With games coming up vs USC/UCLA/CU before Wazzu, this may not present itself for a while..........but our defensive scheme, matching recruiting to our scheme, matching the recruits as they develop to our scheme and/or adjusting our scheme to the recruiting misses as they present themselves have been serious issues for 2 seasons now.
In 2014 AFTER playing a game or 2 and realizing that we needed to make significant/serious adjustments, we went to the jumbo front that worked so well.
There is definitely some tinkering going on currently to find a happy point but we are so far from it it is embarrassing. (104th in scoring D, 120th in Total D, 128th+++++in Passing D). One caveat has to be mentioned that we have faced the top 2 passing offenses as well as #2 & #11 in scoring offenses but we have also faced NAU (lost to Western Illinois) & UTSA (lost to Old Dominion).
One of the scheme issues is the Devil (as we all know, the Devil is a hybrid DE/LB that sometimes rushes the passer with his hand in the dirt and sometimes has coverage responsibilities and drops back into the flat or covers the wheel route.
When Subtyl did not make it to ASU (our 4th such Devil to fail to do so) we moved our most promising defensive lineman (DE JoJo Wicker) to Devil. He remained there for the majority of Fall camp but has played a true DE for most of the first 4 games while AJ Latu has been taking many of the Devil reps when the down/distance calls for more of a true DE's run/contain responsibilities and he is then substituted for by Crump who is more of a pure pass rusher
With 14:21 left in the game vs Cal (and Cal leading 27-20) they had the ball on their 2 yard line with Webb standing 4 yards deep in his endzone in shotgun. It was 3rd and 13. Our defensive front is L-R AJ Latu, Tashon Smallwood, Ami Latu and Wicker who was standing up.
The center snaps the ball and Webb drops back to 8 yards deep in the endzone. There are 2 WRs split wide right and covered by Orr on the outside man and Moeak on the inside man. Moeak's man streaks straight up the middle and there is help from Perry. Orr's man, Hansen, is jammed by Orr at the LOS and he breaks in at the 5 yard line with Orr following and most likely able to limit a reception to 5 yards or even less.
All that sounds fine.....here's the problem. On the left side of the offensive formation Wicker is the only one of the 4 DL that is not in a 3 point stance. There are 3 receivers lined up in front of him. 1 on the LOS directly in front of him, another just outside the shoulder of the 1st and 1 yard deep in the endzone and the 3rd directly behind the 1st and 3 yards deep in the endzone.
The ball is snapped and Latu/Smallwood/Latu rush 3 DL on 5 OL. Wicker is looking left down the LOS to communicate and quickly moves his head back to see the ball in Webb's hands. Wicker stands fully upright and looks right towards the sideline (where Gump is in coverage on 1 of the 3 receivers that broke outside) to communicate as all 3 receivers head upfield in Wicker's direction. He doesn't bump any of them, he doesn't follow any of them and he waits a full 2 seconds before he begins to rush the passer. Another of the 3 receivers goes further downfield before breaking outside and Calhoun follows him. The 3rd gets behind Fiso across the middle and Webb releases before Rhodes can come up in time. Result--20 yard completion to the 22.
Wicker was still a full 5 yards away from Webb by the time he released the ball. Webb had plenty of time standing 8 yards deep in his endzone!!!! We have 3 DL rushing against 5 OL!!!!!!! Then after 2 seconds Wicker decides to join the sack/safety party just as Webb has determined that Hansen will not pick up the 1st down, Singleton is double covered by Moeak/Perry and he has an open man in the middle of the field.
My issue it tri-fold (at least).
1)In this down/distance/time of game/score/location on the field-------only rushing 3 on 5 OL is handing it to them
2)Was this Wicker's mistake or was he supposed to delay 2 seconds, not bump or cover anyone and then rush with little-to-no chance of impacting the play?
3)Was Wicker a Devil or a DE? Why was he not in a 3 point stance?
4)Why was Fiso in on 3rd and 13 with 5 WRs on the field
5)Against teams like Cal/TTU/Wazzu why don't we move a nickel like Robinson in nearly every play? We already had mis-matches with Calhoun and Moeak trying to cover WRs and who knows what Wicker's responsibility was!?!?!?!?
