One way to try to look at it positively- we are not really having to replace Melvin Lewis. Unfortunately for Lewis, that already happened last year, due to his injury. Also, one would hope that Miggins, with another year behind him, is going to at least be a push with Hugenin. And Meant actually was ahead of Johnson at one point last year; that's not to say he's going to match that production that we got from Johnson, but if he takes the step up that many rising juniors can take, it shouldn't be that much of a loss. The biggest questions to me involve depth, whether younger guys like Daniel, Middleton, etc, are ready to be called on when needed.
Defensive Line
- Thread starter Brock28
- Start date
Am afraid this is the best synopsis of our DL--no need to try and dress up a pig.
Pulling for Elam, but so far he doesn't have the "it" factor (conditioning, etc.) But whomever said it earlier; i.e. "...seemed to improve the last couple of games..."--I agree, he did, but nothing explosive, or anything that looked dominant...
Basically, dominant DLinemen are a premium, and we currently have "avg" at best.... Too many times the opposing Qback had little to no pressure from our interior; thus, relying on all sorts of schemes...
Stoops will solve this recruiting issue because he's done it in the past / other areas for UK...
But for 2016 DL will be a "C-" -- just below average.
Go CATS!
p.s. I hope I'm wrong. and in the SEC, "hope is not a plan"....
FWIW, Jabari Johnson was actually an OLB in the 3-4, not an interior LB.
Switching to Elam... Elam catches too much flack, IMHO. Yes, he he needs to get in better shape, Ect... But, he is getting better. Plus, a NT is simply supposed to be a space occupant. Elam actually does that fairly well, for the most part, until he gets winded.
Speaking of Elam as a FR, I still contend that Elam helped UK beat South Carolina in 2014. If you will go back & watch it, Spurrier was running the ball down UK's throat UNTIL Elam entered the game. Suddenly their run game slowed down & Spurrier, more or less, completely abandoned the run & he started throwing it. Again, I encourage you to go back and watch that game.
Yeah but didn't he kind of play like an inside LB on the edge. His strong suit was stopping the run and that 272 LBS came in handy for that.
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We all are,the defense may not be a lot better but it probably won't be any worse.Hopefully off season conditioning gives us some added depth and a surprise or two.
The statement above is very true. But what I am really hoping for is the new strength coach to get inside Elams head and make him show the potential that Nick Saban saw in him. If Marc Hill can do that while lowering Elams body fat and upping his time in the game, then we may all be pleasantly surprised. Of course it isn't just Elam, but he gets the most flak hurled at him by our fans. Our whole defensive line(and team) might just benefit from the Marc Hill hiring. I for one am counting that as one of the key elements in how the team improves this year. The off season coaching hires have been great in my opinion, especially Gran and Hinshaw. Kentucky may be able to surprise people this year, especially us fans. I am hoping that is how things shake out any how. I am not saying that that is how it will happen, just throwing that out there for everyone to think about.
Current UK strength coach Mark Hill
Former UK strength coach Marc Hill
As you can plainly tell, Mark is taller than Marc.
Former UK strength coach Marc Hill
As you can plainly tell, Mark is taller than Marc.
Depth at NT/DT is my concern. Elam/Meant backed by Pringle/Middleton. Hard to get thru a SEC season with only 4 DL. Apparently Dubose is rehabbing a knee so who knows if/when he'll be ready. Could move Miggins inside but then they become undersized. True freshmen Cross/Looney may be forced to play instead of RS and that would be a shame. Really need to emphasize DL in the '17 recruiting class, need at least 4 in a short class.
All of the these players had their shortcomings like Towles did but he was bashed way more.
I don't think anybody got bashed anymore or any worse than Swindel and they did try other people there.
My problem throughout the year was no other QB saw a snap until the season was on the brink of disaster. I also believe Dawson was the worse thing that could have happened to Towles. I will have to remind I never called for Towles to be replaced. When Towles played well I gave him the praise he deserved. I saw the potential but as they say potential just means you haven't done anything. The whole Towles debate was blown up to stupid with all the hair garbage that was posted I think.
