[Husker] The Talk about Next Year's DBs and LBs

[Duane Feldman]

Doiug, while we have only one potential AC player on the D-Line, I don't think the line is the biggest problem with our defense.  We have a decent run defense ESPECIALLY IF you rule out about 10-12 running plays by the other teams.  Like the passing game, it is the big play that is killing NU, not teams consistently moving the ball on the Huskers.  My interpretation is that the line shuts down most of the running plays, but every team has plays that get thru the contain.  It is up to the safeties to make sure those plays are held to 10-20 yard gains, and don't become 50 yard gains or more.  Asante does a reasonable job of limiting those "explosive plays" but the FS (O'Hanlon for the most part) is less successful.  Conversely, most of the explosive pass plays probably fall on Asante while O'Hanlon does a somewhat better job of controllling pass play disasters.  Historically Mike Brown, Mike Minter and others have been excellent at controlling
 both types of disasterous plays.  Unfortunately, NU can't rely on one for run defense and the other for pass defense as they must cover different parts of the field.

Next year, we have Turner, Suh, and Allen returning as starters and these guys have been looking better than last year.  Add in Moore and Baker S and I expect the first line to be pretty solid.  Only Suh has any shot at AC, but they should be consistently good.  Depth is a bit of a problem, but Merideth and Williams should prove to be up and comers at DE.  Backup DTs are more of a problem past the top three.  I do agree, we are still not getting enough QB pressure when playing a good O-line, but the line and the corners are the strongest part of the defense right now.  If our LB's and safeties were better, we could augment the efforts of the line with more blitzes or use more zone coverage, but we can't.

I was hoping that Bo could raise this defense to about #40 in the country (from near dead last), but we are #80 this week after the OU fiasco.  Playing KU may not help much but then we get KSU and CU so those numbers might improve to as high as #60 by year end.  Not great, but improvement nonetheless.

Next year, expect more improvement.  IF the LB and safety issues can be resolved, a D in the 30-40 range is possible (but keep in mind that the top D in the Big 12 is #39/Texas due to all the spread offenses).

In short, I think you are mistakenly blaming the d-line for many of the problems on defense.  The rest of the D should be as good.

Duane Feldman



----- Original Message ----
From: "Martin, Douglas W." <MartinDW at stlukes.org>
Folks, you are missing a bigger picture issue.  None of this will make
any difference unless we upgrade our defensive line substantially; and I
don't mean just plug in some new players but we need tackles who are
consistent and stalwarts and who can create havoc.  We need ends who
don't get sucked in with every little ball fake and who can actually run
with some degree of urgency to at least put some degree of concern into
an opponents mind with wide running plays and quarterback run/pass
options.