To me it has to be Matt Elam... It is almost imperative that they get him to live in the gym eat right and be in the best physical condition of his life so that he can anchor down the defensive line...who you got?
Most Important Guy On Defense Next Year?
- Thread starter sluggercatfan
- Start date
Love. Heard too many reports he's a natural leader and the real deal on the field.
What an incredibly stupid thing to say. He starts. By nature of starting, a player becomes a factor. Next.
No?
Though this is the football board, my retort is- Louisville will never be a factor in this year's NCAA tournament.
Agree he has to make plays from the linebacker spot,if the offense has to worry about him then others are able to make plays.That is one thing we missed last year.
I agree with those saying Love and those saying Elam for the same reasons that you all have mentioned. Love is the leader and we need Elam to anchor the defense. Those two are going to be crucial if the defense is going to take a step forward. I think both are ready for the challenge though
If we can get to a point where the offense is having to account for these 2 with more than 2 people we will be on to something.Get the defense off the field after 3rd down on a regular basis and the defense get a whole lot better.
Elam played fine last year. I think Hatcher is the most important. This team has incredible talent in the secondary. If we can get Hatcher to give us 6 7 sacks and pressures this defense could be pretty good.
We lost forrest who was a good player but was out of position. Love is a true inside backer. Laster is going to be an upgrade as well. Plus the weight Jones and Brown put on will be huge. Those two guys have very high ceilings. I actually think Backer has one of the highest ceilings as a group on the team.
It absolutely is an upgraded group,that is why these 4 or 5 max win posters drive me crazy.
I agree its hard to predict wins and losses but this team will have a real chance to win all there games. The secondary and linebacker have as much talent as any team in the conference. The offense will average around 30 ppg on the year so that puts us at 7 5 8 4 imo.
Fixed it for you.
While I hope you are right, no one knows if the LBs OR the DLine will be improve. It's fun to speculate, but it's way too early to say absolutely. Matter of fact, the ONLY position groups that can realistically be stated as being that good are Safety and Corner, and that's only b/c guys that played well there last year were young. So they should improve just from experience alone.
I was posting on the LB's position,appreciate it I need all the help I can get.:sunglasses:
elam and love have to both be better than either position was played last year. forrest was good in coverage but most of his tackles were 4 to 9 yards down field... even if he made first contact 1 yard past los. if elam holds 2 gaps and can get some tfl's and love can make tackles at the line of scrimmage then this D will look wayyy better than last year. i think we add enough pass rushers this year to not really have to worry about that not improving.
Yes he started every game after lewis was injured. Not sure what your talking about.
I'd have to say Hatcher as well. We have got to get some sacks this year. Last year was just pitiful in that department. You can't win when you are not making opposing offensives work from behind. If we can consistently get teams in 3rd and long situations I believe good things will happen for us.
The secondary and linebacker have as much talent as any team in the conference
I love UK football but, really? There is some person with at least average intelligence that can look at our roster and say we have as much talent at DB and LB as Alabama, Florida, LSU, etc.? Just setting yourself up for a massive disappointment. I think it's entirely possible that our back 7 will be better but not in a million years do I think we have as much talent as other SEC teams. In some cases, it's not even close.
Most critical player is whoever on the DL plays like a true SEC D-lineman. We've been pretty awful stopping the run, penetrating, getting sacks, etc. For us to even have a prayer of taking a big step forward in the SEC, that's gotta change. Whether it's Elam (I am skeptical), Hatcher (good possibility) or any other DL, we've GOT to get better production out of that unit as a whole or we can forget bowling this year.
Yes I think we have as much talent at corner and linebacker as any team in the country. Any average intelligence fan such as yourself can look at star ratings. Westry is already being considered for a first rd pick. I believe Davonta Robinson is as good as any highschool corner that I have ever seen. I really like are backers for the scheme we run and believe they will have as much production as anybody. We will never have as much talent on paper as bama, lsu,ga
He did start 4 games - for the year 10 solo tackles (less than i per game played12), 0.5 ^TFL in 12 games, no fumbles caused or recovered
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He's a nose guard? If you get 30 tackles out of that spot that is getting it done.
I don't think there is any one person. Defense is about being "good" everywhere rather than "great" somewhere. If you have a weak link the offense will find it.
Regardless, the Cats have to get better on run defense and that starts on the D-line. Penetration by the D-line basically blows up ANY running game. I would say whoever is playing the 3 tech has the opportunity to have the biggest impact on defense. JMO.
Peace
Regardless, the Cats have to get better on run defense and that starts on the D-line. Penetration by the D-line basically blows up ANY running game. I would say whoever is playing the 3 tech has the opportunity to have the biggest impact on defense. JMO.
Peace
To answer the question, I do think the front 3 are the most important guys next year. We know what we have in our secondary, it's pretty electric, and a gigantic upgrade from the previous guys. The unit that has to step up to make the next huge jump defensively is the d-line.
I really want our front 3 to be Kengera Daniel, Matt Elam, and Denzil Ware. Ware is better with his hand in the dirt, as is Daniel, and both will be big enough (I figure both could be around 270-275 this upcoming season) and athletic enough to get into opposing backfield to make plays. Elam can do the trick as a gap clogger up the middle, and all of these things can really open up the LOS for our linebackers to make the correct reads and will allow them to make plays.
Plus, pressure on the QB will make our already very solid pass defense even better, and possibly by a large margin considering we had a top 30 pass defense this past season despite starting 3 true freshmen, and having no pass rush to make it easier on them to boot.
I really want our front 3 to be Kengera Daniel, Matt Elam, and Denzil Ware. Ware is better with his hand in the dirt, as is Daniel, and both will be big enough (I figure both could be around 270-275 this upcoming season) and athletic enough to get into opposing backfield to make plays. Elam can do the trick as a gap clogger up the middle, and all of these things can really open up the LOS for our linebackers to make the correct reads and will allow them to make plays.
Plus, pressure on the QB will make our already very solid pass defense even better, and possibly by a large margin considering we had a top 30 pass defense this past season despite starting 3 true freshmen, and having no pass rush to make it easier on them to boot.
I don't think Ware and Daniel are big enough to both play interior dline in a 3 4. Meant is the guy that needs to step his game up. People forget because CJ played well that when healthy Meant beat him out.
Ware would be fine at DE in a 4-3 set with two huge tackles beside him, like Elam and Pringle or Meant.
I don't think Ware and Daniel are big enough to both play interior dline in a 3 4. Meant is the guy that needs to step his game up. People forget because CJ played well that when healthy Meant beat him out.