Hitting home how aggressive Woody's D must be right now

[Jmonty71]

Thinking about the presumptive starters on Defense, you're really looking at the personnel for a 2-4-5, and even THEN it's undersized.

Surge is 300, but Branch is only 280.

ASA is OLB sized, and Curry is only 217, which is light for a linebacker, too. Campbell is 208.

The ONLY way this defense can work, to my mind, is if guys are just FLYING around playing with their hair on fire.

As long as we act like the hammer instead of the nail, I would be happy. Far too long, our D sat and took the other team's punishment from their offense.

 

[Techster]

Every 3-4 is not equal or the same. We are not expecting our DLine to anchor and hold the point. It’s all about penetration and getting up field.

So much this.

I think too many of us get stuck on what a 3-4 or 4-3 or 5-2 is suppose to "look" or "play" like. After 2010 and the Groh debacle, how many would have wanted to go back to anything resembling a 3-4?! Fast forward to today, and we are all antsy to see CNW's "3-4".

CNW said something in one of his interviews. He said:

http://www.nydailynews.com/newswire...ng-3-4-defense-georgia-tech-article-1.3747445

"One of the things I've tried to do is make sure we don't have guys who eat up space," he said. "I've found that offensive linemen are guys you want to try to attack. Defensively, you want to get guys with speed and quickness. Those guys are able to disrupt a play before the play can get underway."

Right off the bat, that tells me he values quickness and the ability to avoid blocks. This isn't Saban's 3-4 2-gap DL where the linemen are huge and act more like glorified shields for the LBs to create havoc. In CNW's scheme, ALL front 7 players have the ability to cause havoc. Doesn't mean 7 guys are flying willy nilly without regard to gap or lane responsibility, but his style calls for specific traits that aren't necessarily the same as other "3-4" personnel.

After reading a lot of the posts in this thread, I think a lot of us are stuck on the theory of schemes, and disregard the tape. What's CNW's tape? For me, it's exactly what he's been telling us: He wants guys who will take the game to the OLs, have the ability to stay off blocks, and get into the backfield. There are times, alignment-wise, that his scheme looks like a 4-3 or 5-2.

I'm not gonna get too stuck on 3-4 or 4-3 or 5-2...or who's big enough or heavy enough to play where. All I care about are results. After the last 2 DCs, if an undersized Anree, or a former safety/WR in Jalen Johnson are making plays, heck friggin' yes! I'll take results over theory and what looks good on paper ANY day.

 

[bobongo]

NO. That's the point you're missing. Most 3-4 teams have bigger players at other positions, to make up for the fact that they have fewer linemen. It's why most teams are about the same size, whether they run 4-3's or 3-4's. Most 3-4 teams have bigger LB's because they have traded a DT for an LB. They also tend to have bigger DE's.

GT has neither. Their DE's average 257. That's the size of 4-3 ends. Their LB's average 225. That's the size of 4-3 LB's. So they've gotten smaller there, and not gotten bigger anywhere else, like most 3-4 teams do. Which is why they're really small.

We have pretty accurate info on the size of these players, but only scant, conflicting, ballpark info at best on their speed.

Since force = mass x acceleration, in order to get a more complete picture we would need to know their speed. And also lateral movement abilities, quickness (as opposed to top end speed), and many other factors not even measurable, like heart and determination, etc. But pure leverage up front matters, too, and it will be interesting to watch how this defense fares, especially against much larger offensive fronts. But we've all seen smaller, quicker defenses neutralize big offensive fronts before. And we've all seen smaller "front sevens" run over. We'll see. Interesting thread.

 

[ATL1]

People forget we had a 3-4 DL in 2012 or 2013 that was comparable to Alabama size-wise with DEs Cross @ 300lb and Cummings at 290lb and NT TJ Barnes @ 345 and those years were brutal

Alabama has even stopped having lines that big. Not as small as GT’s but not massive either.

 

[ilovetheoption]

We have pretty accurate info on the size of these players, but only scant, conflicting, ballpark info at best on their speed.

Since force = mass x acceleration, in order to get a more complete picture we would need to know their speed. And also lateral movement abilities, quickness (as opposed to top end speed), and many other factors not even measurable, like heart and determination, etc. But pure leverage up front matters, too, and it will be interesting to watch how this defense fares, especially against much larger offensive fronts. But we've all seen smaller, quicker defenses neutralize big offensive fronts before. And we've all seen smaller "front sevens" run over. We'll see. Interesting thread.

This is really the point I was trying to make.

 

[IEEEWreck]

It seems like the real point here is Not the starting positions of the defense but their motion once the play starts. It might be nice to get some Longestday style "watch 10 instances of this play, begin to recognize it" explanations.

 

[MidtownJacket]

I am really looking forward to some of the bigheads around here to break down the tape on defense.

I feel fairly well educated on read up on the theory and scheme behind our offense, but defense outside of the basics is still hazy for me.

 

[Vespid]

It might not be an issue. I just know that OL's have to push ~1840 lbs on running plays against most teams, and against GT they have to push ~1715, which is about 25lbs less per offensive lineman.

I hear ya. But I think the angle on CNW's scheme is to get the OL's chasing instead of pushing.

