DL Discussion

[Boomergump]

The other depth chart thread was intended for guys carrying the rock. It seems discussion started to surround the DL situation. That discussion needs to be had. It may be the most important in terms of our team moving forward. After all, if would be very difficult, if not impossible, for our offense to improve dramatically over last year's historic efficiency.

The way I see it, we need to be able to push Gamble outside to SDE and have him stay there. When you look down the roster, we are very undersized at that position and need his ability to set the edge and stop the run.

Clearly, the best four we have to put on the field at the same time are Gamble, Hunt, Gotsis, and Freeman. I would imagine this line up will prevail in all but passing down situations. In contrast with Gamble's ability to disrupt the run, he seems to lack the critical skills and abilities needed to beat guys on the edge getting to the QB. We may see different players spell him in order to get pressure on passing downs. Fortunately, we have a myriad of very quick candidates to fill that role. Merriweather, Simmons, and Whitehead all have apparent quickness and agility, if not size.

For all this to happen, there are a couple of major obstacles that must be overcome. The most obvious is Hunt's eligibility. Then, Sir Francis Kallon must make the leap we have all wanted this year to become, not just a serviceable back up, but rather, a sub where there is little to no drop off. It is unreasonable to expect that Hunt and Gotsis can take all the snaps, even on the best and coolest of nights. We also need Rook-Chungong to continue to grow. People may forget that last season was his first as a player, having RS his first year and injured his second. Players tend to improve the most between the first and second year. He has the potential to be one of those true quality back ups and spot starter as well.

The reasons for optimism:

1. Youth gaining experience - Freeman, Simmons, and Merriweather are all really good athletes who probably played a year before they were ready. Having worked with a lot of young athletes, I expect enormous improvement from each of them, so long as they put in the work and stayed focused during the off season. None of these gentlemen were really physically ready for this level of football, yet each of them showed why they belonged. Don't forget, these are pretty young people we are talking about.

2. It looks like Hunt will indeed be eligible and a force, as described by Mason and others.

3. We usually have a surprise come out of the new group. Last year it was Freeman. Who will it be this year? Whitehead, Saint-Armour, Glanton, Sellers, Henderson?

 

[danny daniel]

The other depth chart thread was intended for guys carrying the rock. It seems discussion started to surround the DL situation. That discussion needs to be had. It may be the most important in terms of our team moving forward. After all, if would be very difficult, if not impossible, for our offense to improve dramatically over last year's historic efficiency.

The way I see it, we need to be able to push Gamble outside to SDE and have him stay there. When you look down the roster, we are very undersized at that position and need his ability to set the edge and stop the run.

Clearly, the best four we have to put on the field at the same time are Gamble, Hunt, Gotsis, and Freeman. I would imagine this line up will prevail in all but passing down situations. In contrast with Gamble's ability to disrupt the run, he seems to lack the critical skills and abilities needed to beat guys on the edge getting to the QB. We may see different players spell him in order to get pressure on passing downs. Fortunately, we have a myriad of very quick candidates to fill that role. Merriweather, Simmons, and Whitehead all have apparent quickness and agility, if not size.

For all this to happen, there are a couple of major obstacles that must be overcome. The most obvious is Hunt's eligibility. Then, Sir Francis Kallon must make the leap we have all wanted this year to become, not just a serviceable back up, but rather, a sub where there is little to no drop off. It is unreasonable to expect that Hunt and Gotsis can take all the snaps, even on the best and coolest of nights. We also need Rook-Chungong to continue to grow. People may forget that last season was his first as a player, having RS his first year and injured his second. Players tend to improve the most between the first and second year. He has the potential to be one of those true quality back ups and spot starter as well.

The reasons for optimism:
1. Youth gaining experience - Freeman, Simmons, and Merriweather are all really good athletes who probably played a year before they were ready. Having worked with a lot of young athletes, I expect enormous improvement from each of them, so long as they put in the work and stayed focused during the off season. None of these gentlemen were really physically ready for this level of football, yet each of them showed why they belonged. Don't forget, these are pretty young people we are talking about.

2. It looks like Hunt will indeed be eligible and a force, as described by Mason and others.

3. We usually have a surprise come out of the new group. Last year it was Freeman. Who will it be this year? Whitehead, Saint-Armour, Glanton, Sellers, Henderson?

I am torn between Simmons and Gamble. Gamble has the size, versatility to play DE or DT, and toughness (got up from injury last year to come back and play when we really needed him), seems to be coachable and is teaching the younger players. He is a very valuable player just because of versatility. Simmons has a very high ceiling but not as much opportunity for PT.

