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2015 Defensive Depth Chart - We will be better, much better.

WastedTalent said:
While I like that CPR is getting juco recruits, I don't think you can just pencil them in as starters. There were many threads that did this last year, with as many 4 or 5 juco starters, and I don't think any of them started at the beginning of the year, and Taylor may be the only one that started all year.

With that said, yes I hope this year's jucos can be immediate impacts.
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Everyone knew that Morrissey would start at DE. Ayeni was injured before camp. So no Juco DT's were penciled in as starters. Pierson and Taylor both played pretty well. And Gabe Luna was injured.

We were hopeful that the 2 Juco's would contribute at safety. The early enrollee left school. The fall enrollee was beaten out by the Freshman Defensive Player of the Year Cotton-Moya and Mutcherson. Jordan Harris struggled as he was a fall enrollee and the decision was made to let him redshirt and get 2 good years.

If the Juco's don't pan out then we will have a tough year. If they do pan out, we can have a good year. The OP makes that pretty plain in his assessment. Tucker is not just any Juco. And neither is Leath. Tucker was Defensive player of the year in Juco for 2013. He is probably the gem of the class.
 
Tre4ISU said:
It's blind to say freshmen and sophomores will get better or it's blind to say guys coming in and outplaying them will make us better? Ok.
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Blind as in saying a bunch of JuCo's that have never taken a snap in D1 will be an improvement while also saying guys in the program will improve when there has been absolutely no evidence of player development in the program.

Having zero actual evidence to make claims of improvement is the most basic example of blind optimism possible. Hopes and wishes aren't facts.
 
Tucker will not be NG. Our DT playing the 3 technique is the key to the 4-3 over scheme we like to predominantly run. Think the 3-technique goes to Tucker & have shifts where he goes to NG & we bring in fresh at DT for passing downs, etc.

Ayeni was going to move inside last year as a result of our 2 defections. Think he may be better suited for a DE spot. With Meyers and the two returning in Taylor & Pierson, and we could have those 4 as options at DE. We have an off-season of training to work with, so maybe Meyers and/or Ayeni bulk up to an appropriate weight & strength to assist them in playing inside, then we may go that route. Whatever the case may be, we will have more options & talent and that is a good thing.
 
Stormin said:
Everyone knew that Morrissey would start at DE. Ayeni was injured before camp. So no Juco DT's were penciled in as starters. Pierson and Taylor both played pretty well. And Gabe Luna was injured.

We were hopeful that the 2 Juco's would contribute at safety. The early enrollee left school. The fall enrollee was beaten out by the Freshman Defensive Player of the Year Cotton-Moya and Mutcherson. Jordan Harris struggled as he was a fall enrollee and the decision was made to let him redshirt and get 2 good years.

If the Juco's don't pan out then we will have a tough year. If they do pan out, we can have a good year. The OP makes that pretty plain in his assessment. Tucker is not just any Juco. And neither is Leath. Tucker was Defensive player of the year in Juco for 2013. He is probably the gem of the class.
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Yes I know all about those players and their paths, but point is, they didn't start. For whatever reason, between the time they committed and game time, they didn't start.
 
I think the one thing that is clear is that there should be a few more bodies to play almost all the defensive positions, which in itself would improve the defense. A little more experience will help too. There was a lot of guys that were playing pretty banged up towards the end of the year, simply because there was no one else to put in there.
 
I like the optimism, and we should be at least somewhat better (hard to not to improve on last year). But man, I sure wish we landed some help at the LB position. Returning zero players who were even close to average Big 12 LBs is a scary thought. One thing I'd note on your depth chart - I will be shocked if more than 1 of the JC DTs ends up starting.
 
WastedTalent said:
Yes I know all about those players and their paths, but point is, they didn't start. For whatever reason, between the time they committed and game time, they didn't start.
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Last year is last year. This is a new year and we have lots more possibilities this year. Plus those players now have some experience and another off-season and spring to get ready for fall. Players generally improve as they get further along in their careers. Jeremiah George as a freshman, sophomore or junior was not as good as he was his senior year. Same goes for most of our players. The loss of Coe and Irving who were penciled in before spring to be starters was huge and left a gaping hole. The young guys we had battled well in the beginning before wearing down to injury and the grueling schedule. Everyone knows we are counting heavily on Tucker and Leath. Optimism or pessimism about them is your choice. I am cautiously optimistic about next season. A newly expanded stadium. Some exciting new players brought in to help and a return of injured players who were hoped to help last season. Along with some exciting returning young talent like Cotton-Moya, the Big 12 Freshman Defensive Player of the Year.
 
