Dline

[RustyShackleford]

Where is this teams Star, Lowell, Leki, Dimick, Anae, etc. Are we just too young right now? If that’s the case we should have brought in an experienced transfer (obviously easier said than done) until the young guys get it, that’s the only way we are going to be able to compete at the highest level year after year. Just doesn’t seem like we have the dogs right now that we used to who would strike fear in opposing QBs/RBs.

[AZUTE]

I think Fillinger, and Tafuna were expected to assume those roles…they haven’t

Not to mention the once deep DT rotation of 6 is down to 3 bodies.

[RustyShackleford]

Yeah I’ve been very disappointed with Van, he is an athletic freak who looks like he should be a game wrecking monster. And that’s what was expected to happen this year. He’s still young so I have faith he will get better but We really could use him now

[EagleMountainUte]

Some of the guys on your list are program greats. I don’t understand how people think we should reload generational talent year after year. But do you REALLY think we are going to get an all time sack leader replaced every season?  Hard comparison is what it feels like. Let’s measure these players against themselves and how they can improve. 

I like Gabe Reid but it kind of clues you into where the dline is when an average player from Stanford is our best option now. 

[Ute Dub]

Rusty’s right on this one. We had each of those guys for 3-4 years. Fotu and Penesini could reset the line back 2 yards every play, so could Star, Lowell and Moko sometimes. We’re underclassman at LB, DE, DT

[RustyShackleford]

This dline seems to get almost no pressure. We used to have guys that if they weren’t double teamed it would be a guaranteed sack. I hope it’s just age right now but I would love to see a highly rated transfer come in

[RustyShackleford]

Because almost every single year we have had someone step up and fill the shoes of one of those guys. I’m not saying all time sack leader but at least someone who is a game wrecker like those guys. Hell even the coach’s say we don’t rebuild on the dline we reload. Maybe we put in blanks this time?

[//r00t4Utes]

I would say that this has been the worst dline I can remember for a long while.

Even in the early pac12 days there was Trevor Riley or Nate Orchard to pick up the slack

[RustyShackleford]

Yeah it seems like Lloyd and Sewell picked up the slack last year but with such young LBs they can’t do it. I really think Nephi should have came back this year. He would have been the focal point at LB now that he would have been out of Devins shadow. I think it could have really helped us and his draft profile

[stbone]

100% agree.

The line this year is probably better than the line last year, but we do not have all-university Devin Lloyd and Nephi to fill every hole, to generate pressure, and to scare offenses. I think so much attention was put on Devin, that the d-line looked infinitely better.

As far as I can tell, Karene lacks high-end speed, and Diabate seems to be overly aggressive (or makes bad reads) which exposes him to anything counter. We would need exceptional D-line play to cover for weak backer play this year, but we just don’t have that level of D-line.

[noneyadb]

Look at scholarship distribution to find your answer. For example- Bama has 16 DLinemen on scholarship. Michigan 14, Clemson 12, UCLA 12, Oregon 12. Utah has 8 and 4 are freshman.

[2008 National Champ]

I’ve gone on ad nauseum about the DE’s not being able to set the edge and keep contain but that is not the biggest problem with the defense. The hole is at LB because Scalley’s design requires them to be able to attack in all 4 directions and make from -2 to 10 yards down field a no-fly zone.

Hanson/Barton, Bernard/Lloyd, Lloyd/Sewell were all able to do that. How many times over the last 5 to 6 years did we see those stretch runs set up and appear to be big gains and then a LB would knife through and make a great open field tackle for a 2 yard loss? And then the next play, the offense would show the same look but throw over the middle and the same LB that had just made the play in the backfield broke up the pass 10 yards downfield?

Right now, there isn’t an LB who has shown they are capable of filling that role. There was some horrendous tackling on the back end but Charbonnet would never have gone that far untouched against previous iterations. And when you have such a huge hole in your D, it stresses other areas as they have to be better than perfect to make up for it. KReid/Diabate/Barton are all complimentary parts who can probably be trusted to do only one thing at this point. Hanson/Barton/Bernard/Lloyd/Sewell were all complete LB’s who could handle all of the responsibilities of the position.

So that was my long-winded way of saying that it is Scalley’s job to recognize where his units are weak and scheme around it. When I hear comments like “it worked in the past”, I worry. Because if giving up over 900 yards the last two weeks isn’t raising red flags everywhere, I may have overestimated this team getting to 9-3.