Warning: There may be kool aid in this post. If you are allergic to kool aid, or are otherwise fed up with any kind of positive outlook on CU football, please do not read any further.
I've been thinking about our defense since the end of last season and through spring ball and I truly believe that this defense is one big time playmaker in the front seven away from being very good. One guy who wreaks havoc on the defensive line and is unblockable, or one double digit sack pass rusher, or one high level ILB--just one dominant guy in the front seven to complement an excellent secondary. If we find a guy--or two--like that, I think Jim Leavitt could give us a defense that carries this team while the offense finds its identity.
The nice thing is there are actual candidates for that role already on the team.
Tupou and Carrell could both be that guy up front this year--Kafovalu too if he's back and in shape. All three are big and veteran and if we have all three you can't double team all of them.
McCartney and Gilbert have both shown hints of it at OLB in past years and Falo appears to have high level skills as well.
And if Gillam comes back fully healthy and over 230, as seems likely, he could easily be that guy as well.
For the first time in a long time there are reasons for real optimism when looking at our defense. Leavitt gave us tremendous improvement in year one even though he only came on board the day before spring ball started. Think about that for a second--spring ball was nothing but a scramble to teach his system to his assistants one day at a time before they turned around and tried to teach it to the players.
This year the assistants are all back and know the system so they are able to begin fine tuning it. The players all know it so they can really refine their understanding. And now Leavitt and staff can spend the summer really working on ways to take this thing to the next level.
For the first time in over a decade we have REAL competition at EVERY position on this defense, and particularly in the front seven. We have size, athleticism and depth up front, and we have NFL caliber players in the secondary.
The weakest position on the defense last year--ILB--is going to be significantly better this year with the return of Gillam, Olugbode, Gamboa and the addition of Drew Lewis.
If Leavitt can find a way to deliver a good pass rush, and I'm betting he can, this defense could be very good.
Okay, fire away with all the reasons why we'll suck instead, but remember this--year two under Leavitt everywhere he's been has been a big time step up, so there's no reason not to expect it here too!
I've been thinking about our defense since the end of last season and through spring ball and I truly believe that this defense is one big time playmaker in the front seven away from being very good. One guy who wreaks havoc on the defensive line and is unblockable, or one double digit sack pass rusher, or one high level ILB--just one dominant guy in the front seven to complement an excellent secondary. If we find a guy--or two--like that, I think Jim Leavitt could give us a defense that carries this team while the offense finds its identity.
The nice thing is there are actual candidates for that role already on the team.
Tupou and Carrell could both be that guy up front this year--Kafovalu too if he's back and in shape. All three are big and veteran and if we have all three you can't double team all of them.
McCartney and Gilbert have both shown hints of it at OLB in past years and Falo appears to have high level skills as well.
And if Gillam comes back fully healthy and over 230, as seems likely, he could easily be that guy as well.
For the first time in a long time there are reasons for real optimism when looking at our defense. Leavitt gave us tremendous improvement in year one even though he only came on board the day before spring ball started. Think about that for a second--spring ball was nothing but a scramble to teach his system to his assistants one day at a time before they turned around and tried to teach it to the players.
This year the assistants are all back and know the system so they are able to begin fine tuning it. The players all know it so they can really refine their understanding. And now Leavitt and staff can spend the summer really working on ways to take this thing to the next level.
For the first time in over a decade we have REAL competition at EVERY position on this defense, and particularly in the front seven. We have size, athleticism and depth up front, and we have NFL caliber players in the secondary.
The weakest position on the defense last year--ILB--is going to be significantly better this year with the return of Gillam, Olugbode, Gamboa and the addition of Drew Lewis.
If Leavitt can find a way to deliver a good pass rush, and I'm betting he can, this defense could be very good.
Okay, fire away with all the reasons why we'll suck instead, but remember this--year two under Leavitt everywhere he's been has been a big time step up, so there's no reason not to expect it here too!
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