Please for sanity, change your starting DL. PLEASE

[Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau]

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.

Not totally true. With the time constraints placed upon college programs, fundamentals are neglected at the college level. Recruits are expected to have a foundation in the basics when they arrive. The classroom analogy would be we don't spend too much time teaching long division and fractions in Calculus I.

 

[UgaBlows]

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

they are getting doubled up a LOT because there's no respect for our DE's

 

[COJacket]

Totally agree with Ugablows

 

[Northeast Stinger]

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.

Something else that has been discussed in past years on other sites is that most colleges do not spend a lot of practice time "tackling to the ground" in practice as they did in past decades. The reason given is that players are bigger, faster and more athletic and the chance of injury in practice is much greater now than it was 20 years ago. Don't know if that is true or not but it means that, especially if you are thin at a position, you are willing to expose your players only so much when it comes to perfecting technique in tackling. By now you hope they have it and that any issues will get cleaned up by focused practice and game experience. Am I wrong?

 

[DCSS]

Something else that has been discussed in past years on other sites is that most colleges do not spend a lot of practice time "tackling to the ground" in practice as they did in past decades. The reason given is that players are bigger, faster and more athletic and the chance of injury in practice is much greater now than it was 20 years ago. Don't know if that is true or not but it means that, especially if you are thin at a position, you are willing to expose your players only so much when it comes to perfecting technique in tackling. By now you hope they have it and that any issues will get cleaned up by focused practice and game experience. Am I wrong?

I think it's a great question. Maybe Eric or someone who's watched practices can comment on how much time is spent on live drills like Oklahoma or Bull in the Ring or how often the team has live scrimmages.

 

[alaguy]

I think with McNair and Noble, we would have known by now if they were playmakers. It doesn't surprise me (and I don't think it surprises people inside the program) that they haven't contributed much this year. My opinion on Stargell is that he gives it his all but just may be lacking talent-wise. Griffin and Harrell may still haven't recovered from being behind due to suspension and injury, but I think the potential is there for those two more than the other three. Hankins' lack of PT does surprise me and is surprising to him too. I think it's just a thing of him having to earn it in the coaches' eyes. I'm sure Eric has more/better info to add.

Well, we made a blanket statement pre-season that we had LOTS of LB depth/talent.That has proven to me to be the biggest fallacy on this season.Marcordes is a complete bust and he is playing! which different that McNair,Harrell and Hankins--giving an indication of where they are.Nealy and Davis are decent but with that DL ,they look worst.(I still have visions of that unc OG pushing our BEST DL Gotsis downfield as unc QB walks through middle of line for TD in 2nd half Sat. )
Another reason to be in 4-2-5 --NO LBs? as if D Smith is the answer
at some point Roof has to be accountable--replay on the vt game in '12 ,can't even make them make a FG to win.

 

[kg01]

Yeah, I wondered aloud during chat what had happened with Marcordes. He looks the part but has been totally ineffective.

 

[Eric]

Defensive Names that I expected to hear called more on Saturdays for making plays this year:
Dominque Noble
Tremayne McNair
Anthony Harrell
Tyler Stargell
Lynn Griffin
(and Beau Hankins a bit)

@Eric any news on what's up with any of these guys?

Noble - he is hurt right now, a little banged up...he has problems blowing assignments. I really expected him to breakout this year.

McNair - he is doing the best he has with his talent...best put is he a good backup.

Harrell - Harell will be seeing more time now IMO.

Stargel - They just feel he hasn't played well...For some reason we played a lot at the beginning of the year and have traded him for Kyle Travis now. I would rather have Stargel.

Lynn Griffin - Simply put he has to be on the field more...why not with how our CBs have played. give the kid his sh0t...as CPJ said today he will be playing soon.

Hankins - He is good in run support...pass coverage needs work. Physical.

 

[stylee]

Sometimes it's hard to ferret out whose at fault in a particular running play - if the DT can't maintain gap integrity, the LB might be left having to cover two gaps. He'll look lost but maybe he's the only one who did his job. Or maybe it worked the other way - the LB overran, so the DT looks like he wasn't stout enough.

 

[ibeattetris]

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.)

This just isn't true. A surplus of 1000 calories a day with heavy weight training would net you near 2 lbs of healthy weight a week. The hardest part of this would be actually eating the surplus if the person is also adding cardio workouts as well.

Even if we go conservative and say 1-1.5 pounds of healthy mass a week, that is still doable in an offseason if the person gets after it and doesn't relapse on their dieting.

 

[ctcjb]

they are getting doubled up a LOT because there's no respect for our DE's

Green and Gotsis never hardly come off of the field. They are exhausted by the end of the game. I watched the Clemson/BC game this weekend. It was very common for Clemson to start 4 fresh guys on defense for a series, then roll in Jarrett and Beasley on 3rd down. We have Gotsis, Green and Gamble playing every snap at DT. That's it. Kallon never plays. We only have 4 DTs on the ENTIRE roster. Watch any other P5 team and you will seem them at least 8 deep on their front 4. We have 3 DTs and 1.5 DEs TOTAL.

