Talent on Defense

[Knucklehank1]

In large part everything is a mess right now. But watching the game today, it really is apparent that the problems on defense are a direct result of a lack of talent over anything else. I think ultimately this is the effect of 3 coordinators in 3 years and losing your top recruiter. We are not big and strong enough on the d-line, our linebackers look slow and our secondary cannot play effective man-to-man coverage. Last year, there were glaring technique issues and confusion on defense. I don't see that this year. I just see the other team running what they run right down our damn throats. Ultimately the other teams know that their guys are more dominant and physical than ours and they just run their system without anything special.

Bottom-line our recruiting needs to be improved dramatically. Unfortunately I don't think we have the coaching staff in place to make that happen.

 

[HRTheCard]

I mean 95% of our defense is freshman/sophomore. Add that on top of a new DC every year, yeah that might explain why they suck.

 

[Louisvillian]

Can’t argue with that. I like Avery and Etheridge.

I also don’t think Van Gorder could successfully scheme for Waggener High School right now.

 

[KerryRhodes]

Well, theyre about to get their 4th DC in 4 yrs unless the Cards go without one as someone suggested.

BHB

 

[nccardfan]

Promote Lorenzo Ward... Can he do worse?

 

[Thecycle27]

When the defense is soft, slow, and undisciplined you have a problem. I don't think I can ever remember Louisville having no speed on the edge or at lb. This is at least a 3 to 4 year rebuild.

 

[Knucklehank1]

Promote Lorenzo Ward... Can he do worse?

I don’t think the defensive coordinator is necessarily the problem. It’s a talent (and youth) issue.

 

[WildCard]

I agree about the churn at the DC position. But I think most of the defensive problems begin at practice. If things are the same as they were in the CBP 1 era (when we could see ALL of spring work and a week or so of summer) there is virtually no live tackling and Ons D scrimmage work was tilted toward the offensive side.

FWIW, I surprised and happy when CBP came back to town with a pretty high end DC. Grantham stayed 3 years and had some good Ds (yes, some HUGE breakdowns his last season) but left under "mysterious" circumstances. I don't think a good DC will work for CBP. JMO

Peace

 

[Thecycle27]

I would argue Grantham was the wrong hire and led to the current situation. The reason I believe this is all tied to recruiting. While a really good DC his system requires high end talent to run especially in the secondary. He was successful when he had Strong recruits and key transfer. When all those guys were healthy they were really good. Once they lost key guys they had no depth. He recruited poorly and you could argue terribly which led to the current young movement.

If he hired the Wake Forest DC or an up/coming DC that fit what he was looking for in a DC then things could of been very different. FYI the Wake DC is the same DC that saved Brian Kelly.

This is easy to say now but looking back the Grantham was a poor decision that Petrino never recovered from.

 

[CardsFirst]

Promote Lorenzo Ward... Can he do worse?

I don’t think the defensive coordinator is necessarily the problem. It’s a talent (and youth) issue.

Youth and poor or lack of coaching and It’s compounded by lack of size and natural ability

 

[CardsFirst]

I would argue Grantham was the wrong hire and led to the current situation. The reason I believe this is all tied to recruiting. While a really good DC his system requires high end talent to run especially in the secondary. He was successful when he had Strong recruits and key transfer. When all those guys were healthy they were really good. Once they lost key guys they had no depth. He recruited poorly and you could argue terribly which led to the current young movement.

If he hired the Wake Forest DC or an up/coming DC that fit what he was looking for in a DC then things could of been very different. FYI the Wake DC is the same DC that saved Brian Kelly.

This is easy to say now but looking back the Grantham was a poor decision that Petrino never recovered from.

And last year was a wash as Sirmon did nothing to help

 

[BPGhost]

I would argue Grantham was the wrong hire and led to the current situation. The reason I believe this is all tied to recruiting. While a really good DC his system requires high end talent to run especially in the secondary. He was successful when he had Strong recruits and key transfer. When all those guys were healthy they were really good. Once they lost key guys they had no depth. He recruited poorly and you could argue terribly which led to the current young movement.

If he hired the Wake Forest DC or an up/coming DC that fit what he was looking for in a DC then things could of been very different. FYI the Wake DC is the same DC that saved Brian Kelly.

