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2014 tOSU Defense Discussion

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BayBuck said:
Yep, mid-2013. She has a couple of school-age children too.
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Again good for him... He is too young to not find another partner..

Getting on topic though I'm excited to our corners. All of our athletes are different breeds of players with most being taller and heavier than what we are accustomed to. Normally 5'10 and 195 pounds is what an average player was and now it seems like it's 6'1 200. Not to mention we may have a 6'2 and a 6'3 regular contributors in burrows and powell. Throw in bell and I have confidence it turns around for us. Linebacker though leaves me nervous.
 
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bukIpower said:
Again good for him... He is too young to not find another partner..

Getting on topic though I'm excited to our corners. All of our athletes are different breeds of players with most being taller and heavier than what we are accustomed to. Normally 5'10 and 195 pounds is what an average player was and now it seems like it's 6'1 200. Not to mention we may have a 6'2 and a 6'3 regular contributors in burrows and powell. Throw in bell and I have confidence it turns around for us. Linebacker though leaves me nervous.
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I agree, I also love our new length at DB, can only be advantageous going into the future. A lot of young pups that will only get better, there are more ball hawks it seems now as well, as opposed to guys who just were big hitters. Though I like balls to be batted down, I always wanted more turnovers from our DBs over the years. Guys like Eli apple, cam burrows, vonn bell, marshon lattimore, gareon conley, Damon Webb, Malik hooker, all played offense as well in HS and were quite good.
 
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DL will be better in 2014. Too much seasoned talent not to. Great coaching by LJsr and several of the guys with significant experience.

Secondary play will be better. Too much young talent not to.

I think we have a chance....CHANCE for overall LB play to be close to 2013 level or just a slight drop off. We don't have Shazier but I have hopes for continued improvement from Perry and you simply don't know how Trey and RM can contribute yet. RM is in early and has a ton of natural ability and a college ready body. Trey already has a year under his belt and came in highly regarded. Again, overall I think we have a chance to be at the same level for the entire group even though Shazier's specific contribution will be hard to replicate. The biggest tail wind for the group will be a benefit from scheme/coaching changes. I am in the camp that says we see Fick having a more positive impact on LBs than we have seen lately because that will be his primary focus. I look for him to put more of his energy on developing his position group and less on running the show. This will help.

More than anything I think we will see a positive impact by the simplicity and "one voice" of Ash. Despite what Urb says I think this is all his show. I think he will keep it simple, fundamental, and hold guys responsible for THEIR role. I think we have seen guys confused by our scheme in the last 2 years. I also think some guys were trying to overcompensate for weaker players around them. We didn't have much of an identity and it showed. I think the staff knew our weaknesses, the players knew it and they seemed to individually try and do what they could to fix it. We didn't play as a cohesive unit like you do when you trust your teammate. I look for that to completely change.

In 2013 the D never improved IMO. In 2014 I think we are an entirely different group by the end of the year. It will be a more profound change by year end than recent memory. That's my optimistic view but I think it is entirely possible. We have no clue about how much of a talent Ash is but I will tell you one thing, if he is a rising star you would have to think that he is absolutely beside himself with the quality of puzzle pieces in front of him. He has a chance to move way up the ladder in terms of name recognition and my bet is that he fully realizes it and is chomping at the bit to make his mark. He came over for little to nothing in pay increase for this reason. Bill Greene said he thought Ash was a very good hire calling him [possibly] "the best young defensive mind in the country." If so, his impact should be easy to see from day one let alone over the course of the season.
 
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That's the real thing there, improvement. We didnt at all last year during the season. If they even make gradual improvement this year we'll be in great shape. They won't be good in the beginning of the season most likely. Athletic, yes. Good, no. The front four is going to be sick though so I guess anything can happen. If Vonn Bell makes a jump, he could be a defensive captain right off the bat and that would be great for us.
 
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pnuts34 said:
Very troubling that on ESPN's top 10 individual performances for the Big 10 in 2013, 3 came against OSU! More than any other team, ouch


http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/96421/top-individual-performances-of-13-no-1
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Very troubling. I still can't believe the fact that we gave up almost 550 yards and 40 points a game in the 3 biggest games of the year. To a bad offense, an decent-at-best offense and a very good offense. Those are truly reprehensible numbers that I never thought I'd see. Demotion or not, Fickell is lucky to still have a job, quite frankly.

I will now Total Recall myself to erase those games and those memories from my brain and go into 2014 with a fresh perspective.
 
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Well I will say this if we go through anywhere near last year's horse abortion of a defense if urban doesn't fire fickle then I'm going to assume that urban in the grand scheme of things is all talk and no action. If our defense with the stout front 4 and very capable back 7 don't improve DRAMATICALLY then a new direction would be warranted and if action isn't taken I will personally assume urban has troubles doing what it takes to ensure he is put in the best position possible to succeed.

But I don't think we get to that point because I for one think we will be a top 20 defense with the best front 4 in the nation and a back end that by year end will have people talking about bell, burrows, apple and powell as a lethal secondary for 2015.
 
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MaxBuck said:
:thinking:
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Well if we struggle mightily again and we still stand pat but I will bow out on this and just say that we will never post again after having one too many drinks i dont think we find out anyways because the defense WILL be better this year.

On a side note I could not imagine being in his position of having to terminate a close friend who has worked hard, even if warranted by their production it would be a tough thing to do
 
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Urban doesn't fire coaches so the dysfunction in the back seven was a problem that he struggled with. He found an answer that was acceptable in Withers leaving. He won't have that problem again. This is a terrific coaching staff that will get in done.
 
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LBs
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DL
97d33d20a08411e3b50412b2d3abce46_8.jpg
 
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