The Sawvel Defense

[skinnydeac]

I'd be curious to hear 94's take here, but it seems like Sawvel wants to change the defense fairly significantly to focus more on the secondary than LB. I wonder if our recruiting reflects this? I think that we will be good again on D, but it might take a year or two to get the right guys in place. I'm optimistic about the prospects of what appears to be an aggressive blitz-heavy scheme.

Im all in on next years secondary. EVERYBODY returns plus Redd should be good to go. The d-line will be pretty good too. On paper the freshman DE (forgot his name) is supposed to be good. Not sure what to expect from the young LB's though.

 

[Deacfreak07]

Im all in on next years secondary. EVERYBODY returns plus Redd should be good to go. The d-line will be pretty good too. On paper the freshman DE (forgot his name) is supposed to be good. Not sure what to expect from the young LB's though.

Mike Allen

 

[DeaconSig]

I would expect Allen to come along slowly. I would think Basham and Calhoun will start at DE, backed up by some combination of Black, Allen, and Walker.

Basham is the one that I think (hope?) is poised to make a jump next year as a pass-rusher.

 

[Deacfreak07]

I would expect Allen to come along slowly. I would think Basham and Calhoun will start at DE, backed up by some combination of Black, Allen, and Walker.

Basham is the one that I think (hope?) is poised to make a jump next year as a pass-rusher.

I'm all in on Boogie.

 

[ChaosDeac]

To me, one of the biggest issues was zone coverage. Quite often opposing QBs found holes in the zone relatively easily. Either the zones were too big and easily overloaded, the young corners lacked experience to fully excel in coverage, or the handing off of receivers from one defender to the next was slow.

But the defenders were often left out to dry due to no pressure on the QB.

While the defense was not awful this season, it definitely took a step back and struggled to get off the field sometimes. I think the defense will improve next season with improved familiarity with Sawvel and another year in the program.

 

[Lohengrin]

Ton of contributing factors to this, one that is not mentioned above is that the talent level at the LB position was way down. LB play had been a WF strength for years, and was the biggest weak spot on the defense this past year. That's why WF signed 4 LBs in the 2017 (the highest rated of the group Jeff Burley - offered by L'ville, State, Miss. State, Ole Miss among others - hurt his knee and was not able to play this past season). The talent level at the LB spots should be much improved next season.

I would assume and hope that with such an injury Burley would be eligible for a med redshirt down the road if he were to miss another season due to injury. Always good to document these things.

 

[HONDO2]

I can't go tit for tat statistically on this but it seems our defense has been on the field a lot this year, even when we win.

Agree.

The O has had a lot of quick drives for scores which has put the D back on the field sans much rest.

And our opponents have purposely been methodical on O in an attempt to keep our O off the field.

And didn't we lead the ACC in TFL's ?

And lastly, didn't we also encounter very good offensive teams in App, Clem, Lou, ND and State ?

The D will be fine....maybe better overall next year.

 

[JuiceCrewAllStar]

Great at getting in the backfield and forcing TFL and hurries, but we play way too soft on receivers

the weird thing is that we didn't early in the season and had a great deal of success

competition obviously weaker, but the strategy shifted a good bit over the course of the year -- most likely due to injuries and better WRs

 

[Board Member]

Linebacker

Ton of contributing factors to this, one that is not mentioned above is that the talent level at the LB position was way down. LB play had been a WF strength for years, and was the biggest weak spot on the defense this past year. That's why WF signed 4 LBs in the 2017 (the highest rated of the group Jeff Burley - offered by L'ville, State, Miss. State, Ole Miss among others - hurt his knee and was not able to play this past season). The talent level at the LB spots should be much improved next season.

Agree - but in addition to the two recruits we have coming in, would really like to see Jay bring in a graduate transfer at the LB position — if there is one who’d be a good fit with team chemistry. We’re going to be really green at LB and could use some seasoned leadership.

 

[Board Member]

I'm all in on Boogie.

How has Double Z developed thus far? Cohen was incredibly high on Walker on signing day but don’t believe he made it onto the field this year. Was he injured?