Problems with our defense past two games

WylieTexasTider

All-American
Sep 24, 2006
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The backups just haven't stepped up enough to be able to do that...
Earl, are the backups 'over hyped' and not that good, just not picking up the system, or, do they just need more time? Doesn't bode well for next year if we couldn't beat a 1 win WCU while sitting AJ, Lacey and Cooper on offense and Millner & Perry on D. LC, & Gino are gonna be needed next year, especially
 

BamaHoosier

All-American
Jan 17, 2011
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Noblesville Indiana
-Biggest thing that has hurt us is the lack of a solid second corner. DMilli is an elite cover corner, but I think he realizes at times he is our only playmaker in the secondary. That causes him to take more chances, and it gets burned more than he normally would. Belue is ok, but he lacks the instinct that a corner needs to succeed at a higher level, and beyond those two, we have no depth. Not only do we not have a solid second corner, we haven't had a solid nickel corner emerge either. Fulton has never really developed, and Vinnie just isn't athletic enough to have to fill that role. Think about last year, we had Dre, Dee, and throw in Menzie there, and you have an almost impenetrable wall in the secondary. 09 had Arenas, Jackson, and a couple of others who contributed heavily. This year, we just haven't really had anyone else step up, and that to me is our biggest problem.

-Another thing that has hurt us is the disappearance of Robert Lester. At one point he was one of the best ball hawking safeties in the game. He was an All-American type talent, and he was supposed to be one of the leaders on our defense. He's had his moments this year, but for the most part he has been almost invisible. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I have heard his name called this year, and he is far to talented not to making a difference. For our secondary to succeed, we really need Lester to play up to the levels that we all know he can.

-A lot of our tackling issues have been because of poor angles being taken by the defense. Sometimes they are trying to hard to make a huge play instead of making a sure tackle, sometimes they are just underestimating the speed of the offense. Either way it's an easy mistake to fix, and we haven't done it yet.

My two cents, and there are probably other reasons, but those are the biggest ones that stand out to me.
 

WylieTexasTider

All-American
Sep 24, 2006
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-Another thing that has hurt us is the disappearance of Robert Lester. At one point he was one of the best ball hawking safeties in the game. He was an All-American type talent, and he was supposed to be one of the leaders on our defense. He's had his moments this year, but for the most part he has been almost invisible. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I have heard his name called this year, and he is far to talented not to making a difference. For our secondary to succeed, we really need Lester to play up to the levels that we all know he can.
Kinda makes you wonder if he is one of the ones Earl referenced as being beat up and only in there b/c he is better at 50% than someone else at 100%. If nothing else the play of the secondary and in ability of guys to step up should be a sign to recruits out there, if I come and bust my butt, PT is there to be had.
 

lincoln_osiris

1st Team
Feb 11, 2009
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We are finally playing teams good enough to challenge us and some of the deficiencies we were concerned with to start the year are showing. A&M is one of the top offenses in the country and is doing it against SEC defenses. Over half of the starters from last years defense are starters in the NFL now. Let that sink in. I can't emphasize enough how good Barron was for us. A player like him is such a huge difference maker.
 

WMack4Bama

Administrator
Staff member
Nov 7, 2008
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Tuscaloosa, AL
Kinda makes you wonder if he is one of the ones Earl referenced as being beat up and only in there b/c he is better at 50% than someone else at 100%. If nothing else the play of the secondary and in ability of guys to step up should be a sign to recruits out there, if I come and bust my butt, PT is there to be had.
There's no question at all that Robert is playing hurt. He's been playing through his injury since like Week 2. But I said it here before (to deaf ears, of course) that Robert was NOT a ball hawk. Antonio Langham was a hawk. Rashad Johnson was a hawk. Lester, to his credit, just caught passes thrown directly to him the year that he led the league in INTs. He's a hard worker and he's better than I ever expected him to be. But the difference this year is that last year, it was Barron getting him and the other DBs where they need to be. Now it's Robert who's not only responsible for his own assignment(s), but he has a slew of greenhorns (Perry, Clinton-Dix, Sunseri, Belue,Geno Smith, etc.) that he has help through it.
 

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