I know the big uglies on the defensive line, are hard to get the high rated guys. so, we have to settle on the 2& low 3* star guys. some will produce in a a couple of years & some will not. Stoops, JMOP Has failed in this area.not enough linemen brought in. sure we have had some bad luck with a few players leaving. I sure support Stoops & Staff, so just hope he brings in more linemen. A must have to win.
Negative, but seems to be the case.
- Thread starter frost1
- Start date
It's a combination of a lot things. It's the hardest position to recruit, there are fewer big uglies for the D-line and the elite programs seem to get the lions share. Add a motivated Hatcher and Reggie Meant to this roster and it's a totally different deal. Losing Hatcher, Meant and Tubman just put them behind the 8 ball. I realize those are excuses and it's up to the staff to overcome players leaving but the reality is, it's an issue with this years team.
We overcome with some smoke and mirrors and hoping the offense goes from one of the worst teams in the country making first downs to something at least in the middle. For every additional first down, that's the potential of 4 plays D-line isn't getting exposed.
We overcome with some smoke and mirrors and hoping the offense goes from one of the worst teams in the country making first downs to something at least in the middle. For every additional first down, that's the potential of 4 plays D-line isn't getting exposed.
Heck we might as well just not play. We only 85 players on our roster - and apparently none of them are worthy of a college scholarship - at least on the defensive line. Too many years of negativism around here. A group not any better than this almost won 9 games last year. So, obviously this team is awful.
UL is ranked in the top 20. We should have beaten them - but we didn't. So, they get a top 20 ranking and we are no were to be found.
Things might change this year.
Go Big Blue!
Tubman, Meant, and Hatcher are pretty big arguments for giving the coaches a bit of leniency.
JMO.
Tell the staff that they have to drop three players in the secondary. One experienced veteran, one underclassmen who's shown promise, and a guy who projects as a great player when he gets experience.
Let's say that means we lose McWilson, Westry, and Griffin. Looks pretty bad, right? Now couple that with the knowledge that defensive backs are many magnitudes easier to recruit....
JMO.
Tell the staff that they have to drop three players in the secondary. One experienced veteran, one underclassmen who's shown promise, and a guy who projects as a great player when he gets experience.
Let's say that means we lose McWilson, Westry, and Griffin. Looks pretty bad, right? Now couple that with the knowledge that defensive backs are many magnitudes easier to recruit....
And don't forget the loss of Kobe Smith and Hamilton (who flipped to OSU) as recruits. Stowbridge as well.
Exactly, if we had Hatcher and Meant we would be fine
Most of us are in the dark. Can you shed some light on the issue. Why is Meant gone?
It had nothing to do with "discipline" - it was a serious family issue.
I don't know any more than anyone else. But to just assume that it is the coaches fault for their issues is ridiculous. Noone knows what happened to Meant. But it appears that most of both player's issues began before coming to UK.
Everyone blames the coach for everything. That is just ridiculous and lack of knowledge.
The fact is, we have who we have. Coaches have recruited for 4 years and Stoops has his team. If we have issues then Stoops needs to figure out how to fix them. All schools have kids leave or get hurt. He has his team.
Pad up and line up. If we can't win at least 6 games, with how down the SEC is this year, then coach needs to take the questions and answer.
At this point he has his team. Line up and play. No excuses. No reason!!!
Pad up and line up. If we can't win at least 6 games, with how down the SEC is this year, then coach needs to take the questions and answer.
At this point he has his team. Line up and play. No excuses. No reason!!!
So how many years should the fans give stoops to fix the defense? Headed into year 4 and we have major concerns about depth up front. How long should we be prepared to wait?
I can't lump those guys in with meant and hatcher as far as cutting the staff slack goes.
Thank you, I wish the young man only the best because family issues can often be the worst kind of problem. My prayers are with him and I wish only the best for his family and his future.
A recruits change of heart happens, and you can't blame the staff for that.... especially when they flip to OSU.
Problems on the DL are a combination of poor recruiting, bad luck on and off the field. Factor in some questionable player development and there you go. Coaches know it's the biggest weakness in the program. You can't red shirt kids because we have no depth. At this point I think you hit the juco's hard if you can't get quality players from high school.
sorry but we didn't "almost win nine games" last year, my goodness! If you are saying b/c we were competitive in 9 that means we almost won 9 well ok but not the way I look at it!
