Donkey sent me an email to weigh in on this:
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My thought's on GatorJ's "We're moving in the right direction thread" . I knew we were young, but I didn't know we were this young.
33 Soph
21 Soph
9 Soph
1 SR
51 Sr
2 Sr
Zero SR (now 5 a Freshman?)
23/24 soph
3/8 Soph
16 soph
22 soph
Mullen baked this cake by striking out 3-5 years ago.
And the biggest problems on the defense are the SRs. 51 can't cover. Zero can't cover. 1 and 33 just ignore their edge assignments and blitz or run blitz every play. 2 is .... nearly useless out there. Just seems confused alot. Late. But he has been playing somewhat better of late.
And more HUGE point, not only are we young, but we are tiny:
See the big difference? 320+ lb SEC OT vs 240 lb UF DE Princely. It will NEVER work.
We haven't had a legitimate front with at least three 300 pounders since 2012. And our weak ass defenses have suffered because of it.
7, 94, and 95 look pretty decent so far. 7 in particular could be a beast. 95 flashes a LOT in tiny playing time. He might be the next 7 demanding more playing time and a starter next year like 7, hopefully.
Now imagine a front four of 9 - 21- 7- 95/94
IMO 9 needs to be outside, one on one w OT. I know the roster says like 312 but to me he LOOKS far smaller. ;ike 280 or something. He plays his position inside, beast vs run, but isn't great at defeating a guard AND a tackle. He also stays home and wont give up 3 TDs on blown edge defense for every sack, like 1. 33 is just as bad, but he doesn't fail quite as spectacularly. Our weakness at the two edge positions means the other OLs can double team 9 and 21 every play with no concerns. The weakness also means they can run at the C gap or outside and know it will be successful almost always.
Yes, I know 1 will be an NFL player but it won't be at DE. 9 WILL be an NFL DE, not a DT. For good reason.
I would have all the 250 pound or less pile of Grantham specials in one line and tell them the best 1 MAYBE 2 to stay and play on 3rd and long only unless they hit the weight room and get up to near 300 pounds. You can't have a roster full of flyweight DLs.
This means
Cox (I know he is leaving but theoretically he COULD return next year plus a covid year. wonder what he would have looked like at ILB because he is the right size)
Princely
Powell-Ryland,
Summerall (jeebus he looks like a scarecrow after three years in weight room)
D Reese #4 (still has 2 more years! lol)
Chief (if he is just too slow to play ILB)
Pyburn (ditto-- and I struggle to believe either Cheif or Pyburn is slower than Ventrell. Pybun is already at 260 though so maybe he will be a legit DE after more time in weightroom.)
Sapp needs his ass in the weight room too, as does Boone. 260 doesnt get it boys but at least they aren't still 230-240.
Princely still at 245 after arriving at 240... sorry you clearly don't want to play. Those days are over. That is barely bigger than a Mullen WR.
I don't even want to talk about inside Linebackers. What a **** show. A bunch of edge blitzbackers and safeties we are trying to hope to teach to play the most complicated position on the field and haven't had actually coaching there in forever.
As for the criticism of Toney, I don't know what you expect. He has what Dbag Dan and Third and Dwagtham left him.
Cant play cover 2 or man 2 because Zero doesn't actually cover anyone in man or zone. 51 is immediately beaten (like 3 steps deep) even by mediocre TEs. And 2 is spotty.
Cant play man anything really.
Bring Zero into the box and play Cover 3? Zero is a competent (not great just competent) tackler. This requires the CBs to bail to keep Zero out of deep half. It is soft as hell on the corners, 51 and zero trying to get to the flat after they read pass vs run. It is slow.
Not sure what else we play?
The only other option is man zero with 51 and 0 blitzing every play. Can't play that every down. Well Dwagtham did and it got him fired. Maybe it's all we really CAN play though.
Replace Zero, sure. But 5 hasn't been a great improvement yet either. He is not a sure tackler and our SS plays in the box often like the third LB. he doesn't even seem comfortable in their. Freshmen are freshmen.
The pieces just don't fit with any functional defense scheme.