Defensive philosophy

[msstate7]

Any chance Dan goes with a 3-4 guy? Would we have the personnel?

[Todd4State]

If we got Jonathan Taylor to go along with Nick James, maybe. I think it's hard to find that dominant space eating nose tackle.

Personally, I like to be multiple.

[thf24]

I like the idea of a 4-2-5 more than anything. I think that's what we're going to see many of the top teams start to move to as these hybrid LB/S type players become more prevalent due to demand for that skill set in the NFL.

[Jack Lambert]

Who ever they hire i want them to get a four year contract with a big buy out if they decide to leave to go to another school. OC and DC should be treated like HC in my opinion.

[Rayburn8]

3-4 would most likely look like this:
De: Chris Jones and Nelson Adams (size thing)
Nt: Nick James
Olb: Jung, Jackson, gray and green
Mlb: brown brothers
Safety's and corners the same.
We could move one of our smaller defensive ends to OLB but we for sure have the d-line personal to run a 3-4 not really the linebacker personal. CJ would be a monster in a 3-4.

P.S. Correct me if you think I am wrong about something.

[engie]

We don't have personnel to be a full-time 3-4, but we do have the personnel to be multiple. I hope the next guy uses that to his advantage more than Collins actually ended up doing...

Multiple ability without major dropoff is how you combat the hurry up. That offense seeks to get matchups and confuse you. Doesn't work when you can rotate in and out of stuff and confuse it...

I really hope we study what Gary Patterson is doing now. He's calling in his defenses on playcards now basically just like the offenses do. This shows the basics of what he does...
http://www.burntorangenation.com/2013/10/23/4947762/tcu-horned-frogs-4-2-5-defense-gary-patterson-cover-2-read

[Thick]

If you run a 3-4 look in today's college football, you better have some stud DL and some stud LBs. You can run that in the NFL because there is no true spread team, plus the talent is much better defensively. For us to run a 3-4, we would need Bama talent....period. That's 5* talent stacked 2-3 deep. We could run it occasionally and blitz out of it, change things up some, but I don't think we have the all around talent for it to be our base defense.

[msstate7]

Here's the list of college teams running 3-4...

Louisville Cardinals
Appalachian State Mountaineers
Alabama Crimson Tide
Charlotte 49ers
Oregon Ducks
Georgia Bulldogs
Naval Academy
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Stanford Cardinal
UCLA Bruins
Air Force Academy
Wisconsin Badgers
Brigham Young University Cougars
Washington State Cougars
Fresno State Bulldogs
West Virginia Mountaineers
Texas Tech Red Raiders
Oklahoma Sooners
University of Maryland
Vanderbilt Commodores
Southern Cal Trojans
South Florida Bulls
Florida State University

Im not sure if any of these teams would have a candidate for us anyway.

Todd grantham was at Louisville and helped them get to #6 in total defense. According to this site -- http://jeffschultz.blog.ajc.com/2014/08/18/report-petrino-grantham-already-feuding/ -- Petrino and grantham aren't getting along. Maybe we should give him a call.

So if that list above is complete, 23 of 128 div 1 teams run a 3-4. 4 (Wisconsin, Louisville, Stanford, and bama) of the top 11 total defenses are 3-4 defenses.

[Westdawg]

Get Jonathan Taylor AND Daron Payne, and you add those guys alongside Nick James, you have your NT settled. Add Nelson Adams in for measure, which he deserves much more than that - and you have one of the best NT units in the country.

[GTHOM]

We would definitely have the players to do it

NT: Nick James perfect for the 3-4

DE: Chris Jones, Ryan Brown, Nelson Adams, AJ Jefferson: Have the quality depth there

OLB: Gerri Green, Jung, Zach Jackson, Dez Harris: wouldnt have much experience to start off but Green and Jung both fit that scheme well. big dudes

MLB: Brown Brothers: Both guys are smart, fit the scheme perfectly

CB: Calhoun, Redmond, Jiles, Irvin Sills: same unit as last year without love

FS: Market, Peters: Market is consistent, Peters will be inexperienced but you can work with that at safety. he will be the most talented player we have back there

SS: JT Gray, Brandon Bryant, Coman: JT Gray will be a beast, Coman is always around the ball, Bryant is very talented.

To sum it up i think we should go for it, the 3-4 is the toughest defense to handle if you can run it right, space eater at the NT, big guys at DE and OLB that can rush the passer, Smart MLB that can read and react, they wont blitz a whole lot, secondary will be improved. correct me if you disagree with anything

[Ifyouonlyknew]

James at NT is ok but he can't go every play & we don't have a backup for him. Even if we got Payne he's not a NT in the 3-4 he's a DE in the Marcel Darius mold. He's not gonna play NT if he goes to Bama.

[msstate7]

James at NT is ok but he can't go every play & we don't have a backup for him. Even if we got Payne he's not a NT in the 3-4 he's a DE in the Marcel Darius mold. He's not gonna play NT if he goes to Bama.

I don't know if going to a 3-4 would be a good move or not. That said if we were thinking about it, next year would be a good time imo. Our offense should carry us next season anyway. If we went that route, we should be able to have the pieces we need for '16 after dak leaves