The long, lean, fast nickel and dime defense was exciting to watch at the outset, albeit very worrisome. All those picks against Rice and bone jarring hits causing fumbles in early games did not last as the season wore on. Perhaps the coaching staff considered the thin defensive roster deficiencies could forever be covered with a very explosive offense. But as the season wore on and the slight bodies got banged up, it became very obvious that this defense was worn out. Instead of bulking up, the slight bodies broke down.
Guys like Max Williams, Calen Bullock and Eric Gentry were directly sticking receivers and running backs early on, but as the season progressed, they appeared reluctant to make fierce contact. When the body is beat up and becomes frail, the desire follows suit. I like Max. He reminds me of Dion Bailey. He's just not big enough to be playing strong safety. Gentry is out of position as a MLB. Sure he covers lots of ground and sky with those long arms, but he doesn't have the body type for a gap filling stopper. With the thin roster depth, there was no other choice apparently. Even Shane Lee got banged up and lost his mojo. Other guys like Goforth and Nomura mostly just whiffed on tackles. Grinch tried to put the best player/athletes out on the field - even if it meant putting out smallish lines, linebackers and safeties. Man, these guys got the shit kicked out of them as the season progressed - to the point to where they were afraid to engage for fear of injury. The back seven were not making direct lock-up hits, but rather bumping and chasing...then losing the chase. Still wondering why Raejon Davis and Domani Jackson didn't get more playing time.
Next year's roster should be bigger and better. Still need some portal help on the DL, but the back seven should be much better with Branch and Domani Jackson starting in the secondary. The two big portal linebackers should help along with the stud frosh Tackett Curtis. Yes, he will play as a true freshman. And all these so-called rush ends; bulk up three of these guys to play defensive end and make the rest of them compete for traditional linebacker spots. Bulk up Foreman as a DE. Feed the boy and bust his ass. Get him back up to 275 with strength to bully since he doesn't have the moves.
Sure would like to see a top flight coordinator take over the defense. Even with poor roster depth, the defense regressed. Short leash for Grinch. Best time is now to make a DC replacement. If the guy had a compelling resume, might be worth giving him more time - but he doesn't. For strength and conditioning, bulk up the steers in a feed lot and strap them up to pull and plow.
exactly the opposite. arm tackling doesn't work at any level. hit, wrap, drive does
wrapping and driving are learned skills that can be taught
gang tackling is a thing and SC does that fairly well. it starts with the wrap, not the hit.
stop with the verbal diarrhea or everyone will think you're a Napoleon sock puppet
no, I didn't read and dissect your post
Anyone actually look at the weights of the Tulane team usc played and usc? Not like the Trojans were outweighed there. usc dl is like 290 280 280 and 270. Not small people. Usc has a 245 Lb linebacker 190 Lb dbs
I hate being right about this stuff. When I first labeled this defense "Kenyan", Sanka and his band of merry rah rahs soiled themselves and pointed to all the turnovers as evidence we had nothing to worry about.
But the reality is building a defense focused on turnovers - rather than sound tackling and fundamentals - is like building a basketball team focused on 3-pointers....anytime your shooters have an "off" night you're gonna lose.
And that's pretty much how the season played out. I'd have to look at the stats, but my guess is we lost all our games where we only got 1 turnover or less. And we got run over by every team we faced except for OSU as I recall. That won't win you any championships and certainly won't get you to the playoffs.
We need a solid DC who teaches sound fundamentals and tackling. Doesn't need to be the next Buddy Ryan - just needs to get 3-4 stops in a row and this offense will BURY every opponent we face. But this track meet bullshit has to stop and we need to load up on some Brian Cushing/Rey Maluaga types...hell at this point I'd be happy with Zeke Moreno types at LB. Get some grown ass men on D!
DC
Big play defense:
In the last two games, SC defense gave up 5 TDs on drives of between 61 and 92 yards that required 3 plays or fewer; plus 2 more TDs on 3-play drives covering 48 and 38 yards.
Chasing and losing the chase. Apt description.
interesting takes.
If teams could get away with gambling for turnovers , all teams would do it.
read something on wolf this morning, so consider the source.
I asked a Pac-12 coach who watched the Cotton Bowl why USC is so bad at tackling?
“You can practice it all you want but if guys don’t have the heart to do it, it doesn’t matter,” the coach said. “What you saw (against Tulane) looked like some guys who were trying to protect their futures. They saw what was coming at them and didn’t want any part of it.
“I don’t know how much you can do about that mindset.
“These aren’t the USC teams people grew up watching. You knew you were going to be hurting after playing USC (in those days). These guys think they can play in the NFL and most of them can’t. The players run the program.”
Size matters in football.
Height matters in basketball.
muscle twitch and throwing velocity matters in baseball.
acting matters in soccer. sc
Dude is built like a dick hair.