 

[ilovetheoption]

I think people are selling Rook-Chungong short. His experience at DT in H.S. (in a FABULOUS H.S. league, btw) means he can play heavier than he is against the run game, and he can provide a little bit of pass rush at SDE (see the Orange Bowl).

I think all would not be lost if he ended up as your starting SDE.

 

[UgaBlows]

To me St. Armour is a dark horse candidate to come in and impress at SDE, kind of how Freeman did last year on the other side.

 

[orientalnc]

Today is the last day of Summer classes. Finals are next week, so we will soon know if JHD made it.

 

[prifle2]

I agree with your base defense alignment but i think passing downs or third downs will require a bit more versatility. Gamble's skill set gives him enough mobility to set the edge and hold at the point of attack and is exactly what we need on run downs.. but he is not an edge turner and doesn't pressure the passer well at this stage of development. He would be better served working on pass rush moves from the DT position than trying to turn a tight corner. On third and short passing downs i.e. between 3 and 6 yards, i would kick Gotsis outside to the SDE position and bring Kallon in. Gotsis does have the ability to really bend on the edge or overpower a tackle to pressure the QB and he has enough bulk that he could hold up if a team tries to sneak a run play for the first. Kallon mobility is enough that he could pressure the QB from up the middle and has developed enough that he could still hold up at the point of attack. He may give up a couple of yards but with the the rest of the DL and the line backers watching for the draw, I doubt it would be something the offense could exploit consistently..

On third and 7 or more yard plays I would bring in Simmons as the other DE along with Gotsis and Hunt still in the middle. The best thing about our offense is that it provides such long breaks for our defense we don't have to do a lot of substitutions during the key moments of the games and they score so much that we can usually use the last part of the 3rd and most of the 4th quarter of several conference games to give the backups minutes to aid in their development. Whitehead and Chungong should not be forgotten and they will certainly provide depth and give the ends breathers on occasion. This year I think we have the girth and the depth that we will not make run game mistakes that really hurt us in the Duke game. We were horrible on first and second down against them and gave them far too many opportunities at 3rd and 3 or less where they could just run the wildcat for a first down. This year I think we control first and second downs a lot better and we make third downs a nightmare for others and it all starts with Gamble, Hunt, Gotsis and Freeman..

 

[BuzzbaitGT]

I am torn between Simmons and Gamble. Gamble has the size, versatility to play DE or DT, and toughness (got up from injury last year to come back and play when we really needed him), seems to be coachable and is teaching the younger players. He is a very valuable player just because of versatility. Simmons has a very high ceiling but not as much opportunity for PT.

While I agree with @ilovetheoption about Rook, my defensive breakout player of the year is Simmons.* I saw somewhere that Simmons had been adding a lot of good weight offseason, apparently working out like a madman. He already had some quality minutes on the field last year. I'm thinking Simmons is going to get even more time this season as SDE, particularly on passing downs, but overall as well b/c of his "very high ceiling" that you pointed out.

(*By "breakout player" I mean an off-the-radar player who becomes a standout. Everyone knows about Hunt-Days, which is why I predicted Simmons to be the "breakout player" on D this year.)

 

[33jacket]

I still don't see it from Rook...but I totally want to be wrong. But I don't see it. He has had every opportunity to lock that spot up and be THE SDE and hasn't. Even in Spring, Pelton said if Hunt and Kallon come on strong, then they would slide Gamble to SDE. This means he is underwhelming to me, on top of what I call lackluster tape. So, park me in the not so fast my friend arena. He hasn't transformed his body from high school like I would have liked to see for a SDE. Is he putting in the work? He still looks upper body soft to me. Just alot of ?. Now, could he be busting his tail and doing this now? Sure...and I want to see it. We need it...but I haven't yet.

WDE we have no issues.
DT seems solid, but depth a bit of a concern.
SDE is a total vacancy IMO we need to shore up.....

Anyway...thats my worthless opinion.

 

[Ibeeballin]

A solid SDE is a MLB best friend especially one many consider "rigid" like Marcodes. It allows him to play within the hashes instead being sideline to sideline LB. I don't think RR-C is the best but I'm not sold on PG either. Both were inconsistent on setting the edge, but hopefully with another season of getting physically strong and more importantly technically strong they will do a decent job.

 

[stinger 1957]

Simmons if he doesn't RS and St-Amour

 

[33jacket]

A solid SDE is a MLB best friend especially one many consider "rigid" like Marcodes. It allows him to play within the hashes instead being sideline to sideline LB. I don't think RR-C is the best but I'm not sold on PG either. Both were inconsistent on setting the edge, but hopefully with another season of getting physically strong and more importantly technically strong they will do a decent job.