 

[YJMD]

It might not be an issue. I just know that OL's have to push ~1840 lbs on running plays against most teams, and against GT they have to push ~1715, which is about 25lbs less per offensive lineman.

And, to reiterate, I VASTLY prefer shooting gaps for a team like GT.

GT was unable to recruit big nasties to plug up gaps, so it's wise to stop asking the guys you CAN recruit to plug up gaps.

Playing to your strengths is a hallmark of good coaching, and I think Woody's a good coach.

What I'm saying here is akin to a basketball fan saying "man, we don't have any starters over 6'6. We're going to have to press the hell out of the other team, and make a bunch of 3's". It's not necessarily a bad thing, especially if your last coach was trying to have your team post up all the time, but the facts are that you have a short team, even if your point guard has pretty good size. OVERALL you're a small team.

Importantly, we're not lining up to bull-rush guys or hold our ground to cover 2 gaps. Sure it's less weight to push around, but what if they are making you move around to try and square them up? How much energy is that gonna burn?

 

[UgaBlows]

So, I'm just gonna go ahead and look at every team on the schedule, based upon waht depth chart I can find, and their official roster.
Average Front 7 Weight:
GT: 245
Alcorn State: couldn't find
South Florida: 252
Pitt:259
Clemson: 276
Bowling Green:240
Louisville:256
Duke: 259 (base nickel, so I counted one of the 3 safeties)
VT:261
UNC:257
Miami: Weirdly, their roster doesn't list weights, so I went with last years. 262
UVA:264
UGA: 263

That's an average of 257.
Among P5 teams, the average is 261.

More telling, the standard deviation among P5 (not including GT) teams is only 5.4 lbs. That means GT is approximately 3 standard deviations below the norm.

Now, I know it's a pretty small sample size, but being GT folks, you know what 3 standard deviations means. It means you're VERY small up front.

AGAIN, i'm not saying it's a disaster, because speed can kill, but I think we need to realize how the defense MUST play if it's to succeed.

I totally agree with you that we are going to have to use our speed and bring exotic blitzes from all over the place to succeed, but How many of these teams play the 3-4? I’m guessing most are 4-3 teams which automatically skews the weight up in their favor and makes the weight comparisons kinda pointless imo. I remember one of Tenuta’s first seasons as D coordinator, we played Auburn as a heavy underdog with a linebacker playing DE (Gerris Wilkerson i think?)and just freaking destroyed their offense all night.

 

[CuseJacket]

Anyhow, as I've said, it might work fantastically, and I prefer it to Roof's approach. Just realize that GT is running a VERY small defense this year.

It's about the motion in the ocean.

 

[ibeattetris]

Alabama has even stopped having lines that big. Not as small as GT’s but not massive either.

Alabama also primarily 1-gaps while we were primarily 2-gap.

 

[Techster]

Tangentially related to this thread, but thought you guys (and gals) would find this interview with CNW very enlightening as to what kind of coach and person he is:



What stands out to me is he can be critical, but he's also quick to follow it up with positive re-enforcement. It's not judgement for the sake of being judgemental which coaches have a tendency of doing. It's more "OK, that wasn't exactly what I wanted, but what you did also had some positive results we can build on." For young guys who are still trying to find themselves and build confidence, it can go a long way.

 

[bobongo]

Tangentially related to this thread, but thought you guys (and gals) would find this interview with CNW very enlightening as to what kind of coach and person he is:



What stands out to me is he can be critical, but he's also quick to follow it up with positive re-enforcement. It's not judgement for the sake of being judgemental which coaches have a tendency of doing. It's more "OK, that wasn't exactly what I wanted, but what you did also had some positive results we can build on." For young guys who are still trying to find themselves and build confidence, it can go a long way.

Thanks for finding/posting this video. The defense we're going to see this year will be an exercise in controlled aggression. I think Woody will prove to be the first really good DC we've seen in the Paul Johnson era. This guy is top drawer.

 

[33jacket]

Its not just running a 3-4 its running the right one. And we are now vs groh style.

 

[Vespid]

I like this guy Nate. I didn't dislike Ted, just a different approach. Hopeful this approach will be a better fit for the kind of athletes we tend to get here at GIT. If CNW turns out even half as well as the last guy we got from Ap State, we'll be in business.

 

[deeeznutz]

If we have a defense that plays like Tenuta’s squads did back in the day, we will shock some teams with big wins and really make an impression. All we’ve needed was a defense that actually puts pressure on opposing offenses, because honestly our offense already puts pressure on our opponents’ offenses to keep up and try to win TOP (see Miami last year where they tried a desperate onside kick because they were afraid of what might happen if we got the ball back). Now that we have a defense that will be attacking and trying to force negative plays/turnovers we might get to see it all come together.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I'm excited to see our new 2-minute defense!

 

[RyanS12]

I finally took the time to read the title of this thread and literally laughed my *** off.
How aggressive is Woody’s D. Haaaaa.
I know. I’m Childish.

 

[AE 87]

I finally took the time to read the title of this thread and literally laughed my *** off.
How aggressive is Woody’s D. Haaaaa.
I know. I’m Childish.

Over the off-season, GT gets Riase for Johnson, and Wood. With Woody, they expect a more penetrating D.

If you're going to be childish ...