2nd team defense

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Sparlimb

Sparlimb

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Let's talk about things good teams talk about (and so not usually us). Anyone concerned by how big of a drop off the second team defense was yesterday against Rutgers? All off a sudden a team that had like 80 yards of offense the entire game ripped open holes on running plays and our linebackers were nowhere to be seen. I'm happy we got the backups in and don't mind giving up the meaningless touchdown to get experience. But it did worry me a little if the injury bug starts to hit.
 

Yeah, but the flip side is nothing beats the school of hard knocks in term of correcting weaknesses. Glad to see they finally got some meaningful time.
 

It'd be really neat if there was a Blake Cashman type waiting in the wings. Fleck has talked pretty glowingly about a couple of true freshmen (Gordon and Willis), but the LB crew after Martin and Barber has looked rather unimpressive to this point.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
It'd be really neat if there was a Blake Cashman type waiting in the wings. Fleck has talked pretty glowingly about a couple of true freshmen (Gordon and Willis), but the LB crew after Martin and Barber has looked rather unimpressive to this point.
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I've thought Oliver has played well so far.
 

Calling Kaden Johnson...playing time as a freshman
 


Have to think Oliver will get a lot of playing time in this next one and will be interesting to see sort of back 7 Rossi schemes up against an RPO spread with (still) some dangerous playmakers. Pigrome probably isn’t going to be picking apart the D more likely YAC attack type offense but I haven’t watched them this year
 

Well there’s a big difference between having to sub in a back up here and there and bringing in the entire back up unit.
 

btowngopher said:
Well there’s a big difference between having to sub in a back up here and there and bringing in the entire back up unit.
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This.

Removing just one player can make a difference. With very few exceptions removing most of them will make a difference. Hopefully some of our young backers can fill any void in Martin's absence.
 

Also some of those guys were actually third string, not second, like Ahanatou, Hickox and Howard.
 



Breakin' The Plane said:
It'd be really neat if there was a Blake Cashman type waiting in the wings. Fleck has talked pretty glowingly about a couple of true freshmen (Gordon and Willis), but the LB crew after Martin and Barber has looked rather unimpressive to this point.
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Agreed, but fortunately the secondary brings back plenty of talent next year and somewhat surprisingly the DL looks to be in much better hands moving forward to next year than any of us thought 6-8 weeks ago. I think the LB unit will not be the strongest unit next year but I think they'll be able to absorb it with the strength up front and behind them
 


Yeah I think we take a step back next year. Important to win big this year!
 

Kaden Johnson looks like Kamal Martin to me. Body type seems to match up with length galore.
 



On offense, it was good to see Cole Kramer get a few minutes. If Tanner goes down, what have we got?
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
On offense, it was good to see Cole Kramer get a few minutes. If Tanner goes down, what have we got?
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I know this a defense thread so apologies, but to the above point, did Dickson get in on offense? If not, has anyone heard why he is getting no playing time? I know Sam has been lights out, but it would be nice to build more depth at offensive line and get him in.
 

BTChamp said:
I know this a defense thread so apologies, but to the above point, did Dickson get in on offense? If not, has anyone heard why he is getting no playing time? I know Sam has been lights out, but it would be nice to build more depth at offensive line and get him in.
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Dickson got in at the end. He's not playing because he's not as good as Schleuter, Faalele or Andries. He might even be behind Guedet right now. Since the o-line has been playing well of late, it probably doesn't matter.
 

If any team put in their entire 2nd and 3rd string defense the results would be dramatically different. Except maybe Bama, whose 3rd string DT was one of the best we've had in the last 10 years...
 

John Galt said:
If any team put in their entire 2nd and 3rd string defense the results would be dramatically different. Except maybe Bama, whose 3rd string DT was one of the best we've had in the last 10 years...
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Even Bama has had to start multiple true freshman this year on D due to injuries and their D definitely hasn't as good as it has been in the past.
 

Jeshurun said:
Yeah I think we take a step back next year. Important to win big this year!
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I wouldn't be too sure about that. We lose some good players, but return a lot of talent. Some players make big improvements over short time periods.
 

btowngopher said:
I wouldn't be too sure about that. We lose some good players, but return a lot of talent. Some players make big improvements over short time periods.
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If Winfield comes back then I think the defense will be able to hold serve as the offense should be better with everybody but Tyler, Brooks and Smith back including every O-lineman, TE and QB on the roster.

I think in a year, Sori-Marin, Ottomewo and Schad can be just as good if not better than Barber, Delatiboudere and Renner. Oliver and Mafe in a year won't be quite as good as Kamal and Coughlin but could be close due to their athleticism. The secondary will better. If we do loose Winfield than Nubin should be pretty solid in a year.

My biggest concern is replacing Williamson at nickel as I feel there is a big drop-off from him to Justus Harris. Thats why losing Winfield to the draft would hurt as I think you could put him at nickel and Nubin at safety which would be most talented backfield. Otherwise you either play Harris, Rush as a third LB or move either Durr, St. Juste, Kiondre or Smith.
 

As someone noted, normally, when subs come into a game, they're mixed in with at least a few starters. This was a wholesale switch to throw an entire group of subs in a game - a group that may have taken practice snaps as a unit, but not in game conditions.

And, FWIW, they had a huge lead and were (I assume) playing fairly vanilla on defense. So I'm not going to panic about the quality of the subs. Unless every single member of the starting defense either graduates, goes pro, transfers, or decides they don't want to play anymore. Then, you can panic.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
As someone noted, normally, when subs come into a game, they're mixed in with at least a few starters. This was a wholesale switch to throw an entire group of subs in a game - a group that may have taken practice snaps as a unit, but not in game conditions.

And, FWIW, they had a huge lead and were (I assume) playing fairly vanilla on defense. So I'm not going to panic about the quality of the subs. Unless every single member of the starting defense either graduates, goes pro, transfers, or decides they don't want to play anymore. Then, you can panic.
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Right on.
 

I noticed that the second team Dline looked pretty impressive physically but didn't seem to have the twitch or the burst that are frontline guys do. I did think it was funny that the starters worst defensive moments of the game happened when Glen Mason was being interviewed.
 


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