GT Defense

[danny daniel]

Big shout out to my favorite player, CB Tobias Oliver. On the big fourth and one play there was not a wide out on Oliver's side. He moved up into an outside LB position, on the snap he stepped into the hole about a yard behind the LOS, avoided a block from the motioning TE, hit the ball carrier head on standing him up short of the LOS, and held on for help as we drove the runner back. Great play by a very good team player who is also playing well at CB and on STs. I was really surprised that the big play was led by a CB behind the LOS. Lots of player savvy or good coach prep or both. Reminds me of many plays made by Charlie Thomas.

 

[FlatsLander]

Did we stick with the 3-3-5 as our main defense on Saturday? I didn't think to pay attention to that specifically. I do know that trading non-gamechanging DT out for Charlie Thomas has made a huge effect. He's so good and can make plays all over the field.

 

[slugboy]

Did we stick with the 3-3-5 as our main defense on Saturday? I didn't think to pay attention to that specifically. I do know that trading non-gamechanging DT out for Charlie Thomas has made a huge effect. He's so good and can make plays all over the field.

3-3-5 seemed to be our base on Saturday. The coaches have said that our real base is 4-2-5, though

 

[MidtownJacket]

3-3-5 seemed to be our base on Saturday. The coaches have said that our real base is 4-2-5, though

Agreed - the 3-3-5 was most (if not all) of the snaps. They did move guys around and up to the line to mimic a 4-2-5 alignment pre and during snap..

 

[RhoChi]

I personally love the 3-3-5 set up now that we have Charlie Thomas and Quez Jackson making their presence felt as well as Ivey, Brooks, Domenick, and Biggers on the line. Thacker has seemed to adapt the defense to match the strengths of the players rather than trying to force guys into a system they can't succeed in. I love seeing malleability on the part of the coaches to be able to adapt players and schemes to work together well!

 

[alagold]

Big shout out to my favorite player, CB Tobias Oliver. On the big fourth and one play there was not a wide out on Oliver's side. He moved up into an outside LB position, on the snap he stepped into the hole about a yard behind the LOS, avoided a block from the motioning TE, hit the ball carrier head on standing him up short of the LOS, and held on for help as we drove the runner back. Great play by a very good team player who is also playing well at CB and on STs. I was really surprised that the big play was led by a CB behind the LOS. Lots of player savvy or good coach prep or both. Reminds me of many plays made by Charlie Thomas.

It is remarkable to me that he is now STARTING at DB after being a QB with no DEF exp to my knowledge.Of course the Suratt QB at unc turned into a super LB but still give T.O . credit.

 

[forensicbuzz]

It is remarkable to me that he is now STARTING at DB after being a QB with no DEF exp to my knowledge.Of course the Suratt QB at unc turned into a super LB but still give T.O . credit.

Athletes are athletes. DB is as much athleticism and instinct as it is anything. Add in a ton of hard work and sweat, and you have a successful transition.

 

[senoiajacket]

What I can’t get my head around is how we can have two sacks in the first 3 games and EIGHT in the fourth game. I get there being some variability game to game but this seems beyond the three sigma deviation ……. What were we doing differently to get the pressure this game? Yeah, maybe Howell held it a little too long on occasion …… but still???

 

[malak05]

Agreed - the 3-3-5 was most (if not all) of the snaps. They did move guys around and up to the line to mimic a 4-2-5 alignment pre and during snap..

I think they half the time they routed what one would consider a Leo Dlineman into the front 3 and that becomes the rushing 4 and we occasional would send a 5th rusher

 

[Lee]

What I can’t get my head around is how we can have two sacks in the first 3 games and EIGHT in the fourth game. I get there being some variability game to game but this seems beyond the three sigma deviation ……. What were we doing differently to get the pressure this game? Yeah, maybe Howell held it a little too long on occasion …… but still???

A lot of this is based on what the offense were doing. Especially the first two games. NIU went big personnel and pounded the ball and KSU is a TO team. Hard to rack up sacks in those games.

I also think Thacker went pretty vanilla. Especially against NIU.

