Help Me on our D

[AE 87]

OK, I had decided that we were going to make a great turn around on D this year.

As a stat guy, I hadn't seen it, but we had JHD and KW becoming eligible. We had other guys with an off season to add to their experience. We have an experienced secondary. I thought, "We're going to surprise folk."

Then someone asked about LB depth, and I went back and looked at our T-Day game. Not only did we move the ball with our base, receivers were wide open, A-backs on the wheel, Abacks and WRs on the post, Bbacks on the screen. If anyone other than Summers, Jeaune and Allen could catch, ugly.

Reasons to restore my optmism?

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

I think our D in the spring game looked about like Miss State did....so that's like a top 20 D right?

The D didn't make me want to do cartwheels in that one but I didn't put too much weight into it. It woulda been nice to see the D dominate.

 

[Gtech50]

PJ, Marcordes, and Hankins didnt even play in the spring game. Those will be the 3 LB getting the majority of snaps. Also, under the nickel scheme only 2 LBs will play at a time, and we should have decent depth at LB. There were tons of injuries this spring so the spring game wasn't a great indicator of our season.

 

[Gtech50]

Im more worried about the dropped passes you alluded to. It will be important to find a go to receiver on 3rd and long situations. Jeune looked good, and hopefully the chemistry will build throughout the summer. If we utilize the athleticism of some of our A backs effectively into our passing game as well we should be hard to stop.

 

[AE 87]

PJ, Marcordes, and Hankins didnt even play in the spring game. Those will be the 3 LB getting the majority of snaps. Also, under the nickel scheme only 2 LBs will play at a time, and we should have decent depth at LB. There were tons of injuries this spring so the spring game wasn't a great indicator of our season.

Yeah, but we were also playing down 2 on OL. My concern arose from how open receivers were.

 

[thwgjacket]

I think our D in the spring game looked about like Miss State did....so that's like a top 20 D right?

The D didn't make me want to do cartwheels in that one but I didn't put too much weight into it. It woulda been nice to see the D dominate.

Bad thing about the Spring Game, if the D dominated we'd be freaking out about the O.

To the OP. I feel comfortable because the second team D dominated. The first team D struggled because a few people were out, iirc, and because our first team O is very good. The second team D doing well encourages me about our depth on that side.

 

[AE 87]

Bad thing about the Spring Game, if the D dominated we'd be freaking out about the O.

To the OP. I feel comfortable because the second team D dominated. The first team D struggled because a few people were out, iirc, and because our first team O is very good. The second team D doing well encourages me about our depth on that side.

I hope you're right. However, the wide open passes, screens especially, bothered me.

 

[cuttysark]

@AE 87:

Try looking at it this way: If the GT defense can't handle this offensive scheme after seeing it every day 24/7 according to the experts, then think how difficult it really must be to defend for the rest of the NCAA.

Even with two O-Linemen out (and don't forget our starting Center Freddie Burden was playing at Guard all spring with a broken thumb) ; basically a LB/WR being plugged in at B-Back 4 days earlier; and JT on the sidelines, then the only other logical conclusion is that the Yellow Jackets must have a real schematic advantage with CPJ.

The D will be much improved in 2015 and if JHD can even come close to performing like the Aaron Donald kid from Pitt a few years ago, then watch out. As Gtech 50 said, we were sitting out all of the starting LB's.

Keep an eye on Terrell Lewis at LB along with Antonio Simmons at DE this season as they are the two players that I'm expecting will really add to the rotation on defense for Ted Roof this year.

 

[thwgjacket]

I hope you're right. However, the wide open passes, screens especially, bothered me.

Another thing to help you feel better about it. Like @Gtech50 said, we were without our main LB core, the "QB's" of our defense. Now remember how bad our O looked in the Spring Game last year without our starting QB. Even with Byerly is was pretty terrible. Then think about how good our O was last year.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

Repeat after me: Spring games are meaningless! Even worse than preseason NFL games.

 

[33jacket]

You cant have an explosive offense and the d look good

You cant have a dominating d and the o look good.

We have to be a tad practical. Our O is way ahead of our d right now. And thats not awful.

But i want to make this point. Roof is not calling D sets to counter our O. He is calling D in spring game to evaluate positions and assignment handling. As well as throw some junk at the O they may see vs teams like VT in the regular season. View the D vs the O in a spring game like playing base sets and saying just run around and know your spot and assignment and dont worry if you are a lb covering a wr or whatever. Just play fast and at your spots. There was and is no gameplannning and roof is not trying to stop the O. Its a game for show and he is calling sets to evaluate and teach.

