Defense-Fall 2021
Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2021 4:42 pm
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. After 18 month of a non-existent then highly diluted athletic season, the band-aid is finally being ripped open and regardless of wins and losses, I couldn't be happier about it. Since I will be much less active here in August, to most people's delight , I wanted to get a discussion going about this year's team by doing my version of an analysis of each unit. I urge everyone to join in and express their opinion.
First the Defense
History
The 2019 team under Coach K (Kasurba) saw #s reminiscent of the last Coach K (Kotolski) and that's a really good thing. That team was laced with a lot of veteran players (Woetzell, McColskey, O'Neill et al.)but for the first time the results showed their talent. IMO, that was due solely to much better schemes (putting players in the position to make plays) and a culture shift to toughness.
Spring 2021 was tough to assess due to whole lot of factors centering around Covid. Historically defenses are always ahead of offenses in spring so this year I was looking for signs that 2019 was not an aberration. Allowing only 15.2 ppg and 252 yds of total offense while experimenting with positions and combinations against limited competition gave me a sense of real confidence that our defense is on the right course.
So Fall, 2020..look forward to a defense that may be really talented, deep and young....God willing . We have been running a 3-4 defense with one of the LB serving as a rover (I think). I see no reason to expect a change.
Defensive Line
The defensive Line is virtually totally intact from the spring. Dean Colton (JR) will once again be our NG. It is probably our one position of little depth so I expect freshmen like Xavier Stephens or Ty Nichlolas to see a bit of action. The DE position is deep and young. It will include Mikhar Sibblis (JR), Michael Callahan (JR) , Trevor Harris SO) and Christian Jablonski (SO), all of whom saw considerable action with a great deal of success this spring.
First the Defense
History
The 2019 team under Coach K (Kasurba) saw #s reminiscent of the last Coach K (Kotolski) and that's a really good thing. That team was laced with a lot of veteran players (Woetzell, McColskey, O'Neill et al.)but for the first time the results showed their talent. IMO, that was due solely to much better schemes (putting players in the position to make plays) and a culture shift to toughness.
Spring 2021 was tough to assess due to whole lot of factors centering around Covid. Historically defenses are always ahead of offenses in spring so this year I was looking for signs that 2019 was not an aberration. Allowing only 15.2 ppg and 252 yds of total offense while experimenting with positions and combinations against limited competition gave me a sense of real confidence that our defense is on the right course.
So Fall, 2020..look forward to a defense that may be really talented, deep and young....God willing . We have been running a 3-4 defense with one of the LB serving as a rover (I think). I see no reason to expect a change.
Defensive Line
The defensive Line is virtually totally intact from the spring. Dean Colton (JR) will once again be our NG. It is probably our one position of little depth so I expect freshmen like Xavier Stephens or Ty Nichlolas to see a bit of action. The DE position is deep and young. It will include Mikhar Sibblis (JR), Michael Callahan (JR) , Trevor Harris SO) and Christian Jablonski (SO), all of whom saw considerable action with a great deal of success this spring.