Ya'll are all busting nuts on the coordinator. That's important, no doubt, but what about the players? What is on the roster they can use and what will have to be recruited (or bought for you REC lurkers)? Auburn doesn't have much in terms of experience on the D-line coming back next year. And spare me the "Carl Lawson is Lawrence Taylor's illegitimate son" stuff. Does he have potential? Yes but he's as much an unknown as any of the other guys coming back. What about linebackers? Frost and 'Nova, (a.k.a. the Whiff Tackle Twins), Swain (cramp in my knees), and who else? DBs? I guess we have that other transfer from Georgia waiting in the wings but who else comes back?
Make no mistake, there's a lot here to fix on the defensive side of the ball.
There's a lot of
in this post. On a glass half full take, the right call on a new DC could make an incredible difference. Granted, they need to also make the right calls with the remaining slots in the recruiting class, but I truly believe the way they were taught in practice and the game plans, calls, formations etc. were the biggest problems.
Anyone notice in the last few weeks that every time an analyst broke down some of our defensive film, they were harping on wrong formations and wrong technique? They showed one run up the middle by Chubb about 20 times to point out how Frost took on the fullback with the wrong shoulder and was completely taken out of the play. Time and time again, it was, "Look how they're lined up here. No way they can get to..." "They have an overload on this side and Auburn never recognizes and adjusts to..."
COACH BIL WARNING. In the first half, Bama had a run around their left side that I think they scored on. The replay was shown from behind the AU defense. Bama had it clearly overloaded on their left side and Coach BIL is screaming at the screen. "President. What the hell are you lining up inside the tackle for? What the hell are you doing?" Gimel also crashed down toward the center and the Bama back waltzed around the left side with a convoy.
Formation? Is that how he was taught? Is that what was called? I'm not a coach and even I was asking WTF?
And the icing on the cake? Oh yeah, we can cover the baddest man on the planet with a corner all night. No need to get out of our base defense. He's just one guy.
Coach Freeze, how were you able to keep Amari Cooper in check?
"Well, we used an over/under technique and made sure we always had....." Right or wrong, they had a plan to account for maybe the best offensive player in the country. We accounted for Cooper by going, "Yep, he's right over there. Mincy's on him".
Long rant short, the game may have passed Johnson by and making the right choice for the new DC may turn this D around quickly.
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