Defensive Line

[hawktech]

Last years d-line was horrendous. I am on the pessimitic side for 2013. It seems we have the strenght, depth and size (we are BIG). But from some reason this group does not have 'it'. Hopefully it is just the youth and that will develop quickly... Whatever it is, an "injection of meanness" is much needed.

Curious what others thought of this group from the practice the other day?

 

[JonDMiller]

2014 is the year for this group.

 

[1hawkeye1]

This is one place where I do expect to see some improvement. It couldn't get any worse.

 

[Section136]

Still young and lacking experience on the d line this year.

 

[Hawknick]

They will do well each of the next 4 years.

 

[olddude]

Last time. You can not win games if you can not score. Lets look. Osu PA 22.8, Msu PA 16.3, Mich PA, 19.8, IOWA 22.9. Lets look deeper, OSU gave up 38 to Nebby (who had a good run game) IOWA gave up 13, MSU gave up 28 and Mich gave up 23. Osu gave up 22 in ot to purdue, Iowa gave up 27, Mich gave up 13. Osu gave up 49 to Ind, MSU gave up 27 and IOWA gave up 24. Iowa gave up 28 to NU, MSU gave up 28 and Mich gave up 31 in ot to the cats. Now I would bet we had the youngest D of almost anybody, but even so, people did not ram the ball down our throats and overall our D played very well given youth and amount of time on the field. Is there room for great strides? SURE, but to rag on them like they were garbage is BS. If I noticed one HUGE problem last year, it was that our db's hardly ever got their heads around.

 

[hawktech]

2014 is the year for this group.

I agree. 2014-2016 this group could very well be the best on the team.

From what I saw, they did not have the drive or toughness that is needed. Youth & inexperience are the main factors tho. Jaleel and Faith are monsters. I hope they learn to explode off the line. If they do, the d-line will be one to see.

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

I agree. 2014-2016 this group could very well be the best on the team.

From what I saw, they did not have the drive or toughness that is needed. Youth & inexperience are the main factors tho. Jaleel and Faith are monsters. I hope they learn to explode off the line. If they do, the d-line will be one to see.

4 months for 18-19 year olds is an eternity. They could have substantial gains in size, strength. a summer/fall of drills and coaching will help some.

Inexperience will likely still be a factor but the upgrad in size and strength will help. If they have the want-to and drive...the Dline could surprise some people.

 

[NCHawker]

less talented guys are gone. more talented guys coming on to replace them. I expect improvmement. Don't know how much or when.

 

[SteveL]

less talented guys are gone. more talented guys coming on to replace them. I expect improvmement. Don't know how much or when.

I agree with first part. JJ and Faith have more base talent than Bigach and Gaglione so I expect improvement as year goes on, especially with Reese as their coach.
I was not at practice but read some good things about Carl Davis and Cooper. I think the DT position is definitely going to be stronger and that will help a lot. The DEs do not seem as strong but I like things I saw from Ott last year, in very limited time, and I think Alvis will do better as his knee has more recovery time and we will see more of what we saw in 2011 before he was hurt. Faith, McMinn and Spears will hopefully make their presence felt as well.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

Last time. You can not win games if you can not score. Lets look. Osu PA 22.8, Msu PA 16.3, Mich PA, 19.8, IOWA 22.9. Lets look deeper, OSU gave up 38 to Nebby (who had a good run game) IOWA gave up 13, MSU gave up 28 and Mich gave up 23. Osu gave up 22 in ot to purdue, Iowa gave up 27, Mich gave up 13. Osu gave up 49 to Ind, MSU gave up 27 and IOWA gave up 24. Iowa gave up 28 to NU, MSU gave up 28 and Mich gave up 31 in ot to the cats. Now I would bet we had the youngest D of almost anybody, but even so, people did not ram the ball down our throats and overall our D played very well given youth and amount of time on the field. Is there room for great strides? SURE, but to rag on them like they were garbage is BS. If I noticed one HUGE problem last year, it was that our db's hardly ever got their heads around.

Ok...finally someone who gets it. Our defense wasn't great last year...but they weren't the reason we lost all the close games. That was on the offense. You can't keep going 3 and out or 6 and out, and putting your young defense on the field to continual stop the opposing offense. That being said, they did much better than I anticipated. Now they are a year older, have more options on the DL and should be greatly improved...even with the loss of Hyde. CB is one area we are deep and I think our back 7 seven will be way above average and as a group, well above where we were last year.

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

Ok...finally someone who gets it. Our defense wasn't great last year...but they weren't the reason we lost all the close games. That was on the offense. You can't keep going 3 and out or 6 and out, and putting your young defense on the field to continual stop the opposing offense. That being said, they did much better than I anticipated. Now they are a year older, have more options on the DL and should be greatly improved...even with the loss of Hyde. CB is one area we are deep and I think our back 7 seven will be way above average and as a group, well above where we were last year.

