re: Still not sold on Durkin

We blitzed a good bit last night, not really sure why people are saying we didn’t. We got burned quite a few times on blitzes. Their long TD was on a blitz.

Our strategy was to keep him in the pocket. I hated some of the 3 man rushes as well, but a lot of it was just poor rotation on the back end leaving a man open or doubling one guy in zone and leaving another near wide open. The times we ram a spy, the big scrambles were when the spy got sucked in.

The 3rd and long D needs to get fixed, but that was a problem with last year’s D too. I think some of it is just personnel.

I had my doubts when we hired him. His D has progressed as the season has gone along. I wish he would pressure more on third and long, but other than....... that he has been a bright spot for us.

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Please share more of your erudite knowledge of DL play.

Those stats are for a TFR who stepped on campus in January weighing 250 - listed at 291 now, which is probably an exaggeration. If you understand DL play, it's as much about forcing the play to go somewhere the O doesn't want it to as it is about individual stats. For an undersized TFR, he has been outstanding at that and only has more upside.

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You called him arguably one of the 3 best players on the entire defense. He is having a good true freshman season, but that is asinine. I never stated that he wasn't showing promise. That wasn't what I was commenting on at all. A player can be having a good freshman season without being labelled something that he quite clearly isn't.

In yesterday's win alone:

Jalen McLeod: 8 solo tackles (10 total), 1 sack
Dorian Mausi: 7 solo tackles (9 total), 1 sack, 1 PD

Mausi is 4th in the SEC in solo tackles and McLeod is tied for 8th in sacks (while having more solo tackles than all of the guys above him except one), and yet you won't see a single person bat an eye about the above players (someone actually did the opposite and suggest that McLeod has been MIA all season). Meanwhile one of the freshmen makes one play and they are all of a sudden "the best player in the position group!".

Like I said, it is getting silly.

All I know is the defense seems to be better than last year. and we have way less experience especially in the back end.

Overall the defense is prob playing about as good as we can hope for but it's frustrating we can't seem to put four quarters together.early in the season we started games out poorly and then adjusted well. Now we start out well and fall apart at the end. Third and long is obviously an issue and I'll never understand how we keep doing the same thing given how often it fails

Yep. Lee continuously seems to be out of position. Don’t know if he just struggles playing zone or what.

The biggest issue I have with the three man rush is we do it yet also try and do a contain rush. Can’t do that. If you’re rushing three, you’ll usually have a LB somewhat in the center playing a shallow zone. Your DL needs just try and disrupt anything. Go wild and if it flushes the guy, it flushes him. You usually have a semi-spy playing middle of field. You can’t do a contain rush with 3.

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3rd and Durkin. I hate to see this situation. Defense gets the other team to third and 9+ yards and a blind man can call the D. Rush 3 and drop to zone coverage. I find Durkin's "no blitz", let alone a 4th rusher, is mind-numbing.

For the love of the game, I hope he breaks his stubbornness against UA and have a 4 man rush or blitz in those 3rd and Durkins.

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Yeah, I'd rather see the offense fail with an aggressive blitz with stunts than let a QB have all day and play pitch and catch.

I am satisfied with our D coaching this season. We don't have an elite line, and they have tweaked scheme to account for it.

Only the fools can......

In reality, the only players that have turned their heads with any consistency are the freshmen, the only ones not having been coached by anyone else. Do there is that too