Kitchens, Commissiong, Akins, JHD, Whitehead, Henry, Robbins......man, what a bad offseason.

 

[UgaBlows]

i want to see Harrell and Hankins get some chances against Pitts power run game

 

[Techster]

Green and Gotsis never hardly come off of the field. They are exhausted by the end of the game. I watched the Clemson/BC game this weekend. It was very common for Clemson to start 4 fresh guys on defense for a series, then roll in Jarrett and Beasley on 3rd down. We have Gotsis, Green and Gamble playing every snap at DT. That's it. Kallon never plays. We only have 4 DTs on the ENTIRE roster. Watch any other P5 team and you will seem them at least 8 deep on their front 4. We have 3 DTs and 1.5 DEs TOTAL.

Kitchens, Commissiong, Akins, JHD, Whitehead, Henry, Robbins......man, what a bad offseason.

Maybe we need to start playing a 3-4 with a flex DE/OLB ala Jeremiah Attaochou last season that way it's a pseudo 4-3. Green and Gamble can rotate at the NT spot, Freeman as one DE, and Gotsis the 2nd DE. Slide Marcordes as the DE/OLB, depending on the offense, with his size and coverage skills.

The reality is, we've got a lot of 3-4 personnel trying to play in 4-3 (or 4-2-5) system because that's what we recruited to for Al Groh's system. There's a lot of 3-4 personnel left over. Then we also have the attrition you mentioned.

Think about it this way: Remember when CPJ first got here and people were saying "Wait until he gets his guys". Well, the same also holds true for the defensive side if you're going to switch from a 3-4 to a 4-3. Some pieces "overlap", some players have the athleticism to translate to any system, and others don't. How much of the "don't" category is left over from the changeover?

 

[BabyJacket1990]

Next year,

Gotsis
Gamble
Hunt-Days
Freeman/Whitehead

Help is coming but damn if we couldn't have had it this year with THIS schedule.

Help is coming yet we are still under sized!

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Maybe we need to start playing a 3-4 with a flex DE/OLB ala Jeremiah Attaochou last season that way it's a pseudo 4-3. Green and Gamble can rotate at the NT spot, Freeman as one DE, and Gotsis the 2nd DE. Slide Marcordes as the DE/OLB, depending on the offense, with his size and coverage skills.

The reality is, we've got a lot of 3-4 personnel trying to play in 4-3 (or 4-2-5) system because that's what we recruited to for Al Groh's system. There's a lot of 3-4 personnel left over. Then we also have the attrition you mentioned.

Think about it this way: Remember when CPJ first got here and people were saying "Wait until he gets his guys". Well, the same also holds true for the defensive side if you're going to switch from a 3-4 to a 4-3. Some pieces "overlap", some players have the athleticism to translate to any system, and others don't. How much of the "don't" category is left over from the changeover?

I like your defensive line scheme.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Green and Gotsis never hardly come off of the field. They are exhausted by the end of the game. I watched the Clemson/BC game this weekend. It was very common for Clemson to start 4 fresh guys on defense for a series, then roll in Jarrett and Beasley on 3rd down. We have Gotsis, Green and Gamble playing every snap at DT. That's it. Kallon never plays. We only have 4 DTs on the ENTIRE roster. Watch any other P5 team and you will seem them at least 8 deep on their front 4. We have 3 DTs and 1.5 DEs TOTAL.

Kitchens, Commissiong, Akins, JHD, Whitehead, Henry, Robbins......man, what a bad offseason.

I agree but they start fresh at the beginning of the game and yet still don't get off the field. Maybe if they produced some 3 and outs early when they're fresh, they'll stay fresher late in games?

 

[4NatlChmps]

I agree but they start fresh at the beginning of the game and yet still don't get off the field. Maybe if they produced some 3 and outs early when they're fresh, they'll stay fresher late in games?

Agree completely - they can't tackle from the get-go. It's embarrassing. It's like having to watch Ga Southern 2nd half every game now. AWwwwwwwwfullll technique and killer instinct. Again so few have had it at GT - last was Jamea T

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Agree completely - they can't tackle from the get-go. It's embarrassing. It's like having to watch Ga Southern 2nd half every game now. AWwwwwwwwfullll technique and killer instinct. Again so few have had it at GT - last was Jamea T

Julian Burnett had it, too. A little while back, Joe Anoai had it big time. PJ Davis can't control it.

 

[LongforDodd]

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.

Missing tackles is maddening for sure but as I watch a lot of college football, I'm willing to bet that most teams' fan bases are typing the same thing we do. There is a lot of bad tackling all up and down the ranks of college football.

Isn't it still as simple as tackling the opponent's belt buckle?

 

[jeffgt14]

Julian Burnett had it, too. A little while back, Joe Anoai had it big time. PJ Davis can't control it.

Lol I'd much rather have someone who can't control it than what we have everywhere else. At least he's being aggressive and making plays every now and then. Who knows, maybe if everyone else played like PJ he wouldn't be out of position as much since everyone else will be ball hawking as well.