English may not be the Savior!

ipd054 · December 29, 2017

Over the last year there have been over 1,000 (1,038 to be exact) mentions of Bryce English. I know that he was very impressive in spring ball and others have stated that there is a bit of nasty in his play. All of which I am excited about. I am just concerned that when he makes it to the field that some on this board will expect him to be the messiah for our defense, I for one do not see that happening.

Believe it or not, our defense did improve this year, not much but we did lower the total yards allowed per game by 8.4 yards. The main difference between this year and last year was big plays in pass defense (where we allowed 28.7 more yards per game) which ended up in scores (which we gave up 3.4 more points per game) Our weakness was not the D-line. If you watch the film (and know what you are looking for) you will see that our LB's were not able to shed a block and make a play - this is personally my biggest area of concern.

Our line did a good job and absorbed their block and held most of the time. Our starters on the D-line combined for 132 tackles and 3.5 sacks (As a comparison West Virginia's D-line starters, who also run the 3-3-5 had 100 tackles and 6 sacks) Flusche posted 43 total tackles, 8.0 for loss, with 1.5 sacks, an interception, a pair of pass break-ups and four quarterback hurries. Young (who would be replaced by English) started all 14 games and finished with 48 tackles, 6.5 for loss with 2.0 sacks and eight quarterback hurries while garnering all-conference honorable mention status from C-USA's coaches. Hamilton finished with 40 tackles (22 solo), 4.0 for loss, an interception, a fumble recovery and five quarterback hurries.

While I hope and pray that English adds 3-4 sacks and stops at least 4 big plays from happening next year, he is not the savior you are looking for. I think putting Young back out at end where he was projected to play this year with English at NT will be a boost, however I do not think it will increase our lines stats. The defensive saviour will come from the Linebackers or possibly the Secondary.

I will gladly come back to this thread and eat crow this time next year if English is the savior of our defensive woes...

southsideguy · December 29, 2017

UNT86 · December 29, 2017

27 minutes ago, ipd054 said:

Our weakness was not the D-line. If you watch the film (and know what you are looking for) you will see that our LB's were not able to shed a block and make a play - this is personally my biggest area of concern.

The defensive saviour will come from the Linebackers or possibly the Secondary.

I agree that our LB's were a much bigger problem and our secondary never proved to be the strength that it was supposed to be. To add, we tackle very poorly.

We could solve a lot of our issues if we would tackle better at the safety positions.

Edited December 29, 2017 by UNT86

keith · December 29, 2017

So what metric(s) do you propose using to make such a determination next year?

GrandGreen · December 29, 2017

I doubt most think English will be a savior, no one player south of Joe Greene or Booger Kennedy is going to have that effect. Actually his natural position is probably the strongest on the defense. Both Tauaalo and Young are actually good middle defensive line players.

The hope may still be that Young can be moved to de and that could definitely could strengthen the defensive line. However, linebackers are the biggest need on the defense. I think the defensive backfield will be better as will the defensive line.

H-towngreen · December 29, 2017

Long live the savior!!!

ipd054 · December 29, 2017

2 hours ago, keith said:

So what metric(s) do you propose using to make such a determination next year?

Unlike the so called "skilled positions" the big uglys on both sides of the ball can have an amazing year with little to no stats. so it is hard to say a number, but since I put it out there I would say if he averages 6 tackles a game and 5 or more sacks for the season that he is a man among boys... As a nose tackle, you are meant to clog the middle and will pull a high number of double teams and chips with a release to the linebacker. Splitting the blockers and making tackles is not expected but is an amazing benefit to the LB play. The more double teams you demand, the more you free your LB is to make a play.

MeanGreenTexan · December 29, 2017

If he can command more double-teams to block him (keeping a C/G from releasing to block a LB), then his efforts will trickle down to guys like Ejiya & Garner, who will be free-er to make plays on the ball. Young will likely also require an occasional G/T double-team on his end, making him more effective than Flusche.

Putting your best players on the field helps a bunch. English should be one of those.