Uso gains

[carbonpoke]

from his twitter, said that he is going for a pr, a 600lb squat and 455 pound bench. those are ridiculous numbers for a redshirt. Good gawd man!

and it sounds like brett finished up in his Jeff Garcia camp. will probably travel with his dad to vegas for the mwc media days.

 

[J-Rod]

Good.....had me worried there for a sec.....titled suggest Olive gained weight. 6'1 300 is good.....no need to be any heavier than that.

 

[BeaverPoke]

Good.....had me worried there for a sec.....titled suggest Olive gained weight. 6'1 300 is good.....no need to be any heavier than that.

J-Rod, what do you think about our defense going to a 3-4? It sounds like our 3 D-Lineman are huge, strong, and good.
Between Uso, Sunny Pelutasi, and Mertens it seems pretty legit. And what's with Yarbrough? Is he going to be a D-lineman or pass rushing LB, or?

 

[J-Rod]

J-Rod, what do you think about our defense going to a 3-4? It sounds like our 3 D-Lineman are huge, strong, and good.
Between Uso, Sunny Pelutasi, and Mertens it seems pretty legit. And what's with Yarbrough? Is he going to be a D-lineman or pass rushing LB, or?

Having that NT is the most important thing in a 3-4, and Wyoming has that. For that fact alone, the defense should improve a little. The real worry about a 3-4 is that it requires depth at LB....something Wyoming does not have. The starting rotation already needs to play better, let alone the guys behind them......Yarbrough will likely bounce back and forth from DE to OLB. I have no problem with the change.....the defense has been awful for years, why not try something new? The only potential issue I see may be obvious (depth) but its a big deal.....if those LBs start getting hurt, those wheels will fall off the wagon again. But that said, there is reason for optimism. It is sooooo difficult to recruit a good NT...and Wyo did that. That in itself, is a good start. I think you'll see the defense build and improve more in future seasons (2014/2015) than this year, but I do see marginal improvement in 2013. I expect it to still be somewhat "bad", but in 2014-2016 you might see it grow from bad, to respectable, to maybe even good.

 

[BeaverPoke]

J-Rod, what do you think about our defense going to a 3-4? It sounds like our 3 D-Lineman are huge, strong, and good.
Between Uso, Sunny Pelutasi, and Mertens it seems pretty legit. And what's with Yarbrough? Is he going to be a D-lineman or pass rushing LB, or?

Having that NT is the most important thing in a 3-4, and Wyoming has that. For that fact alone, the defense should improve a little. The real worry about a 3-4 is that it requires depth at LB....something Wyoming does not have. The starting rotation already needs to play better, let alone the guys behind them......Yarbrough will likely bounce back and forth from DE to OLB. I have no problem with the change.....the defense has been awful for years, why not try something new? The only potential issue I see may be obvious (depth) but its a big deal.....if those LBs start getting hurt, those wheels will fall off the wagon again. But that said, there is reason for optimism. It is sooooo difficult to recruit a good NT...and Wyo did that. That in itself, is a good start. I think you'll see the defense build and improve more in future seasons (2014/2015) than this year, but I do see marginal improvement in 2013.

Do you think a few years ago if Wyo didn't move to the 4-3, and kept, either Knapton, or Biezuns at LB along with Hendricks the defense would have been better?
I'll admit, I really don't know much about the small details of a good defensive scheme, other than having the right players at the right positions helps.
I was just bummed when I heard that Knapton and Biezuns weren't going to be LB's. I thought the trio of those two plus Hendricks could have been the best LBs in the MWC.

 

[fromolwyoming]

Geez, the kid is like a bull! I love it!

J-Rod, what do you think about our defense going to a 3-4? It sounds like our 3 D-Lineman are huge, strong, and good.
Between Uso, Sunny Pelutasi, and Mertens it seems pretty legit. And what's with Yarbrough? Is he going to be a D-lineman or pass rushing LB, or?

Having that NT is the most important thing in a 3-4, and Wyoming has that. For that fact alone, the defense should improve a little. The real worry about a 3-4 is that it requires depth at LB....something Wyoming does not have. The starting rotation already needs to play better, let alone the guys behind them......Yarbrough will likely bounce back and forth from DE to OLB. I have no problem with the change.....the defense has been awful for years, why not try something new? The only potential issue I see may be obvious (depth) but its a big deal.....if those LBs start getting hurt, those wheels will fall off the wagon again. But that said, there is reason for optimism. It is sooooo difficult to recruit a good NT...and Wyo did that. That in itself, is a good start. I think you'll see the defense build and improve more in future seasons (2014/2015) than this year, but I do see marginal improvement in 2013.

Do you think a few years ago if Wyo didn't move to the 4-3, and kept, either Knapton, or Biezuns at LB along with Hendricks the defense would have been better?
I'll admit, I really don't know much about the small details of a good defensive scheme, other than having the right players at the right positions helps.
I was just bummed when I heard that Knapton and Biezuns weren't going to be LB's. I thought the trio of those two plus Hendricks could have been the best LBs in the MWC.

