2012 Defense

I think Law will make some noise next year, only concern is Dline. I think we will have a true frosh step up and we will be alittle improved over this year, but will still more room for improvement due to inexperience.
 
imported_Tmoney12 said:
A true fresh stepping up on d line??? Highly doubtfull but hope ur right.
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Maybe wishful thinking.... I like what I've seen on tapes of J. Johnson and he already has the size. Maybe not a starter, but possiblity to get in and contribute and get a notch on his belt for the future.
 
vegashawki said:
Maybe wishful thinking.... I like what I've seen on tapes of J. Johnson and he already has the size. Maybe not a starter, but possiblity to get in and contribute and get a notch on his belt for the future.
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Playing youngsters in the d-line does not bode well for next year. I cannot think of too many impact true freshman d-lineman in past seasons in the B1G from any teams.

Given the emerging depth at LB I am not certain why the staff does does consider playing a 3-4 instead of a 4-3. I am one who believes this might be a better alignment against the spread and zone read anyway. A 3-4 would allow us to play Davis over the nose and get Derby + Morris in the middle with Kirksey and Hitchens on the outside. Then we need to only come up with two other starting d-lineman. With this we could make do with 2 less d-lineman in the 2 deeps.
 
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SpecialKHawk said:
Playing youngsters in the d-line does not bode well for next year. I cannot think of too many impact true freshman d-lineman in past seasons in the B1G from any teams.

Given the emerging depth at LB I am not certain we the staff does does consider playing a 3-4 instead of a 4-3. I am one who believes this might be a better alignment against the spread and zone read anyway. A 3-4 would allow us to play Davis over the nose and get Derby + Morris in the middle with Kirksey and Hitchens on the outside. Then we need to only come up with two other starting d-lineman. With this we could make do with 2 less d-lineman in the 2 deeps.
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I agree 100%, but will they? Who will the DC be and will they play 3-4? Too many questions not enough answers atm. I'm just saying I think he has a chance to make a splash more than some of the guys that have been in the program longer and haven't turned the corner.
 
Its gonna be a young group. I think our LB are going to be very strong. I also believe that Law will step into a starting role as safety.

Dline is going to be a mystery, I hope we get some diamonds in the rough who work their tails off this summer and surprise us all next fall.
 
It is really tough to project who plays where next season- especially on the d-line. Alvis would seem to be locked into a spot whenever he is full strength. Bigach will start somewhere but I think he is what he is. There isn't a ton of room for growth for him. He could play anywhere on the line and may have to. Someone from the last two recruiting classes or even this one will have to start but we could see a true 8 man rotation. So a rough sketch of the d-line would be something like this including Alvis.

RE- Alvis JR Louis Trinca-Pasat R. SO
DT- Bigach SR Mike Hardy R. SO
DT- Davis R. SO Darian Cooper R.FR
LE- Gaglione SR Riley McMinn R.FR
Others:Melvin Spears DE R.FR, Cam Hayward DT R.FR, Dean Tsopanides DE R.FR, Jaleel Johnson DT T. FR,
Faith Ekakitie DE/DT T.FR, Drew Ott DE T. FR, Daumantas Venckus T. FR DE.

Ott and Venckus need to redshirt to add size so I would guess they won't impact the depth chart. One last thing. Derby could be a hell of a weakside DE. I don't think he will move but he may have a better chance at DE than LB. I am not sure if Spears is truly at DE right now either but he could certainly see the field next season in a rotation.

Linebacker seems to be in better shape. Morris and Kirksey return and Hitchens saw a lot of PT this season. Morris really looked better to me as a WILL. He may have to move back to MIKE to get Hitchens on the field. Quinton Alston is a MIKE and could win that job with an off-season to grow.

LEO- Kirksey JR, Hitchens JR, Derby R. SO, Getz R. JR
MIKE- Morris JR, Alston SO, Poggi R. SO, DiBona R. JR
WILL- Hitchens JR, Collins SO, DiBona R. JR
Others: LaRon Taylor FR, Cole Fisher or Johnny Lowdermilk have the frame to grow into linebackers and may end up somewhere in the mix. Likely only one of them will switch and neither could

Secondary is a lot like linebacker- we have seen quality play from three players. Hyde will stay at corner this season, Miller returns to a safety spot and Lowery will likely take over for Prater. SS is a mystery- Nico Law, Collin Sleeper, Jack Swanson and either Campbell or Lomax could compete for that spot. I don't think Castillo is physical or athletic enough to play safety but he has seen the field way more than any other player.

LCB Hyde SR, Lomax SO, Campbell SO
FS Miller JR, Swanson SR, Fisher R. FR
SS Sleeper SR, Law SO, Swanson
RCB Lowery JR, Castillo SR, Lomax Campbell

Others: Maurice Fleming FR, Kevin Buford FR, Ruben Lile FR, Mike Malloy FR. Don't know where Malloy will end up, but secondary is likely the quickest path for him for early PT.

So basically unless someone emerges from nowhere on the d-line that unit will take awhile to gel and could hold the entire unit back. The positive is that at least three players at every level have seen a solid amount of snaps. Iowa has better size than it has for several seasons ready to go at DT in Davis, Cooper and Johnson. If one or two players from this recruiting class or the last two emerge than it is possible this unit will surprise but I think they will struggle for most of the season. There will be a ton of competition at nearly every spot with really only four players penciled in to start somewhere- Miller, Hyde, Morris and Kirksey. Whoever the new DC is has their work cut out for them and when the defense struggles at times over the next season realize that this will be an extremely green unit that would have struggled under Norm as well.
 
vegashawki said:
I agree 100%, but will they? Who will the DC be and will they play 3-4? Too many questions not enough answers atm. I'm just saying I think he has a chance to make a splash more than some of the guys that have been in the program longer and haven't turned the corner.
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Agree....

this is a prime example of needing our coaches to adjust to our personnel strengths and short comings. Playing a 3-4 next year matches the depth and strengths we have at LB while addressing the short comings at d-line. Does not mean the program has to be locked into the 3-4 long term but helps bridge the gap.

