About signing another transfer QB to compete with Shapen and MVB. Obviously Lebby is an offense guy as apparent from last years transfer signings but surely if Shapen returns we could better use that money to sign 3 or 4 DL and DE. Surely Lebby sees that his number priority needs to be building a defense. Second would be shoring up the OL. Imo skill players we got already.
I see some talk
- Thread starter Howiefeltersnstch
- Start date
If he keeps Hutzler, we will need to average 40+ points/game just to get back to a bowl.
Lebby needs to focus on bringing in talent and competition on O line and D line. Until that is done, we have no hope for a competitive team. Lebby being a former offensive lineman should know this.
O line needs to be a focus on the highschool recruiting side and then make an effort to retain them. NIL pieced together O lines just don’t do well.
I know we all like to sh*t on Hutzler but I think it's more a talent/experience issue than bad coaching
No, it's bad coaching. Players being lost and out of position in game 10 means they either don't understand the scheme, or the scheme doesn't fit the personnel. Either way, that's in the coach.,
Bad coaching… but no talent players. You can line up 4 average SEC defensive linemen and give them zero instructions other than tackle the QB, no help from blitzes, and they’d have more sacks than ours. Our DL is the worst I’ve ever seen at getting pressure. It’s been trending this way for the last few years, DL gets no pressure.
No DB's? The ones we have can't cover the field w/ their shadow on sunny day
I don't know if its talent, coaching, or experience but the defense can't tackle worth a poo.
There’s a talent issue but he’s also putting players in positions outside their abilities. His defensive backfield coverage schemes are awful.
If that QB is over 280 and plays iron man, QB and D line, man I'm all for it
When we’re playing Texas, UGA, and UT, I can mostly buy that
When Toledo, UF, and Arkansas are running all over us for 50 pts and 600 yds, that’s more than a talent issue for me
That isn't necessarily a coaching thing. That's talent too. When you are slow you are always out of position to some extent, no matter what scheme you run.
A few people had been saying for a while that the Dline talent was not being replenished. They were absolutely correct. We were well on our way to being a Leach team in every sense when Leach died.
Its hard to cover when the QB can just sit back there waiting for somebody to come open. I agree they need to be better though. The defense as a whole is terrible.
Paraphrasing the immortal John Robinson**, "they can't coach... but they make up for it by not recruiting"
As much as we used to laugh about Freeze bringing in 20 WR recruits every year, Lebby is just as bad. Difference was Freeze also brought in some stud linemen on both sides of the ball.
It's both. Our scheme in the Arizona St. game alone was grounds for immediate dismissal.
I think it’s both and the reason I say that is because of a position group that hasn’t been mentioned yet. I will preface this to say a good DL can make a bad LB core look good and vice versa. But we didn’t lose Chris Jones and Jeffrey Simmons last year. Pickering and Crumedy were good but not dominant.
Our LB stats are bad. The leading LB solo tackles are half of a Safety’s. The assumption is sacks are a DL stat and that’s not the case with the 3-3. This year our LBs have 3.5 and DL has 3.5. DBs none.
2023
27 total sacks. 21 from LBs and DBs
2022
31 total sacks 19.5 by LBs and DBs
Randy Charlton is underrated.
2021
28 total sacks 16 by LBs and DBs
I will agree Watson and Johnson were completely underrated the last couple of years, but there is something more to it than just a talent drop.
If you're not even in the generally right part of the field, like on UTenn's first touchdown, that's coaching. 3 WRs running deep and we have two DBs running deep covering half the field. That's coaching. And the fact that they went long on 4th and 4 indicates they probably knew we had an alignment issue.