Grinch for DC?

He did a solid job of recruiting Georgia too. Those players haven't necessarily developed into much, but he did get a foot in the door down there. I wouldn't be shocked if Cross is gone but I'm not completely convinced yet that he is. Unless I missed something beyond Odom taking over more DC responsibilities.

Grinch is running a version of the 4-2-5 basing out of Cover 3.

They have a solid TO margin.

It's not just the front that changed. They had to go back to Cover 2 in the secondary. He took over the defense after the change because they went back to all of the old terminology/signs and keys that Cross wasn't familiar with. Making coverage and front adjustments at game speed requires familiarity that Cross doesn't have.

If Cross gets fired after the season, you can call it being thrown under the bus. It remains to be seen if that will happen. I like the secondary concepts that Cross brought with him and a move away from Cover 2 would be a plus IMO. I also think he has value in recruiting.

My gut feeling is that he stays.

Steckel rarely, if ever, ran Cover 3 because the mismatches on the LBs. They ran Cover 0 and Cover/Tampa 2.

I am greatly saddened that no one has come out and said he'd be a good hire because he's a mean one. Or that his defense would steal games. The jokes are right there.

Joking aside for intents and purposes if you run a 4-3 defense in the modern SEC you are really running something like the 4-2-5 because almost everyone is running a version of the spread.

Florida might have been the first time all season that Arkansas was able to put three linebackers on the field for long periods of time this season. We only had to wait 9 games for that to happen.

If you are going to be running a de facto 4-2-5 all year it makes sense to hire a coach who specializes in it.

If Cross is gone, throw money at Randy Shannon. He will recruit Florida hard. His defenses are similar to the 2015 Mizzou scheme, so he could work well with BO. This program cannot get better without some solid help in recruiting.

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My gut feeling is that he stays.

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I think he stays too. But until you explained it I assumed Odom was taking over the playcalling because he felt he had to as the architect of the new defense as opposed to trying to humiliate, embarrass or undermine Cross.

I wonder if Odom will stick with the old system or try to go back to the new one in 2017?

Won't matter what scheme if he doesn't get some DLs and DEs recruited. The clock is ticking and there are none on the commit list. I believe the top JUCO guys have committed too. We are staring at the possibility of a front 4 talent gap.

They get Logan and Beckner back and I think Utsey and Jacobs will be good with another spring and summer of development.

Even if Harris decides to leave they get 5 scholarship DEs back.

I don't disagree that that recruits are needed but any DT they land in this class isn't likely to be an immediate contributor. Even if they land Graves I don't see him as a guy that is major contributor as a FR.