NT adds two more prospects DMN

OldTimer · January 30, 2006

1. DT Tim Patton, Tulsa East Central 6-2, 300...was highly recruited by Oklahoma State and could be the pick of this years recruits. Good enough that he could get playing time as a Freshman.

2. DE/DL Drylan Ross 6-4, 245, 4.8 Fort Worth Diamond Hill Jarvis HS. Should wind up in the 275-280 range. Dylan was 1ST TEAM ALL DISTRICT 7-4a AS A te.

LongJim · January 30, 2006

Man, you're up too early! I don't think they throw my Startlegram until 5 or so!

OldTimer · January 30, 2006

Man, you're up too early! I don't think they throw my Startlegram until 5 or so!

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I knew of 4 of these last night, but don't publish anything on the board until I see it in the paper. My paper comes anywhere from 3:30 on...I'm usually up for a while, read the paper and sometimes go back to sleep...depending upon what our morning plans are, we are up at 6:30 at least 4 mornings a week. Early habbit comes from over 40 years of getting to work early.

January 30, 2006

Of the five new committments, three were tight ends. The trend continues.

pollock · January 30, 2006

1. DT Tim Patton, Tulsa East Central 6-2, 300...was highly recruited by Oklahoma State and could be the pick of this years recruits. Good enough that he could get playing time as a Freshman.
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"Good enough that he could get playing time as a Freshman."

-- I think we have to expect this as a possibility for any of our DT recruits. Not necessarily a bad thing.

Stan R · January 30, 2006

Here's a pretty stupid question from a guy who knows pretty much nothing about the DT position other than you have to be really big and really strong, and I guess pretty fast. Is there really any technique to playing DT? Or is it, well just push the guy in front of you back and get to the other guy holding the ball?

mad dog · January 30, 2006

In our scheme, as well as many other schools, we have a nose tackle and a standard defense tackle. The nose tackle's job is to occupy the center and guard, and force a double team. This releases the other defensive linemen to one-on-one situations (except when a FB or a TE is left in to block, in which case a LB or S will be freed up to make a play). The nose guy (would have been T.J. Raymond this year), doesn't typically get a lot of tackles, but he puts everyone else on defense in a bit of an easier position to make plays. The defensive tackle might need to be a bit quicker, but, if he can draw a double team as well with size, you're starting to talk about serious matchup advantages for the defense.

The problem this year was that we didn't have a true nosetackle. A doubleteam was only necessary when the ball was coming straight at them, which is why you saw so many gaping holes along the defensive line when the other guys tried to power run us. Neither Chris Miller nor Sky Pruitt had true nosetackle size or ferocity, respectively.

Edited January 30, 2006 by illuvius32

LongJim · January 30, 2006

Here's a pretty stupid question from a guy who knows pretty much nothing about the DT position other than you have to be really big and really strong, and I guess pretty fast. Is there really any technique to playing DT? Or is it, well just push the guy in front of you back and get to the other guy holding the ball?
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Well, you have to do this while making sure that the OLineman (or possibly 2) does not get his hands locked onto you, get under your pads and knock you off the ball, or toss you onto the turf.

While you're making sure this isn't happening, you have to determine within about 1 second--by looking over or around a 300 lb guy trying to tear your head off--where the ball is, and where it's going, and get to that point or perhaps run a stunt that the D coach has put in for you to run. If you don't do it, or do it incorrectly, you have possibly opened a hole for a back to run through for big yardage. If the OLineman on you does his job well, then the same result can occur.

So yeah, it's a little more than that.

H-towngreen · January 30, 2006

Here's the breakdown of the recruiting class so far. Including mid-term JUCO's:

QB 1

RB 1

OL 3

TE 3

DE 2

DT 5

Ath 1

Saftey 2

18 total commits

I'm guessing that there are around 4 more offers that are out there.

You can note the atheticism of some TE/DE recruits as they played both postions.

With DD siging so many DT prospects you would have to hope that some would be able to step up and contribute as true freshman. Several of them already have the size that is so desperately needed up front.

buff64 · January 30, 2006

Here's the breakdown of the recruiting class so far. Including mid-term JUCO's:
QB 1
RB 1
OL 3
TE 3
DE 2
DT 5
Ath 1
Saftey 2
18 total commits
I'm guessing that there are around 4 more offers that are out there.
You can note the atheticism of some TE/DE recruits as they played both postions.
With DD siging so many DT prospects you would have to hope that some would be able to step up and contribute as true freshman. Several of them already have the size that is so desperately needed up front.
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Remember the four Mid-term JC signees count on last years scholarship count not this years. So really ony 14 committments would count toward the 2006 limit.

SilverEagle · January 30, 2006

The problem this year was that we didn't have a true nosetackle. A doubleteam was only necessary when the ball was coming straight at them, which is why you saw so many gaping holes along the defensive line when the other guys tried to power run us. Neither Chris Miller nor Sky Pruitt had true nosetackle size or ferocity.
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At 265 or 270, Miller certainly didn't have true nose tackle size, but I believe that Sky Pruitt (at 6'2" X 290 to 295) did. Unless of course the published programs exaggerated S. Pruitt's size.

My assessment of Pruitt was that he was big enough and strong enough, before a shoulder injury cut him down to operating at about 80% of his ability.

We really got spoiled with Booger. When he was operating at top effeciency, he was regularly drawing triple team blocks.

mad dog · January 30, 2006

Without being closer to the situation, I can't say for sure, but I think that Pruitt's limitation wasn't so much his size as his tenacity. I think his size numbers are about right, but that doesn't always translate into strength, and strength doesn't always translate into an ability to collapse the pocket.

You're right that his shoulder injury couldn't have helped him, but he wasn't dominating for his size before the injury, either. He got knocked off the ball a lot this season, and you might very well be correct in attributing that to a shoulder injury. But it wasn't like he was a Brandon Kennedy in the middle of the line when we was healthy.

By the way, Chris Miller was the nose, and Pruitt was the standard DT, according to the prospectus, roster, and season preview.

Edited January 30, 2006 by illuvius32

Cerebus · January 30, 2006

We really got spoiled with Booger. When he was operating at top effeciency, he was regularly destroying triple team blocks.
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Fixed that for you.

The play at MTSU where booger beat the center and both guards, sacked the qb, stripped the ball and recovered it while doing a flip? I don't even think Chuck Norris could do that.

NT80 · January 30, 2006

With all the focus on DT's I think DD needs to remember the offense...points are what we were short on in 9 games.

Edited January 30, 2006 by NT80

H-towngreen · January 30, 2006

He got 3 OL and 3 TE.

OL was the biggest need on offense. One of the OL was a JUCO all-american.

Of the 3 TE one is a pretty much another OL weighing in at 270 lbs. Another will end up at WR/h-back(Andy Blount) with his 4.51 speed. And the other will be someone to bring along.

We also signed a rb/fb and a QB. With an offer out on another QB.