It's the most insufferable time of the year.
With pot bangers all yelling
And pumpers telling you be of good cheer
It's the most insufferable time of the year.

It's the most frustrating season of all
With pre-season polling and obvious trolling
From rookie accounts.
It's the most frustrating season of all

There'll be prognosticating
and schedule debating
From "experts" that are "in the know"
There'll be injury stories
And tales of the glories of
Seasons from long, long ago.

It's the most insufferable time of the year.
Expectations are growing
Favoritism is showing
As kickoff draws near
It's the most insufferable time of the year.

There'll be prognosticating
and schedule debating
From "experts" that are "in the know"
There'll be injury stories
And tales of the glories of
Seasons from long, long ago.

It's the most insufferable time of the year.
Expectations are growing
Favoritism is showing
As kickoff draws near
It's the most insufferable time
****, it's the most insufferable time
Oh hell, the most insufferable time
Of the year.

AgDad121619 said:

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the most cool guy said:

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Maroon Dawn said:

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The Koolaid is flowing and suddenly our D who couldn't make a tackle to save their lives last year will be Top 10 this year!

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It really is incredible. We have less defensive talent than at least a third of the SEC and maybe half.

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I think y'all all suffer reading comprehension because your BAS is getting in the way - no one above mentioned us as top ten defense and original OP was hoping to we could improve to 30 and wanted to hear others thoughts.

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Ah, gotta love the good ole zoo.

Agree about the tackling about being such an issue last year. If you cut those missed tackles in half, does that improve our defense 20 spots last year? Either way, assuming we have the personnel (I worry about the dline size and depth) and Elko is truly calling the defense, I've got to believe we break the top 30. Not to mention, our offensive style (less explosives, more control clock) has got to help significantly as well.

It depends on two aspects:
First is our front and how multiple we can me. Last year because of limited personnel we got stuck in a Weak Eagle 4-2-5 front. In addition to that since we didn't have a true "star" safety, we played with a true nickel which made it easy for offenses to game plan for us because they knew we would have a 6 man box with the 3tech to the weak side of the formation. Just think about the South Carolina game and how they ran a weak side pin and pull about 19 times in different variations. Once teams figured out we were basically stuck in that look we were SOL. Even though we don't have the top end star power at Defensive line that we had last year I think we clearly have much more depth and different parts (players) than we did last year. With that we should be able to show more fronts/looks which will help a ton vs the run. I think basing out of our look with Howell at "jack" we can be more dynamic in that respect.

The second thing is having a true "star" safety. If you think about the successful defenses we had under Elko (when Jimbo was HC) we had Antonio Johnson. Having that type of player at that position or a multitude of players that can be subbed in and out at that 5th safety position, allows the secondary and the front to adjust. The star is the center piece of this sort of defense and is absolutely key. One thing a lot of people either missed or haven't mentioned is the addition of Coach Hemphill, In the spring game it seemed from my observation (watched in person) that we were playing a base looked with that position being tied to the front much more so than last season. I find that to be a huge positive and I have a feeling his influence has quite a bit to do with that aspect. That's not to say there isn't a time and place for a true nickel but to have the flexibility to play a more 7 man box when needed or to make the offense unsure of who is run first vs pass first on defense only aids the defense in keeping the offense off balance.

If those two aspects improve our defense will be leaps and bounds better.

We have folks high on Copium saying we have a Top 10 Defense this year.

It's a hell of a drug

Have they found the guy that can play that "Star" safety? Hopefully this year we don't have as many injuries at unfortunate times.

2Legit_92 said:

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Have they found the guy that can play that "Star" safety? Hopefully this year we don't have as many injuries at unfortunate times.

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^^

As I recall last year, btglow was saying it'd be great to get Chapelle back this year to help with this issue, but isn't he just a nickel, not a "star"? Doesn't seem to be at all the same body type as AJ27

Paul Pierce Ag said:

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2Legit_92 said:

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Have they found the guy that can play that "Star" safety? Hopefully this year we don't have as many injuries at unfortunate times.

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^^

As I recall last year, btglow was saying it'd be great to get Chapelle back this year to help with this issue, but isn't he just a nickel, not a "star"? Doesn't seem to be at all the same body type as AJ27

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Tyreek is not Antonio Johnson but he doesn't have to be, he is physically enough to the force the edge on the strong side of the front (Durkin asked him to do this from time to time when he was here). But we also have Jordan Shaw who physically in the spring game looked much more the part than I thought he would. We also have Myles Davis who I think against more run oriented offenses could see the field more. Bravion Rodgers gets forgotten about but all I hear is good things about him as well. The point is I think we have more guys who can slide into that role fluidly than we did last year. In addition with Coach Hemphill's influence, I would guess, the Keys and focus of that 5th DBs are going to be a bit different than last year. Which was, once Tyreek went down, to key the #2 receiver in all situations removing him from the box. Which in turn led us to getting stuck in the Weak Eagle (3tech to the weak side of the formation) front that was the most basic 4-2 front you could give an OC.. and that is asking for trouble. I also think the two deep safeties will be better and that should lead to more flexibility as well. When all 3 of those safeties are able to play back and up... you now can rotate the 3 of them on motion without having to adjust the front and cause a chain reaction that makes the front 6 to all have to adjust as well.... basically a cluster****. If our Safeties as a unit improve it will make literally everything better. I said it last year, when you don't have those guys (especially that Star) who can play as box defenders and pass defenders.... in this scheme it makes you extremely vanilla.... but when you do have those guys....it opens up everything.

Appreciate the detailed analysis and couldn't agree with you more. When we were the dominant defenses with Elko, it was with a dominant d-line AND great safety/Star (I called them Rover). Seems where we may be lacking in this area, we do have some good LBs to help, but to really benefit from the advantages of running a 4-2-5, I do think it starts all up front with the line constantly threatening negative plays in the back field or occupying the linemen to allow for smaller defenders to fly around to do so. However, as others brought up, fundamentally the players have to be more sound in wrapping up, which contrary to some I do believe thats a pretty easy offseason technique fix.

Overall, I do agree it comes down to the safety and d-line because Elko's pressure schemes depend so much upon them.