One year of Nate Woody. What do we think?

[ilovetheoption]

So, I will preface that when I heard that you guys were looking at Woody, I was tickled pink. (I'm relatively sure that there is evidence of this on this board, and it would be tough for me to deny it at this point).

My thoughts were that I would take giving up more big plays if it meant making more big plays.

Well....that's pretty much exactly what has happened. The defense forced a ton more turnovers, but got burned deep more.

Overall numbers by FEI (my preferred metric)

2016: 94 (Roof)
2017: 69 (Roof)
2018: 93 (Woody)

So overall, the numbers don't paint any prettier a picture, BUT my personal bias is "better to go down swinging than die a death by a thousand cuts", plus I think there's a chance that the defense will improve in coming years as guys get more experience, and guys are recruited for the system.

What say you guys?

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

I wish I could share many others' enthusiasm and positive outlook on this - it is VERY simple in my opinion.

IF we get bigger and faster at LB and DE (still assuming a large guy at DT), the D will improve. If not, then it will not. I am dubious on how we get the necessary recruits and depth at this point to make some revolutionary change - I have said that by whatever measurement, if PJ ever had a top 35 defense, I think he might take us to the promised land. With that said, he must create a passing game that is a threat as well. I just don't know what the "magic bullet" is that will start getting us some better recruits at LB, DL, and WR.

 

[MountainBuzzMan]

I hated our pass coverage, not sure if that is coaching, the young players there, the scheme change.

I loved how much better the DL played. Obviously good coaching there.
LB's showed a few flashes but overall disappointed.
I loved all the extra turnovers and the aggressive nature of the defense.

Remember how App State also had a bad first year and then improved in year 2 and then 3 to end up being a top 25 defense, I am overall still very optimistic. I am seeing good signs, not just something different.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

So, I will preface that when I heard that you guys were looking at Woody, I was tickled pink. (I'm relatively sure that there is evidence of this on this board, and it would be tough for me to deny it at this point).

My thoughts were that I would take giving up more big plays if it meant making more big plays.

Well....that's pretty much exactly what has happened. The defense forced a ton more turnovers, but got burned deep more.

Overall numbers by FEI (my preferred metric)

2016: 94 (Roof)
2017: 69 (Roof)
2018: 93 (Woody)

So overall, the numbers don't paint any prettier a picture, BUT my personal bias is "better to go down swinging than die a death by a thousand cuts", plus I think there's a chance that the defense will improve in coming years as guys get more experience, and guys are recruited for the system.

What say you guys?

One of the things that killed us last year (2017) was we couldn't hold a lead. Obviously part of that is on the offense and special teams, but part of that is on the defense. We were leading in every game by double digits except Clemson and Georgia...who both went to the CFP. Yet we only won 5 games.

This year, what games were we ahead in like that we lost? USF. (But remember the special teams blunders and offensive turnovers too.) . This year we beat North Carolina, Miami, and Virginia when it felt like we would have lost all 3 of those last year. We went 3-1 in those types of games this year.

I think we have a lot of talent on defense, and I've been reading we didn't install too much of his system this year due to it being the first year and folks being young. I'm sure they can see the same issues on tape that @Ibeeballin points out, so they weren't trying a lot of the more sophisticated stuff.

I look at our losses this year and no group could have stopped Clemson or Georgia. That leaves USF, Pitt, and Duke. USF was a team loss to me. Pitt and Duke go to the offense in my opinion. CPJ handed Pitt 7 points on that 4th and 7 fake punt from our own 26. Special teams fumbling a kickoff on our own 5 handed Duke 7 points. To keep those teams around 20 points should be enough for us to win.

 

[year_of_the_swarm]

I see promise... next year we will know a lot more.

Tariq Carpenter, Charlie Thomas, Tre Swilling, Juanyeh Thomas, Kaleb Oliver, Bruce Jordan-Swilling, and Quez Jackson are a promising group of young players. All freshman or sophomores... Add in some new talent for next year and some developed younger talent and they SHOULD be better. Athletic ability seems to be improving.

If they suck next year on defense... we have a problem.