Oops!!!!... guess it would help if I read the whole post, huh? :scream::smiley::sunglasses:
A key player having a freak family emergency that causes him to have to quit football is a much better reason to "go easy" on the staff than the staffs inability to land certain prospects.
Don't disagree with that at all. I'm just saying that in addition to the players mentioned in this thread, there were others (recruits) who never made it here....those players would have helped the DL. That's all I'm saying....
Notwithstanding the flips of some commits, do you really consider signing 16 kids for three down positions in 4 years a failure?
Melvin Lewis, Jacob Hyde, Regie Meant, Alvonte Bell, ZaDarius Smith, Adrian Middleton Cory Johnson, Matt Elam, Tymere Dubose, Javon Provitt, Courtney Miggins, Kengera Daniel, Cordell Looney, JaQuize Cross, Naquez Pringle, TJ Carter
Melvin Lewis, Jacob Hyde, Regie Meant, Alvonte Bell, ZaDarius Smith, Adrian Middleton Cory Johnson, Matt Elam, Tymere Dubose, Javon Provitt, Courtney Miggins, Kengera Daniel, Cordell Looney, JaQuize Cross, Naquez Pringle, TJ Carter
So other than 2007 and 2008...when we happened to have a number of NFL defensive players step up, name me a time when UK had a legit SEC defense???
The question is assuming Stoops isn't providing something that is STANDARD at UK....a legit SEC defense. And it just isnt. Not since the 70s have we had a legitimately "fixed" defense. We have more talent from top to bottom on the defense then at anytime in the last 3 decades. So give the 4 year crap a rest. Stoops seriously deserves until his first FULL recruiting class are redshirt seniors for us to really expect a good defense.
That would be the guys in the 2014 class as redshirt seniors and true seniors and RS juniors from 2015 and. That would be Dubose, Middleton, Ware, K Walker, Laster, Edwards, Bonner, Firios as RS seniors. With Jones, E Brown, Baity, Griffin, Looney, Daniel, as Seniors a D Juniors. When those guys are upper class men and we fill in with others, you should expect our D to be legit across the SEC.
That's how it's done in football. Period
We came a heck of a lot closer to losing 9 games last year than winning 9.
Not sure who you are responding to, but to answer your question....No.
I'm in the camp that thinks our DL will be serviceable....and not pining for those who are no longer here.
I think Allen, King and Westry last year and Carter this year should keep us from lamenting the loss of kids who did not want to be here.
As long as it takes the coaches to field a defense with depth that isn't higher than a kite or kicked away because of a circus court.
Offense and special teams took a step back last year. Depth appears to be an issue, but we won't know how much of one until we play a few games.
Some board peeps are acting like there's no hope for more than a single win. There's more at play here and it's a team sport. Stoops needs to focus on winning six. If that means winning them with solid performances on offense, then I'm cool with defense lacking. Just get six.
First, you have to understand where we were so that you can appreciate where we are. 3-4 yrs ago we had no talent nor depth hardly anywhere on the team. Right now it's mainly DL and OT.
Second, you have to understand what must be done. It is not imperative that we win 10 games this yr......though it would be fantastic wouldn't it? It is imperative that we win 6-7 and go a bowl game. It is imperative that we show improvement. It is imperative that we maintain momentum.....on field, with fans, with recruiting, with media, etc. We don't need to be 57 deep on the DL to accomplish that. Heck, we almost accomplished 6-7 wins last yr with more concerns across the board than this coming yr.
Third, we are not Bama. There are just a few programs in the nation who recruit well enough where depth isn't an issue yr in yr out. Even if Stoops gets us to the point where we are winning 9-10 wins per yr on average we will still run into depth concerns at times among position groups.
You can get by if the rest of the team can make up for lack of depth. We have a good feeling that the secondary is going to be decent. The LBers sound like they are going to be decent. And the offense should be much improved from last yr.
I wonder how many of the fans on here so worried about our depth can name one 2nd string player on the 07 team?
He's not bringing in enough d-linemen, but when you're getting manhandled by Southern Miss and New Mexico State recruiting isn't the problem. Those schools have never and will never out-recruit us. That's coaching and player development
Even in their best year we should never get manhandled in the trenches by a C-USA team..especially if we expect to compete in the best conference in college football. Southern Miss was vastly undersized and had significantly less talent on both sides of the trenches and we got pushed around like a JV team. That's not recruiting or players, it's Mark Stoops, DJ Eliot and John Schlarman