LB depth
- Derby
- Morris
- Hitchens
- Kirksey
- Alston
- Collins
..... To name a few

D-lineman
- Bigach
- Davis
- Cooper
- Hardy
- Gaglione
- true freshman

Seems to fit personnel wise to play majority 3-4 next year and get your best players on the field at the same time.
 
We have the wrong style of lineman to pay a 3-4. LSU or Alabama can do it, we cannot right now. Who are the three athletic 6-5 300 lb lineman on the roster? It sounds good in theory but would be awful in actual life.
 
spudhawk said:
We have the wrong style of lineman to pay a 3-4. LSU or Alabama can do it, we cannot right now. Who are the three athletic 6-5 300 lb lineman on the roster? It sounds good in theory but would be awful in actual life.
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Good point but I'm not worried about being LSU or Alabama and playing in the SEC. I'm worried about how do we get the best 11 on the field next year because defense is the only thing this program can count on year-in, year-out. Offense and special teams are totally unreliable.

The 3-4 has been played in spots and has been effective in past seasons. Yes we don't have 3 6-5 300 lbs guys. I would bet thought with Doyle's help we can use the the 6'4" 315 pounder we do have over the nose and come up with 2-4 others guys in this group that can play at 285 lbs or better using our typical leverage techniques. I'd rather take this chance and get 4 potentially good play makers on the field at LB. Not to mention every opponent expects us to play 4-3 base. This would be a new twist they have no past film on. It would also change the angles for occassional blitzes.

I'm not saying we have to play 100% 3-4, but I would play it 70% of the time. You might be able to expand our depth on the d-line over the course of the season and bring along the young guys as well.
 
For the most part our DLine was pretty mediocre last year. I'm not sure that next years DLine will really perform worse than what it did this year. Cooper and Davis should provide a good choice next year.
 
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So all of a sudden Davis is going to turn into an effective DL? Did you watch him this year? There was a reason 5th year walk on seniors were getting his minutes.

Now hopefully a change in coaches will get him to turn the corner. But, he hasn't shown it yet.
 
CAARHawk said:
So all of a sudden Davis is going to turn into an effective DL? Did you watch him this year? There was a reason 5th year walk on seniors were getting his minutes.

Now hopefully a change in coaches will get him to turn the corner. But, he hasn't shown it yet.
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I think in year 3, and him facing a position that is his for the taking, will push him into the role. He physically fits the bill, and in the words of Norm, just needs that light bulb to turn on.
 
Hawkfromnorwalk said:
I think in year 3, and him facing a position that is his for the taking, will push him into the role. He physically fits the bill, and in the words of Norm, just needs that light bulb to turn on.
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The position was his for the taking this year as well. Not saying it can't happen, but that is what you want from a back-up, not a starter.

Again, hopefully a change in coaching can help, but it is a very scary proposition to go into next season without Binns and Daniels or even one player who performed even remotely close to their level.
 
SpecialKHawk said:
Good point but I'm not worried about being LSU or Alabama and playing in the SEC. I'm worried about how do we get the best 11 on the field next year because defense is the only thing this program can count on year-in, year-out. Offense and special teams are totally unreliable.

The 3-4 has been played in spots and has been effective in past seasons. Yes we don't have 3 6-5 300 lbs guys. I would bet thought with Doyle's help we can use the the 6'4" 315 pounder we do have over the nose and come up with 2-4 others guys in this group that can play at 285 lbs or better using our typical leverage techniques. I'd rather take this chance and get 4 potentially good play makers on the field at LB. Not to mention every opponent expects us to play 4-3 base. This would be a new twist they have no past film on. It would also change the angles for occassional blitzes.

I'm not saying we have to play 100% 3-4, but I would play it 70% of the time. You might be able to expand our depth on the d-line over the course of the season and bring along the young guys as well.
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Im all for Iowa getting way more aggressive on D but playing 3-4 the way Iowa does it will never ever work.

Its a necessity that you still rush 4 or more on most downs out of a 3-4. The effectivness of 3-4 is that you never know where the 4th and 5th rushers are coming from.

Do you really think Iowa is going to run a scheme that requires the most complicated style of blitz packages when they won't even run simple blitzes?

When Iowa has used "3-4" in the past its just been rushing 3 and droping 8. The only thing has it usually accomplished is to give the other team all day to throw. One game it was effective against MSU but most other times it has been terrible. Illinois 08 comes to mind.

Aside from being hard to find the players to do it, its to complicated to learn given the practice time restraints and yearly personnel turnover in college.

There is a reason no school where the athletes actually go to classes uses a 3-4
 
I think Iowa could easily be improved on the D line over this year but thats not saying much.

Cooper should be ready, Davis was injured off and on this year. Those two will hopefully be good to go.

J. Johnson is bigger than all the guys who were starting this year and looks really athletic. Hes going to be good.

Im also really hoping Derby ends up at DE.

There are quite a few others to choose from and a couple of them should end up being decent.
 
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