Sorry fellas, size does matter!

moonshine · Unread post by **moonshine** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:24 am

No this is not a thread soliciting penis enlargement pills. And no size is not everything but I thought this article brought up some interesting data.

http://www.tomahawknation.com/2010/6/28 ... fense-2009

"90% of the best 20 defenses were over 1780 lbs in the front 7 (and 100% of the 10 best). 75% were over 1790 lbs. 55% were over 1800 lbs!"

I went through the ASU Football 2012 outlook depth chart and calculated a couple of different front 7's. If the D show's a 3-4 front with a bandit (Robinson) and star (Middleton), the front 7 weighs in at 1,747lbs. Now I know this may change if the coaches keep Middleton at CB and someone else mans the Star position but it won't be by much.

If the D shows a 4-3 front with Harris, Blair, Bronson and Burns at DL and Grier, 'bro and Duece at LB, the front 7 weighs in at 1,829lbs. Let me add a disclaimer that some players weights may have fluctuated since the release of the 2012 outlook but you can take this as a rough estimate.

In comparison, I saw over on GSU's messageboard that their front 7 comes in at 1,738lbs with 2 300+lbers on the DL.

Yosef84 · Unread post by **Yosef84** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 9:51 am

Interesting stats. My only comment is that size obviously matters in football (other factors being equal) but it is not the only thing that matters. Those top D's choose their big boys from a group of outstanding atheltes because they have them available, so their players are both big AND athletic. Emphasizing one exclusively is a big mistake. As with most things in life, it's all about finding the balance.

moonshine · Unread post by **moonshine** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 10:31 am

Oh I agree and I wasn't trying to insinuate that size was everything (was joking in the title) but I did find the weight data interesting when compared to top defenses. Obviously size isn't everything or Michigan would have whipped App by 50. Those top schools do get to recruit elite athletes who have the rare combination of size and speed. I feel ASU gets pretty good athletes and when we get them with decent size, I believe it has the potential to make the team better. I also wanted to see how App's front 7 compared to the top D's in FBS as far as weight is concerned.

AtlAppMan · Unread post by **AtlAppMan** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 10:47 am

Agree that SIZE does matter but we all know that other factors do influence a satisfactory outcome

Here is another article that discusses aspects of defense and how important they are to winning. Article is about SEC and what has worked for them on their way to 6 consecutive BCS titles but the underlying discussion is all about defense and its importance. I thought it correlated well with your initial discussion of successful defense.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/w ... =cf_bf4_a9