New Defense & Positional Changes

[TexasTiger 12,829]

still thinking Thornton will be very good

I saw this on another website about Thornton:

Justin Thornton has a long, long way to go. He is skinny for a HS Basketball player, much less a SEC DE. That was the biggest letdown of the day. Dont expect him to contribute next fall unless he makes MAJOR changes.

Dont expect him to see the field

Just thought I'd share

"Skinny" is fixable with physical maturity and strength and conditioning training. Case in point: Dee Ford was 190 lbs in high school.

yep, except for O'Mac....kid never gained an ounce in five years at AU. But he played his skinny little tail off for AU.

What about the "Lizzard", back in the 90s? He looked like 6th grader size-wise. He was elusive and fun to watch. I think the coaches thought that he was too little to get hurt. Do any of you remember "Tea-Pot Brown" ?

You want small?

Two words: Little Train

I had a class with him and he was small. I was bigger than him at the time. Although he was ripped. He came back after his rookie season for winter quarter. I cannot remember the lineman who played for San Fran at the time but he was huge! They met up after class each day and that guy was bigger than the door!

Steve Wallace?

[McLoofus 35,182]

So someone help me out here...we had 6 pages of good discussion, but I didn't see it mentioned what would actually MAKE a good "buck" in Muschamp's system. Is it speed? if so, lateral or vertical? strength? size? meanness? Someone throw an offense guy a bone here.

From a guy who played it:

"It's a fun position to play," Quinn said. "You can rush and also you're dropping the zone play on receivers and that kind of thing. It's really unique; you're looking for a guy who has got speed and length and has the ability to play in space with receivers, as well."

http://www.palmbeach...tors-sta/nLqrJ/

(Edit: I misread, that's not from Powell)

Alternately: This guy, who "drew comparisons to Dwight Freeney". 6'3, 260, 4.65. I'm just gonna guess that his arms are pretty long and he's got both vertical and lateral quickness.

Or Lawson:

DE Carl Lawson: There might not be a more important piece to Auburn’s defense next season. Lawson tore his ACL in the spring and missed the entire 2014 season, but he returned to practice Monday for the first time since the injury, an encouraging sign for next year. When he does return, he’ll no longer just be rushing the quarterback off the edge with his hand in the dirt. He’ll do some of that, but look for Muschamp to try him at Buck linebacker, a hybrid role where the 6-2, 261-pounder also will have to stand up at times. If the transition goes well, Lawson could become the next Dante Fowler Jr., Florida’s leader in sacks this season.

http://espn.go.com/b...h-in-new-scheme

I bet Dee Ford would have excelled at it with a year or two to learn in college, but I think he's having to learn on the job in KC and it's not going super duper smoothly.