2011 Defense

[tommyIRISH23]

Most of the talk has been focused around Rudy/Floyd and the offense. I'd like to get a decent picture of where the defense stands.(I am still not sure what the defense will look like, so forgive me if I make a few mistakes.) It seems to me that the 2 or 3 positions whom are being lost to graduation are primed to make a more talented upgrade.

Ian Williams- SC did very well filling in, bu I think the starting job is going to be Louis Nix to lose. He is going to be a MONSTER in the middle, just what the 3-4/4-3 hybrid needs, a massive anchor in the middle. With the proven depth we have there, we will stay fresh in the 4th quarter, a huge advantage late in games.

Brian Smith- His heart and determination cannot be replaced, and he seemed to have found his nitch playing inside..too little too late. Who will step in for him? Carlo?

Darrin Walls- Eh. I am not very big on him. His expierence will be missed, but I think Lo wood should fill in nicely. Or Robert Blanton? A secondary with Blanton/Wood, Gray, Motta/Slaughter, and Harrison?

Kerry Neal- I believe he is gone, correct? Will Filer step up? Or will Shembo move over leaving Flemming as the starter opposite side?

Also, we have some talented freshmen coming in. If ND picks up Ishaq, does he have a shot at playing? Any other new-comers?

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong anywhere.

After writing this, and looking at the offense (praying Floyd stays) ND has the potential to be really really good.

Also, a point of interest, while I was watching the sugar bowl, I could help but notice the physique on Arky's and tOSU's players.(Aside from Gary Gray) They are jacked up, and quick as hell. ND players don't seem to be built that way, even Manti. I am expecting to see a huge difference in the physical nature of this team with another year under Longo's training program.

All in all, we did fairly well for fielding a "High School" defense...don't you think?

 

[FMA]

I read somewhere that the ND defense was ranked 90 something in the country when they played Navy. The last four games they were ranked something like 51 or 53 in the country. So the "D" has made some good strides in the last four games. So I expect them to be somewhere in the top 25 in defense, of course I'm being positive......

 

[NDFANnSouthWest]

My two cents:

Nose guard, Nix will beast with reps from Hafis and Cwynar

OLB, if we get Isaq I think he playing significant playing time and may start by the end. I think a close second is Counsell however he needs to add weight, speed not a issue.

DBs: I think we have a bridge to gap from the Seniors and Freshman.

 

[Veer option]

I think the D will pick up where they left off last season and continue to get better and evolve. I am hoping the end result will be in the style of an SEC defense. Where the defense has a stout D line and interior line backing core with the more athletic outside backers being able to fly around the field making plays and stops. The one thing I am hoping to see is more QB pressure and sacks during next season. Not to say that the D needs to be running a Tenuta blitzkrieg defense but it would be nice to see a couple more blitzes per game.

 

[BestBIrish47]

Shembo has to get better in his Pass Drops...Miami's First TD, he was "Lost in Space"--- but for a pass rusher...I think he is game ready now.

 

[Irish Man3]

Counsell and Rabasa (maybe Ishaq) will push the experianced guys at OLB. Competition breeds excellence.

Louis Nix is going to need to mature mentally and bury himself in the weight room. He needs to be in a lot better shape and keep his work ethic up. If he does, he could be a serious piece to our defense.

In the secondary, Blanton is a guy I think a lot of people forget about. He had a very good year this year so I look for big things from him. If the young guys can come in and push the older guys, we should see a faster, more athletic defensive secondary.

 

[Rocket89]

Tuitt is most likely to see the most action off the edge?

Yay or nay?

 

[Irish in StPete]

Defense

Defense

Don't forget the red shirts and Special Teamers of 2010

Def line

2010 RedShirts and Special Teams---
Plus 2011 Recruits

Louis Nix (already mentioned) 6-2/320
Bruce Heggie 6-6/270 DE
Kona Schwenke 6-5/265 DE
Stephon Tuitt 6-5/270 DE
Brad Carrico 6-6/270 DE

LBs

Justin Utupo 6-4/250
Prince Shembo 6-2/245
Kendall Moore 6-3/240
Danny Spond 6-4/230
Ben Councell 6-5/230
Jarrett Grace 6-4/240
Anthony Rabasa 6-3/235

DBs

Mathias Farley 6-2/195
Eilar Hardy 6-0/190
Jalen Brown 6-0/180
Josh Atkinson 6-0/190
Bennett Okotsch 6-0/180

The DBs are all tall and all 4:4 guys. The surprise package could be George Atkinson who is playing safety in the Army All Star game----6-2/195 with 4:4 speed. If he is anything
like his father George will be a 4 year All American.





\\

 

[TerryTate]

Louis Nix is reportedly a monster, and he is always mentioned by his teammates as the biggest impact player next year. Longo has paid dividends already for him

 

[Veer option]

Louis Nix is reportedly a monster, and he is always mentioned by his teammates as the biggest impact player next year. Longo has paid dividends already for him

That is good to read, because the Irish need a big mean NG who can suck up double teams.

 

[The Polish Irishman]

My question is OLB...We are solid everywhere else

 

[NewEnglandGuy]

I think when Manti went down McDonald came in to play with B Smith, not Carlo...correct? The staff is also high on Moore in the middle so it should be interesting to see how it works out. I think IShaq (if commits) will get a chance to play...not sure when, but he is an ideal CAT while Councell is an ideal DOG but will probably RS to add weight. My early projected 2 deep:

DE: KLM/Tuitt
NG: Cwynar/Nix
DE: E Johnson/H Williams
CAT: Fleming/Shembo
DOG: Filer/(Fox or Spond)
Mike: Teo/McDonald
Will: Carlo/Moore
FS: Slaughter/Motta
SS: H Smith/Hardy
CB: Gray/Atkinson
CB: Blanton/Wood

0.02 cents

 

[tommyIRISH23]

On paper, it appears that our weakness' are minimal. When you read everything, it's hard not to get the feel that 2011 could be very special, especially with the schedule.

