I do know that way back in the McBride days most teams did not rotate Dline much and Fred Whitt Sr was an early adopter of rotating Dline. Kyle of course used and refined all Fred’s Defense basic points. The Polynesian pipeline was a part of that and it requires a shift of a couple of roster positions. Fred said it kept the line fresh and was important in the 4th qtr when passing often picked up. McBride also favored 2 RBs rotating through the game for a similar reason, to run ball control in the 4th qtr with fresh legs.
The situation with LBer playing 2 is not due to able bodies although we often have dropoff after about 3. We play 2 mostly because of offenses we face. Teams that pass a lot Whit prefers 2 especially against 4 WR and considering how much the TE runs routes. Depending on the offense, if they most often run on short yardage, Whitt will play 3 LBs daring them to pass. If they often pass on short yardage he plays 2. 2 LBs has become our base defense in the Pac. Earlier we played a NB that was part of the safety group but offenses now will move their feature WR to the slot to move him around and test a teams ability to defend the slot. As a result, Utah favors a slot corner meaning that NB guy is now in the CB group. All that can vary depending on personnel and a key guy that can play 2 or more positions at a high level. We don’t see the option in the Pac but 3 LBs will defend that. If we ever see 4 LBs in a Utah set, I expect Whitt is messing with somebody. Also realize, in the Utah defense the middle LBer is calling the defense resulting in a LBer that does not come out much. The other LBer will rotate more.
Daimuni, I expect will figure in. My guess with Barton. He is more experienced than Reid but will know the defense less in the beginning. Usually the next LBers, 3-4-5 will be key on special teams except place kicks and earn their way onto the field in the defense.
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