DRC: Position change helped unlock potential of Grayson, Gabriel Murphy

[Brett Vito]

 

[RiseUNT]

Is that why we were getting pressure last game? Dline looked the best I’ve seen in a long while.

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

1 hour ago, RiseUNT said:

Is that why we were getting pressure last game? Dline looked the best I’ve seen in a long while.

Mtsu Guards looked weak on the inside with Novil. Brought a lot of pressure.

I forgot which Murphy twin had the awesome sack, but I am so impressed with them.

Can’t wait to see them fully developed 

[GrayEagle]

It was Gabriel with the sack.

 

[Wag Tag]

Our DE play has been the most disappointing position to date. Nice to see changes .

[meangreen11]

And these two are big physical nasty mentality athletes.  Reff valued speed and ignored physical plan in my opinion.  That said the juco infusion on the edges has been a big time bust.  Bring back Josh Wheeler.

[BillySee58]

1 hour ago, meangreen11 said:

And these two are big physical nasty mentality athletes.  Reff valued speed and ignored physical plan in my opinion.  That said the juco infusion on the edges has been a big time bust.  Bring back Josh Wheeler.

Yeah, their role was much more of a traditional JACK linebacker than a defensive end. They can call it whatever they want as long as the pressure keeps coming.

[Monkeypox]

1 hour ago, BillySee58 said:

Yeah, their role was much more of a traditional JACK linebacker than a defensive end. They can call it whatever they want as long as the pressure keeps coming.

And we've missed it in some of these intervening weeks while we had a lot of LB out. This is what I was talking about before when looking at our depth charts and what we were putting on the field defensively. We just didn't have enough guys like these in our lineup. I think a lot of our more experienced guys are better suited for hybrid linebacker/safety roles, but we really had no one to fill out the JACK spot. If we hit on some of our recruiting, I think we have a lot of guys coming up who can fill that role. It depends on how they fill out, but Jacobi "Nightmare" Johnson, for instance, seems a perfect fit for that spot. If we end up with some 230+ lbers in the middle and strongside, I think we can actually run this defense really well.

Another thing along our defensive line is we're starting/playing Ta'Shoyn Johnson a lot. That's a true freshman playing strongside end in a 3-man front. It's a tough task this year, and he's got a lot of work to do, but I think it will be good in the long run. He's a former Nose, so I could see him developing into that spot or at least becoming a versatile cog down the line. He's just been thrown in the fire and having to learn as he goes.

[BillySee58]

35 minutes ago, Monkeypox said:

And we've missed it in some of these intervening weeks while we had a lot of LB out. This is what I was talking about before when looking at our depth charts and what we were putting on the field defensively. We just didn't have enough guys like these in our lineup. I think a lot of our more experienced guys are better suited for hybrid linebacker/safety roles, but we really had no one to fill out the JACK spot. If we hit on some of our recruiting, I think we have a lot of guys coming up who can fill that role. It depends on how they fill out, but Jacobi "Nightmare" Johnson, for instance, seems a perfect fit for that spot. If we end up with some 230+ lbers in the middle and strongside, I think we can actually run this defense really well.

Another thing along our defensive line is we're starting/playing Ta'Shoyn Johnson a lot. That's a true freshman playing strongside end in a 3-man front. It's a tough task this year, and he's got a lot of work to do, but I think it will be good in the long run. He's a former Nose, so I could see him developing into that spot or at least becoming a versatile cog down the line. He's just been thrown in the fire and having to learn as he goes.

Exactly. The Davis’, Kevin Wood, Nixon, and Howell are all 6’ or less which makes them more suited in the second level in more of a 3-3-5 stack look, which has made life very easy on opposing o-lines. Having some added length and strength off the edge was a huge plus, and the Murphy twins and Johnson are the guys on our roster suited to give us that.

Edited October 23, 2020 by BillySee58