 

[sidewalkGTfan]

I'm more excited about the future of this D than I ever was for Roof's D. I think the youth of our secondary showed this year and one of the reasons the Pass D was pretty rough.

I do have one complaint, I HATE when we only rush 3 on 3rd and long. I'm not talking about 3rd and 15, I'm saying more like 3rd and 7-10. We don't have the horses upfront to rush 3 and pressure the QB regularly and no matter how many guys you drop in coverage, if you give a decent QB enough time, somebody's gonna get open.

 

[Andewa]

I've been very pleased.

I understand that overall the defensive performance is about the same, but there are some key differences:

-All positions in roof's D were bad, and they were bad consistently. Our DLine has been great all year and the LB/DB have showed flashes here and there.
-We've won several games because the D stiffened up when it needed to and made some plays.
-We have *WAY* more turnovers on defense this year.
-The defense always improves it's performance as the game goes on. That's good coaching/adjusting. I'd like to see them start a little better though.

 

[Lavoisier]

I think I'm on the same page as you are with assessment. In year 1 Woody is doing about the same as Ted was in year 4 and 5. The coaches said they didn't implement the whole system yet and spent a few games and lots of the off-season figuring out who should play where, so I am really optimistic that we will make a big jump next year.

We need better coaching in the secondary and at ILB. This is the best I've seen our DL play in years from a technique standpoint. We are really close to being very good which is crazy considering it's year 1. Tre and Charlie Thomas looked really good for freshmen (Tre also did some typical freshmen mistakes, but his highs make me believe he can be a shutdown corner as he matures).

Fix ILBs, teach our corners to turn their heads around, and get better at communication and I'll be a happy man.

 

[stech81]

We have a defense ? Just kidding. Not fair to judge on 1 year need to see Improvement next year and after that we can judge

 

[Techster]

The overall results were not great, but you can see the defense was getting better as the season wore on (as opposed to regressing to the point of having to "simplify" as we did in past seasons) and we were actually creating turnovers. UGA set us back, but UGA set everyone back. People don't realize this, but UGA's offense was ELITE before they played us. Tough to grade our defense off that game.

I like the direction our defense is going, and I like that we've become a proactive defense. Our DBs just need seasoning and better fundamentals, and we need better play at LB...which is being addressed in recruiting. I think we'll see a big step next season.

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

I'm more excited about the future of this D than I ever was for Roof's D. I think the youth of our secondary showed this year and one of the reasons the Pass D was pretty rough.

I do have one complaint, I HATE when we only rush 3 on 3rd and long. I'm not talking about 3rd and 15, I'm saying more like 3rd and 7-10. We don't have the horses upfront to rush 3 and pressure the QB regularly and no matter how many guys you drop in coverage, if you give a decent QB enough time, somebody's gonna get open.

I agree, sidewalk, but even more distressing to me is when we send one or two LB's, and we still don't touch the QB, and most of the time he escapes for a 1st down if he doesn't throw for one. Our LB's must get more lateral speed, along with size.

 

[IronJacket7]

Our 2nd half defense this year was superb to our first half defense. Especially towards the latter part of the season. To me that suggests that Woody knows how to make adjustments at half time.

One minor complaint however is that we seem to still give too much cushion from our CBs.

 

[GPD]

I am very pleased with Coach Woody's performance after year 1

He has instilled a much faster and "fiercer" mentality into our defensive players... from my view, it is clear to see that attribute already in place.

He seems quite flexible and creative in evaluating personnel, then putting them in the optimal position to be successful.

Of course now we will see how successful he will be in recruiting like minded studs to execute his aggressive/disruptive scheme. I'm in full support of the hire, and am glad Coach Woody is on our side.

 

[GT_EE78]

if he can recruit bigger and more talented DL's and faster and more talented LB's, improvement will come. been waitin on that for a decade already, but still i think two more years before rendering judgement is about right.

 

[MountainBuzzMan]

The overall results were not great, but you can see the defense was getting better as the season wore on (as opposed to regressing to the point of having to "simplify" as we did in past seasons) and we were actually creating turnovers. UGA set us back, but UGA set everyone back. People don't realize this, but UGA's offense was ELITE before they played us. Tough to grade our defense off that game.

