Offense and Defense Rotations

[GoSU96]

SU has been playing a lot of guys, and not just garbage time, the last three games. As they get into the ACC we will see if the rotation shortens up.

Defense:

DL - Against Tulane they went with rotating the ones (Welsh, Robinson, Bromley, Crume) and twos (Thompson, Johnson, Raymond, Jones) as whole groups early. We will see what happens with Welsh, but you have to love the use of depth, keep the ones fresh for the 4th quarter.

LB - It's been a five man rotation the first part of the season. Kirkland has received more time but Arciniega has received solid PT.

DB - four corners and five safties have seen steady PT. Last week there was a lot of situational subbing for Wilkes.

OL - Palmer has rotated in for both Trudo and Robinson at times. The rest of the back up OL has been limited to late in the last three game.

WR - five man rotation, West, Clark, Kobena, Broyld, and Estime. Last week they showed a power group and speed grouping. Interesting to see where that goes.

RB - Morris has gotten most of the PT after Smith and PTG.

TE/FB - settling into a three man rotation, Wales, Parris, and Moore, Cleveland.

On offense there isn't a single superstar but a lot of similar level players, a go to guy hasn't emerged yet. GM has a bunch of options for personnel packages, he has to be careful not to get too complicated.

Would love to see a bunch formation with Wales, Moore, and Broyld with Clark at WR. You could run power or really attack the LB's and Safeties with the pass game.

 

[javadoc]

DL - Against Tulane they went with rotating the ones (Welsh, Robinson, Bromley, Crume) and twos (Thompson, Johnson, Raymond, Jones) as whole groups early. We will see what happens with Welsh, but you have to love the use of depth, keep the ones fresh for the 4th quarter.

That is a really nice interior DL group to see. Just when the opposing OL gets used to Bromley & Crume, we bring in the "bigs" unit. It's been more than 10 years since we saw that kind of quality at DT/NG.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

One thing I do like about this staff is that they are getting a lot of guys in to the game. My hope is that this means a) they know that to play at the pace they want they need to keep guys fresh, and developing depth accomplishes that, b) that they have a good idea of what each player does well and they're using them situationally in places where they are confident they can succeed and c) that the depth on the roster actually merits giving a lot of guys playing time.

 

[syr02esq]

Has Funderburk received a pass yet?

 

[GoSU96]

One thing I do like about this staff is that they are getting a lot of guys in to the game. My hope is that this means a) they know that to play at the pace they want they need to keep guys fresh, and developing depth accomplishes that, b) that they have a good idea of what each player does well and they're using them situationally in places where they are confident they can succeed and c) that the depth on the roster actually merits giving a lot of guys playing time.

I think it's a case of no superstars, but not a huge drop off between the first two strings. If that's the case might as well play more guys if there isn't a ton of risk playing the two's. Pace and depth might mitigate talent gaps late in games.

They certaintly haven't been playing at breakneck speed. It's no huddle, but it's not like last year. A lot of look at me's, changes from the sidelines, and substitutions.

 

[GoSU96]

Has Funderburk received a pass yet?

1

 

[JJReddawg]

Has Funderburk received a pass yet?

Yes

 

[OrangePA]

Has Funderburk received a pass yet?

Yes, Hunt to Funderburke at NW.

 

[TDTOrange]

I was commenting to my seat-mate at the game on Saturday how I love how many players we've been rotating in on defense. I think it's a result of not having much of a drop off between the 1's and 2's at most positions, and a conscious decision by the coaches to play a lot of guys to keep players fresh given the proliferation of the no-huddle, spread, hurry-up offenses. They also mentioned at one time (I think mainly in regards to the secondary) how it's easier to teach the younger guys a specific package/position and build them up from there (i.e. Whigham as okie CB, Morgan as okie safety).

It's pretty common to run 8 DL out there, assuming the depth is available. This is why I really hope Welsh is ok and can continue to play, we need him to keep up that rotation.

I like the idea of giving our starting LBs a series or 2 off during the early part of the games to save on some wear and tear along with developing a solid 2nd unit. Kirkland looks to be pretty solid as he seems to get the most time. Arciniega has gotten a couple series for Spruill and even Vigille has played a couple times before the wholesale 2nd unit substitutions late in our last couple blow-outs.

It's nice to have had a full roster for a couple years now, this is how it shows.

 

[Dcuse]

1

Actually 2

 

[GoSU96]

1

Actually 2

I saw the 1 game played, and it registered as 1 catch, my bad.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

They certaintly haven't been playing at breakneck speed. It's no huddle, but it's not like last year. A lot of look at me's, changes from the sidelines, and substitutions.

Last year was definitely faster, but with Hunt under the center it's been closer to last year's pace than it was with Allen taking snaps. Hopefully that counts for something.:noidea:

 

[sutomcat]

SU has been playing a lot of guys, and not just garbage time, the last three games. As they get into the ACC we will see if the rotation shortens up.

Defense:

DL - Against Tulane they went with rotating the ones (Welsh, Robinson, Bromley, Crume) and twos (Thompson, Johnson, Raymond, Jones) as whole groups early. We will see what happens with Welsh, but you have to love the use of depth, keep the ones fresh for the 4th quarter.

LB - It's been a five man rotation the first part of the season. Kirkland has received more time but Arciniega has received solid PT.

DB - four corners and five safties have seen steady PT. Last week there was a lot of situational subbing for Wilkes.

OL - Palmer has rotated in for both Trudo and Robinson at times. The rest of the back up OL has been limited to late in the last three game.

