It's time for the defense to carry it's weight

[tgr4lfe 220]

Good post Stat Tiger, you laid out the numbers well on this subject. The only offenses that really hurt a defense are the ones that can't put up points. That is not a concern with a Gus offense. I have said this many times but given this offense, an improvement of only 20% by the AU defense will result in few close games this year. That necessary improvement will be the real key to AU's success and you have identified it.

This. Let's remember that last year, CGM took AU to the NC game with a not so good D, but a really good O. Imagine with a awesome O and a really good D!!! If the injury bug stays away and team chemistry is still as good as last year. This could be a remarkable year for AU football.

[Rednilla 5,439]

Haven't read through more than the first page of the comments section yet, but much as I agree with the overall theme, there are a couple of points that stick out to me. First of all, comparing the 2013 defense to the 2004 defense isn't really fair, considering how good that 04 defense was. I understand it's just a point of reference, but nevertheless, Tommy Tuberville was ALWAYS a defensive minded coach, so it stands to reason he set everything about his team up around the defense.

I think the more relevant observation, however, is that the 2010 defense was in the top 10 nationally against the run. The reason I say this is more relevant is that it was also the second consecutive year of running the same defensive system, with the same defensive line coach. I very strongly suspect the defense is going to be much improved overall this year, both because of a greater understanding of the schematics and an increase in depth at all positions except DE (where we should still be fine, with three significant contributors and two more with game experience returning, as well as a JUCO DE and three prep DEs coming in).

So yeah, I strongly suspect we will see an improved defense this season.

[N2AUtigers 5]

wasn't the 2004 D at least year 2 in the system? Or year 1? I forget...but you have to acknowledge the talent on that team. Compare it with the current talent from 2013...I see a big difference. Also, look at the injury differences from those two teams. I don't remember the 2004 team having as many starters out as last years team did. (I could be wrong on that but don't think so). So if this group can avoid the injury bug this year, we should see vast improvement on the D this year. They should be more comfortable in the system and we have recruited talent. I think we will be ok this year but still will need some breaks and need to avoid critical injuries....

I'm sure someone has mentioned this, but that was Gene's third year as DC. And definitely his best D at AU.

[infamousandy 0]

Great Job as always Stat. The one point that stood out to me was the 1.4 points per 1st down. To quote IFFFF we stay healthy and Moncrief brings what I think he's going to bring I believe we'll be much improved. Our DL should be nasty this year.

[GoTigrzs 0]

http://athlonsports.com/college-football/auburns-defense-or-alabamas-quarterback-play-which-bigger-concern-2014

[Tiger 8,853]

... comments about the 2008 offense hurting the 2008 Auburn defense might carry some merit but where do we draw the line for excuses? The 1993 Ole Miss Rebel defense finished No. 1 in the nation in total defense and No. 4 in scoring defense despite being teamed up with an offense that finished No. 92 in total offense.

Again, I was simply placing things in perspective regarding the accomplishments of the 2008 Auburn defense. 4 of the 8 conference opponents faced that year averaged less than 23 points per game on offense.

Pwned! I am wayyyyy beyond tired of the pining for Tuberville defenses. Yes, most seasons they were pretty good. And yes, in all seasons save for 2004, there was a game or two where those defenses appeared to have no clue. Tuberville: Ten season, no national championships and no national championship appearances. Post Tubs? Two appearances and one trophy.

I'm 53 years old. I LIKE a stout defense. But I'll take the frickin' championship over "I feel great about the defense" any day of the week. (And yeah, I do expect that AU's defense will be better in year two under EJ and better as a whole under Malzahn than any we have seen post Dye. May take a few years to get there, but I believe AU will.)

Some hard hitting truth there. Not to mention in half the amount of years Tubs was at AU, we have doubled the number of conference championships that Tubs brought.

[jcm81 2]

http://athlonsports....er-concern-2014

Wow! I don't even have anything to say about this.

