Spring Game Thoughts - Defense (not so long...also late)

Apr 13, 2015, 2:49 AM

Took me awhile to get back to this...apologies.

Anyhow, this will be briefer, mostly because I was mostly checking my program watching the D, and they pretty much got owned. They showed enough flickers of life that I remain convinced we will find ourselves a viable starting 11, and pretty soon...but last year's D, with its insane loaded 2-deep depth, is now largely about to be drafted.

So instead of concentrating on the negatives, I figured I'd put it more like: here's what we got...and here's what we're still looking for.

POSITIONS I AM NOT WORRIED ABOUT
We're fine - actually a lot better than fine - at strongside end, safety, SAM, and one cornerback spot, that being the spot occupied by Mackenzie Alexander. The last is a leap of faith unsupported by any visible evidence. Truthfully I do not know how good Mackenzie Alexander actually is. I'm told he's a good football player. But ESPN analysts looking for Mackenzie Alexander college football footage to flash to viewers for their future draft-day show are going to have to go back to the FSU game last year...that being the only time I can actually recall anyone throwing a pass at him, or completing one. And he slipped and fell down. Other than that...nada. And that trend continued yesterday. He's basically a black hole on his side of the field; QB's do not even look in that direction anymore. It could be there actually is no Mackenzie Alexander, just a particularly clever holographic projection that Clemson's engineering department whipped up that stays glued to its wide receiver so tightly the QB believes there isn't room enough to slip a sheet of paper, much less a pass, in there. Kind of an existential question: can a player with zero highlight film - of any kind - be drafted in the first round? We may find out. Jayron Kearse is also just a mutant...he can ballhawk, he can hit, he can cover, and he's 6'4" and glides around like an outsized corner. Safeties are not ordinarily a high-round draft commodity; Kearse will be.

Conventional wisdom should have held - when you lose out on uber-blue-chip prospects like Robert Nkimdiche and then Carl Lawson to SEC bagmen, and then graduate two seniors with NFL potential in Corey Crawford and Tavarres Barnes - that you're going to have a hole there, but that actually did not appear to be the case. Kevin Dodd looked very strong and Ebenezer Okundeko might have looked even stronger...if anybody actually blocked Ebo yesterday, I didn't see it. Ebo assuredly made a Statement yesterday. He can set the edge, he can speed-rush, he can swim and counter inside. He will make a great deal of money doing all that professionally some day. On the weakside, Shaq Lawson is, well, Shaq Lawson and while he played surprisingly sparingly other than maybe that Mackenzie Alexander Holographic Corner still looked like arguably the top player on the defense. I was also happy with what I saw of DJ Reader at DT; he's emerged as a full-on hoss. Also was very, very happy with our strongside/nickel situation - Wiggins and O'Daniel are live wires, fly around the field, hit like trucks, and can run and cover. I was also reasonably impressed by our corners opposite Alexander, especially Tankersley. None of them are The Hologram, but there's some good size and more than a bit of athleticism on the back end. Ben Boulware had a quiet outing, by his usual car-crash standards, but it also looked like he was getting caught in the wash more than he was used to because his DT's weren't covering him like we're used to seeing.

So we have some answers.

WHERE WE STILL GOT NEEDS....
Other than Reader, I wasn't super-impressed with what I saw from our DT's, which is a concern. I think the 2-deep there is very much going to remain a work in progress through the first few games of the season. Scott Pagano looks like he can deadlift a tank but I saw him getting stood up a lot and not getting a ton of penetration, so the jury is still out there. Carlos Watkins seemed quiet for the most part. Albert Huggins did show some ability to penetrate when moved inside and could factor sooner rather than later unless some vets emerge, but that's a work-in-progress...I also saw Huggins get rooted out and roller-skated a couple times. Jabril Robinson is another guy the jury's still out on...looks the part, but nobody's remotely confusing him with Grady Jarrett yet. Weakside end behind Lawson is another concern...as one of my buddies commented, the biggest problem with replacing Vic Beasley with Shaq Lawson, is that Shaq Lawson can't back up Shaq Lawson. None of the potentials in line for that spot put their name up in lights yesterday...well, other than Ebo, who could well wind up backing up both positions. The young LB's - Joseph, Rodgers, Williams, and especially Chad Smith - bound around, show athletic potential, and very much look the part, and there were times you'd see them flash the gap and arrive with intent and plant someone and leave you feeling that all was well with the world...and then there were other times when they, predictably, zigged instead of zagged, busted an assignment or got trucked on a tackle - I watched CJ Davidson carry a couple of rather surprised-looking newbs into the end zone at one point, and The Gallman kind of waded through the LB's like a kaiju from Pacific Rim cruising up the Miracle Mile. Ugly. At which point I really started feeling melancholy about Tony Steward and especially Stephone Anthony again. So we're going to have some teething pains.