I like the direction our defense is going, and I like that we've become a proactive defense. Our DBs just need seasoning and better fundamentals, and we need better play at LB...which is being addressed in recruiting. I think we'll see a big step next season.

I agree. I am also very happy we made a bowl for the simple fact it gives the defense a lot more practices and should help next year.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

In year 1 Woody is doing about the same as Ted was in year 4 and 5

He has instilled a much faster and "fiercer" mentality into our defensive players... from my view, it is clear to see that attribute already in place.

Two very keen observations. Some Tech fans I know who are generally more knowledgeable about football than I am have complained that we were no better this year than last year, totally forgetting or ignoring that this was a transition year. The fact that overall, at least IMO, the D was no worse, seems to be an anomaly, and a good one at that. I saw improvements in many areas, and I look forward to more. Regarding the second quote, I found myself enjoying watching the D play this year because of that new-found mentality. Did it always produce results? NO, but again, it was Woody's first year, and he was working with many of Roof's players, trying to break old habits. So overall, I am not only moderately pleased, I am genuinely excited about the future. The only true negative I took away existed long before even Roof came on the scene. Our players were and have been for a long time TERRIBLE tacklers. I sure hope Woody has an answer for that, because nobody else in recent memory has.

 

[a5ehren]

Need some improvement at LB, but a full offseason of learning the system should help the DBs.

Big questions for next year:
1) Who will step into Rivera's role calling adjustments, etc?
2) Will the LBs get better?

 

[Techster]

He seems quite flexible and creative in evaluating personnel, then putting them in the optimal position to be successful.

Of course now we will see how successful he will be in recruiting like minded studs to execute his aggressive/disruptive scheme. I'm in full support of the hire, and am glad Coach Woody is on our side.

IMO, if you're coaching at GT, that is a premium when evaluating talent. You have to be creative in using guys, and projecting recruits to play at another position where they can excel on this level. I've been beating the drum that Jalen Johnson's athleticism needed to be on the field and at LB...and that's what CNW did. Would have loved to have seen another year for Jalen, but unfortunately time ran out for him...at least someone understood his value and used it before it was totally wasted.

 

[Ibeeballin]

My post from TOS:

Numbers don’t lie but they don’t tell the full truth. The defense is schematically better and for the 30th time this not your typical 3-4 defense where you need 280-290lb DEs. It is predicated on quickness and getting up field. Something totally different from CTRs read &react man on a man and Groh occupy a man and build a wall on the LOS. The biggest issue this season & the reason for the skewed numbers is finishing. Whether that’s getting the QB on the ground before he gets a 1st down or horrible play recognition. Contrary to popular belief we got a good amount pressure this year, but bad tackling always seemed to follow it.

The defense should be stout next season and i expect to see some packages such as 2-4-5 with Thomas and Dominick as pass rushers. Key is to replace ASA’s disruption whether we go with the tweener like Dingle or put a big body like Chimezda/Glanton there. Someone must step up

But the talent is oozing on the side of the ball

If i had my way it would be:
NT: Adams
DE: Owens
DE: Glanton or Dingle
Jack: Charlie Thomas
MLB: BJS
WLB: Curry (hope someone overtake him)
Stinger: KOliver
CB: Swilling
CB: Walton
SS: Carpenter
FS: Juanyah

 

[grandpa jacket]

So, I will preface that when I heard that you guys were looking at Woody, I was tickled pink. (I'm relatively sure that there is evidence of this on this board, and it would be tough for me to deny it at this point).

My thoughts were that I would take giving up more big plays if it meant making more big plays.

Well....that's pretty much exactly what has happened. The defense forced a ton more turnovers, but got burned deep more.

Overall numbers by FEI (my preferred metric)

2016: 94 (Roof)
2017: 69 (Roof)
2018: 93 (Woody)

So overall, the numbers don't paint any prettier a picture, BUT my personal bias is "better to go down swinging than die a death by a thousand cuts", plus I think there's a chance that the defense will improve in coming years as guys get more experience, and guys are recruited for the system.

What say you guys?

It is too early to form an opinion, wait for another 11 years