GT Defense

danny daniel

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,476
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

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
824
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

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
10,742
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

season 1 friends GIF
 

RhoChi

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
581
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

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,501
Location
Huntsville,Al
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.
 

senoiajacket

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,054
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???
 

Lee

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
841
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

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
266
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

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
515
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

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
266
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

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,476
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

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
68
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
 

goldfella

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
68
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

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,688
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
 
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