Defensive Concerns

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I wish we could just look at it the old Gopher way, "We didn't lose that much except 1 or 2 special players, so we should be fine. How much worse can we possibly be?"

Ah, the good old days.
 

MplsGopher said:
^^^ I can't wait until the day where the general fan sentiment is "boy I'm excited to see which fresh new star steps up at ____ position!" rather than "boy I sure am worried about the new guy".
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We are moving in that direction but it is going to take some years of sustained success to get people past the fear that things will just slide back into mediocrity like it has in the past when the team has started to show signs of life under previous coaches.

Hopefully we see the defensive talent show signs of making the jump like the offensive talent did pretty much across the board. There are still some pre-Fleck players on the roster but for the most part this team is made up of Fleck's players now. That isn't to say the roster if fully built, that will take another class or two, but the majority of the key players will now be guys he brought in.
 

I think the defense has a chance to be better this year. I think DL improvement will be a big reason why. That might seem odd to some considering we are losing 3 starters, but for as solid as Coughlin, Renner, and DeLattiboudere were, they were all undersized.

The Gophers will still start all upperclassmen on the DL. They will also be bigger, yet remain very athletic.

Projected starters:
Otomewo 6'6" 285 lbs
Mafe 6'4" 265
Dew-Treadway 6'4" 315
Schad 6'3" 295

Average: 6'4" 290 lbs

Last years starters were:

Coughlin 6'3" 235
DeLattiboudere 6'3" 260
Renner 6'4" 275
Dew-Treadway 6'4" 315

Average 6'3" 271 lbs

Throw in Chad Wilt as the new, highly regarded DL coach, and I'm very excited for this group.
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
I think the defense has a chance to be better this year. I think DL improvement will be a big reason why. That might seem odd to some considering we are losing 3 starters, but for as solid as Coughlin, Renner, and DeLattiboudere were, they were all undersized.

The Gophers will still start all upperclassmen on the DL. They will also be bigger, yet remain very athletic.

Projected starters:
Otomewo 6'6" 285 lbs
Mafe 6'4" 265
Dew-Treadway 6'4" 315
Schad 6'3" 295

Average: 6'4" 290 lbs

Last years starters were:

Coughlin 6'3" 235
DeLattiboudere 6'3" 260
Renner 6'4" 275
Dew-Treadway 6'4" 315

Average 6'3" 271 lbs

Throw in Chad Wilt as the new, highly regarded DL coach, and I'm very excited for this group.
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I like the front four...
Mafe and Otomewo could be very good DEs. After those two???
I think Carter could get in that interior d-line mix right away. He flashed in limited action last year as a true frosh. Another redshirt frosh, Cheney, was highly recruited and also could be in that interior rotation right away. Hope Teague or Hickcox takes a big step forward.
 

MNVCGUY said:
There are probably roughly 1000 threads on this site you can search up for discussions about the defense heading into this year.

Obviously it is the big unknown on the team. The guys we lost (outside of Winfield) were not all world performers but they were steady experienced guys who were the leaders on that side of the ball. In their place we have what appears to be better athletes, many of whom have gotten a decent amount of playing time but have never been counted on to be the leader at their position.

Average teams rebuild, good teams reload. We will find out where we are at on defense pretty quickly. The offense should be really good again which will take some of the pressure off of the new starters on defense. If they can gel quickly the sky is the limit for this team.
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Good to see the thread police are out in force.

Good grief, don’t open the post or visit the site if you have it all figured out.
 

Otis said:
Sori-Marin and Rush stood out in the Auburn game when they were on the field in my opinion. LB is not a bad position group for the Gophers as long as they can be sure tacklers. The guys they are replacing were limited players who were good tacklers.

CB and Safety are strength positions with the exception of the TREMENDOUS loss of Winfield who obviously is a special player. Can the overall playoff the returning players make up for the one special player's impact? We better hope so.

Defensive Line is where we usually have the biggest disadvantage to the other B1G teams. We are doing better under PJ and Kill, but until we get some real steady play out of the defensive line, it will be hard to play good defense. Bed DL puts more pressure on everyone behind them and improvement here would be the best way to make up for the loss of Winfield on the back end.
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One of the guys they are replacing is cashing checks from the Green Bay Packers.
 




