LB Preview (Post-Standard) | Syracusefan.com

LB Preview (Post-Standard)

cusefan88 said:
I'm very interested to see who wins the 3rd starting spot. Nice to know the team has 5-6 guys they can count on who have lots of game experience (Thompson, Wax, Sparrow, Bailey, Mason, and McDonald).
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I assume Bailey, but PT could be situationally / matchup driven.
 
cusefan88 said:
I'm very interested to see who wins the 3rd starting spot. Nice to know the team has 5-6 guys they can count on who have lots of game experience (Thompson, Wax, Sparrow, Bailey, Mason, and McDonald).
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Roon and Lowery also played some last season.

Hard to tell who will win the starting job but I am going to assume Rocky will play 5 or 6 LBs and rotate them in and out regularly. Not sure it really matters who the starters are.

We have some nice quality depth here, which is good to see.
 
I'm guessing the ones that aren't out with injury, will all see the field. McDonald and Roon seem prone to getting dings.
 
cusefan88 said:
I'm very interested to see who wins the 3rd starting spot. Nice to know the team has 5-6 guys they can count on who have lots of game experience (Thompson, Wax, Sparrow, Bailey, Mason, and McDonald).
Expand...


Right now, I think Thompson, Wax and McDonald are in the first group with Lowery, Sparrow and Baily in the second group. Roon (was he in a green jersey?) and Mason are in the mix somewhere.

At least six guys should play a lot. Players will rotate to keep them fresh. RL expects high energy and will be sending guys (LBs and S's) on almost every play.

I would expect the true freshman; Moultrie-Goddard, Jeferey and Omopariola to see limited time after the first two weeks and redshirt this season.

And, we have 4 walk-ons: Sugano, Dolan (special teamer?), Kabula and Billue who will likely be on the scout team allowing the others to not miss time with the regular defense in practice. Yes, walk-ons serve a purpose.


Kahlib Gilmore, 6'4", 225 lbs. a RS-Jr transfer from DII West Florida University is an intriguing prospect. I don't know much about him. He has already burned his redshirt year so he's a full go if he can earn playing time somewhere (special teams?).


I expect this defense to be more flexible than in the past with more situational and personnel matchups. I wouldn't be surprised to see us line up in a 4-2-5 or 3-2-6 depending on the situation. We played a 4-2-5 for most of the bowl game last year and we ran some 3-2-6 and 4-1-6 in the spring because so many LB's were recovering from off season repair work.
 
sutomcat said:
Roon and Lowery also played some last season.

Hard to tell who will win the starting job but I am going to assume Rocky will play 5 or 6 LBs and rotate them in and out regularly. Not sure it really matters who the starters are.

We have some nice quality depth here, which is good to see.
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I'm completely forgot Lowery. Looks like he gained a ton of weight and will probably be a nice pass rushing threat too.
 
Frustrated Johnny Depp GIF
 
sutomcat said:
Roon and Lowery also played some last season.

Hard to tell who will win the starting job but I am going to assume Rocky will play 5 or 6 LBs and rotate them in and out regularly. Not sure it really matters who the starters are.

We have some nice quality depth here, which is good to see.
Expand...
Having watched him coach at San Diego State for a dozen years, Rocky absolutely will play 5-6 linebackers situationally. I'd bet they asked Lowery to put on some lbs because he was the best situational pass rusher after Thompson and Wax. This group is deep. Very exciting.
 
SUDadx2 said:
Right now, I think Thompson, Wax and McDonald are in the first group with Lowery, Sparrow and Baily in the second group. Roon (was he in a green jersey?) and Mason are in the mix somewhere.

At least six guys should play a lot. Players will rotate to keep them fresh. RL expects high energy and will be sending guys (LBs and S's) on almost every play.

I would expect the true freshman; Moultrie-Goddard, Jeferey and Omopariola to see limited time after the first two weeks and redshirt this season.

And, we have 4 walk-ons: Sugano, Dolan (special teamer?), Kabula and Billue who will likely be on the scout team allowing the others to not miss time with the regular defense in practice. Yes, walk-ons serve a purpose.


Kahlib Gilmore, 6'4", 225 lbs. a RS-Jr transfer from DII West Florida University is an intriguing prospect. I don't know much about him. He has already burned his redshirt year so he's a full go if he can earn playing time somewhere (special teams?).


I expect this defense to be more flexible than in the past with more situational and personnel matchups. I wouldn't be surprised to see us line up in a 4-2-5 or 3-2-6 depending on the situation. We played a 4-2-5 for most of the bowl game last year and we ran some 3-2-6 and 4-1-6 in the spring because so many LB's were recovering from off season repair work.
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Like you said 6 LB's should play a lot. Its one of the better units on our team and they are versatile. But you can't play the LB's a lot and play a 4-2-5, a 3-2-6 and maybe even 4-1-6 very often if your playing your LB's a lot. We played that when our LB's were all beat up. But I think Rocky will mix up formations quite a bit depending on the opponent and send guys from different places quite a bit. He is going to keep Offensive units guessing. I think we have quite a few pieces at LB, DL and even at safety. CB not so much. But he could go with lots of defensive alignments with those pieces.
 
Thompson Sparrow Wax

Sparrow stood out consistently last year when he filled in. I think he earned first shot at the starting job at MLB
 
CbusCuse said:
Like you said 6 LB's should play a lot. Its one of the better units on our team and they are versatile. But you can't play the LB's a lot and play a 4-2-5, a 3-2-6 and maybe even 4-1-6 very often if your playing your LB's a lot. We played that when our LB's were all beat up. But I think Rocky will mix up formations quite a bit depending on the opponent and send guys from different places quite a bit. He is going to keep Offensive units guessing. I think we have quite a few pieces at LB, DL and even at safety. CB not so much. But he could go with lots of defensive alignments with those pieces.
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I'm really looking forward to seeing what Coach Long does with this defense.

Any of these formations could involve playing linebackers on the edge as defensive ends, moving ends inside and playing our best coverage linebackers at linebacker. A 4-2-5 could have Thompson and McDonald or Lowery on the edge with Wax and Sparrow at linebacker. Which would be a 4-2-5 by alignment but would be a 2-4-5 by personal. All of this is subject to down and distance situations and the personnel being used by the offense, ie: three wide, 4 wide or empty sets.

We have the linebackers and the safeties to be very versatile and disguise coverages. Safeties: guys like Clark, Simmons, Greenwood, Gould and Martin can all cover. If they can cover as well as our CB3 and CB4 then we can adjust to 4 wide and empty sets without needing to put a third corner on the field.

It's going to be interesting to see. Safeties like Barron, Simmons and Greenwood have been running the 3-3-5 for three years with Coach TW and should now be ready masters level courses from Coach RL. The same can be said for linebackers like Wax, Thomson, Sparrow, Lowery and McDonald.

We may not have the most talented team or the most skill, but if our guys can execute the calls well and minimize assignment errors then this defense should be fun to watch.
 
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