Please for sanity, change your starting DL. PLEASE

[Techster]

If Coach Roof is listening, please scrap the scraping Mike anti-read option scheme. Let the mike just play it like he would a regular inside zone and tell the backside end to force the give every time. That way we don't have to guess whether and what sort of option we're facing.

At the end of the day, the answer is: Play defense, not defenses. More than anything, we need to commit to one thing and then drill the everloving crap out of it.
I feel for Roof, because he's been dealt the worse DL hand in history. Someone help me with this list: Anthony Williams, Robbins, Akins, Kitchen, JHD, Whithead....anyone else?

I agree with 33jacket that Gotsis is probably best used as a SDE but it's probably too late in the season for that.

Missing Commissiong....that one hurt the most IMO. He had a pro DT body, and was hearing great things about him. I think Freeman's upside will be better than Whitehead's, so I think it's a wash there. If we had Commissiong, we could have flexed Gotsis out to SDE more as you and 33 have alluded to which give us two legit DEs, and a solid DE backup in Rook. At DT, we had a big space eater with good feet in Commissiong and a solid though undersized DT in Green with Gamble backing them up.

 

[inGTwetrust]

I like the idea 33 but my biggest concern is the lack of depth that would leave us at DT with 3/4 of the 2 deep starting...

 

[Boomergump]

There are no easy answers. I appreciate your thoughts even though there isn't a perfect solution. How about some outside the box thinking? Devine to DT and push Gotsis to SDE? At the very least Devine can hold point and take on a double, even if he can't chase. Maybe O'Reilly throws his hat in there? Something!

 

[33jacket]

I like the idea 33 but my biggest concern is the lack of depth that would leave us at DT with 3/4 of the 2 deep starting...

Yeah ok and if thats a problem slide gotsis back and put in another de.....but i dont think it will be a big problem we can rotate with kallon a bjt i would think.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Missing Commissiong....that one hurt the most IMO. He had a pro DT body, and was hearing great things about him. I think Freeman's upside will be better than Whitehead's, so I think it's a wash there. If we had Commissiong, we could have flexed Gotsis out to SDE more as you and 33 have alluded to which give us two legit DEs, and a solid DE backup in Rook. At DT, we had a big space eater with good feet in Commissiong and a solid though undersized DT in Green with Gamble backing them up.

Does anybody know what he did to get booted? I guess he had factory talent and factory character to match.

 

[Techster]

There are no easy answers. I appreciate your thoughts even though there isn't a perfect solution. How about some outside the box thinking? Devine to DT and push Gotsis to SDE? At the very least Devine can hold point and take on a double, even if he can't chase. Maybe O'Reilly throws his hat in there? Something!

If we put any OL at DT, the best guy to do the job based on HS merit is actually our best OL...Shaq Mason. He had 18 sacks as a senior in HS...from the DT position. School record for his HS. Unfortunately, you can't move an All-American and All ACC OG from his best spot...

...or can you?

 

[orientalnc]

I am happy ECU isn't on our schedule.

 

[4NatlChmps]

The DL is one issue, the coaching at DB is another. I believe the secondary is much more talented than they are playing - and it's not just lack of pressure. Missing tackles EVERYWHERE.

Just tackle somebody on the first contact. It's like no one On entire D can do that. Last GT player who could was Jemea Thomas

 

[midga fan]

There are no easy answers. I appreciate your thoughts even though there isn't a perfect solution. How about some outside the box thinking? Devine to DT and push Gotsis to SDE? At the very least Devine can hold point and take on a double, even if he can't chase. Maybe O'Reilly throws his hat in there? Something!

That was my thought as well! Why not try this. Try something!

 

[Leonard Larramore]

PLEASE!! PRETTY PLEASE!!! PLEASE!!!!! AND STUFF THEM AT TIMES!!Especially when they are passing in a rhythm.

Amen!

 

[GT_B]

I really think sometimes our defensive players have regressed since high school. Some of these kids were laying some licks in highschool, get to to tech and forget how to tackle? These are simple, not diffcult tackles, and we look lost. Im really starting to think our entire defensive staff needs to go since they have no skill at developing players.

Look at Isiah Johnson, great HS player, did decent his true freshmen year, has gotten worse every year.

Even Jamal has gotten worse at Safety.

Just makes me shake my head because you used to count on your seniors and upper classman to make plays and they just are not.

 

[Wrecking Ball]

I agree. Clean house on defense. Every single player has regressed.

 

[gtg936g]

Part of it is the game speed at this level is much faster, and the players are harder to tackle. In HS if you are the best player on the team you can make up for a bad angle with your speed. At this level you end up trying to arm tackle.

We really miss Jemea. He was good at fighting through blocks and making tackles in space.

 

[DCSS]

I think the answer is pray to God that we score 50 every week, and the other team doesn't score 51. Laughing as I post. Can JT play defense too

Saban thought JT could play defense, but JT wanted to play QB. It's difficult to overcome both the lack of a pass rush and the lack of run stoppers on defense. We prevail when we can get some turnovers.

 

[GTonTop88]

What is goin on with Green/Gostis they both make big plays here and there, but seemed to get handled alot too

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Hunt-Days at DT scares me. I’m afraid he’s getting too fat. He’s a natural blitzing LB who could be pretty good at DE. DT not so much. That’s the biggest downside to moving Gotsis to DE. It’s so late in the season to try that and I wouldn’t want him there next year.

You may even see both Freeman and Whitehead starting next year. One is ready to play now but for academics. The other will have added a good 25-30 pounds by next Fall from college training. These are going to be two very good ends that we may want on the field at the same time. I understand the difference between a rush end and a regular end but Whitehead "swims" in traffic better than any end I have seen, sheds blockers like water off a ducks back, and is just plain agile in tight spaces against heavy weight offensive linemen. Anyway, I have made my point but you can see I am excited about having both of them on the field.

 

[kg01]

What is goin on with Green/Gostis they both make big plays here and there, but seemed to get handled alot too

Depth and having to carry a heavy load as the guys who get the most attention from opposing OL? JMHO

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

I don't think anyone can add 25-30 pounds of good weight in one offseason without using performance enhancing drugs. 10-15 would be incredibly good. (one caveat...and i'm thinking primarily about a certain HS DE we have not offered yet....a HS player cutting weight for wrestling could put on 25 and that would not be considered bad weight most likely.)

 

[Eric]

JHD has been out growing LB for quite awhile....his frame as you can tell allows him to add this weight. You will be surprised when you see him, he looks bigger but wouldn't guess he has put on as much weight as he has...he's not done growing either.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I really think sometimes our defensive players have regressed since high school. Some of these kids were laying some licks in highschool, get to to tech and forget how to tackle? These are simple, not diffcult tackles, and we look lost. Im really starting to think our entire defensive staff needs to go since they have no skill at developing players.

Look at Isiah Johnson, great HS player, did decent his true freshmen year, has gotten worse every year.

Even Jamal has gotten worse at Safety.

Just makes me shake my head because you used to count on your seniors and upper classman to make plays and they just are not.

Seriously? Just maybe the guys they are trying to tackle are a little more talented and athletic than the guys they tackled in high school? One thing's for sure, we aren't good at it.

We don't look lost, I don't know where you get that. We're in position to make a play most of the time but don't finish the drill. That speaks more to individual performance than coaching, imo. A coach's job is to put guys in position to make a play, it's their job to make plays. I know it's a coach's job to teach technique as well, but I don't think that's the problem. As you say, they had technique in high school, if they lost it, it's their own damn faults. If college coaches couldn't teach basic fundamentals, they wouldn't have a job for long.