Spring Report: Defense

So, continuing to work off Jack Carle's previews in the Sentinel, today (Tuesday) we're going to review what they came up with as it relates to the defense.  The key thing I took away is that we were playing guys for too many reps the last couple of years, which could have led to the problems at the end of games.  We want to literally be able to play 22 players over the course of the game, and we have not been able to do that.  Whether we will...this remains to be seen.

One thing...and Clawson acknowledges it in the article, is that while our players are more seasoned, the defense remains very, very young.  He says he's rather have a sophomore who has played than a senior who hasn't (which is nice) but the question is whether our sophomore who has played can compete with an opposing SR. WR who has played, for example.

A few notes:

On the line, Jones, Campbell and Oullette are expected to run a three-man rotation on the inside.  On the end, we have about six guys competing for time, incluing Bryan Thomas, who is back from injury.  Baird and Shaq Hall, both of whom red-shirted, are in the mix as well.

(As we know, this is where it all starts.  Interesting question.  At his season-ender, Coach talked about the team getting stronger over the off-season.  I'd wonder how that was going....you could ask him, but he's not going to say it didn't go well.)

LB is pretty solid.  We have Woods and Swan with DJ Lynch and Gabe Martin in the backup roles.  Woods is one of our two best players, and if the line holds their blocks, he can be a force.

It sounds like the d-backfield is the most unsettled position.  Remembering that two years ago we were bringing in JUCO WRs and moving them to the d-backfield, this is not a terrible surprise.

For example, at CB--we have 3 and Coach says in the story he would like to get to 4.  The 4th does not appear to someone with game-proven ability at Corner.

Safety and Rover are intertwined.  Rover is the hybrid WILL LB that also has to cover slot receivers.  Gates played their last year, but very late in the season he was moved to Safety, just because your safeties have to tackle, and Gates is one of our best player.  Basically, there are a number of guys swirling around here....if no one steps up at Rover, Gates would move back.  There is talk of "cross training" them which means you might only need to go 3 deep instead of 6 deep if the guys are not cross-trained.

Anyway, the defense is getting more experienced.  Given the relative youth, I still feel a little bit like the ceiling might not be terribly high, but they should be moving in the right direction toward being a really, really good unit.  The key is up front.  If we are stronger at the line, then I think we have the ability to make some plays at LB, and keep pressure on the QB and off our D-backs.