This is easy to say now but looking back the Grantham was a poor decision that Petrino never recovered from.

Except - Petrino didn’t hire Grantham - Jurich did. We’ve seen the two bums who Petrino has brought in - at least with Grantham we got a couple of good years on that side of the ball.

And anyone who doesn’t think the defense would’ve been better with Grantham still in charge - instead of the two bums that Petrino brought in - is utterly clueless.

 

[KerryRhodes]

Except - Petrino didn’t hire Grantham - Jurich did. We’ve seen the two bums who Petrino has brought in - at least with Grantham we got a couple of good years on that side of the ball.

And anyone who doesn’t think the defense would’ve been better with Grantham still in charge - instead of the two bums that Petrino brought in - is utterly clueless.

You still tootin thst horn.

Ive proved to you over and over again how his defense worked against also rans.

When his defense plays real teams like GA today, in the 15 bowl game, they get trucked.

When his defense played a fake ass uofk team in 16, how'd they work out.

You die on that hill. Granthams defense couldn't carry Bedford jock at UofL.

 

[BPGhost]

You still tootin thst horn.

Ive proved to you over and over again how his defense worked against also rans.

When his defense plays real teams like GA today, in the 15 bowl game, they get trucked.

When his defense played a fake ass uofk team in 16, how'd they work out.

You die on that hill. Granthams defense couldn't carry Bedford jock at UofL.

Nothing that you just posted has anything to do with what I said - why did you even reply to my post?

I said that Grantham is a significantly better DC than either of those two chumps - sirmon and BVG. Nothing that you said, or could ever say, could credibly refute that.

For the record I would have happy had Bedford continued to be DC - too bad he decided to move to UT and get his doors blown off every week.

 

[KerryRhodes]

Nothing that you just posted has anything to do with what I said - why did you even reply to my post?

I said that Grantham is a significantly better DC than either of those two chumps - sirmon and BVG. Nothing that you said, or could ever say, could credibly refute that.

For the record I would have happy had Bedford continued to be DC - too bad he decided to move to UT and get his doors blown off every week.

Alright.
My bad.

Yes Grantham is better than Sirmon and BVG combined.

All he had to do was dial back some of the kamikaze blitzes and he'd still be here.

Then again he'd probably want to get away from Petrino.

 

[Fern Creek Card]

People cant work with Bobby. He is a DICK. We must have a different coach ASAP no matter what it cost us.

 

[Thecycle27]

Except - Petrino didn’t hire Grantham - Jurich did. We’ve seen the two bums who Petrino has brought in - at least with Grantham we got a couple of good years on that side of the ball.

And anyone who doesn’t think the defense would’ve been better with Grantham still in charge - instead of the two bums that Petrino brought in - is utterly clueless.

Who said he wasn't better than the last 2 hires. What I said he was not the right hire to begin with. Whoever hired him set them on this path. I will say if Jurich is the one that had to find and hire the DC then the Petrino hire was a mistake too. The last time Jurich started making assistant coaching calls in football didn't work out either. He basically threw money and a life line to Grantham which forced two people to work together that didn't like or respect each other. The chances of that ending well is basically zero. Kind of all makes sense now. Grantham recruited like he didn't plan on being here long term.

Whoever the next coach is better have good connections and is respected amongst the college football world.

 

[beantowncard]

I would argue Grantham was the wrong hire and led to the current situation. The reason I believe this is all tied to recruiting. While a really good DC his system requires high end talent to run especially in the secondary. He was successful when he had Strong recruits and key transfer. When all those guys were healthy they were really good. Once they lost key guys they had no depth. He recruited poorly and you could argue terribly which led to the current young movement.

If he hired the Wake Forest DC or an up/coming DC that fit what he was looking for in a DC then things could of been very different. FYI the Wake DC is the same DC that saved Brian Kelly.

This is easy to say now but looking back the Grantham was a poor decision that Petrino never recovered from.

Grantham’s departure is a mystery that may never be understood. Some say Wakeyleaks, some say poor recruiting, some say he didn’t get along with Bobby. Maybe something else, maybe some combination of the above. Either way, if Bobby stays, CBVG needs to be retained do he can truely implement his system, unless the guy is just an awful teacher. We will see.

 

[BPGhost]

Alright.
My bad.

Yes Grantham is better than Sirmon and BVG combined.