The biggest difference I saw, between this year's D and last year's, is that that overall level of supreme confidence and flawless relentless put-the-screws-to-you execution just isn't there yet. Last year was 11 great players backed up by 11 more great-to-good players. This year...well. There's just a whole lot more squiggles and question marks and white-out dribbled all over the depth chart, and it looks like there will be for awhile yet. They aren't...sloppy, and there looks like there's a fair bit of physical talent - there's certainly some guys out there who look like they might well become legit football players - but the whole isn't equaling the sum of the parts yet. I don't think we're in any danger of reverting to 2011 Orange Bowl form, but we also aren't going to be the #1 defense in college football next year either. I definite got the impression that keyboard commandos who are fond of invective like "great teams don't rebuild, they RELOAD!" might find themselves somewhat stressed the first month or so of the season; to my mind the biggest question is what these guys are looking like in midseason.

Dunno how much this review is really worth, since it mostly comes back as various shades of "work in progress" and "grade incomplete"...as you'd expect from a unit in the Spring that just lost so many critical components. I definitely walked away with the definite sense that we're going to need to win some shootouts early, especially against the likes of Louisville in Week 3.

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I appreciate your eval. Much like our Head Coach, I usually don't evaluate the Spring Game. Reason? Well it is a "bi-polar" situation. Take the 2014 Spring Game. Last year, we were worried about how awful the offensive line looked against our defense. Going into the game, Coach said, and I paraphrase, "you won't see a drop off from our first 11 to our second 11 on defense." What did we NOT see? A difference between the first and second defense. And we saw not many answers from our offense. How did the season go? 10-3, a walk around Death Valley Thanksgiving weekend, a blowout of Oklahoma, near win verses FSU, and "collapse" against UGa in the 4th, and three pick 6's separated a win in Atlanta. So if you are asking me am I worried about our defense from the Spring Game performance? Not all that much.

They are some areas that need to be addressed but it just seems to me that clearly our offense will be mind boggling to most that have to play against us. And that was without Deshaun Watson pulling the trigger. I would also venture to think, listening on the radio, that the speed at which the plays were being put in against our defense and executed was as fast as an AR-15 could dislodge bullets from the magazine through the casing and out of the barrel of the gun. Now unless I see Oregon on the schedule, I am not concerned with teams moving the plays that quickly.

My biggest concern isn't the pass rush. It is run defense, and again we have a stable of running backs that sound like teams will hate more than our WRs next year, but given their totals from Saturday, we must be able to stop that before we worry about QB pressure. That was our niche last year. The defense's ability to make teams throw on mixed downs because 1st and 10 became 2nd and 9 or 11 and sometimes more yards lost after first down. And your concern there is mine. I didn't hear it and according to your evaluation, you didn't see it. Now, that could just mean that that O-line will be moving walls for Wayne and company to splice through much like "the Hoggs" of the 1980's Washington Redskins teams. Or it could be the "mixed teams" situation, or it could be that we need more work with the interior.

Our answers to all your questions will come after Fall versus Wofford. They run that "Wing-T" style offense. If they look good and stop it, I won't worry too much about Louisville. If they are still gaps or lapses, I will definitely be concerned. Still, all in all, I am still ALL IN with my Tigers!

Spring Game Thoughts - Defense (not so long...also late)

Re: Spring Game Thoughts - Defense (not so long...also late)

Thanks again for your efforts. I suppose this will be one of

Re: Spring Game Thoughts - Defense (not so long...also late)

If your major concern is DT

Re: If your major concern is DT

Re: If your major concern is DT

Re: Spring Game Thoughts - Defense (not so long...also late)

Yeah we don't have enough depth yet on D to split them up

Re: Yeah we don't have enough depth yet on D to split them up

Re: Spring Game Thoughts - Defense (not so long...also late)

Re: Spring Game Thoughts - Defense (not so long...also late)

You misspelled "GRADE OF SLAW".***

Re: Spring Game Thoughts - Defense (not so long...also late)

Re: Spring Game Thoughts - Defense (not so long...also late)

^^^ misspelled A$$ Purger ^^^***

Re: Spring Game Thoughts - Defense (not so long...also late)

Re: Spring Game Thoughts - Defense (not so long...also late)

Re: Spring Game Thoughts - Defense (not so long...also late)

Re: Spring Game Thoughts - Defense (not so long...also late)

Re: Spring Game Thoughts - Defense (not so long...also late)

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