I was curious about the depth of the LB group and how it affected the season. The roster lists 17 LB’s and 0 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 6 Sophomores & 7 Freshmen. Brezina stands out as a true freshman. I was high on Imming when he signed & wonder if he has had injury issues. Wonder how we missed out having 4 or 5 Seniors and if that has been one of the reasons the D against the run has slipped this year. The lack of QB pressure with a 3 man rush is frustrating but I get what Heacock’s D is doing, it work’s better when one of the 3 is a NFL 1st round rush end. The theory is that the LB’s are athletic and experienced enough to drop back and cover the underneath area. Makes me wonder again if the lack of an experienced Senior class played into this being a weak area. Also explains why Heacock seldom likes to blitz a LB to create pressure. Just my take and I expect the D to perform well in Arlington and give ISU the ability to take the next step.
LB’s & 3 down DL’s
- Thread starter swiacy
- Start date
We're going to have fantastic depth and a great rotation next year. The injuries are, without question, the biggest reason we struggled in run D.
One of my gripes about the defense is despite dropping into coverage 90% of the time I don't see many passes broken up by the backers.
I thought it not only killed our run defense, but it killed our pass rush. The 3rd-4th string linebackers just weren't good blitzers. We tried to blitz early against Kansas and it was a disaster. Couldn't get home at all and resulted in the secondary getting torched. Basically forced us to only rush 3 the rest of the game and take our medicine....which also didn't work.
After getting some LBers back healthy, our blitz packages have actually worked and the run defense is a lot more sound.
Not a coincidence that our run defense looked much better once McLaughlin came back and got his feet under him.
Besides injuries to the LBs core the biggest problem this defense, is lack of pressure on the QB by the front 3. We allow a QB to sit in the pocket, scan the field and pick out guy that is open and then deliver the ball. You could put 5 NFL caliber DB's back there and they would struggle when the QB has all day.
The defense needs to evolve and start either zone blitzing or coming at the QB from all angles to confuse him more. We struggled against KSU with the DEs stepping down inside and not keeping contain, they are not setting the edge and maintaining it, thereby giving the QB a lane to run to the outside. The inexperienced LB's are struggling coming up and filling the gap on the outside or are just out of position, which opens up holes that allows for big runs by the QB.
The defense needs to evolve and start either zone blitzing or coming at the QB from all angles to confuse him more. We struggled against KSU with the DEs stepping down inside and not keeping contain, they are not setting the edge and maintaining it, thereby giving the QB a lane to run to the outside. The inexperienced LB's are struggling coming up and filling the gap on the outside or are just out of position, which opens up holes that allows for big runs by the QB.
Despite not getting pressure on the QB when we drop 8, which we do regularly, we are leading the BigXII by a mile in pass defense (ypg) and are #3 nationally. Run defense has been a much much bigger issue
Played
- Ellis (12 games)
- Ebel (12 games)
- Sadowsky (11 games)
- Imming (11 games)
- Goodwin (10 games)
- Lovett (8 games)
- Barnes (7 games)
- Brezina (7 games
- Klosterman (4 games)
- McLaughlin (3 games)
- Reinicke (3 games)
- Cook (1 game)
- Bacon (1 game)
Have not play
- Willich (injured knee)
- Inglis (freshman)
- Miller (freshman)
- McShane (freshman)
are you thinking of Willich? according to Cyclones dot com, Imming is one of the few linebackers that's played double digit games this season.
Imming I know is in on the kick return unit. His number is announced as 1 as Jackson is in there also
Also not a coincidence, we got Big Citrus back after he missed the KU game, and I'm pretty sure he was limited v TTech. I'm not sure that gets pointed out enough. He's a difference maker out there.
Our defense getting healthy and more experienced right now is a huge positive. I'm very optimistic about the CCG.
I don't believe our DE's are asked to keep contain in most situations. Versus run they spill pullers to the OLB's and Safeties, versus pass they have a lot of freedom unless there's a pass game called.
Does anything really think we are the #3 ranked passing defense? Just watch the games and we allow WR and TE wide open all over the field. Teams have figured out that they can run the ball against us this season, and that is what they are doing, which in turn means fewer passes and therefore inflated stats on the side of the defense.
Stats are a tool to give a snap shot of a team, nothing more, and ISU has struggled this year with allowing teams to eat us up throwing the ball down the field, because we allow the QB too much time in the pocket.
Must be, because they sure do not set the edge and maintain it. Saturday that is going to be the game, we cannot allow their QB all day in the pocket or their rb to get outside with a full head of steam. He reminds me a lot of Johnson from EIU, that once he gets going, he is hard to bring down and will run throw an arm tackle. You have to hit him low and not allow him to get outside.
So you trust your eyes more than the data? Yes, I believe we have a Top 10 passing defense, because the numbers show we have a Top 10 passing defense
