Stopping the Run - Give me 10 reasons to believe

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We're Comin'

We're Comin'

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#1 Hageman is a beast

#2 - 10 What else? Anybody?

I am concerned that our main defiency didn't get better in the offseason.
 

10. A home friendly schedule that will allow us will start off (5-0) and take back the pig.
 

We're Comin' said:
#1 Hageman is a beast

#2 - 10 What else? Anybody?

I am concerned that our main defiency didn't get better in the offseason.
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2. We get 7 of our top 8 d-lineman back from last year. Each one takes a step up.

3. Jack Lynn explodes on the scene like Wells did last year and takes care of the middle.
 

John Galt said:
2. We get 7 of our top 8 d-lineman back from last year. Each one takes a step up.

3. Jack Lynn explodes on the scene like Wells did last year and takes care of the middle.
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4. Botticelli, Roland Johnson, Legania.. won't be able to just double/ triple Hageman

5 Vereen, and Thompson
 

I think the single biggest factor will be improved scheme familiarity for the players. Techniques improve to match the desired style of play. They gain awareness of when, where, and how they will be blocked, as well as how to defeat those blocks. They know where their teammates should be, allowing them to be more decisive in their movements. LBs and DBs will have a better understanding of run/pass reads. LBs (even the young ones) have been drilling Claeys' run fits non-stop.

Kill's teams don't get better magically. His teams get better as they get older and more familiar with the schemes. If a player knows his job, he will do the job much faster and more effectively than someone who is unsure.
 


I don't think the schedule is favorable at all in-conference. A lot of folks seem to think the people in our division are not good teams, that is nuts. They are consistently good teams that do not beat themselves, and Indiana will be better than either Purdue or Illinois were last year. The conference schedule is really rough.
But:
1) I do think either Lynn or Wilson will play well by B1G games.
2) Nelson will be a lot better than he was last season.
3) The key non-confence game is SJSU, and they are a passing team with a not great o-line. At this point we are better against passing teams than power teams. (I have dreaded passing teams for 20 years, so don't fail me Coach Claeys.)
4)) The Iowa game is a make or break game. I think they will be improved, so we be a lot better at safety and LB to win that game. I think that is very possible.
5) We physically out-played NW more than any team we faced last season and still lost. If we can play well in the first half and actually not screw up center/QB snaps we have a good chance to win there.
 

6) It couldn't get much worse.
 

#2: As JG pointed out, we are returning a slew of younger, formally undersized defensive lineman that have all grown and matured.
#3: I think the transition of Wells to CB will help the running game. Wells was great last year, but his biggest weakness was reading angles on running plays, most of the really long runs were partially due to an atrocious angle taken by Wells in backhalf. He is a good tackler and will be pivotal to the run game at boundary corner and hopefully Vereen and Thompson can turn some of those 35 yard runs into 7 yards.
#4: Our offense should be better and should be able to keep the opponent off the field a bit more, rest our defense, and hopefully put some pressure on opponents (if they are down, they will pass more).
#5: I saw enough of Lynn to think he is at least as good as Rallis. This is more of a hope, but a combo of Lynn and Wilson appear more like legitimate Big 10 MLBers.
#6: Hageman - He gets another meniton.
#7: L. Bell, M. Ball, R. Burkhead all graduated.
#8: Bigger secondary -
Wells is up 10 lbs
Thompson is up 12 lbs
Antonio Johnson is up 17 lbs
Murray is up 18 lbs
(both of our graduating CBs were under 200 lbs)
#9: Another year under the same scheme. In our defense, if a player shoots the wrong gap it's big trouble.
#10: We'll continue to improve rushing the passer making us less likely to need to blitz and therefore less susceptible to draws and misdirection.
 




The 12th Man said:
I think the single biggest factor will be improved scheme familiarity for the players. Techniques improve to match the desired style of play. They gain awareness of when, where, and how they will be blocked, as well as how to defeat those blocks. They know where their teammates should be, allowing them to be more decisive in their movements. LBs and DBs will have a better understanding of run/pass reads. LBs (even the young ones) have been drilling Claeys' run fits non-stop.

Kill's teams don't get better magically. His teams get better as they get older and more familiar with the schemes. If a player knows his job, he will do the job much faster and more effectively than someone who is unsure.
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So I guess that means that when Kill said his team was very young, he was saying that for a reason and just not just using that as an excuse. Thanks for your comment The 12th Man. It is too bad that some people here don't understand this. Patience is what is required.
 

