When I first heard that Jake McDonough was already being moved inside to DT, I really questioned the switch. I was really hopeful that Jake would give us that big pass rushing end we've needed in a long time.
If you look at a lot of good teams across the country, their DEs are up around 260-275 lbs. Look at Iowa's over the years. We've had DEs that used to be LBs and are therefore on the small side. Kurtis Taylor was recruited as a LB, and Parker initially was thought to be a LB as well. Tyson Smith played DE and LB both.
So when I heard that Jake was up to 265 lbs, I was thrilled to see we would be getting a big DE finally. The same for Cleyon Laing.... but he's already been moved to DT as well it sounds like?
And then we go out and bring in a guy like Maggitt to play DE, and he wasn't even 200 lbs in his senior year in HS. I see he is up to 217 lbs now and hopefully he will be able to add some good weight because I think he can be pretty good.
And then you look at our LBs. Some of our LBs we are getting would be considered safety size guys for schools like USC or Ohio St. I'm not saying they won't be good, but it just seems like our DE's are big LBs, and our LBs are big safeties?
So then... here I am reading this year's Sports Illustrated college football preview magazine yesterday at the doctor's office, and they have a huge article in there about the "spread" offense and how it is dominating college football. They talk with Mike Leach of TT and he makes the comment that if you don't have speed on your defense... you cannot stop the spread offense. He comments on how they spread defenses out so much that you basically are getting one-on-one coverage all over the field and if their WR makes the catch and makes that one defender miss... then he's gone for the TD. And on their O-line, their linemen are spread out about 2-3 times wider than the standard offensive linemen would be. This means that the opponents DEs have a lot farther to go to get to the QB.
So all of this leads to defenses becoming somewhat smaller and a lot faster. One guy they talk about is the DE Selvie from South Florida. I guess he was just a stud last year, but he's a 6'4" 245 lb DE. He's not the 6'4" 275 lb guy like Matt Roth was for Iowa. He's much more athletic and quick than he is big. So I think this may be the direction we are headed in as well?
If Maggitt can get up to 240-245 lbs, then maybe he can become a dominant DE against the spread? And if our LBs are 215 lbs versus 245 lbs, then maybe they can cover the entire field better? Gone are the days of Big Ten trashmouth football where the biggest and strongest team wins. Look at how the undersized Applacian St and Oregon teams just destroyed the classic trashmouth Michigan team last season. Even the Big Ten is now becoming a spread league. Northwestern, Indiana, Purdue, and now Michigan and eventually Ohio St with Pryor at QB will be running the spread. Iowa is behind the times somewhat... which I like.
Is this somewhat accurate, or am I crazy?
If you look at a lot of good teams across the country, their DEs are up around 260-275 lbs. Look at Iowa's over the years. We've had DEs that used to be LBs and are therefore on the small side. Kurtis Taylor was recruited as a LB, and Parker initially was thought to be a LB as well. Tyson Smith played DE and LB both.
So when I heard that Jake was up to 265 lbs, I was thrilled to see we would be getting a big DE finally. The same for Cleyon Laing.... but he's already been moved to DT as well it sounds like?
And then we go out and bring in a guy like Maggitt to play DE, and he wasn't even 200 lbs in his senior year in HS. I see he is up to 217 lbs now and hopefully he will be able to add some good weight because I think he can be pretty good.
And then you look at our LBs. Some of our LBs we are getting would be considered safety size guys for schools like USC or Ohio St. I'm not saying they won't be good, but it just seems like our DE's are big LBs, and our LBs are big safeties?
So then... here I am reading this year's Sports Illustrated college football preview magazine yesterday at the doctor's office, and they have a huge article in there about the "spread" offense and how it is dominating college football. They talk with Mike Leach of TT and he makes the comment that if you don't have speed on your defense... you cannot stop the spread offense. He comments on how they spread defenses out so much that you basically are getting one-on-one coverage all over the field and if their WR makes the catch and makes that one defender miss... then he's gone for the TD. And on their O-line, their linemen are spread out about 2-3 times wider than the standard offensive linemen would be. This means that the opponents DEs have a lot farther to go to get to the QB.
So all of this leads to defenses becoming somewhat smaller and a lot faster. One guy they talk about is the DE Selvie from South Florida. I guess he was just a stud last year, but he's a 6'4" 245 lb DE. He's not the 6'4" 275 lb guy like Matt Roth was for Iowa. He's much more athletic and quick than he is big. So I think this may be the direction we are headed in as well?
If Maggitt can get up to 240-245 lbs, then maybe he can become a dominant DE against the spread? And if our LBs are 215 lbs versus 245 lbs, then maybe they can cover the entire field better? Gone are the days of Big Ten trashmouth football where the biggest and strongest team wins. Look at how the undersized Applacian St and Oregon teams just destroyed the classic trashmouth Michigan team last season. Even the Big Ten is now becoming a spread league. Northwestern, Indiana, Purdue, and now Michigan and eventually Ohio St with Pryor at QB will be running the spread. Iowa is behind the times somewhat... which I like.
Is this somewhat accurate, or am I crazy?