We will have a experienced secondary. They wont be any worse and they were ok last year with no pass rush. I like the potential of the starting 2 LB. no depth. But the starters are ok. The DL will be ok. I dont predict great. But i do predict better than last year and if kallon and jhd do come on allowing us to slide gamble to sde we should be really competive up front. Not glamorous. But workman like.

And ted needs to keep the aggressive playcalling.

 

[AE 87]

You cant have an explosive offense and the d look good

You cant have a dominating d and the o look good.

We have to be a tad practical. Our O is way ahead of our d right now. And thats not awful.

But i want to make this point. Roof is not calling D sets to counter our O. He is calling D in spring game to evaluate positions and assignment handling. As well as throw some junk at the O they may see vs teams like VT in the regular season. View the D vs the O in a spring game like playing base sets and saying just run around and know your spot and assignment and dont worry if you are a lb covering a wr or whatever. Just play fast and at your spots. There was and is no gameplannning and roof is not trying to stop the O. Its a game for show and he is calling sets to evaluate and teach.

We will have a experienced secondary. They wont be any worse and they were ok last year with no pass rush. I like the potential of the starting 2 LB. no depth. But the starters are ok. The DL will be ok. I dont predict great. But i do predict better than last year and if kallon and jhd do come on allowing us to slide gamble to sde we should be really competive up front. Not glamorous. But workman like.

And ted needs to keep the aggressive playcalling.

This is how I was thinking. It seemed to me that receivers were still too open.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

I like a lot of the optimism I'm hearing. Gonna play devils advocate now....regardless of our scheme...when our D has struggled against our O in the spring and fall camp...they tend to struggle during the season also.

I think 33 pretty much nailed it though.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Yeah, but we were also playing down 2 on OL. My concern arose from how open receivers were.

I guess we must be 'plug and play' on O.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

You cant have an explosive offense and the d look good

You cant have a dominating d and the o look good.

We have to be a tad practical. Our O is way ahead of our d right now. And thats not awful.

But i want to make this point. Roof is not calling D sets to counter our O. He is calling D in spring game to evaluate positions and assignment handling. As well as throw some junk at the O they may see vs teams like VT in the regular season. View the D vs the O in a spring game like playing base sets and saying just run around and know your spot and assignment and dont worry if you are a lb covering a wr or whatever. Just play fast and at your spots. There was and is no gameplannning and roof is not trying to stop the O. Its a game for show and he is calling sets to evaluate and teach.

We will have a experienced secondary. They wont be any worse and they were ok last year with no pass rush. I like the potential of the starting 2 LB. no depth. But the starters are ok. The DL will be ok. I dont predict great. But i do predict better than last year and if kallon and jhd do come on allowing us to slide gamble to sde we should be really competive up front. Not glamorous. But workman like.

And ted needs to keep the aggressive playcalling.

This ^ plus what was said earlier (our 3 best LB's didn't even suit up) about covers it.

 

[gt365]

I think the D will be pretty good this year. I really like T Lewis and J Johnson in the spring game. I think they will help out alot on D this year. JHD will dominate on the D line. I cant wait for the season to start etc.......

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Repeat after me: Spring games are meaningless! Even worse than preseason NFL games.

Yes. Exactly. These games are for coaches to look at players, adjust depth charts and give some other players a little extended playing time.

In other news, Black defeated Red in Georgia's Spring Game 24-17, White defeated Crimson in Alabama's Spring Game 27-14, and Gray defeated Scarlet in Ohio State's Spring Game 17-14. In each game first team offenses played well, key players sat on the sidelines and depth charts will not be set until certain players come back from injuries or become eligible again. In some games fans lamented that too many big plays were given up and in other games fans lamented that there were too many turnovers.

And the sun rises and sets right on schedule.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

And more to the point. After last year's spring game what did we learn?
Nothing.
Did the offense show any signs of progress? None.
Did the game instill confidence in the fan base? Definitely not.
Would you have predicted 11 wins after Tech's play in the spring game? Are you crazy?

 

[Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau]

OK, I had decided that we were going to make a great turn around on D this year.

As a stat guy, I hadn't seen it, but we had JHD and KW becoming eligible. We had other guys with an off season to add to their experience. We have an experienced secondary. I thought, "We're going to surprise folk."

Then someone asked about LB depth, and I went back and looked at our T-Day game. Not only did we move the ball with our base, receivers were wide open, A-backs on the wheel, Abacks and WRs on the post, Bbacks on the screen. If anyone other than Summers, Jeaune and Allen could catch, ugly.

Reasons to restore my optmism?

No reasons exists right now. We are toast.

 

[CuseJacket]