WR - five man rotation, West, Clark, Kobena, Broyld, and Estime. Last week they showed a power group and speed grouping. Interesting to see where that goes.

RB - Morris has gotten most of the PT after Smith and PTG.

TE/FB - settling into a three man rotation, Wales, Parris, and Moore, Cleveland.

On offense there isn't a single superstar but a lot of similar level players, a go to guy hasn't emerged yet. GM has a bunch of options for personnel packages, he has to be careful not to get too complicated.

Would love to see a bunch formation with Wales, Moore, and Broyld with Clark at WR. You could run power or really attack the LB's and Safeties with the pass game.

Nice work Go. The only thing I would add is that Jacob Green is getting some playing time at TE, especially in running situations when a 2nd TE is inserted in the game.

Estime is getting a ton of PT. I do not remember a true frosh WR getting as many snaps as he is getting, ever, at least not this early in the season. He has benefited more than anyone from the injury to Flemming. Hope he can take advantage of it. You can see the talent but you can also often see the inexperience.

As Go says, they are really only playing 5 WRs right now. I think it is likely someone else is going to get some PT in the rotation; it is hard to only go with 5 players here with an offense that plays fast and passes a lot like SU is doing right now. I think the leading candidates are Ben Lewis, Quinta Funderburk and Alvin Cornelius. All have received a little PT in the early games. I am guessing Lewis is going to emerge as the 6th guy but they are closely matched and must be having a donnybrook in practice competing for that spot.

Assuming the injury to Welsh is relatively serious, it will be interesting to see who gets the empty slot in the DE rotation. The leading candidates are the new JUCO guys, Marona and Trejo. Marona was playing with the 2nd team early in the preseason, but he was beaten out by Johnson, the true frosh who appears to get better with each game played.

 

[SmilinBob]

Rotation is the key to depth and helping you be prepared for when a player is injured and this staff has done a wonderful job getting players in games. Also, having some blowouts are a nice asset as well and in the past SU has struggled to finish off those "bad" teams. The off week could not have come at a better time to get the young DE's/transfers ready as I'd guess Welsh is not going to play. I thought I saw Trejo play last Saturday?

 

[JeremyCuse]

Nice work Go. The only thing I would add is that Jacob Green is getting some playing time at TE, especially in running situations when a 2nd TE is inserted in the game.

Estime is getting a ton of PT. I do not remember a true frosh WR getting as many snaps as he is getting, ever, at least not this early in the season. He has benefited more than anyone from the injury to Flemming. Hope he can take advantage of it. You can see the talent but you can also often see the inexperience.

As Go says, they are really only playing 5 WRs right now. I think it is likely someone else is going to get some PT in the rotation; it is hard to only go with 5 players here with an offense that plays fast and passes a lot like SU is doing right now. I think the leading candidates are Ben Lewis, Quinta Funderburk and Alvin Cornelius. All have received a little PT in the early games. I am guessing Lewis is going to emerge as the 6th guy but they are closely matched and must be having a donnybrook in practice competing for that spot.

Assuming the injury to Welsh is relatively serious, it will be interesting to see who gets the empty slot in the DE rotation. The leading candidates are the new JUCO guys, Marona and Trejo. Marona was playing with the 2nd team early in the preseason, but he was beaten out by Johnson, the true frosh who appears to get better with each game played.

Good post Tom, Trejo played Saturday against Tulane so I am guessing he is the new rotation guy at DE. My money on the sixth WR is Funderburk, despite being in the dog house his skill/talent level is just to much for Lewis or AC to pass.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Good post Tom, Trejo played Saturday against Tulane so I am guessing he is the new rotation guy at DE. My money on the sixth WR is Funderburk, despite being in the dog house his skill/talent level is just to much for Lewis or AC to pass.

You sure Trejo played? I don't remember seeing him, although he's listed in the box score. Not that SU has ever screwed that up before.

 

[JeremyCuse]

You sure Trejo played? I don't remember seeing him, although he's listed in the box score. Not that SU has ever screwed that up before.

He played in the fourth quarter, number 98 I think. I had Reed's wife look up the roster # online just to be sure.

 

[reedny]

I've been very impressed with TH. Orangeyes and I were counting his consecutive scoring possessions against Tulane -- I think he had 12 or 13 in a row (counting the Wagner game) before he hit a receiver a hair short of the first down, which is pretty amazing.

Unfortunately, the quality of the opposition is about to spike. It'll be interesting to see how Hunt performs against a top 5 opponent. The coverage is going to be like saran-wrap and we're not going to get very far running up the gut on first down. Since the first game, GM has really opened up the offense .. with Hunt and company making him look good. There are some wrinkles that are fun to watch -- passing to the FB, Estime/Broyld out of the slot, etc. We're going to need every trick GM has up his sleeve and an excellent performance in all three phases to be competitive in this game.

 

[SoBristol]

...

Estime is getting a ton of PT. I do not remember a true frosh WR getting as many snaps as he is getting, ever, at least not this early in the season. He has benefited more than anyone from the injury to Flemming. Hope he can take advantage of it. You can see the talent but you can also often see the inexperience.

As Go says, they are really only playing 5 WRs right now. I think it is likely someone else is going to get some PT in the rotation; it is hard to only go with 5 players here with an offense that plays fast and passes a lot like SU is doing right now. ...

...

Tom, usually your recollection is right-on, but Lemon, Sales & Williams, in their true freshmen years, were playing at least as much as Estime is now. And there is a good case that Clark has benefited more than anyone by taking Flemming's role.

As to playing 5 WRs, it might work as is with Gulley having a bigger role as a receiver. The key is keeping Clark free from injury.