DRC: Postseason questions series No. 1 -- Will UNT's defense improve?

[Brett Vito]

DRC: A look at the numbers, what went right, what went wrong

http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/mean-green/2017/12/28/unt-postseason-questions-series-no-1-will-mean-greens-defense-improve

[Wag Tag]

Do we have a dominant player on the Defensive side of the ball? I hope English will be. If this happens everybody will be a lot better. Plus we can have a strong rotation. I think we have to have some size at linebacker in the middle and it looks like it will be a JUCO! Yes the D will be better! English “ Stay healthy my friend.” 

[MeanGreenWarDaddy]

6 hours ago, Wag Tag said:

Do we have a dominant player on the Defensive side of the ball? I hope English will be. If this happens everybody will be a lot better. Plus we can have a strong rotation. I think we have to have some size at linebacker in the middle and it looks like it will be a JUCO! Yes the D will be better! English “ Stay healthy my friend.” 

Do we know for sure if English is playing next year? @Brett Vito

[SilverEagle]

19 minutes ago, MeanGreenWarDaddy said:

Do we know for sure if English is playing next year? @Brett Vito

You know, I don't know if English was able to play toward the end of the season, or if the coaches decided to not put him out there because he wasn't going to be able to be a difference maker (because of too much time off) or they were concerned that he might re-injure his foot. I'm not going to count on him being back. The young guys need to get developed in the off season. 

[GrandGreen]

I hope the defense gets better, but there is nothing concrete to base that on. 

NT lost some pretty good de's.  I think Flusche was as good as anyone NT had on defense.    McClain also will be a loss, although his senior year was not his best.   

Going into 2018, I think NT has the same questions on defense that they did last year.   Can NT get a lot better at the linebacker positions. 

[Felozano]

Some talent was lost on defense, but there seems to be some good young talent coming in.  I'm okay with a young, talented defense.  They're going to make mistakes, but they're also going to have to be coached up...I believe in the staff Littrell has put in place.  I'm excited!  GMG!

[Side Show Joe]

I want to believe our defense is going to improve next season. I like that we are targeting defensive Juco players. We need them. My biggest concern is that we all saw our defense was struggling early in the season, and I never saw any real effort from our coaches to address it. All we heard was "We have to get better". All season our DB's were caught out of position, some of our LB's were too slow to get to the outside and make plays, and our DE's were not holding their ground and giving up the edge on sweeps. Also, our three man rush wasn't effective. That is a lot that needs to get better.

Personally, If I had to give Ref a grade for his overall handling of our defense, I'd have to give him an "F".

[DeepGreen]

My hope is that FAU's Singletary declares for the NFL Draft this coming year and we won't have to face him in 2018.  April?

[VideoEagle]

Will NT's defense improve? God, I hope so.

[BTG_Fan1]

19 hours ago, MeanGreenWarDaddy said:

Do we know for sure if English is playing next year? @Brett Vito

Why wouldn’t he? 

He had to sit out year 1 because of transferring.. Year 2 was an injury that Vito had reported it was because UNT was trying to get him a medical RS.. 

Yes he will play, next year..

[BTG_Fan1]

7 hours ago, DeepGreen said:

My hope is that FAU's Singletary declares for the NFL Draft this coming year and we won't have to face him in 2018.  April?

Kid can’t declare he is a sophomore.. 

[BTG_Fan1]

6 hours ago, VideoEagle said:

Will NT's defense improve? God, I hope so.

It will improve by default likely.. SMU/Army being under a new staff and Army being replaced by Liberty will help.. Still having Rice and UTEP as well... UTSA is changing offenses and will have a new QB.. Arkansas is also adjusting.. 

oh also with us being terrible this past year, you can’t do much worse...

[Ben Gooding]

Statistically, it could be better for reasons named by @BTG_Fan1. But will it actually be better...I have my doubts. I think the blueprint has been put together under this regime and its pretty clear we will have to attempt to outscore opponents to just maintain competitiveness. And if someone would like to dispute that, please do. I'm all ears. 

[Felozano]

41 minutes ago, Ben Gooding said:

Statistically, it could be better for reasons named by @BTG_Fan1. But will it actually be better...I have my doubts. I think the blueprint has been put together under this regime and its pretty clear we will have to attempt to outscore opponents to just maintain competitiveness. And if someone would like to dispute that, please do. I'm all ears. 

Agree. Outscoring our opponents seems to be our best chance of being competitive.  Our biggest defensive strength looks to be the d line.  With productive spring practices, I could see the LB’s close behind. The secondary is the wildcard. How will the young safeties do without McClain? How do the corners look?  Do we bring in more corners?  Does the improved d line help out our secondary?  Are we potentially changing our scheme to four down linemen?  Its a great time to be a fan!  GMG!

Edited December 30, 2017 by Felozano
Repeat

[MeanGreen_MBA]

11 hours ago, Ben Gooding said:

Statistically, it could be better for reasons named by @BTG_Fan1. But will it actually be better...I have my doubts. I think the blueprint has been put together under this regime and its pretty clear we will have to attempt to outscore opponents to just maintain competitiveness. And if someone would like to dispute that, please do. I'm all ears. 

Not actually disputing, we need to improve. But the from the guy that said our offense this year would regress and that our QB could not play at this level. So based on your historical accuracy, I say we see improvement.