The last thing I'll add is that Howell held onto the ball (as you mentioned) too long on a few of those sacks. To our guys credit, they didn't stop. This also means the backend was filling passing lanes too so that he didn't have anywhere to go with the ball.

 

[malak05]

What I can’t get my head around is how we can have two sacks in the first 3 games and EIGHT in the fourth game. I get there being some variability game to game but this seems beyond the three sigma deviation ……. What were we doing differently to get the pressure this game? Yeah, maybe Howell held it a little too long on occasion …… but still???

It was a combo of he held the ball a little longer and the fact that against Clemson we had to play tight no big runs no big plays and make them earn every yard and Kennesaw State your playing Triple Option your 75% against the Run they did have a bunch of tackle for loss in that game.

 

[TruckStick]

The combo of Quez, Eley and Charlie on the field with 5 strong DBS is a big difference maker.

Think about you have potentially 5 dbs of Tariq, Juanyeh, Tre, Kenyatta or Wesley, Myles or Miles on the field behind those guys. Plus other talented depth.

If Jaron and Tatum are anywhere close to those then you add them into a terrifying rotation of swarming flats.

 

[malak05]

I personally love the 3-3-5 set up now that we have Charlie Thomas and Quez Jackson making their presence felt as well as Ivey, Brooks, Domenick, and Biggers on the line. Thacker has seemed to adapt the defense to match the strengths of the players rather than trying to force guys into a system they can't succeed in. I love seeing malleability on the part of the coaches to be able to adapt players and schemes to work together well!

Ivey growing into a Full grown man 6'6 275 that's NFL size and showing his athleticism out there

 

[danny daniel]

I personally love the 3-3-5 set up now that we have Charlie Thomas and Quez Jackson making their presence felt as well as Ivey, Brooks, Domenick, and Biggers on the line. Thacker has seemed to adapt the defense to match the strengths of the players rather than trying to force guys into a system they can't succeed in. I love seeing malleability on the part of the coaches to be able to adapt players and schemes to work together well!

M Scott, Harris, Kennard, and Griffin were forces in that DL as well. I would expect to see Stone and White in there at some point. Quality depth.

 

[goldfella]

Biggers made quite a few plays. It's not always plays where he made the sack or the tackle. He occupied space and didn't lose ground - often times he collapsed the middle of the line and created plays for the linebackers. Other times he occupied multiple blockers while clogging the running lanes.

And I don't mean to gloss over the play of others - the entire defensive front played well. Biggers just stood out to me because of the style of play. It's been a very long time since I've seen a big ugly nose tackle playing for the good guys.

WARDADDY #1

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

The coaches have said that our real base is 4-2-5 (Effort Based), though

FIFY

 

[wesgt123]

Ivey growing into a Full grown man 6'6 275 that's NFL size and showing his athleticism out there

Glad he’s finally breaking out. The first time I saw his HS tape I was so excited for his potential and he is BALLING OUT

 

[goldfella]

I honestly prefer the 3-3-5 stack over the 4-2-5 and I hope we don't go back. Sacrificing a DL to get more speed on the field should help contain the "high powered" offenses (including HUNH), plus you can more easily confuse/surprise the offense by bringing the 4th rusher from anywhere on the field without having to drop defensive linemen into coverage.

Plus, if you need more beef to stop the run, you just put Griffin, Biggers, and Brooks in at DE, NT, and DT respectively lol

 

[wesgt123]

I honestly prefer the 3-3-5 stack over the 4-2-5 and I hope we don't go back. Sacrificing a DL to get more speed on the field should help contain the "high powered" offenses (including HUNH), plus you can more easily confuse/surprise the offense by bringing the 4th rusher from anywhere on the field without having to drop defensive linemen into coverage.

Plus, if you need more beef to stop the run, you just put Griffin, Biggers, and Brooks in at DE, NT, and DT respectively lol

It’ll be interesting to see what defensive alignments other teams bring out of us

 

[Yoda]

Joe Lee Dunn used to run the 3-3-5 back in the day and would create havoc. I like it. I wanted PJ to hire someone like him way back.