[AUloggerhead 2,507]

I do. Athlon's "analysis" is just plain superficial. Yes, Dee Ford was a great edge rusher and his moving on to the NFL is AU's loss. However, the DL depth we have now is strong and not just in numbers, They are experienced as well thanks to Gardner rotating them all in last season. Carl Lawson as a sophomore is going to make people forget about Dee Ford.

Re uat's QB situation. Yes, it might not matter who's under center when he's surrounded by blue-chip talent. Key word: might. Then again, the QBs we saw in the spring game weren't anything to write home about. The "savior" (according to the article) of next season is a transfer QB who isn't even on campus at the moment. So, not to worry uat fans, yes?. Riiight.

[gravejd 3,304]

http://athlonsports....er-concern-2014

Wow! I don't even have anything to say about this.

I didn't see anything too crazy in the article. Bama's O is designed to where you don't really have to be a great QB to be successfull there. You just have to avoid mistakes and manage the game. Though I do think mentioning the OL struggles last year would have been a good idea because a shaky OL is a big deal when it comes into breaking in new QBs.

One thing i did take exception to is the Iron bowl miracle. How was that play lucky or a miracle? I'll give you the pass against UGA was a miracle. But it was not a surprise bama's kicker might kick it short and it was no surprise we had someone there to field and return it. I guess it is just lazy journalism and they lump the two together instead of saying UGA was a miracle and the Iron bowl had an improbable ending. Grinds my gears.....

[Rednilla 5,439]

Carl Lawson as a sophomore is going to make people forget about Dee Ford.

I agree with this statement completely. I mean no disrespect to Dee, and I wish him the absolute best on Sundays...but Carl Lawson has the potential to be one of the greatest in a long line of great Auburn D-linemen.

As for the Athlon article, it's about what I would expect coming from them, and to be honest, I'm not entirely in disagreement with it. Nick Saban's offenses have never been predicated upon QB play...the only reason QB play would legitimately be a bigger question mark than Auburn's defensive play is that Lane Kiffin is running the offense now, and I can't help but to wonder how well he's going to mesh with Saban. I could see it going either way with them: either Kiffin will be Kiffin and Alabama will probably fail to win 10 games, or he will take to Nick as his second daddy and become a company man. Even in the second case, however, it will still likely be something of a rebuilding year for them.

But come on guys, as optimistic as I am about the development of AU's defense, we lost nearly half the starters from a unit that was far from outstanding in anything except a couple of critical respects. From the outside looking in, it's a no-brainer that we are on the short end of that comparison...then again, the comparison isn't a particularly good one specifically because it's one player vs. an entire unit.

[ALTiger 16]

I do. Athlon's "analysis" is just plain superficial. Yes, Dee Ford was a great edge rusher and his moving on to the NFL is AU's loss. However, the DL depth we have now is strong and not just in numbers, They are experienced as well thanks to Gardner rotating them all in last season. Carl Lawson as a sophomore is going to make people forget about Dee Ford.

Re uat's QB situation. Yes, it might not matter who's under center when he's surrounded by blue-chip talent. Key word: might. Then again, the QBs we saw in the spring game weren't anything to write home about. The "savior" (according to the article) of next season is a transfer QB who isn't even on campus at the moment. So, not to worry uat fans, yes?. Riiight.

Totally agree with UAT's QB situation. One of the writers state in the Athlon article "the Crimson Tide have enough talented skill position players to ease Jacob Coker's transition into the starting lineup." Well those positions were in the spring game and it looked terrible! Some Bammers will say they were running a vanilla playbook for the spring game, but as Matt & Scott said on 94.5 "even if it's a vanilla playbook, aren't you supposed to execute?!" UAT will be in trouble this year and all this hype around them is a set up for failure.

[doc4aday 1,887]

What CEJ needs is quality depth at all 11 defensive positions. Regardless of what type of defense or offense we run, quality depth is the key to success. We had decent overall depth in 2013, and should be close to this for 2014. Our offense will be the best in the SEC and could be in the entire nation. We will very, very good in 2014.

