New Position Changes on the Defense

Appears that Ziggy has now been moved to Defensive Left Tackle and his former OLB skills are really causing havoc with the OL as he uses his footspeed and hands to quickie get around tackles and ward off their blocks.



M. Hague is playing corner as is O. Chambers and both seem to be playing well.



We are getting some serious talent on this side of the ball and could have a very disruptive defense this year.



How do you think this move will translate to performance by the defense this year?



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I saw Ziggy get stonewalled on every rush he tried last season so my analysis is that our o line still sucks.

King of hard to learn a position if you keep getting jerked around

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/53765584-77/byu-defense-spring-talent.html.csp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Kaveinga states this defense will be the best one since Bronco became head coach and states, that talent/depth wise comparable to USC. That is a very bold statement if true and may be the strength of this year's team (ie Bama relied heavily on defense last year with a great RB on offense and strong OLine but adequate QB and WR). I am not saying we are Bama and USC but a great D can win a lot of games by being opportunistic and taking advantage of turnovers.



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byucougar1 wrote:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/53765584-77/byu-defense-spring-talent.html.csp



Kaveinga states this defense will be the best one since Bronco became head coach and states, that talent/depth wise comparable to USC. That is a very bold statement if true and may be the strength of this year's team (ie Bama relied heavily on defense last year with a great RB on offense and strong OLine but adequate QB and WR). I am not saying we are Bama and USC but a great D can win a lot of games by being opportunistic and taking advantage of turnovers.



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Just aske Gary Patterson what he thinks about defense. We all saw what it did for TCU. It would be nice to duplicate that at BYU.

The Head Coach is a Defensive guru. I wish/hope we have an assistant Offensive guru to balance us out.

byucougar1 wrote:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/53765584-77/byu-defense-spring-talent.html.csp



Kaveinga states this defense will be the best one since Bronco became head coach and states, that talent/depth wise comparable to USC. That is a very bold statement if true and may be the strength of this year's team (ie Bama relied heavily on defense last year with a great RB on offense and strong OLine but adequate QB and WR). I am not saying we are Bama and USC but a great D can win a lot of games by being opportunistic and taking advantage of turnovers.



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I would love to believe Kaveinga's assessment, but the skeptic in me is dubious. How would Uona have any knowledge of how past defenses compare to the one he currently plays with? That being said, allow me to echo the words of a famous poster that once hung in the office of the FBI's greatest agent: I WANT TO BELIEVE!

Oh help my unbelief!

i doubt the dline will be that dominant this year. i feel good about the linebackers and the defenseive back though. i think our corners are very good.



my main concern is our offensive line. i have become obsessed with the fact that they seem to be what i holding back our offense. we killed crummy teams mostly becuase the play book was wide open when our line dominted the other team's dline.

I am ignoring all spring camp reports this year due to the fact that our entire starting Oline is sitting it out right now. 8 Olinemen total are out. We are fielding 235 lb freshman on the line right now. And most reports state that the line is struggling, so it calls into question the poor QB play, and the dominant D play right now. Let's check back in Fall camp when the team has recovered from the massive amounts of surgery that took place.



As to the D, I think they will be slightly better than last year. Dulan is very good, and can get to the QB better than Fangupo could. Fuga will be his usual stonewall in the middle. And our LB depth and skill is hte best BYU has ever had. We are skilled and fast on the edges--which is rare--and the interior LBs are stout and good and deep. Seriously, Kaveinga and TRee will get pushed for PT this year.



In the secondary, I love the changes. Putting Sorensen closer to the line was genius and allowing Sampson to play more cover in the secondary. This allows Sorensen to be a beast on the line--his strength, and Sampson to use his speed and cover skills. To me, this is one of the best improvements our D will see next year. Our safety play will be really good.



Our covers will be good as well. Hadley was solid for us last year and Johnson sounds like he is getting it done. I also like DQE as a back-up for Hadley, due to his size, and also sounds as if Buckner and OC are battling for the spot behind JJ, along with the recent RMs, most of whom I expect to redshirt, if they can.



This D can be really good. We just need our O to not make mistakes and be able to run it better, and I think we will a lot of games this year. This could be Bronco's best team, but it really depends on that shaky Oline, and right now, my faith in them is not super high.

It's not going to be hard to get better than our safety play last year. Craig Bills should be in the mix depending on how he comes back from the mission. I would like to see him redshirt, but if he is heads and tails better than the rest and in shape, he should be a factor at the position. He played major minutes as a freshman, and was Mr. Football for Utah coming out of high school. Dude can play safety.



I love our linebackers, but I disagree they are the best starting 4 "ever." I might agree with deepest, and best overall talent including starters and backups, but I would have to say that 2007's Brian Kehl, David Nixon, Kelly Poppinga, and Matt Doman/Terrance Hooks is still our best ever.



It seems like I say this every thread topic, so here we go again. The Dline is not expected to dominate in a 3-4. Their job is to take up space and not get pushed around. The linebackers are the playmakers in a 3-4. The Dlineman occupy as many Olineman as they can, and try not to get pushed horizontally in either direction. That's their job. That is all they do. IF they can get pressure - and that is a *big* if - then that is an A+++ job, and a bonus for the defense. Pressure comes from blitzes, tackling comes from linebackers.

With that said, the Dline is a concern, as Fangupo is NFL caliber. He will be drafted in the late rounds, and he will make some money on at least a practice squad for a couple years. I think we have enough talent with returning guys, and guys coming off missions etc, but we are extremely shallow at a position that is normally pretty deep for us with transfers, and graduations, etc. Any major injuries there will kill us.



The Oline is, and should be, a main concern coming out of last season, which saw: Virtually no running game against any team with a winning record.

Insane amounts of pressure to both quarterbacks, against any D-1 team we played.

Replacing the LT and the Center (one of whom wasn't good, at all.)

Injury problems, to an already questionable group.

Oh yeah, and our starting senior qb has never played out an entire season in his career at BYU. And the backup behind him (whomever that is) either has never seen the field, or saw the briefest of minutes in garbage time against D-2a opponents.

Other problems too, but I am already getting too depressed typing this... :~(