Recruiting on Defense

[isucy86]

I know our defense only gave up 14 points last night, but that was a pretty bad Kent State team.

I hope that PR & staff are hitting the JUCO's hard. We have 8 starters graduating on that unit & need some immediate help. IMO Rhoads needs a complete upgrade of the 2 deeps on the D-line. I would bring in 3 JUCO DT's & 3 JUCO DE's. I would also sign a HS player at each DL position. Ten d-line recruits might seem extreme, the only DL underclassmen I thought showed any potential last night was Laing.

I had hopes for guys like Johnson, Alburtis and Black - but if the former 2 can't get up to 290lbs, I just don't think they can help. Same goes for Maggitt- he needs to be able to get up to around 255lbs. IMO our DL needs to go at least 275, 300, 290 and 255 across the front.

 

[isuno1fan]

Maggitt will be solid. The rest I'm not sold on. We need MAJOR improvement and I'm not sure it's coming.

 

[CyTom]

Kent State only score 7 when the game mattered.

 

[Steve]

I know our defense only gave up 14 points last night, but that was a pretty bad Kent State team.

I hope that PR & staff are hitting the JUCO's hard. We have 8 starters graduating on that unit & need some immediate help. IMO Rhoads needs a complete upgrade of the 2 deeps on the D-line. I would bring in 3 JUCO DT's & 3 JUCO DE's. I would also sign a HS player at each DL position. Ten d-line recruits might seem extreme, the only DL underclassmen I thought showed any potential last night was Laing.

I had hopes for guys like Johnson, Alburtis and Black - but if the former 2 can't get up to 290lbs, I just don't think they can help. Same goes for Maggitt- he needs to be able to get up to around 255lbs. IMO our DL needs to go at least 275, 300, 290 and 255 across the front.

Bringing in Tuba turned out great. Chris Lyle was a 3 year guy who is making an impact this year after not doing much in his 1st two seasons. Other than that, most of the Juco DL recruits have been busts. I'd still try to bring in a couple and hope you get lucky, but plan on the guys already here to get most of the playing time.

 

[twojman]

I hope there is an OL or two that can make the switch to DL. I can't believe there was not one DL recruit in the last class. Without a decent DL there is no way this defense can be average.

 

[Clonedogg]

I hear what ur saying but this is the first year in this system for the young players but I don't know if they will come through in years to come but juco's can really be a crap shoot. And they're gone in 2 yrs I would recruit equal amount from both H.S. / juco. Or we will always be on the juco train not a recipe for long term success (exception k-state 90's) as for their weight look at Iowa they always have lighter interior DL and good ones too.

 

[Clonefan32]

The best reason I can think of for our lack of recruiting/developing interior linemen, is that we are in the process of changing to a 2-5-4 defense...

 

[BryceC]

I'd like to see 8 JC kids in the front 7 recruited. Usually I'm not a big JC guy but we need guys ready to play in those units.

 

[BEACHBUM]

I think we need to set a good base for defensive linemen. If we are going to recruit juco linemen then we should look to get two highschoolers for each one brought here IMHO.

 

[DJK15]

We have 8 starters graduating...

That might not be a bad thing..

 

[Aclone]

That might not be a bad thing..

I always hate it when people say things like this--it implies that the guys who aren't starting are somehow magically better...

 

[ilovetheclones]

That might not be a bad thing..

so when are you going to change your name on here so i can skim past those comments too?

 

[BEACHBUM]

I took a look at the stats from last nights game. Was unable to see any of it since I was in St. Louis. The stats do not seem to reflect our impressive victory. I was a little shocked and worried. On paper it looks like a game where we had a large amount of opprotunities to blow this game out and failed. Is this true? Can anyone comment on this who saw or listened to the game last night? I would appreciate it

 

[Aclone]

so when are you going to change your name on here so i can skim past those comments too?