[jcm81 2]

It's misleading to say we lost over half of our starters on D. Actually it is false. That was my problem with the article.

We only had 5 seniors that started at least 25% of the games.

Smith became a starter during the 7th game because Holsey went down, so he counts in the 5, but he was not a first option.

Nosa and Holland were in a heavy rotation, so we shouldn't lose a beat. Frost and McKinz each had more tackles than Holland anyway, so even though he was a starter, we are losing depth more than production.

The 4th and 5th are Davis and Ford. They were very valuable to the team and their production will be missed.

[jcm81 2]

I read the article earlier and again just now to make sure i quoted them right about the starters. They did say return 6, not lose 6. My bad, but the rest of my post remains the same. Not all 5 seniors were full time starters or the most productive at their positions. Our D is going to improve tremendously.

[hutchids 232]

I do. Athlon's "analysis" is just plain superficial. Yes, Dee Ford was a great edge rusher and his moving on to the NFL is AU's loss. However, the DL depth we have now is strong and not just in numbers, They are experienced as well thanks to Gardner rotating them all in last season. Carl Lawson as a sophomore is going to make people forget about Dee Ford.

Re uat's QB situation. Yes, it might not matter who's under center when he's surrounded by blue-chip talent. Key word: might. Then again, the QBs we saw in the spring game weren't anything to write home about. The "savior" (according to the article) of next season is a transfer QB who isn't even on campus at the moment. So, not to worry uat fans, yes?. Riiight.

Totally agree with UAT's QB situation. One of the writers state in the Athlon article "the Crimson Tide have enough talented skill position players to ease Jacob Coker's transition into the starting lineup." Well those positions were in the spring game and it looked terrible! Some Bammers will say they were running a vanilla playbook for the spring game, but as Matt & Scott said on 94.5 "even if it's a vanilla playbook, aren't you supposed to execute?!" UAT will be in trouble this year and all this hype around them is a set up for failure.

Exactly, bama's still going to be a run heavy offense as, like most years, their passing offense will be mediocre or adequate at best. Then again, the one argument I can see for Auburn's d being the weaker of the two is that bama's qb doesn't really matter. In 90% of their games, Bama just runs the ball and plays defense. Their qbs are just charged with not screwing things up. So if Coker sucks, who cares! It's not like bama's trying to throw it that much anyways. That might be Athlon's angle.

Meanwhile, our defense will improve this year. I like our starting LBs more, we are more familiar with the new 4-2-5 scheme, and the d-line isn't a weakness like athlon implied. As stated above, all d-line starters have good experience from a 14 game season last year. We are ready! The only issue I see is that we won't have a Dee Ford pass rusher this year. I can see Lawson doing it in some games, but not all. I think he is one year away from equaling Ford, then passing him as a senior

[tigerwings 75]

Exactly, bama's still going to be a run heavy offense as, like most years, their passing offense will be mediocre or adequate at best. Then again, the one argument I can see for Auburn's d being the weaker of the two is that bama's qb doesn't really matter. In 90% of their games, Bama just runs the ball and plays defense. Their qbs are just charged with not screwing things up. So if Coker sucks, who cares! It's not like bama's trying to throw it that much anyways. That might be Athlon's angle.

Meanwhile, our defense will improve this year. I like our starting LBs more, we are more familiar with the new 4-2-5 scheme, and the d-line isn't a weakness like athlon implied. As stated above, all d-line starters have good experience from a 14 game season last year. We are ready! The only issue I see is that we won't have a Dee Ford pass rusher this year. I can see Lawson doing it in some games, but not all. I think he is one year away from equaling Ford, then passing him as a senior :)/>

When the game was in the line in the Iron bowl, Bama ran the ball or kicked it. Saban didn't give the ball to McCarron, he gave it to Yeldon and an unproven freshman kicker. That is why he wasn't drafted till half way through the 5th round. Even Logan Thomas from VT was picked ahead of him. Statistically Bammers will argue he is the greatest QB in school history, but that was because he never had to play to win the game. So frankly that is all Coker is walking into. A situation where he like his predecessors have never needed to win a game, and also we be drafted accordingly. In summary QB doesn't mean much at Bama and the NFL knows it.

