Exicited about the Offensive hires, but lest we forget...

[CloverforkCat]

that on the defensive side of the ball we have issues. We also lose several of our best players of the past couple of years. We lose Cory Johnson, Melvin Lewis, J Forrest, R Flannigan K Henderson, and A J Stamps.
While we do have some young talent returning, and we get to finally see C Love and D Laster hit the field, this should help. However, J Hatcher, D Ware, K Daniel, T Dubose, J Jordan, E brown et al need to step up big. I feel good about the DB group, corners are talented, and Safties are promising.
The need to stop the run and generate a decent pass rush is paramount. Even if we score 30-35 points per game next season, would that be enough to win the game ?

 

[TeoJ]

that on the defensive side of the ball we have issues. We also lose several of our best players of the past couple of years. We lose Cory Johnson, Melvin Lewis, J Forrest, R Flannigan K Henderson, and A J Stamps.
While we do have some young talent returning, and we get to finally see C Love and D Laster hit the field, this should help. However, J Hatcher, D Ware, K Daniel, T Dubose, J Jordan, E brown et al need to step up big. I feel good about the DB group, corners are talented, and Safties are promising.
The need to stop the run and generate a decent pass rush is paramount. Even if we score 30-35 points per game next season, would that be enough to win the game ?

Elam will in my opinion be the key.

 

[CloverforkCat]

Elam will in my opinion be the key.

Yeah, forgot about him, he should be in better shape, and gained valuable reps after M Lewis went down. He could be a run stuffer...... hope so !

 

[BlueRaider22]

Before the 2015 season we had similar questions among the defensive personnel, yet they shaved about 4 pts/game off of the 2013 and 2014 yrs. All while having a stagnant offense that didn't give them any rest.

While I don't expect huge improvements, I don't think they'll go backwards.

 

[Dan71268_rivals210055]

Not a defensive genius or anything but we just need an SEC front seven. The secondary will be fine but the front seven needs size and depth. As hard as Stoops has recruited we still need more big uglies. Look at the defensive lines that we face each week, we're lacking.
You have to have more then one great player, you need several. Sounds easy but quality defense tackles are a premium.

 

[gobigblue812_rivals29381]

Thank God you were able to squeeze in a negative thread at the expense of the good news.

 

[CloverforkCat]

I am anxious to see Kash Daniel on the field, he has toughness and a blue collar mentality !

 

[JPFisher]

If opponents weren't given such good field position due to our punting and the offense could sustain drives and keep the defense off the field, we would've looked so much different on defense.

 

[RACdad]

I think the transfers ar LB will be a big help

 

[Jacktwncat94]

Definitely need the Dline to step up. I can't stand it when opposing QBs have all the time in the world like White did when we played Auburn

 

[Blue_White_KY]

Who is going to be our MLB? I am probably in the minority here but I am glad Forrest is gone. He was a good tackler but I feel like he never grew instinctually or was good at anticipating what the offense was going to do. His zone coverage was truly lacking. His awareness was subpar IMO. A WR would be 2-3 yards to his side and catch a ball and run for a few more before Forrest would get to him. I'm just ready for a true LBer instead of a WR transplant.

 

[hmt5000]

we may need another NT to help with depth but overall i think the front 7 will be better... at least against the run. i hope we will get to the qb better next year but im pretty sure the run D will be better. jones and firios got some snaps last year and the transfers played some at their other stops so it's not like we are breaking in all inexperienced guys. k walker and eli give us a dimension at lb'er we really haven't had the last several years... big, rangy, athletic lb'ers. ware and hatcher got a lot of snaps last year and at times they looked really good... just got to get more consistent.

i also think the secondary may help quite a bit in the run game next year. westry and baity are big enough (if they gain some weight) to come up and make stops as are mcclain and randolph. west, edwards, and mccwilson are all good in run support and im really excited to see marcus walker this year. he's the kind of guy we never get to red shirt but by luck of the roster he's got a year in the weight room and supposedly hits like a truck.

we are wayyyy too thin at NT and are gonna rely on some young guys for depth at the other 2 down spots. if the front 3 stay relatively healthy and if someone can spell elam for 15 or 20 snaps/game i think the D will be better. but the offense has to get better or all the improvement in the world will be negated again this year.

i do wonder if stoops will try to get another juco NT or if he'll let some of the other guys spell elam and just hope that we get provitt back after next year and bring in a good HS player as well? outside of few teams i think we can get by going smaller at NT because of how the spread offenses kinda make you go with more speed but we got a few games where elam will be tested often.

 

[Saguaro Cat]

Meant, Miggins, and Elam up front. Add Denzel Ware on 4-3 looks.

I think we stay level here. Don't forget Meant beat out CJ Johnson for starting position until getting hurt. Miggins is due for that juco leap you see in their second year. Elam held his own at end of year.

Alvonte bell, kengera Daniel, Adrian Middleton, and Jacob Hyde are all experienced at backup. Tymere Dubose is at least another body, still young with potential.

 

[AirRaidFan_rivals164446]

I am hopeful and positive.

 

[seccats04]

Meant, Miggins, and Elam up front. Add Denzel Ware on 4-3 looks.

I think we stay level here. Don't forget Meant beat out CJ Johnson for starting position until getting hurt. Miggins is due for that juco leap you see in their second year. Elam held his own at end of year.

Alvonte bell, kengera Daniel, Adrian Middleton, and Jacob Hyde are all experienced at backup. Tymere Dubose is at least another body, still young with potential.

Dubose probably won't play next year. He tore his ACL late in the year.

 

[fabcat]

Meant, Miggins, and Elam up front. Add Denzel Ware on 4-3 looks.

I think we stay level here. Don't forget Meant beat out CJ Johnson for starting position until getting hurt. Miggins is due for that juco leap you see in their second year. Elam held his own at end of year.

Alvonte bell, kengera Daniel, Adrian Middleton, and Jacob Hyde are all experienced at backup. Tymere Dubose is at least another body, still young with potential.

I wouldn't forget about Hatcher. He is prob the best we have returning in our from 7.

 

[vhcat70]

Yeah, forgot about him, he should be in better shape, and gained valuable reps after M Lewis went down. He could be a run stuffer...... hope so !

I think his fitness level has slowly improved but still a good ways from optimum. So yes, he should get in better shape, but will he & by how much?

 

[Mojocat_rivals48469]

Was surprising to me how much worse the defense looked when Lewis got hurt. Of course, that was roughly around the same time the whole team went off a cliff from internal soap opera stuff, so it's hard to determine how much difference Lewis made....

 

[Dan71268_rivals210055]

Meant, Miggins, and Elam up front. Add Denzel Ware on 4-3 looks.

I think we stay level here. Don't forget Meant beat out CJ Johnson for starting position until getting hurt. Miggins is due for that juco leap you see in their second year. Elam held his own at end of year.

Alvonte bell, kengera Daniel, Adrian Middleton, and Jacob Hyde are all experienced at backup. Tymere Dubose is at least another body, still young with potential.

Should be a competitive front line just need to build Seth from within. Some forget that the front three just need to plug holes and penetrate. We need a Dwayne Robinson
Type really bad.

 

[hmt5000]

i think that the lb'ers are gonna make the d-line look better this year. forrest and flannigan were good in space but they were slow to react on runs and often slung a guy forward for another yard or 2 on tackles. also we had very little depth at lb'er last year. for all the youth and inexperience we have next year we also have more brawn, size, and bodies than we've had in stoops tenure. we really only played 7 guys for 4 lb'er spots last year. we likely play 9 quite a bit this year and a couple more guys are gonna be pushing to get on the rotation.