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[QUOTE="reedny, post: 3591520, member: 1423"]
Maybe my expectations are unrealistic, but rough guidelines for tackling responsibility on run fits should be: 40% on the DL; 30% on the LB's; 20% on the safeties; and 10% on other guys in the secondary.  Might be slightly more with the LB's in the 335, but even so, our percentages are inverted. We have a 168 pound frosh (Hanna) as our leading tackler ... which is completely unsustainable. Bailey is almost 240 pounds. It's not fair (or even safe) to rely on speed guys to stop him in the box. We need our linemen to do that most of the time, helped by our LB's. And despite a courageous effort by KJ/MW, except the 4th QR when we sold out to stop the run with 6/7 guys, our DL were taken out. Having 2 "bigs" just isn't working - our guys are getting doubled and blown out of the play and our LB's are 5 yards too late. I love our younger players, but problems with the run have been acute since Slayton left.

Yes, safeties (or rovers) can come up. Cisco was particularly good at this. Trill was also good against the run - and almost single-handedly shut down Liberty in the second half (nicked up!). But our DL needs to be significantly upgraded for us to have a chance against bread and butter ground/pound in the ACC. And our LB's have to learn (faster) on the job to stick with their assignments and get off blocks. Jones is a good player ... tough and rangy. But I don't think he's the answer in the middle in this league. While the staff addresses this (long-term) with recruiting and development, I think some creative player/personnel changes need to be made (while Hanna's still alive).
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