Red Raider Gridiron | Depth Chart Changes and Fan Reaction

In the remaining 6 games it’s got to be as simple a scheme as possible to maximize every shred of talent. When you hear a guy like Tuberville talk about a defense “straining to get turn over’s and 3rd down stops” it really equates to stopping the bleeding, controlling the pace and maximizing the opportunity to get to the magical 2 x scores up point and play downhill. Parcellian.
Defensively the Tech Coaches want to impose exactly the start OSU put on us on to this weeks oponnent.
Look for a variation of the bend don’t break mixed in with some twist stunts versus the Buffs. In extremis there is only the training and skills you have stored up. Be instinctual to allow the most speed of reaction.

 Eric LeGrande get well soon. I’ll keep you in my prayers for a speedy and full recovery. The kid has a long road ahead of him.

Depth Chart – interesting. I like the Colby to DT and Bobby A. to NT combo. Bullit to SLB. Is he big enough weight-wise to play this position. He will definitely add speed as will Neboh backing up DJ. Let’s hope this line up equals a Red Raider victory in Boulder.

This time last year, Tech fans were feeling good going into the A&M game and the Aggies were hoping to just not get embarassed. The Aggies came to the Jones and put the “Fightin” back in Fightin’ Aggies and spanked the Red Raiders.

This year neither team has much confidence or consistency going into next week’s game. Who would you call the favorite at Kyle Field?

… no wonder the D sucks so much! I may have missed your mention that they were omitted intentionally. How about: LB – Bird/Hubert & S – Davis/Dewhurst?

That still makes me wonder where Hyder, Barr, Cobb, Ford have gone. Injury? Demotion? Overslept next to their fat little girlfriends? I am sure some are injured like Will Ford, but I must have missed the other injuries. Or this is a bigger shake up that it first looked.

It either improves the D or we see a bunch of guys running circles when their mind is thinking CB while they are playing LB. (exaggeration)

I went to Boston to visit my son in his family this weekend and didn’t have the opportunity to listen/watch the game. I also received an email from my brother who has given up this year on the Gators for much the same reason I read here on our blog – no aggressiveness or emotion. After reading the post game comments, missing the game was a blessing.

I have been a Red Raider fan since 1968 and ain’t going to change now. We will weather this storm, have seen good and bad years, and will see Tech rise again. It won’t be this year, and maybe not next, but it will. Why – because the expectation and support by the fan base is as strong as I have ever seen and we will not tolerate anything else. The facilities are first rate and the reputation Tech has garnered isn’t going to wane. Hang in folks.

I read Coach Ruffin’s and Riley’s effort against North Carolina State. That is where Leach’s offense went. Tubberville should bring back Riley and dump Brown. Why because he truly understands the Air Raid run by Leach, recruited many of these players, but most important, he has turned a boring program into a high scoring machine.

The defensive woes are traditional here and this year I expected it to struggle more, especially switching to the 3-4 and introducing more complexity. The players recruited don’t fit to this scheme. The good news is the young secondary and the incoming recruits and those who red shirted. These folks are high motor and aggressive. It will be much better next year and I have confidence in Willis.

We lost to a good OSU team; the remaining games will be up and down as the beginning, so brace yourself.

This many changes in one week = desperation. Why not shake up the offense as well? Might I suggest an new QB to start thinkgs off?

defensively. I’m glad some players are being reassigned to other positions that utilize speed. I’m still concerned about the right corner position with DJ Johnson. I think that and the MLB position are where are biggest weaknesses are. Offensively, I’m just hoping coach Brown can figure out how to win against possibly the worst team in the Big 12. I’m not convinced Tech wins this game on the road from what we’ve all witnessed so far this season. I’ve always slated this CO game as a loss and I hope I’m wrong. I could really care less what these players think of this coaching staff or Mike Leach for that matter. I tend to think that this locker room has gone soft and I would rather hear that these players are getting reemed on a daily basis for their performances to date. Lastly, I would also like to say that my thoughts and prayers are with Eric LeGrande and family.

Seth

It was a good time for you to address the emotion on the board. Its getting a bit rough! I just hope we dont end up being the comments section of the AJ. This is generally a place that was strong support for the team and positive attitude about the program.