We really didn't have anyone who could play NT effectively. The NT, as J-rod said, is the key to running a good 3-4 defense. And the key to a good NT is brute power, forcing o-linemen to double team you or risk getting knocked on their asses. Speed is good, but not essential. A NT's job is to completely plug up the middle.

 

[J-Rod]

Do you think a few years ago if Wyo didn't move to the 4-3, and kept, either Knapton, or Biezuns at LB along with Hendricks the defense would have been better?
I'll admit, I really don't know much about the small details of a good defensive scheme, other than having the right players at the right positions helps.
I was just bummed when I heard that Knapton and Biezuns weren't going to be LB's. I thought the trio of those two plus Hendricks could have been the best LBs in the MWC.

That might have been a better approach......fit the system to the talent of the team instead of the opposite. But who knows? That's in the past......the positive of Uso Olive. Build around him, and things will get better. Maybe not right away, he is only a freshman.....but 2014-2016 I don't expect the defense to be batshit awful. Like I said, NT's like that are difficult to find. You win football games by winning at the point of attack....that's what Uso Olive does. No more leaky Wyoming rush defenses. Get those LBs, and who knows? Wyoming might actually be a good defensive team for once.

 

[BeaverPoke]

So in a 3-4, with Uso in the middle, his job every play is to just go hard, and blow up the O-line, and make them double team him. Then with Sunny and Mertens on the ends, do they try and go around, or go through the O-line to take up the rest of the O-lineman to free up some LBs a blitz?

 

[JimmyDimes]

So in a 3-4, with Uso in the middle, his job every play is to just go hard, and blow up the O-line, and make them double team him. Then with Sunny and Mertens on the ends, do they try and go around, or go through the O-line to take up the rest of the O-lineman to free up some LBs a blitz?

Sonny and Hasi'api'api will be playing hybrid BUCK position....two point stance, QB rushing, ends. Yarborough along with Mertens and Olive will be our starting down DLinemen.

 

[fromolwyoming]

So in a 3-4, with Uso in the middle, his job every play is to just go hard, and blow up the O-line, and make them double team him. Then with Sunny and Mertens on the ends, do they try and go around, or go through the O-line to take up the rest of the O-lineman to free up some LBs a blitz?

Whatever works to their advantage. Mertens I think would also eat up blockers on his side, to open things up for a blitz, while Yarborough would try and put on a pass rush.

There are a few slight variations of the 3-4 defense, but the one consistent is the NT is supposed to hog up the middle. The DEs can either be pass rushers, run stoppers (converted 4-3 DTs), or a combo.

 

[BeaverPoke]

Between Yarbrough, Olive, Mertens, Hali'api'api, Sunny P, Burns, and Huff, the defense has some good players that can make things happen. Even though Olive hasn't played, the other 6 are proven and can play well. I hope the LBs step up and the secondary gets some picks and plays shut down ball this season.

 

[carbonpoke]

here is a layout, very informative. the nose tackle is so important because they have to manage the center and guard... good nose tackles have a feel for following pulling guards down the line into the running back. the secret of any dlineman is to hold the gap assignment so that offensive lineman can't get to the second level thereby sealing the linebackers.

http://football.calsci.com/DefensiveLine3.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[carbonpoke]

from that layout... my guess is that uso is nose, yarbourgh and mertens will be over the tackles, and puletasi and halapiapi will be outside rotating.

 

[carbonpoke]

and from reading that layout, fast teams exploit a 3-4 on the perimeter. the key to eliminating this is for the corners to play up and jam the receivers at the line of scrimmage, thereby throwing off the timing of the routes.

 

[carbonpoke]

and don't be surprised to see some wide-nine. with mertens and uso being the inside. this will not be a base package, but I bet my ass that Tormey throws this in certain situations. with the hybrid outside rushers we have (hali'api'api, puletasi, Stanton, Yarborough) you can pre-snap mask a 3-4, then shift to this, or vise versa... start wide nine, then shift down to 3-4.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNzGcVRbZws" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[J-Rod]

Things are looking up with the front seven.......like I said, the LBs scare me a bit, but otherwise I like what I see. The rush defense finished 117th last year.....only way to go is up, and Olive and he 3-4 may usher that in. Nothing is more important IMO than an improved rush defense. How many games last season did UW get destroyed by the run? Cal Poly, Toledo, Idaho.....In that Boise blowout, Southwick didn't even need to show up. Just turn around and hand it off.....its pretty depressing when you know what's coming, and still can't stop it. I hope this new scheme and Olive being the anchor is the difference. I think if he stays healthy and works his ass off, Olive could be much better than Fred Givens.....the last "good" Wyo DT.

 

[YankPoke]

Just a couple of notes, I wouldn't be surprised to see Yarbrough move to LB, he played MLB in high school and did well. I think that having Harris back in the middle, with some of the depth that those JUCO LBs are going to help that LB core improve. I think the biggest question for me is can we find someone in the secondary to help Burns out in coverage.

 

[ProudWYOAlum]

I think Yarborough is a little slow to play LB in college. He's good at DE.

I also think the JUCO LBs will catch on and be plenty effective. Couldn't be worse than last year!

 

[laxwyo]

I'll be happier when he plays a game