 

[Veer option]

It seems the Irish could perhaps use a couple more CB recruits.

Does anyone know if Blanton is available for a 5th year after 2011?

 

[tommyIRISH23]

It seems the Irish could perhaps use a couple more CB recruits.

Does anyone know if Blanton is available for a 5th year after 2011?

Nope, next year will be his 4th.

 

[Irish Man3]

It seems the Irish could perhaps use a couple more CB recruits.

Does anyone know if Blanton is available for a 5th year after 2011?

We have four DBs in this class.

Josh Atkinson
Jalen Brown
Bennett Okotcha
Eilar Hardy

We also don't know where Farley will end up. We have a legit DB class this year. Three more next year and we'll be more than fine. I would like to grab one TRUE 4* solid safety next year. Somewhere in the 6'0-6'2/185-210 lb range sounds about right.

 

[Veer option]

We have four DBs in this class.

Josh Atkinson
Jalen Brown
Bennett Okotcha
Eilar Hardy

We also don't know where Farley will end up. We have a legit DB class this year. Three more next year and we'll be more than fine. I would like to grab one TRUE 4* solid safety next year. Somewhere in the 6'0-6'2/185-210 lb range sounds about right.

Thanks for clarifying and providing excellent information.


I really like the amount of defensive recruits and where the D has the potential to go with them.

 

[jason_h537]

People still knocking Darrin Walls, guy played great for us, stop hatin.

 

[NDFANnSouthWest]

Darrin have a great year!!! Didnt hear his name alot- this is good...that means he had the man covered...and I recall him coming up and tackling solid! However, I still think Gary was our best corner this year.

 

[Old Man Mike]

We're loaded on defense. Barring injury, even the experience-thin secondary is loaded as Diaco likes Motta for the nickel position to go with Gray, Blanton, Smith, and Slaughter.

Glad to hear Terry's comments on Nix--as Cwynar is pretty darn good himself. Some "lists" above have forgotten to stick in Schwenke---Diaco won't forget him.

As to middle linebackers, McDonald was starting over Calabreese until he got hurt and Carlo got to show that he's a better gamer than a practice player. Kelly was very high on Spond until he got hurt. All I've heard about Moore is that he's very good.

Position-by-position we're stacked. Our big question is can we continuously be disruptive?? Can the D-line destroy the line of scrimmage?? And can they and the blitz scheme hurry the passer?? For that reason, I believe that what we're hoping for is someone to grow into a D-line mauler/shucker rather than just a space plugger, and some two or three people [not just OLBs] to become scary QB squashers.

I believe that it is in E Johnson's potential to be a line disrupter and Schwenke and Shembo's natures to be elite pressure-makers. What I'm also guessing is that Diaco will be able to create trickier rush packages now that the guys have gotten the defense in their heads.

One hint that Diaco's more creative than he looked this season: one game he actually tried the "confusion/millaround" pre-snap non-line-up [till the last second]. The guys weren't ready to execute it yet, but my mind said:YES!!

Notice that I haven't even mentioned the freshmen-to-be. Just thinking about all this potential makes me say WOW!!

 

[irish1958]

Darrin have a great year!!! Didnt hear his name alot- this is good...that means he had the man covered...and I recall him coming up and tackling solid! However, I still think Gary was our best corner this year.

I think Walls was solid and that the QBs threw away from him. Since he was chasing their better receivers, and for the most part had good coverage, we didn't notice him a lot.
For a DB, that is as good as it gets.
The reason I like to go to live games and not watch them on TV is so you can watch the line play. backers and the defensive backs which you can't do on live TV. You watch the ball carrier and the player the QB throws to. (Winston C. said it was OK.)
You don't see the line filling the gaps and the linebackers filling the holes and cut back lanes. You don't see the DB shutting down a receiver because the QB doesn't throw it to him.

 

[CanadianIrish]

This was the year targeted for our return to greatness after the big recruiting year with Crist/Floyd/Rudy etc.

We're going to be really solid on D next year, I don't see many weaknesses at all. If the team is focused they could accomplish great things.

 

[jakerbluegold]

The tackling has improved tremendously this year. With the incoming depth at DE, and the possibility of an offensive renaissance makes me think BCS with a win next year.

 

[irishff1014]

I know alot of people don't like this but i think you have to play who is better. So that means a red shirt freshman is very good play him you will always be trying to recurit the very best. Shembo needs to be on the field. That game against miami we couldn't get a pass rush to save our A$$. I know that with some younger more talented guy we can do that.

 

[Veer option]

The 2011 D will get a true test on how they deal with a speedy offense when the Irish play USF for the first game. It should be a good evaluation for them and sound practice for whatever offense the skunk bears are going to run next season.

 

[tommyIRISH23]

The 2011 D will get a true test on how they deal with a speedy offense when the Irish play USF for the first game. It should be a good evaluation for them and sound practice for whatever offense the skunk bears are going to run next season.

I think if the intensity and dedication stay the same, or get better, the progression of this team all-around will be light years ahead of what we saw against Miami. As BK said, year 1 is a experiment trying to see where the pieces of the puzzles fit. BK and Co. have a solid perspective on the direction this team needs to go to win. By all accounts, BK's teams make big jumps in year 2. The team is going to be tested early, but at the same time their ceiling is very high.

 

[irishff1014]

I have a feeling that so after NSD they will be watching tape and getting ready for them. But USF better hope that BJ plays better this year then he did last or else they will do alot of losing again.