Debose, Elem, Daiel, Hatcher, Meant,Middleton,Miggins Provit, And Ware. Lots of needed depth, but more important will be another year bigger , stronger , and wiser. It has to be somewhat better than last year based on experience alone.
The truth is that this defensive unit could be a little worse, about the same, a little better or a lot better than last years. We lost key pieces and the is cause for concern. However, most of the guys are back and they will all have another year's experience. That is cause for hope. A little improvement in several areas could result in an overall huge improvement. The reason is that if the linebackers improve, that takes weight off of the line and the backs. So even if the line is not any better, they could play better due to the load taken off of them by the LB's. Now that the line is playing better, that makes it easier for the LB's and backs. They can feed off each other and have a huge snowball effect. This is much the same as when a better passing game opens up the running game or vice-versa. There is no guarantee this will happen but it is a definite possibility.
You named 9 guys for 5 positions. One is returning from knee surgery and one isn't even on the team. That's not a lot of depth but you didn't name Bell who may help some at DE. Some Frosh may indeed be forced to play at the 3 down line positions.
If we don't get any serious injuries I think looney can rs.if more than a couple guys miss more than 3 games though he is probably going to play. I think bell was 275 last I heard ... or maybe what he plans to be by spring.
Bell and kg are going to help the pass rush at de.
Dline depth is probably not idea. I do believe the staff feels pretty good about what they have are they would have took another juco. We played most of last year with Huguenin Lewis Elam Meant and CJ getting 90 percent of the snaps. I think Miggins, Bell, KG, Meant, Middleton, Elam, and Pringle will be pretty suitable.
Excellent. Regardless that some think that because he had 5* tag that he ought to immediately be all-SEC, if you just evaluate him compared other NT's around, he's done a decent/good job even if not great & he's growing into it. I think many teams would be happy to have him starting.
Whatever the hell that means. I will better your game isn't better on the 27th hole of the day than on the 18th.
I won't get into individual players, most you guys know personnel much better than I do. But something that has been overlooked in this thread is coaching the 3-4 and the "nuances" within the system.
First of all, the defensive principals on this staff come from strong 4-3 roots. IMO, the 3-4 front is "more complicated" than a 4-3 front and it won't be readily learned by coaching staffs based on a few off season visits to other schools. This is not a knock on the staff; only the thought that it will take some time and experience to truly learn the system, especially w/o a true 3-4 guru on the staff.
IIRC UK first showed a 3-4 front against UofL in 2013. It was the old school Okie 5-2 front and totally bamboozled the Cards for almost all of the 1st half. The Cats remained a basic 4-3 team as the season wore on but this alignment became their basic short yardage front. We saw more 3-4 looks in 2014 and pretty much a full transition to the 3-4 this past season. And again, all without a true 3-4 guru on the staff (at least I think that is a true statement). So more sideline experience with 3-4 alignment adjustments and blitz blitz package just might make the 2016 defense better than 2015 without any extraordinary personnel improvements.
FWIW, 4 and 5 wides sets have basically forced a big DL off the field. Defenses are being forced into 4 LB or 5 DB schemes to cover the spread. But one of the big plusses for the defense is with no TE there are only 4 interior gaps to cover, not 5. And there are multiple ways to cover those 4 gaps with 3 DLs and 2 ILBs. Again, complexity. And unlike coaches, I can learn all I need off the internet and not have to get it done in practice or in games. [roll]
Peace
First of all, the defensive principals on this staff come from strong 4-3 roots. IMO, the 3-4 front is "more complicated" than a 4-3 front and it won't be readily learned by coaching staffs based on a few off season visits to other schools. This is not a knock on the staff; only the thought that it will take some time and experience to truly learn the system, especially w/o a true 3-4 guru on the staff.
