Get Excited About the Defense

The linebackers were just as bad.

 

I hope Gates is great too. He looked like an all around football player. Turner should be a big help on D and the other 2 transfers probably less so. But I could be wrong.

 

Did you see our pass rush? Non existent. No pass rush and db's are toast.

 

Problem solved.

 

DB’s only 3 ints all year. No pass rush. LB play was not good: especially after Shemar was injured. Our defense, or lack of, was truly a collective effort.
We are going to be much better this year. Better coaching and better personnel. CBN has dealt with the problem.

 

You know he’s seen the film. Why open your mouth if you’re that guy. Coaches can’t help heart, only he can.

 

We won’t have Cody Raymond with his armed crossed sulking all alone either.

 

Thing is, last year, we really didn’t return much from the year before from an experience standpoint. Most of the 2022 defense was guys who moved on in 2023 (Burney, Dean, Cox, Miller, etc.). The 2023 defense was loaded with guys playing their 1st snaps at the college level, we played a ton of freshmen and quite a few sophomores that didn’t play much previously. Returning production wise, we ranked 91st in the country headed into 2023 (and that included Boone who was immediately injured), this season, that will be significantly higher.

 

Coaches can sit him on the bench for not giving full effort though.

 

I'm in Napier’s corner although I think this is a year he needs to show significant improvement on the field. I blame him for some of the preseason expectations on defensive improvement last year that we obviously didn't see. He made some comments that got people's hopes up. Typically if a coach heaps praise on a unit in public it's a good thing.

 

Except that Boone was already out for the season and Sapp was a limited player and then all freshmen after that. No experience to back him up to speak of.

 

The coaches actually awarded him the privilege of wearing #1 the following season.

 

I yearn for the return of the fierce defense. A Consistent level of excellence and depth at all positions.

A stellar offense is exciting but there's nothing like watching a Florida defense crush the life out of a good team from the first snap to the last.

 

I think objectively, we should be better at D in 2024 - can't really get worse.

Yes, we played some young guys in 2023 and that's never a great thing, but I didn't see 2nd year bumps from anyone, and even 3rd year Marshall (who was preseason ALL SEC) regressed.

I don't think we have the top-end talent on the roster outside of the upcoming sophomores, hence why my optimism is anchored to the 2nd year bump of that class.

I am not assessing things as "will we improve on D in 2024"....I think the answer is a clear "yes". I am assessing things more from the standpoint of: when will be relevant again and be bonafide contenders? I think we are extremely far from that level in today's SEC....and my opinion is that it's due to player development and coaching.

 

I have seen numerous quotes stating this staff does not assign the #1

 

We had a stellar defense with horrific offenses under muschamp and maclwein followed by the converse with Mullen and a solid offense with the same horrific defense with Napier. I'd love a great defense again but all I want Is recognizable quality football on both sides of the ball. If we had just a middling offense under the first two or a decent defense with the last two florida would have been a top 10 team every year.

 

He and Kimber had a lot in common. Good riddance.

 

Coaches can bench. Good coaches can bench.

 

The bench is your best motivator - John Wooden