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Message: [QUOTE="sutomcat, post: 480621, member: 27"] I think Shafer is an excellent DC. He is one of the best in the country at defending against spread type offenses and given current trends, it is a really good thing to have someone who knows how to stop this style of offense. Given the caliber of players he has had to work with, I think his defenses have put up some impressive numbers. They aren't where I would like them to be all the time, but given the talent coming in on defense, I am optimistic for the future for the Syracuse defense. The major weaknesses I have seen from the Shafer defenses at Syracuse are 1) an issue with stopping power rush offenses at times. That, IMHO was never a function of lack of knowledge/scheme but lack of proper personnel and I think it has been addressed. 2) we get beat long too often on passing plays. Again, I don't think it is a scheme thing but Shafer is going to put his CBs in man coverage a lot and if they are inexperienced there will be some problems. Especially if the safeties are young too. Especially if the DL cannot get a pass rush. See 2011. Anway, I look for Syracuse defenses to consistently rank in the top 40 in total defense and sometimes considerably higher from this point forward. SU Defense Rankings in the Shafer Era*: [B]Total Defense[/B] 2008 101st 2009 37th 2010 7th 2011 64th 2012 48th [B]Rushing Defense[/B] 2008 101st 2009 13th 2010 41st 2011 32nd 2012 43rd [B]Passing Defense[/B] 2008 83rd 2009 85th 2010 7th 2011 98th 2012 62nd [B]Scoring Defense[/B] 2008 101st 2009 81st 2010 17th 2011 73rd 2012 44th [B]Tackles for a Loss[/B] 2008 104th 2009 15th 2010 68th 2011 35th 2012 6th [B]Sacks[/B] 2008 100th 2009 6th 2010 54th 2011 28th 2012 59th *=I also included 2008, the last year of the GRob era for comparison purposes... As others have said, it is really important to retain Hackett. Retaining recruits is important and some have fixated on it as the reason others want to retain the current staff but the bigger reason is to retain the scheme and the knowledge needed to run it. Let's face it, we have seen some of the most ghastly bad play on the offensive side of the ball ever seen at Syracuse in the past 10 years or so and we can't regress back to those days. We just finished 18th in total offense, 29th in passing offense and 40th in rushing offense. More please. Hope the reports are right and Nat is staying. That would be awesome. IMHO, we had the best 2 coordinators in the Big East, and that played a key role in SU winning a share of the conference championship. I don't know much about the ACC but I suspect our guys (assuming Nat stays) will be in the top 2 or 3 in that conference as well. We know special teams is an area that needs to be addressed. DM handled it and handled it well in 2012. Let's see what other holes we have to fill as the staff solidifies. There should be money to hire good people as replacements as needed (I hope at this pomt, the university has the foresight to accept reality and pay market price salaries for an ACC coaching staff). [/QUOTE]

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