[CJBas 4]

I do. Athlon's "analysis" is just plain superficial. Yes, Dee Ford was a great edge rusher and his moving on to the NFL is AU's loss. However, the DL depth we have now is strong and not just in numbers, They are experienced as well thanks to Gardner rotating them all in last season. Carl Lawson as a sophomore is going to make people forget about Dee Ford.

Re uat's QB situation. Yes, it might not matter who's under center when he's surrounded by blue-chip talent. Key word: might. Then again, the QBs we saw in the spring game weren't anything to write home about. The "savior" (according to the article) of next season is a transfer QB who isn't even on campus at the moment. So, not to worry uat fans, yes?. Riiight.

Totally agree with UAT's QB situation. One of the writers state in the Athlon article "the Crimson Tide have enough talented skill position players to ease Jacob Coker's transition into the starting lineup." Well those positions were in the spring game and it looked terrible! Some Bammers will say they were running a vanilla playbook for the spring game, but as Matt & Scott said on 94.5 "even if it's a vanilla playbook, aren't you supposed to execute?!" UAT will be in trouble this year and all this hype around them is a set up for failure.

Exactly, bama's still going to be a run heavy offense as, like most years, their passing offense will be mediocre or adequate at best. Then again, the one argument I can see for Auburn's d being the weaker of the two is that bama's qb doesn't really matter. In 90% of their games, Bama just runs the ball and plays defense. Their qbs are just charged with not screwing things up. So if Coker sucks, who cares! It's not like bama's trying to throw it that much anyways. That might be Athlon's angle.

Meanwhile, our defense will improve this year. I like our starting LBs more, we are more familiar with the new 4-2-5 scheme, and the d-line isn't a weakness like athlon implied. As stated above, all d-line starters have good experience from a 14 game season last year. We are ready! The only issue I see is that we won't have a Dee Ford pass rusher this year. I can see Lawson doing it in some games, but not all. I think he is one year away from equaling Ford, then passing him as a senior

About bama not needing a top notch QB. Maybe they don't for most games. But if you look back at the Iron Bowl, over several decades, it is invariably the team with the better QB who wins.

Let's be honest people, all other things being equal would you rather have a mediocre QB or a damn good one?

[AUTigers910 64]

This is the way I look at it:

The drop off in production because of the graduation of Dee Ford, Davis, Eguae, Holland, Smith, and White <<<<<<< The improvement that comes along with being in the second year of a defense for young players (Lawson, Adams, Daniels, Rudy Ford), inexperienced (Therezie, Frost, McKinzy), and the newcomers/injured (Garrett, Holsey, Jones, Moncrief)

[hutchids 232]

I do. Athlon's "analysis" is just plain superficial. Yes, Dee Ford was a great edge rusher and his moving on to the NFL is AU's loss. However, the DL depth we have now is strong and not just in numbers, They are experienced as well thanks to Gardner rotating them all in last season. Carl Lawson as a sophomore is going to make people forget about Dee Ford.

Re uat's QB situation. Yes, it might not matter who's under center when he's surrounded by blue-chip talent. Key word: might. Then again, the QBs we saw in the spring game weren't anything to write home about. The "savior" (according to the article) of next season is a transfer QB who isn't even on campus at the moment. So, not to worry uat fans, yes?. Riiight.

Totally agree with UAT's QB situation. One of the writers state in the Athlon article "the Crimson Tide have enough talented skill position players to ease Jacob Coker's transition into the starting lineup." Well those positions were in the spring game and it looked terrible! Some Bammers will say they were running a vanilla playbook for the spring game, but as Matt & Scott said on 94.5 "even if it's a vanilla playbook, aren't you supposed to execute?!" UAT will be in trouble this year and all this hype around them is a set up for failure.