Our Defense will keep us in most games....our offense will win or lose them....has been this way for over a decade (minus '02, maybe '08)

 

[snarf34]

Our Defense will keep us in most games....our offense will win or lose them....has been this way for over a decade (minus '02, maybe '08)

I would say the first half of 08 the offense lost us games bc KF couldn't make a freakin decision the rest of us could make a million miles away. then it took a few games for Stanzi to get in the flow of things.

 

[chadfrey]

Our Defense will keep us in most games....our offense will win or lose them....has been this way for over a decade (minus '02, maybe '08)

Nail, meet hammer.

The number one concern in Iowa City is scoring. Has been for a while, and I believe this next season it will be painfully obvious — again.

 

[olddude]

Ok...finally someone who gets it. Our defense wasn't great last year...but they weren't the reason we lost all the close games. That was on the offense. You can't keep going 3 and out or 6 and out, and putting your young defense on the field to continual stop the opposing offense. That being said, they did much better than I anticipated. Now they are a year older, have more options on the DL and should be greatly improved...even with the loss of Hyde. CB is one area we are deep and I think our back 7 seven will be way above average and as a group, well above where we were last year.

Yes I get it. It was pointed out to me in another thread I have brain damage in the form of Asperger's. One benefit of such a thing is numbers and details. That is why I love watching sports so much, almost every person at every position has a "tell" and that is what upsets me so bad about the DB's. I know our style is to play it safe, but for heavens sake when you see that same tell 100 times, you have to recognize it and play the ball, or you should be able to anyway. My wife hates it when I call a play before it happens. Some of it comes from when I played when I was young, but most comes from me watching every little thing. It is a chess game and the object is to know what they are going to do next and to hide what you are doing. If you can do that well enough a D3 team could beat a D1. Simple as that. Over the years we have not been good at hiding what we were going to do on O. I agree with BF, we need to be able to run even if they know we are going to, but that is a gross understatement.

 

[jsmith337]

I think they should lock'em all up in cages and poke'em with sticks, that would **** anybody off.

 

[hawktech]

4 months for 18-19 year olds is an eternity. They could have substantial gains in size, strength. a summer/fall of drills and coaching will help some.

Inexperience will likely still be a factor but the upgrad in size and strength will help. If they have the want-to and drive...the Dline could surprise some people.

You are right and the next 4 months could mean a lot of growth for the young ones. That would be good, as besides Alvis the whole line is young... They could surprise us. That is what I am pinning my hopes on for this Hawkeye team. Becasue I do not see the offense doing it...

 

[NCHawker]

Last time. You can not win games if you can not score. Lets look. Osu PA 22.8, Msu PA 16.3, Mich PA, 19.8, IOWA 22.9. Lets look deeper, OSU gave up 38 to Nebby (who had a good run game) IOWA gave up 13, MSU gave up 28 and Mich gave up 23. Osu gave up 22 in ot to purdue, Iowa gave up 27, Mich gave up 13. Osu gave up 49 to Ind, MSU gave up 27 and IOWA gave up 24. Iowa gave up 28 to NU, MSU gave up 28 and Mich gave up 31 in ot to the cats. Now I would bet we had the youngest D of almost anybody, but even so, people did not ram the ball down our throats and overall our D played very well given youth and amount of time on the field. Is there room for great strides? SURE, but to rag on them like they were garbage is BS. If I noticed one HUGE problem last year, it was that our db's hardly ever got their heads around.

Consider hitting the return key every once in a while. Show deference to your audience. fortunately another poster came along and recapped your point in 2 sentences.

 

[HawkeyeDenis]

They did start to show some potential towards the end and I think they will be improved this year.

 

[DP5555]

Consider hitting the return key every once in a while. Show deference to your audience. fortunately another poster came along and recapped your point in 2 sentences.

I read it just fine olddude. There are a lot of posters on here who can't even write a proper sentence. Save your lecture for them NC. Better yet, lets try to stay on topic. This is a message board it isn't English class.


The dline didn't really lose anyone and a lot of young guys found out what it's like lining up against B10 offensive lineman. Not to mention a lot of young guys are finding out what it's like to go against our offensive line right now which is a pretty salty group of players. Scherff is arguably the best OT in the B10. Reese said Dom Alvis and him have been going at it all spring. A years' worth of development can make a huge difference in the quality of play, and as olddude said the play we saw last year wasn't nearly as bad as some people are making it out to be. Specially considering the fact they were a very young group, and Alvis was returning from a serious knee injury. He really started playing well at the end of the season. If he can stay healthy and can continue to compete against Scherff I expext this to be a damn good season from him because he won't see any better competition than that on the gamefield come the fall.