IIRC UK first showed a 3-4 front against UofL in 2013. It was the old school Okie 5-2 front and totally bamboozled the Cards for almost all of the 1st half. The Cats remained a basic 4-3 team as the season wore on but this alignment became their basic short yardage front. We saw more 3-4 looks in 2014 and pretty much a full transition to the 3-4 this past season. And again, all without a true 3-4 guru on the staff (at least I think that is a true statement). So more sideline experience with 3-4 alignment adjustments and blitz blitz package just might make the 2016 defense better than 2015 without any extraordinary personnel improvements.
FWIW, 4 and 5 wides sets have basically forced a big DL off the field. Defenses are being forced into 4 LB or 5 DB schemes to cover the spread. But one of the big plusses for the defense is with no TE there are only 4 interior gaps to cover, not 5. And there are multiple ways to cover those 4 gaps with 3 DLs and 2 ILBs. Again, complexity. And unlike coaches, I can learn all I need off the internet and not have to get it done in practice or in games. [roll]
Peace
I agree with your post. I think as the coaches have the same players in this system you will get to see more exotic blitzes and coverages. I really like the young olb we have recruited. I think linebacker play will be the biggest improvement on the team. This will be the 3rd year for a majority of the coaches and there players in the 3 4 scheme. I look for good improvement in scheme calls and player understanding of there assignments.
Those statements are not really accurate. 3rd year for coaches, yes, but most of the LBs will be in year 2, but that may be reason to expect even more improvement b/c I would think improvement from year 1 to year 2 would be an even larger jump than year 2 to year 3.
Player - yrs in system
Hatcher - 3rd
Ware - 3rd
Firios - 3rd (limited snaps last yr)
Walker - 3rd (no snaps last yr - academically ineligible)
Love - 2nd (RS due to txfr last yr)
Laster - 2nd (RS due to txfr last yr)
J. Jones - 2nd (Tr FR last year)
E. Brown - 2nd (Tr FR last year - did he RS?)
Allen - 2nd (Tr FR last year)
Bonner - 1st (JUCO txfr)
Kash Daniel - 1st (Tr FR)
Walder - 1st (Tr FR)
Watson - 1st (Tr FR)
Bannerman - 1st (Tr FR)
I can't really disagree with you. My point does not change. I also was not just referring to linebackers. Meant Elam Middleton Dubose Hatcher Mcwilson Harmon Mclain Tucker randolph are all players in there 3rd years running a 3 4.
I just read it as saying most of the LBs were in their 3rd year in the system. However, I wasn't trying to pick a fight.
Plus, I think its just a minor point b/c as I stated, I agree with you regarding improvement. I wonder if there may be even more improvement from year 1 to year 2 vs year 2 to year 3.
Talked to someone who talks to the coaches quite often. He said the coaching staff knows the dline will be weak this season. They will use some schemes to try and mask that weakness. They are very confident in the secondary and linebackers. Im hearing they are very confident the linebackers will be a huge strength for this team.
Until Elam loses more weight, lowers his pad level and quits standing up, he'll be prone to injury and more apt to be a nonfactor, whether he stuffs the middle or not. LB corps needs height, long arms, and experience. Bigger LBers will not get sealed by OL as easily if they can extend arms into OL and not get bodied up on. Taller LB Corp will see over line of scrimmage and find ball carriers.
It looks to me like Stoops is addressing these needs.
What concerns me is the play of Ware and young DE's. They simply did not play the edge well by crashing down on the RB on read option plays. Several QBs destroyed this team last year running basic read option.
It looks to me like Stoops is addressing these needs.
What concerns me is the play of Ware and young DE's. They simply did not play the edge well by crashing down on the RB on read option plays. Several QBs destroyed this team last year running basic read option.
Eli Brown looked good in the Army AA game & he has very good speed for a LB. Looking forward to seeing him on the field @ UK.
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