That's called the "ignore" option...

i know that we need help, but the OP's numbers are ludicrous--would devastate us when that many DL completed their eligibility at the same time. Two juco ends, maybe a tackle, and complement with high school kids who can contribute right away would lead to a more balanced class.

 

[Aclone]

I took a look at the stats from last nights game. Was unable to see any of it since I was in St. Louis. The stats do not seem to reflect our impressive victory. I was a little shocked and worried. On paper it looks like a game where we had a large amount of opprotunities to blow this game out and failed. Is this true? Can anyone comment on this who saw or listened to the game last night? I would appreciate it

No reason to hijack the thread...

http://www.cyclonefanatic.com/forum/football/66663-official-kent-st-isu-post-game-thread.html

BTW--we DID blow out the game...they got a weak late TD, and 34-14 STILL was a blowout. Don't worry about anything.

 

[agronclone]

i'm not sold that size matters. maybe on the interior, but speed can pay dividends on the outside. height helps out a lot too, because wingspans can help block a lot of passes. our linebackers seem like they know how to play and tackle, and that helps out the line, also. my concern is that there is not enough pressure on the qb, and to get that, we end up rushing our linebackers which opens up passing lanes. i don't know about juco players, some are solid and some just don't seem to care. i think i'd rather have high school players that at least are trying their butts off because they picked isu for a reason.

 

[Wesley]

Playing the big boys next year may demand jucos since freshmen would have to play right away.

 

[isucy86]

[/quote]
i know that we need help, but the OP's numbers are ludicrous--would devastate us when that many DL completed their eligibility at the same time. Two juco ends, maybe a tackle, and complement with high school kids who can contribute right away would lead to a more balanced class.[/quote]

I agree bringing in 6 Juco DL is a bit extreme, but if this team is going to be competitive in 2010 & 2011 our DL has to make major strides. In my original post I also call for signing 4 HS DL this spring and I would do the same in the next recruiting class. That way when the 6 JUCO lineman graduate, a kid like Walter Woods is a RS Junior and the HS kids recruited this fall would be RS sophs.

As for DL, I don't think you can count on HS kids to come in and contribute right away as Big 12 quality lineman.

 

[CloneIce]

I took a look at the stats from last nights game. Was unable to see any of it since I was in St. Louis. The stats do not seem to reflect our impressive victory. I was a little shocked and worried. On paper it looks like a game where we had a large amount of opprotunities to blow this game out and failed. Is this true? Can anyone comment on this who saw or listened to the game last night? I would appreciate it

Uh we let up on them really early, even played Tiller in the 1st half when we could have ran it up on them. Played a ton of reserves on offense and defense in the 2nd half and played it real conservative on offense the rest of the game after got up 34-7. Could have easily scored into the 40s, it was a pretty dominating victory.

 

[isucy86]

Size Helps

i'm not sold that size matters. maybe on the interior, but speed can pay dividends on the outside. height helps out a lot too, because wingspans can help block a lot of passes. our linebackers seem like they know how to play and tackle, and that helps out the line, also. my concern is that there is not enough pressure on the qb, and to get that, we end up rushing our linebackers which opens up passing lanes. i don't know about juco players, some are solid and some just don't seem to care. i think i'd rather have high school players that at least are trying their butts off because they picked isu for a reason.

Based on what I've seen in the 3 games this year, our d-line is getting pushed around. I agree size isn't everything, but if a kid is going to play DT at 270 lbs he better be tough as nails, quick and be compact. Basically a wrestler playing DT. Iowa had that in Mitch King, but Bailey Johnson and Alburtis are a lean 268lbs.

I look at our DE's in Lyle (255lbs) and Parker(250) - that just isn't big enough. If they were dominating pash rushers it might be another thing- but their not. Against a decent rushing attack they just get over powered by 300+ lb OT. IMO the strong side DE needs to be around 270lbs to be a strong run stopper and the weakside kid can be Lyle/Parker sized.

Heck on passing downs, I'm not so sure that Lyle shouldn't move inside and bring in Maggitt or Laing.