The problem with gamble is he is splitting time for his craft. Its why i said earlier he needs to stay a sde and get full reps. You know this, being a halfer is tough. But for me he would be far superior to rook. If u look at the d performance when gamble started at de pre injury we played alot better

 

[AE 87]

@33jacket posted from my brain, it seems, in the other thread about our D ... so, I'm going to try and post from out of optimism: Freeman's Fr numbers were better than JA's. I look for a big jump this year. SDE is a concern, and moving PG not only risks our rotation this year but we may need him in the middle next year too. Optimistically, vpi seems to do okay with two smaller DEs.

 

[33jacket]

Vt totally different scheme. Totally. They pressure and man free a ton. U can get by with smaller ends......

 

[Ibeeballin]

On another hand, CTR has to be geeked to get in 3rd & 6+ and all the pressure packages he can throw out now.

Think about this sets:
2-4-5
Gotsis & JHD playing in a 2Tech
Freeman & Simmons one side with Whiteside & marcodes on the other both groups standing up

 

[takethepoints]

I think the key here is, as you point out, Kallon. If he shows as much improvement as he did last year, then we are set at DT and moving Gamble would make sense. Shoot, if he improves that much again, he could threaten to start.

As to RR-C (thanks for thinking of that, btw), I wouldn't be surprised to see him out at SDE starting. He has the talent (I think) and this is the year where he would show that.

Glad Coach has to make these decisions. The only thing worse then a dearth of riches is a surfeit of them.

 

[UgaBlows]

On another hand, CTR has to be geeked to get in 3rd & 6+ and all the pressure packages he can throw out now.

Think about this sets:
2-4-5
Gotsis & JHD playing in a 2Tech
Freeman & Simmons one side with Whiteside & marcodes on the other both groups standing up

I can't wait to see that jailhouse break

 

[InsideLB]

On another hand, CTR has to be geeked to get in 3rd & 6+ and all the pressure packages he can throw out now.

Couldn't agree more. By the end of last year we were stopping the run well and displaying solid, physical tackling and taking good angles.

And that is Roof's MO: Stop the run and generate ineffective to disasterous pass plays (e.g. turnovers, holding calls, sacks, and incompl's that kill drives). UGA game last year illustrates the Roof MO beautifully.

UGA had a vaunted rushing attack that we shut down in the second half. In a limited possession game where UGA couldn't run it well I recall several ineffective/disasterous passing plays. NONE bigger than when we stonewalled Chubb in OT and forced UGA to throw to a ball-hawking DJ White. Meanwhile we scored in OT with high percentage low risk dives and bread & butter runs. I also recall at least one sack and one incompletionin the second half that ended UGA drives. But if you don't stop their runs those plays are much less likely to happen.

Also if we take away the run then it makes it really tough for opponents to get TDs in the red zone, where there is much less real estate for passing. UGA runs their fake field goal but then they still can't punch it in for 7 and have to settle for 3.

Others may ***** about bend but don't break, however in today's college game I think it makes a lot of sense to commit to stopping the run at the expense of allowing "keep it all in front of you pass completions" between the 20's and playing for INT/sack/holding/incompletion. This is particularly poignant in light of the way our offense puts pressure on teams by eating clock and limiting possessions.

I agree with those who say the DL's is still a work in progress, and I agree it should--barring injuries--be better this year. We are not deep by any means but we do have a few more pieces with which to work getting a rush and adding to Roof's strategy. I'm not worried about stopping the run. I am worried about injuries and getting Hunt elligible.

 

[gtg936g]

Having to eat my words several times about the defense, all I can say is I trust Roof to put the right scheme together to maximize our strengths.

There is a lot to be excited about. I would normally be worried about the quality depth we have, but Roof will have our guys ready and in the right spots.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Gamble did a great job for us when pressed into service at SDE last year. That being said, he was and is a DT, not an end. We absolutely must develop a serviceable SDE. Whether we do or not will be the key to our success or lack thereof on D this year.

Gamble needs to stay at DT if at all possible. That will allow us to rotate 4 guys at DT....Gotsis, Hunt, Gamble, Kallon. Rotating those four should keep us fresh and effective in the trenches. Our O is capable of quick scores just as much as 8 minute death marches. We can not afford to expect our O to keep our D fresh. When it happens.....great. But it won't always.

What happens at SDE is the key to it all IMO. A repeat of last year at that spot will lead to a repeat of last year's performance.