1. Last year at Wake, Elko's best pass rusher was his SDE. Huge misconception is that the WDE is your "pass rusher", and it isn't always the case. We need pass rushers, but that could come from WDE, SDE, Buck, Rover, etc. In fact, to take it even further, last year at Wake, Elko's Rover had more TFL's and sacks, than his WDE.
2. On your last comment, that's not even close to what is happening, so I'm not sure why you are concerned by that. They signed 2 in 16' and 1 in 17'. So they are on track from a numbers perspective. Again, if we sign one at both positions, that will be 4 deep at both positions to start the 2018 season. 2 juniors, 1 sophomore, and 1 Freshman, that's good numbers. Can't change what happened in the past.
3. Plus, you don't fix the problem by loading up more in one class. It's about balance and you have to start to build out balance at some point. He started with LB last cycle, and it looks like DE might be this cycle. While focusing on getting numbers at DB
1) That's a good point. I just meant if he doesn't have real pass-rushing potential, he's not an immediate take. If he was a SDE with excellent pass-rushing skills, that would be a different story.
Still, the WDE is the pass-rusher on the line not just because of scheme or skillset, but because he is on the edge has the most space to work with. It's natural. It's the same reason you line your big threat WR on the outside. So while some DTs are dominant enough to get their TFLs, you need the guy one the edge to take advantage of that spot. The fact that Elko found otherways to do it is a testament to his coaching prowess, but also an indictment on WF's WDEs. If he had Clemson's players, the stats
should have looked different.
I'm not going to get too excited about everyone being a pass rusher. I was one of those people that was very, very happy with Diaco's bend-don't-break (if not his recruiting). Let's tackle and play sound and then I'll get excited about sacks.
2) They signed 2 in '16 and 1 in '17, but since they have no one in the classes above them, that's not good enough as a matter of planning. Kids's don't pan out on a 100% or 67% basis. You need to know what you have. Currently, we don't and so have to keep pushing.
- If one of your rising Senior and Junior WDEs is good, or if your rising Sophmore is pushing them out because he's really good (which is what we were hooping for, and maybe Hayes will arise in the Spring), then you are on track and can get back to 1 per year.
- If your rising Senior and Junior WDEs stink, you need to take 2 in the next class, even though that disrupts your balance.
- If you have no rising Junior or Senior, just 2 rising Sophomores with very little experience, and an incoming freshman project, you need to plan on taking 2 more, IMO. That position is generally too important. It's like QB. You can't not have a good QB.
3. You start building out balance once you have a couple good, experienced players in the rotation. For us, that will be next year, IMO, unless something big happens this Spring.[/QUOTE]
