this all starts, is a definite weakness of this team. I think we can still win a lot of games, but I do not have high expectations of our run D this year.

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