CloneIce said:
I like the optimism, and we should be at least somewhat better (hard to not to improve on last year). But man, I sure wish we landed some help at the LB position. Returning zero players who were even close to average Big 12 LBs is a scary thought. One thing I'd note on your depth chart - I will be shocked if more than 1 of the JC DTs ends up starting.
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I will be more shocked if Tucker and Leath do not end up starting. Both are highly rated Juco's. Tucker was rated the #5 Juco DT and Leath was rated #6 Juco DT. Who do you think starts instead?
 
CYphyllis said:
Blind as in saying a bunch of JuCo's that have never taken a snap in D1 will be an improvement while also saying guys in the program will improve when there has been absolutely no evidence of player development in the program.

Having zero actual evidence to make claims of improvement is the most basic example of blind optimism possible. Hopes and wishes aren't facts.
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Oh ok. So Jake McDonough didn't improve. Jeremiah George didn't improve. Deon Broomfield was always a guy who would have an NFL shot. Jeremy Reeves, at 5'7, was definitely a guy who was going to get an NFL shot. Cory Morrissey had everyone recruiting him so there wasn't development there. That's not to mention that Knott and Klein weren't all that good as freshmen or sophomores. Those are facts. Also a fact is that improve in the first 2-3 years of a players career is the greatest. Also a fact is that you had 1 starter in the back seven that wasn't a freshman or sophomore. Also a fact that Leath and Tucker both had viable offers and accolades to back up the idea that they will contribute and help. Also a fact that Ayeni had the same. Also a fact that your two JUCO guys from last year were playing pretty good football at DE by the end of the year. Also a fact that we return a 2nd team all big 12 corner and the freshman defensive player of the year.

You want to spout off about "guys who have never seen D1 football" but on the back end don't want to acknowledge we played a lot of those guys last year so, by your reasoning, they should improve.

If you want to say we won't have a good defense, that's fine. Saying there won't be any improvement, though, goes against pretty much any fact associated with the defense. Also, there's a lot of room between where we were and good. The defense could improve a lot and still not be better than average.
 
I guess the bigger question is where do we stand compared to the rest of the B12. We will probably be better than last year, unfortunately we don't get to play last year's ISU team. Every other B12 team is probably thinking that they will be better next year too if all their redshirts and incoming players are great.
 
Gotta start somewhere. I believe it will be better, and be a work in progress.


People forget while yes we were 2-10....if 3 plays go different, we're 5-7.
 
CloneIce said:
I like the optimism, and we should be at least somewhat better (hard to not to improve on last year). But man, I sure wish we landed some help at the LB position. Returning zero players who were even close to average Big 12 LBs is a scary thought. One thing I'd note on your depth chart - I will be shocked if more than 1 of the JC DTs ends up starting.
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You get Harris back who had no idea what a scheme was when he came in. Playing football wasn't his issue. His issue was having a scheme to play within. Then you have a bunch of really young guys who shouldn't have had to play. It was still on the coaches that they had to play but in a guys second or third year, they shouldn't be forced into the action they were.
 
mj4cy said:
Gotta start somewhere. I believe it will be better, and be a work in progress.


People forget while yes we were 2-10....if 3 plays go different, we're 5-7.
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True, and if not for Kirk Ferentz in-game coaching skills we could be 1-11. We are what our record says we are.
 
mj4cy said:
Gotta start somewhere. I believe it will be better, and be a work in progress.


People forget while yes we were 2-10....if 3 plays go different, we're 5-7.
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And if 2-3 plays go different, we could have been 0-12. Whats your point?
 
Same story as last season, people need to stay healthy. Remember early in the season when the defense looked a lot better against K-State and Oklahoma State? Then injuries hit: Cousins, Jensen, Tribune, and Miller. Once multiple guys took hits at defensive tackle and once Miller went down the defense was screwed. For next years defense to be good, people need to stay healthy and eligible.
 
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Our schedule for next year is much more favorable to developing JUCOs over the course of the season, with our first five games being the easiest five games. That doesn't mean we'll win them all, but at least we shouldn't have the soul-crushing beatings that we did this year.
UNI < NDSU
Iowa (JTS) < Iowa (Kinnick)
Toledo < Okie State
Kansas < Kansas State
Tech < Baylor

It's bad enough to get beat by 17+, but then to play two good games against KSU and Texas only to lose in the last minute of each, then get slaughtered by Oklahoma... It's no wonder the Kansas game went the way it did. To their credit, they at least sucked it up and played well enough to have a chance against Tech and WVU.
 
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