2 (or whatever number we're at): Familiarity with the scheme as pointed out the The 12th Man. Claeys clearly has an "attack" mentality with his front, with guys just firing out and heading up-field. That means the LBs have to "clean up" and they didn't do a very good job of that last season. Improvement there with guys knowing their responsibilities and executing them properly should be helpful. Hageman should be able to blow up some stuff, but that's only part of the equation in stopping the run. Everyone else has to be assignment sure and we should improve in that department.
 

I like Hageman, but has he ever really been a "beast"? I fully expect improvement, but playing the run has always been a weakness for him. He could be outstanding, but I still feel he's a bit of a question mark yet.
 

M&G BUSt said:
I like Hageman, but has he ever really been a "beast"? I fully expect improvement, but playing the run has always been a weakness for him. He could be outstanding, but I still feel he's a bit of a question mark yet.
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+1. I feel like people are crowning Hageman a little too early here. He has had trouble with leverage in the run game and is not a given to dominate every team, run and pass. He sounds motivated to have a huge year, so that's good.
 




I agree with this statement, but I would also agree better personell will mater most.

wait!what? said:
better schemes on paper and in execution.
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The DT rotation should be better, not just Hageman. Botticelli, Roland Johnson, Legania, Hijinosa I think all will likely give us more overall size, all will play and give us more depth at this position than we have had in a long time. That and Lynn and Wilson both look like
true middle linebackers, they both seem to move people to the correct spots and are not afraid to take on blocks and fill the proper gaps. Instead of filling a gap that nobody is in or even near these guy's both seem to be able to keep track of the ball and fill the proper gaps. I was most impressed with Jack Lynn in the spring game and the one practice I witnessed, that kid has the size, intensity, wheels and ability you need in a true middle linebaker. Jack Lynn get's football and can think on his feet and not overpursue,
He seems like he knows how to lead a defense, we are lucky Lynn is a Gopher.
 

PurplePride said:
2. Rallis graduated!
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While Rallis had some problems with lateral motion and the change of directions; much of the prolem was our D-Line was getting pushed back and Rallis getting caught in the "wash". If our D-Line can stand it's ground and push straight up, we'll see a marked improvement against the run.
 

The defensive line has been a focus of recruiting every year since Kill arrived. We were lucky if it happened semi-sporadically in the last 40 years.
 


Rescooter said:
While Rallis had some problems with lateral motion and the change of directions; much of the prolem was our D-Line was getting pushed back and Rallis getting caught in the "wash". If our D-Line can stand it's ground and push straight up, we'll see a marked improvement against the run.
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I agree with you here, but Rallis also had huge issues with squaring up on lineman and fullbacks and shedding their blocks. He was virtually non-existent against lead blockers, just too small and weak by comparison.
 

Well, we ought to score more points and keep the ball longer.

That will help our run stats in total numbers and keep us in games. So there's that. I too am not sold on run stopping potential, but hoping for the best. Wells at corner should help some, in that he was better at coverage than tackling IMO.
 

haven't read all of the previous posts so sorry if this is a repeat answer but one definite improvement for our defense this year which can potentially help improve our run D is the secondary. They are a lot bigger and more physical which should be a big help in run support. Wells at CB now is a good move and along with Murray/Boddy/Shabazz there are solid tacklers on the edge and between Vereen, Thompson, Travis, & Johnson we have bigger safeties who during spring ball laid some impressive hits on our bigger RB's. We **hopefully** will also be able to keep more guys in the box on a regular basis with our secondary proving capable of locking receivers up in man coverage.

And the more obvious answer is Hageman will create lanes for our LB's to fill and this year's group seems to be more aggressive hitting and filling those holes at the line of scrimmage vs. a couple yards downfield or no room at all. Now let's hope that translates into the games this fall.
 

JoeDirt said:
I agree with you here, but Rallis also had huge issues with squaring up on lineman and fullbacks and shedding their blocks. He was virtually non-existent against lead blockers, just too small and weak by comparison.
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Thinking back over the games, that is true. I think once the B1G season started, scouts saw a mis-direction run up the middle exploited Rallis. In several of those games, he was virtually non-existent as he had either already committed or got blown out by the lead blocker. Shedding blocks is paramount for a B1G MLB and as you've pointed out, Rallis was physically not up to the task. A supporting D-Line can sometimes compensate, but eventually, it's "mano e mano" and Rallis lost that a majority of the time.
 

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