re: AU's Jay Tate 2012 defensive depth chart predictions

AU MLB position fricked

WDE's liver stacked

I don't agree with Bell (Therezie), Evans (Frost), Blackson (Wright), and Equae (Ford) starting. Looks good other than that, though.

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Jake gets a bad rap

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Maybe I should hold my tongue on Jake and give him some more time, but he looked out matched even before he hurt himself last year. He allows himself to be blocked too easily and struggles to ever shed a block. He also has poor coverage skills from my not so expert viewing of his play.

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At this point, I would have to agree. Maybe that might be contributed to the weak d line play last year but he didnt impress me at all either. Hopefully that changes.

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Re: Bates; Gone were the fruitless dives of yesteryear, replaced by a more refined approach to tackling.

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I'll believe it when I see it.

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I'll believe it when I see it.

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Tate is claiming that Bates proved it last season and was the defensive MVP. I thought Bates played ok last year for an undersized LB, but I think Tate is much more impressed than I was.

I'm going to wish the best for the kid and try not to bad mouth him, I just don't have much confidence at the moment. Like I said, I hope he fulfills his potential and proves me wrong.

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Whitehead.

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A couple observations...

I'd be shocked if we had a true freshman starting at RT, no matter how good he was in high school. I think Slade is better than Tate gives him credit for. He was still only a RFr last year.

Bates definitely played better as the year went on. He ended up with over 104 total tackles, 8.5 TFL, 2.5 sacks, 3 pass break ups, 9 QB hurries and a fumble recovery. Not bad for a pretty undersized LB. I think he'll end up having a pretty good SR season.

And while Holland did struggle at times last year, I think he was still learning, plus I think Roof didn't really demand out of the defense what BVG will, and I think that will help him. I also think having a much better DL will help the LB's tremendously. Having holes being blown wide open in the line last year meant that Holland and Bates and the LB's had to take on untouched pulling guards and TE's with head starts more often than not. I don't think that will be the case this year.

I wouldn't be surprised to see McKinzey be #2 on the MLB depth chart by the end of the year. I also think that if Frost isn't the #1 guy, he'll probably end up playing just as much as Evans, if he gets the start.

I think our DB's will have a pretty big jump forward in production for two reasons. They've all pretty much got enough on field experience to really start progressing, and if our DL plays as good as I think they will, that takes some of the pressure off of the DB's.

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I expect to see a big improvement in AU's D from last year to this one, however, still probably a year away from building an elite D.

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Same expectations. The DL has a chance to be one of the best, a lot of experience and a ton of talent there.

Also the DTs are going to play much better, not just due to being older but in a better system. Chizik and Roof liked the DTs to cover Gaps and our DTs aren't big enough to just eat holes. When BVG came on board he actually thought a couple of our DTs were busts at this level. His idea changed when he told them to get penetration and try to disrupt plays instead of just hold a gap.

Secondary should finally take a good step forward with the DTs helping get pressure plus the experience they have. Safety play is an area of concern but should come up some this season as well.