I usually agree with most everything you say but the speed comments are off imo.
Jackson and Mike don't have elite speed? I just reviewed the season and was most impressed with how fast Mike got to the ball and with bad intent. He takes crappy angles at times (less and less as he improved thru the year)but he's a damn fast inside linebacker. I'd say he's a 4.75 guy with a 37" vertical and a great frame - He will be a 6'3-245 Ohio State styled LB by the time he graduates.
Justin is a 4.5 kid with more speed in those wheels. He's built like a younger Nate Irving and I look forward to another off-season of iron for that guy.
Ziggy Allen is 6'2 and 235 and is clearly a faster athlete than Aaron Curry -- just look at his camp highlights from Nike Oregon where he matched Nukeese Richardson touchdown for touchdown as a WR. Zachary is a little more raw than I expected and has some serious S&C work ahead of him but that guy is an elite prospect (with this staff coaching him).
Duran Lowe is the modern Deac equivalent of Caron Bracy (better build) and a former star RB who can swing to OLB in a pinch if we go "Auburn style". 5'11 and 215 he made multiple recovery plays where he matched opposition WR's.
Josh Hunt and Andre Wiggins enter the mix as young LB's both around 6'2 and 225 who can run in the 4.55-4.65 range.
I should have probably better clarified my original post. I think Jackson and Olsen have speed (not sure about elite yet). I don't think either one play "fast" at this time, because they aren't always going in the right direction. I think they will play faster as they get more experience (and as Jackson gets farther away from surgery). Allen is certainly supposed to be a physical freak, but I didn't see enough of him on the field this year to see how that translates to production. He is another guy I am counting on to make plays next year. I can't speak for Hunt and Wiggins, but I trust your reports. I wasn't considering them because I was thinking about guys on the field this year.
Lowe is plenty fast, but he is in the secondary, not front 7. :thumbsup:
Basically, I think Dorty, Thompson, Betros, Haynes, and Ehrmann all played very slow this year. I just didn't see much in the way of explosive plays from any of them.
On a tangent, we must, and I mean MUST, come up with better blitz schemes next year. If it means bringing Lowe/Mack/Okoro/Cooper more, moving Allen and Jackson around, or doing a better job of zone blitz schemes, we absolutely cannot continue to be as ineffective at rushing the passer as we have been the past several years. And I don't see anybody on the team right now who is a born pass rusher. Maybe Floyd or Offor turn into that guy, but I don't see anybody like that right now. For all the trouble we have against the run, we could chop 3-7 points a game off of our total if we could just get to the middle of the pack nationally in sacks.