2025 Portal Activity
- Thread starter tleonwdm
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In very large part I agree with this. Heacock is a billion light years ahead of me in terms of understanding. And the injuries were reasons 1,2,3 and probably 4.
The one cavaet we did miss though is that rusher. Myles came in and I think tried to be that guy.
What I will also say is this - I think Jon ( and I could be wrong) I think we wanted to drop 8 for two reasons. And again, the man is so much smarter than me I'm probably way wrong. But defensively speaking.... the reason you'd drop 8 is two fold. Beyond the general "bend but don't break defensive approach" that is.
A) You have a bunch of injuries so bringing pressure is tricky because no you risk getting out of position or just are not that good at it. Its not as simple as bringing people. Yes, if you bring more than they can block, someone's free, but if you bring 4, I could run into Dylan Barrett (when he's healthy) full speed and I'm not going anywhere right now. There's a skill set to blitzing. Part timing, part just skill.
B) The second reason I can think of is this - my strength is my secondary. Especially with injuries that happened to LBs. Therefore, I'm going to drop, and MAKE you to play into my strength.
Now, that only works if we win on 1st and 2nd down, granted. But I think it was two fold, or three fold to go with the bend but don't break in general. Young backers / safeties at times who might get out of position with pressure and might not be good at it and B, trying to force the offense to play to his strengths where as bringing pressure, if you don't get there, can open holes in the secondary, no matter how good.
I have zero fears about the defense long term. I think we do need to find either a DE or LB who can become that 4th rusher in passing downs or help us get a few more TFL's to get the offense behind the sticks but overall, I have absolutely zero concerns regarding the 3-3-5 and our defense.
We had a ton of injuries, had some youth, and had a little bit of a step back defensively because of that. And that did show in a few areas (TFLs, sacks, rush defense) but we also managed to do pretty well against K State's rushing attack. So I have no concerns regarding out ability to once again be towards the top of the Big 12 next year
He's vey raw but incredibly athletic. If they stick with the QB run game they tried doing a little at the end of the year, hes a great fit.
If they try a more traditional offense, then no, he's not special
Jirehl Brock was also a 4 star and actually ranked higher than Breece. Another one who didn’t live up to the 4 star hype.
There was a post I think by @brentblum in a thread earlier this season about how our defense used to rank in the top 30/40 in the nation in TFLs when our defense was really good, but the last 2-3 years that ranking has gotten a lot worse. We definitely haven't had as good of LBs the last few years and injuries this year obviously played a huge part in that, along with not having elite edge rushers like JaQuan Bailey or Will McDonald that can get off blocks quickly.
I will say it was very frustrating hearing this off-season about how ISU was going to run a 4 man front, and then hardly ever seeing that actually happen, like having fewer LBs on the field with how many injuries we had seemed to make a lot of sense, but hard to question Heacock too much with his track record.
I'm mean I'm 5'9" and could touch the rim, barely, in high school and was never a good athlete. No doubt I could have done that at his height and length back then
This seems like a bad decision for this kid …
One year left?? Where is he going? Does he want money ??
Coaches could have told him they are going to recruit over him in the portal and he won’t get much playing time. Never know what goes on behind the scenes
He's already graduated from ISU.
Look at the LB room, other than Ellis there are 9 kids who got snaps in varying degrees. Can't blame Ellis if he wants to continue his education and increase his snaps.
We don't have the depth for a 4 man front, frankly and won't for a while at the least. Even enterring this year, we have "barely" had it with TO and say JR at the 3 technique and Hawk / Orange at the nose and if anyone got hurt, we'd be screwed.
Not entirely sure to it's fair to say Brock didn't live up the hype when he was stuck behind a first round NFL talent for his entire time here. He didn't get his senior year to show us what he was capable of.
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The biggest issue this season on defense was injuries. The LB’s were decimated and the DL had injuries too. I have no doubt the defense will be better at stopping the run and getting pressure next year.
Sometimes run fits were there but no tackle was made and sometimes young LB’s took the wrong gap and gave up long runs. EVERYBODY has a gap responsibility and they must trust each other to do their job. It’s easy to say, but when the damn gaps move during the play experience is needed.
Ughhh, Jacob Ellis was one of the few linebackers who produced well this year. He had 4.5 tackles for loss and could rush the passer.
I'm not going to panic, but I would panic a lot of its a lot of the same with no talent infusion. I've been on record as saying we cannot count on Willich and Bacon to stay healthy b/c they've both had a history of knee issues. We need extra guys, or had better hope we have some guys coming in and off redshirts who can help.
I feel like Will Hawthorne will play early some, Cael Brezina would start, we still need two other impact players. We need a quality DE in the worst way. Our pass rush was a wet fart this year.
Good portal get for Houston. Big 12 is gonna load up this off-season.
demoncore1031
Well-Known Member
He's fun to watch. One of the best running QBs in the country. Which Lobos games did you go to?