All he had to do was dial back some of the kamikaze blitzes and he'd still be here.

Then again he'd probably want to get away from Petrino.

Hold on - we agree on something about Grantham?? My hope for humanity is renewed.

 

[BPGhost]

Who said he wasn't better than the last 2 hires. What I said he was not the right hire to begin with. Whoever hired him set them on this path. I will say if Jurich is the one that had to find and hire the DC then the Petrino hire was a mistake too. The last time Jurich started making assistant coaching calls in football didn't work out either. He basically threw money and a life line to Grantham which forced two people to work together that didn't like or respect each other. The chances of that ending well is basically zero. Kind of all makes sense now. Grantham recruited like he didn't plan on being here long term.

Whoever the next coach is better have good connections and is respected amongst the college football world.

I disagree that he was the wrong hire. It didn’t work out - for a multitude of reasons, chief among them was the fact that it rubbed Petrino the wrong way by TJ sending him the message that he doubted his ability to secure someone good to make the transition into the ACC more successful. And guess what? Based upon the dregs that Petrino pulled after Grantham - TJ was correct.

 

[gocds]

To anyone that gives even a small rat’s ass, it was Grantham’s defense that lost to Houston and uahkay. What is missing, besides obvious, serious defensive coaching, is pretty simple. Heart, effort and emotion. I don’t care if it’s Alabama, UofL, Purdue, Norte Dame or whomever, without those three things you WILL NOT win, period.

GO CARDS - BEAT EVERYBODY!!! God Bless America!!!

 

[Thecycle27]

Sorry, this makes no sense. What AD hires a head coach only to initially hire/force his DC onto the head coach? Not just any head coach either, a head coach that is difficult to work with. Let's give him a DC that is equally challenging to work with. Why would anyone, especially Jurich,think that would end well? What was Jurich plan when this relationship that went south? Keep in mind there were multiple reports those two never got along.

So what we got is a AD hired Petrino knowing he couldn't attract a quality DC with a salary of $1 million? Then you give him an extension knowing the relationship between the 2 is not good. Then when it didn't go as plan you let the head coach who you knew couldn't attract a quality DC make the call on hiring a guy that was getting fired?

In a nutshell you are saying Jurich hired a head coach knowing that he had zero connections on the defensive side of the ball! Geez no wonder this is a train wreck.

 

[BPGhost]

To anyone that gives even a small rat’s ass, it was Grantham’s defense that lost to Houston and uahkay. What is missing, besides obvious, serious defensive coaching, is pretty simple. Heart, effort and emotion. I don’t care if it’s Alabama, UofL, Purdue, Norte Dame or whomever, without those three things you WILL NOT win, period.

GO CARDS - BEAT EVERYBODY!!! God Bless America!!!

As memory serves, “Petrino’s offense” - got shutdown against Houston to the tune of 10 points and committed 5 TOs vs the yuts - not really a winning recipe.

More importantly - football (and recruiting) is a team sport but the buck stops with the guys who has the most zeros in his check. If the “heart, effort and emotion” are lacking - that’s on Petrino.

 

[BPGhost]

Sorry, this makes no sense. What AD hires a head coach only to initially hire/force his DC onto the head coach? Not just any head coach either, a head coach that is difficult to work with. Let's give him a DC that is equally challenging to work with. Why would anyone, especially Jurich,think that would end well? What was Jurich plan when this relationship that went south? Keep in mind there were multiple reports those two never got along.

So what we got is a AD hired Petrino knowing he couldn't attract a quality DC with a salary of $1 million? Then you give him an extension knowing the relationship between the 2 is not good. Then when it didn't go as plan you let the head coach who you knew couldn't attract a quality DC make the call on hiring a guy that was getting fired?

In a nutshell you are saying Jurich hired a head coach knowing that he had zero connections on the defensive side of the ball! Geez no wonder this is a train wreck.

What AD? TJ - and I’d say his track record related to coaches was pretty good. That said - he did consider himself to be a football guy and essentially did the same thing to kragthorpe by insisting that he retain Brohm as his OC.

Who’s said - beyond Petrino who chafed at having his DC be picked for him - that Grantham is difficult to work with? He sure keeps on getting high profile gigs.

At the end of the day - this is all 20-20 hindsight. The situation could have just as easily worked as not.