I definitly dont think the sky is falling, there are things that are troubling but I do see improvement evey week and thats the job of the coaching staff.

and I just have to say “nice coordinated response” from the administration. Three different articles from three different reporters with three different perspectives all on the same day.

Did Hance dust off his political playbook from yesteryear? And for the AJ to go along with it? Really?

All I saw were excuses, softball questions, and a political blah, blah, blah endorsement from the Chancellor. There is as much disconnect within the Administration and the newspaper as there is in D.C. to the rest of America.

There are two types of people in the world: those who make excuses and others who find a way. We clearly see which camp our HC is in and his apologists at the AJ.

The depth chart changes reflect injuries and the need to get somebody on the field….and perhaps some other thinking for the game vs Colorado.

I am surprised with the movement of Agoucha to starting NT…he just passed Wade who came in with such attention and such high expectations. Agoucha arrived a couple years ago as a project, failed, went to another school at a lower division and has returned to pass all the guys vying for pt…although some of them may be too injured to play anyway.

The moves at linebacker look as much to be moves of desparation as need for bodies. Some of those guys were planned to be redshirted, now we need them.

We now have our two prior prime middle linebackers playing completey different roles…and our current middle linebacker plays as if a great middle linebacker tackle is a bear hug….grrrrr…the boy weighs 250lbs+ throw your weight around, become a hammer, make a hit !!

The secondary is fraught with injury, so those moves make more sense.

I watch games from the tv only. That means I do not see what is happening in the secondary on defense. It also means that when Davis pops into the screen getting beat that I do not know what happened that put him in that situation. He is playing safety, what happened on the field that left him hanging. What technique is he being asked to play, is that the best techique for his ability? When a coach puts a guy on an island, he is going to get beat now and again. If he is not an island kind of guy, he is going to get beat more often. In principle this applys to every player on the team, the coaches are making the calls, based off the schemes they teach.

I would like to ask realistically when is the right time to take a look at making a change under center? I am not even asking for the switch from Potts to Sticks. I am saying with this year looking more and more like a throw away, when do we start to groom the quarterback for next season? Potts has show what he is. Tubbs has shown that no matter how poorly Potts is playing (14-0 UT, 28-0 ISU, 21-0 OSU,) he will not pull Potts in hopes of a spark from Sheffield. So as a fan I am ready to move on and start preparing our next QB so that next year does not create the same stench that this year has. Why are we trotting Potts out to play mediocre to terrible against good teams, and steady but unspectacular against lesser teams? I cannot find a logical argument for continuing down this path for the rest of our season. Don’t say he gives us the best chance to win. A can of green beans would have given us the same chance to win against OSU and may have been able to read OSU’s cover 2 more quickly.

I know they want speed on defense but we give up so many yards against the run.
It makes sense to me to put the larger nose tackle in to stop the larger offensive Lineman.

What happened to him?

Playing inside backer in a 50 front is very difficult. Moving someone into this position from an OLB on a 4-3 defense is an exceptionally difficult move for anyone. Bird is the victim of the move.

Keys change- I’m not sure if they key backs and under-key lineman or just key lineman but numerous reps are needed and game reps are a must.
On flow to them he must be able to take on a charging guard if they have B gap responsibility and stuff him back in the hole. If they have C or D gap responsibility then they must be able to scrape downhill and not overrun the ball.

A good backer will learn when he needs to go over the top of a cutoff block or if he can cut underneath or need to go through or cut the blocker.

Then he is asked to read play action and find a drop zone or pick up a back man-man (Bird probably caught on to this easily since he was an outside backer.

Another issue is moving Duncanm. I haven’t looked at the stats but hasn’t he been involved in fewer run play stops because of his position switch.

The general rules of the 50 defense for the running game require that the defensive linemen be good enough to occupy a gap and an Olineman inside of them so that the Oline can’t get to the. backers

I know we still have a chance to fall flat in the rest of our games but I am hoping for some miracles so we don’t lose our bowl streak.

That should be interesting… no earthly idea it will work, but what the heck….
Did he play any linebacker in high school?

I wonder if the loss of Smith started a domino effect of moves and this depth chart is the result?