Exactly, bama's still going to be a run heavy offense as, like most years, their passing offense will be mediocre or adequate at best. Then again, the one argument I can see for Auburn's d being the weaker of the two is that bama's qb doesn't really matter. In 90% of their games, Bama just runs the ball and plays defense. Their qbs are just charged with not screwing things up. So if Coker sucks, who cares! It's not like bama's trying to throw it that much anyways. That might be Athlon's angle.

Meanwhile, our defense will improve this year. I like our starting LBs more, we are more familiar with the new 4-2-5 scheme, and the d-line isn't a weakness like athlon implied. As stated above, all d-line starters have good experience from a 14 game season last year. We are ready! The only issue I see is that we won't have a Dee Ford pass rusher this year. I can see Lawson doing it in some games, but not all. I think he is one year away from equaling Ford, then passing him as a senior

About bama not needing a top notch QB. Maybe they don't for most games. But if you look back at the Iron Bowl, over several decades, it is invariably the team with the better QB who wins.

Let's be honest people, all other things being equal would you rather have a mediocre QB or a damn good one?

A darn good one. Nick is a darn good one, and we have 2/3 guys behind him with lots of potential. That bodes real well for us in future iron bowls Couple that with a defense on the right track and I think we might be on to something

[homersapien 12,172]

Very nice read, and I'm sure CEJ has had many sleepless nights pondering how to fix these stats. But I'm really feeling good about the direction he's going on. We are finally seeing size recruited to this defense, something I have correlated to the demise of AU defense over the past several years.

When CGM was hired he promised an aggressive attacking defense, and I have faith in his hire to deliver just that. But that will take some time, and I think they will be allot closer this year.

I agree. I really like our prospects with CEJ plus a couple of recruiting classes.

[homersapien 12,172]

http://athlonsports....er-concern-2014

Wow! I don't even have anything to say about this.

What a bunch of rear-view perspective, clap trap that was! Bama was a "lucky bounce"?

Geez, I can't wait until Athlon comes out so I can get the real low down on every team. :-\

[WarEagle84 0]

Gabe Wright has no doubts about the ability of this year's D-line.

Auburn gains strength from defensive line

AUBURN, Ala. – When Gabe Wright looks at Auburn’s defensive line, he sees a lot of potential and something really special.

The Tigers’ senior defensive lineman sees talent spilling out and the experience needed to create even more of a presence than the one this line had during Auburn’s 2013 BCS title game run.

“As far as ability-wise, this D-line could go down as, if not the best, one of the best in the SEC and NCAA,” Wright told ESPN.com in April.

Wright doesn’t mince his words. He’s serious about the potential from a defensive line that could play five seniors, line up three rising sophomores or play all defensive tackles. He’s that confident about the players around him.

Last year, Auburn’s defensive line was very much a work in progress to start the season. The line grew with every week and produced a first-round draft pick in end Dee Ford, who was second in the SEC with 14.5 tackles for loss and 10.5 sacks last year. Freshmen Carl Lawson, Elijah Daniel and Montravius Adams matured quickly.

Really, when people think about and dissect Auburn’s defensive line, they mostly come back to those blossoming youngsters who will all play even bigger roles up front this fall. As last season wore on, those three went from role players to rotational players.

“They have a better understanding,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn told ESPN.com in April. “Their heads aren’t spinning like they were [last season]. They have a better understanding of the defense than their roles.”

And while the sophomores-to-be, who were all ESPN 300 prospects in the 2013 recruiting class, will have a lot more on their respective plates this fall, they certainly won’t be alone to shoulder all the responsibility.

Ford is gone, but there’s leadership from Wright and fellow seniors Angelo Blackson, LaDarius Owens and Ben Bradley, who combined for 18.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks last year. They'll also benefit from the return of senior Jeffrey Whitaker, who missed all of last season with a knee injury.

All that leadership was crucial to the group's success this spring as the line found itself short on defensive ends because of graduation and injuries.

