Eillis never played a down that I know of. But yeah, they looked totally fux'd up. Schemes? I'm pretty certain he knows a sound scheme or 2. Getting it coached up is another deal. My surmise is he tried to do too much shit without perfecting any of it in practice. Just fucking line up right, play sound, and tackle like a MOFO. You can do a lot of damage just doing that. Was Ellis trying to make up for lack of talent with scheme? Maybe. I just don't see how the defense cannot be significantly improved. I mean, 2 stops a game would be an improvement.
I've changed my mind on this over the years. I used to think you could be GREAT on both sides of the ball. I have concluded that you are either an offensive or defensive oriented team. That, in and of itself, is no revelation. However, when your HC is an innovator or master of one sort or the other, that divide is going to be greater and skewed towards the HC's way of seeing and doing things. (Reference for the opposite of our current situation, Tubs teams with great defenses and talented yet underachieving offenses) Thus we will, under Gus, always be a good to great offense, and I think we will always be left wanting on defense, even if we're 'good enough'. I can't explain why it is that way, but it just seems to be. JMHO, YMMV.
I will respectfully...disagree counselor. A common saying is "He didn't suddenly forget how to coach". I think Johnson did. Or at least he lost touch with the advancements made in the game. ESPN and others have really been focused lately on breaking down film and why this and that happened. I can't count the times they showed Auburn's D last season and questioned why in the world they were lined up this way. Why they decided to defend the way they did. How could this linebacker take that angle? Cubelic stopped just short of saying EJ had no clue. And when your defensive backs go into THE rivalry game saying "We're going to treat Amari Cooper like any other receiver".....and then go out and do just that....you've got MAJOR problems with the man running your defense.
Talent? Kris Frost was a 5 star. So was Carl Lawson. So was Montravelosity Adams. So was Tray Matthews. So was Byron Cowart. So was Trey Williams. And there are countless 4 star guys on this D. Absolutely NO excuse for not having significant improvement this year and years to come. To your point of being one sided based on your coach's propensity to offense or defense. Off the top of my head, I'd submit Ole Miss and THE Ohio State Buckeyes. Both head coaches are absolutely thought to be...and are...offensive gurus. Ole Miss may have the best overall D in the SEC. OSU...well, the results speak for themselves. Spurrier, offensive jeenyus, but his D's have been quite salty at times. Alabama has had several years of scoring around 40 points a game while the D was consistently ranked in the top 10. Haven't checked but I imagine TCU's offensive and defensive stats are both pretty damn skippy under Patterson.
I think the questions everyone's had about Auburn are about to be answered. I find no fault in what Gus has done on the defensive side of the ball...or at least has been attempting to do. He's recruited his ass off..hired the best coaches in the business...now it's time to take that next step.