In 2014 AFTER playing a game or 2 and realizing that we needed to make significant/serious adjustments, we went to the jumbo front that worked so well.
There is definitely some tinkering going on currently to find a happy point but we are so far from it it is embarrassing. (104th in scoring D, 120th in Total D, 128th+++++in Passing D). One caveat has to be mentioned that we have faced the top 2 passing offenses as well as #2 & #11 in scoring offenses but we have also faced NAU (lost to Western Illinois) & UTSA (lost to Old Dominion).
One of the scheme issues is the Devil (as we all know, the Devil is a hybrid DE/LB that sometimes rushes the passer with his hand in the dirt and sometimes has coverage responsibilities and drops back into the flat or covers the wheel route.
When Subtyl did not make it to ASU (our 4th such Devil to fail to do so) we moved our most promising defensive lineman (DE JoJo Wicker) to Devil. He remained there for the majority of Fall camp but has played a true DE for most of the first 4 games while AJ Latu has been taking many of the Devil reps when the down/distance calls for more of a true DE's run/contain responsibilities and he is then substituted for by Crump who is more of a pure pass rusher
With 14:21 left in the game vs Cal (and Cal leading 27-20) they had the ball on their 2 yard line with Webb standing 4 yards deep in his endzone in shotgun. It was 3rd and 13. Our defensive front is L-R AJ Latu, Tashon Smallwood, Ami Latu and Wicker who was standing up.
The center snaps the ball and Webb drops back to 8 yards deep in the endzone. There are 2 WRs split wide right and covered by Orr on the outside man and Moeak on the inside man. Moeak's man streaks straight up the middle and there is help from Perry. Orr's man, Hansen, is jammed by Orr at the LOS and he breaks in at the 5 yard line with Orr following and most likely able to limit a reception to 5 yards or even less.
All that sounds fine.....here's the problem. On the left side of the offensive formation Wicker is the only one of the 4 DL that is not in a 3 point stance. There are 3 receivers lined up in front of him. 1 on the LOS directly in front of him, another just outside the shoulder of the 1st and 1 yard deep in the endzone and the 3rd directly behind the 1st and 3 yards deep in the endzone.
The ball is snapped and Latu/Smallwood/Latu rush 3 DL on 5 OL. Wicker is looking left down the LOS to communicate and quickly moves his head back to see the ball in Webb's hands. Wicker stands fully upright and looks right towards the sideline (where Gump is in coverage on 1 of the 3 receivers that broke outside) to communicate as all 3 receivers head upfield in Wicker's direction. He doesn't bump any of them, he doesn't follow any of them and he waits a full 2 seconds before he begins to rush the passer. Another of the 3 receivers goes further downfield before breaking outside and Calhoun follows him. The 3rd gets behind Fiso across the middle and Webb releases before Rhodes can come up in time. Result--20 yard completion to the 22.
Wicker was still a full 5 yards away from Webb by the time he released the ball. Webb had plenty of time standing 8 yards deep in his endzone!!!! We have 3 DL rushing against 5 OL!!!!!!! Then after 2 seconds Wicker decides to join the sack/safety party just as Webb has determined that Hansen will not pick up the 1st down, Singleton is double covered by Moeak/Perry and he has an open man in the middle of the field.
My issue it tri-fold (at least).
1)In this down/distance/time of game/score/location on the field-------only rushing 3 on 5 OL is handing it to them
2)Was this Wicker's mistake or was he supposed to delay 2 seconds, not bump or cover anyone and then rush with little-to-no chance of impacting the play?
3)Was Wicker a Devil or a DE? Why was he not in a 3 point stance?
4)Why was Fiso in on 3rd and 13 with 5 WRs on the field
5)Against teams like Cal/TTU/Wazzu why don't we move a nickel like Robinson in nearly every play? We already had mis-matches with Calhoun and Moeak trying to cover WRs and who knows what Wicker's responsibility was!?!?!?!?