One thing that seems to be true almost every year is that some unheralded DL player turns into a solid performer. Renner most recently, but a lot of guys before that.

As others have noted, DL is one of the toughest positions to recruit. It would be great to run 3 or 4 Four-Star studs out there, but in reality, you need to find some guys who work hard, can put some weight on, and by the time they're a JR or SR, give you some good minutes.

Those also happen to be players who it's fun to root for.
 

Projected starters:
Otomewo 6'6" 285 lbs
Mafe 6'4" 265
Dew-Treadway 6'4" 315
Schad 6'3" 295

I have no idea who will be the starter at 3tech (Renner was last year, for every game according to https://s3.amazonaws.com/gophersports.com/documents/2019/11/25/11_30_19_Minneosta_Notes.pdf scroll to page 17 ... couldn't find this document for the Outback Bowl, if they released one), but I'm pretty sure that Schad and Teague both split time there, and both will be used again heavily, perhaps with some other younger guys.
 

WriterGoph said:
Secondary seems very solid. Veteran corners and some depth behind them. If Nubin can half the guy Winfield was and we have Howden with another year under his belt, safety looks pretty nice.

Linebackers obviously have a lot of turnover but we have recruited bigger and better athletes at this position for a couple years. Now is the time we get to see that come to fruition, but there is more upside at the position than I can remember.

DL also has more size and athleticism than ever before. We sat guys last year who probably could've contributed. The future is bright with Cheney, Carter, Keys, Harris, Anderson, etc.

Bottom line, I think we as fans are not used to the kind of athleticism and size that we have been recruiting on defense. For most of the Mason years, defense was our liability. For the Brewster years, most of the "studs" we landed didn't pan out or qualify. For the Kill years, we had some solid Ds, but not a lot of depth - so often times injuries or young guys playing was a huge liability. I think we are entering a new era for Gopher football of reloading (like some said above) and it's gonna be fun!
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Agree on all points, Unrealistic to expect MSM, Rush to be where Kamal and Barber were as seniors, but probably better than those guys were as freshman when they were forced to play right away.
 

I believe in our defensive coaching staff. Experienced doesn't always equate to better. I trust the skill of our new players and the staffs ability to set them up for success.
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
I think the defense has a chance to be better this year. I think DL improvement will be a big reason why. That might seem odd to some considering we are losing 3 starters, but for as solid as Coughlin, Renner, and DeLattiboudere were, they were all undersized.

The Gophers will still start all upperclassmen on the DL. They will also be bigger, yet remain very athletic.

Projected starters:
Otomewo 6'6" 285 lbs
Mafe 6'4" 265
Dew-Treadway 6'4" 315
Schad 6'3" 295

Average: 6'4" 290 lbs

Last years starters were:

Coughlin 6'3" 235
DeLattiboudere 6'3" 260
Renner 6'4" 275
Dew-Treadway 6'4" 315

Average 6'3" 271 lbs

Throw in Chad Wilt as the new, highly regarded DL coach, and I'm very excited for this group.
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I wonder what their speed comparisons look like. Big and slow might not help much on the ends.
 

btowngopher said:
I believe in our defensive coaching staff. Experienced doesn't always equate to better. I trust the skill of our new players and the staffs ability to set them up for success.
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Perceptions of talent are ... mushy, but I'll say the staff really has felt like they've done a lot more with... not the top talent, particularly in critical games. They got something good going on with that staff.
 

Replacement Gopher said:
Good to see the thread police are out in force.

Good grief, don’t open the post or visit the site if you have it all figured out.
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Sorry my pointing out this has been discussed a ton offended you. I did go on to give my take on the defense and didn't attack the poster for asking the question but will try to be more careful in the future.
 



You guys were right. Replacing 4 NFL draft picks on defense wouldn’t be a big deal at all. Look at all that athleticism out there!!
 


Defensive concerns? Yes - there are plenty of them.
 

PJ needs to swallow his pride and get some advice from Kill or Claeys on how to recruit defensive players. Maybe bring back TC.
 



Kill and TC recruits gone. Defense now sucks.
 





Otis said:
I wish we could just look at it the old Gopher way, "We didn't lose that much except 1 or 2 special players, so we should be fine. How much worse can we possibly be?"

Ah, the good old days.
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Yeah, let's go back to accepting mediocrity. Ugh🙄
 

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