Owens, who Wright classifies as “freakish,” broke his foot a week before spring practice began, and Daniel pulled his groin 20 minutes into the first spring practice. Because of that, defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson and defensive line coach Rodney Garner had to move Wright and Adams to end for the sake of numbers.

The moves were good and bad for the Tigers. On one hand, Johnson said he’d like to use heavier fronts at times this fall, so Wright and Adams needed some work outside. But it took away valuable time those two could have used inside this spring, as both will still mainly be tackles this fall. Johnson didn’t like having to play guys outside longer out of necessity while taking away from the main looks Auburn will run this fall.

Still, watching Adams cross-train caught Johnson’s eye. Johnson already knew Adams was an athlete because he played tackle, end, running back, tight end and punted in high school. But Johnson said he saw some pursuit plays from Adams that were “unbelievable,” and he’s excited about Adams' second-year capabilities.

“He’s so athletic for his size, he can do about anything,” Johnson said with a laugh.

Another youngster to grab Johnson's attention was Lawson, who could be his most talented lineman. Lawson was second on the team with four sacks last year and evolved more this spring, Johnson said.

What really impressed Johnson about Lawson was his thirst for being more well-rounded this spring, tossing the “rookie flash” to be an “every-down player.”

“A good spring in our system and he’ll learn all the special things that it’ll take to be a complete player,” Johnson said. “He did some great things for us last year but had little mistakes here and there just from a lack of experience.”

Johnson didn’t get all the work he wanted out of his line this spring, but he’s excited. He likes the foundation and the crop of blue-chip players coming in, headlined by junior college tackle DaVonte Lambert. Johnson doesn’t have a Dee Ford to throw out there right now, but he sees flashes of something special.

What was a major question entering last season should be a bright spot for the Tigers in 2014.

“Let’s just face it: We have so many packages, so many guys who can hit you where it hurts,” Wright said. “We have ends who can make the quarterback step up and tackles who can push the pocket and rush the passer.

“Will I say that the talent level could be as good as Dee’s? Yes, I’ll absolutely say that.”

[gravejd 3,304]

We are 2 deep with talented and experienced seniors at the DT position. Not to mention the talented and experienced underclassmen behind those guys. If there is a team with a better and deeper DT rotation than AU I want to see it. We find a couple guys outside of Lawson and Owens to bring some pressure off the edge and this DL will be down right scary for opposing teams.

[Rednilla 5,439]

We are 2 deep with talented and experienced seniors at the DT position. Not to mention the talented and experienced underclassmen behind those guys. If there is a team with a better and deeper DT rotation than AU I want to see it. We find a couple guys outside of Lawson and Owens to bring some pressure off the edge and this DL will be down right scary for opposing teams.

With the level of pass rush being brought from the inside, especially by Gabe Wright, we may not need anyone else on the edge...though Elijah Daniel will almost certainly play more end than tackle this season, and he poses a threat in his own right.

[meh130 1,056]

We are 2 deep with talented and experienced seniors at the DT position. Not to mention the talented and experienced underclassmen behind those guys. If there is a team with a better and deeper DT rotation than AU I want to see it. We find a couple guys outside of Lawson and Owens to bring some pressure off the edge and this DL will be down right scary for opposing teams.

The line should be a strength this year. I think our pass rush will be better than last year, even without Ford.

The LBs should be improved. Flipping McKinzy and Frost may be just the spark needed.

The DBs are the only question due to the losses of Davis, Smith, and White, but given our DBs were not our strong suit, I think we will see improvement.

If our LBs and DBs can play up to par for the SEC, and our DL is above average, we should be competitive on defense. Every tackle our DL makes is one less for the LBs. Every tackle our LBs make is one less for the DBs. If our front 7 are strong, the DBs might be able to better cover the pass.

While I do expect the weight of winning games will remain on our offense, I expect notable improvement for the defense in 2014. By mid-season I expect our improved defense to be a talking point for commentators.