Keeping it simple and bringing the heat from different directions. Like the sound of that. Eye opening part is he will be making 30K more than Jones was.

http://www.journalnow.com/sports/asu/fo ... f6878.html

Answers my question on what kind of defense we'll run. Hopefully he can get the best out of the pass rush. i'm interested to see the starting 11. i'm thinking

Harris -DE
Burns - DT
Blair - DE

Deuce - LB
Law - LB
McGowan - LB
Hall - LB

Blackmon-CB
Lott - FS
Middleton - SS
Covington -CB

That is a lot of inexperienced talent on defense, I hope our fans aren't expected too much.

If Woody can get us in the top 3 or 4 in defense in the SoCon and top 40 in the FCS that would meet my expectations.

Saint3333 wrote:That is a lot of inexperienced talent on defense, I hope our fans aren't expected too much.

If Woody can get us in the top 3 or 4 in defense in the SoCon and top 40 in the FCS that would meet my expectations.

Agreed. We should improve defensively and I think your expectations are realistic.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid that some of our fans will expect the 2013 Appalachian defense to be the 2012 Wofford defense. With as green as we'll be at the MLB and CB spots, that will be a tall task. I think Woody was an excellent hire but another important thing to keep in mind is that we don't play the kind of ball control offense that Wofford does, which really helps a defense by limiting possessions.

Saint3333 wrote:That is a lot of inexperienced talent on defense, I hope our fans aren't expected too much.

If Woody can get us in the top 3 or 4 in defense in the SoCon and top 40 in the FCS that would meet my expectations.

You're expectations are about the same as mine. I was just throwing that lineup out there as a guess. TBH, those are probably the most experienced players we have at those potential positions, besides covington and blackmon (i just think those are maybe the best to put out there). Maybe Ross or Krah starts at CB, now that i think about it

Im not that worried about the team stats, if they finish in the top 4 or 5 in the SC, and are respectable in the national rankings, I'll will be happy. What I want to see is a well coach, disipline team, I want to see proper technique in tackling, NO MORE ARM TACKLES!!! I want to see players swarming to the ball, I want to see proper technique in pass coverage, TURN AROUND AND LOOK FOR THE DAM BALL!!! And above all, I want the players to know where they are suppose to be on the field during the play, and not running around guessing about what they are suppose to be doing.

asumike83 wrote:

Saint3333 wrote:That is a lot of inexperienced talent on defense, I hope our fans aren't expected too much.

If Woody can get us in the top 3 or 4 in defense in the SoCon and top 40 in the FCS that would meet my expectations.

Agreed. We should improve defensively and I think your expectations are realistic.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid that some of our fans will expect the 2013 Appalachian defense to be the 2012 Wofford defense. With as green as we'll be at the MLB and CB spots, that will be a tall task. I think Woody was an excellent hire but another important thing to keep in mind is that we don't play the kind of ball control offense that Wofford does, which really helps a defense by limiting possessions.

Yes, that's what I'm slightly concerned about. Wofford's defensive numbers are skewed. Their offense may eat up 9-minute drives and keep the defense fresh on the sidelines. With our offense, we're either going to score or punt within 3 minutes. His defense will be out there for MANY more possessions and not be nearly as fresh. We'll see how he does. I still have a good feeling about the hire. We definitely needed a change.

I think the key to his comments is "simple and fun". Jones' defense seemed to be complicated. If Woody keeps it simple we shouldn't see so much scrambling around before the snap and the kids will feel much more free. It sounds like, since he mentioned the middle rusher, he wants to free up all three dlinemen to pin their ears back and rush the passer with the LB's stopping the run in the middle. That will negate needing a heavy nose tackle, which is good since we don't have one. It seems, some of us are a bit gun shy, with good reason, on expectations. I still think we can be a VERY good team, offensively and defensively, next season. I'm going to temper my expectations a bit too but they're still high.

Looking at the numbers from 2012 i wouldnt be too concerned with time of possession and our defense remaining fresh. Our offense doesn't seem to be as quick strike as it was in 2007 lets say. For the year our time of possession averaged 29:17 our opponents 30:43. That's as close as you can get.

Saint3333 wrote:That is a lot of inexperienced talent on defense, I hope our fans aren't expected too much.

If Woody can get us in the top 3 or 4 in defense in the SoCon and top 40 in the FCS that would meet my expectations.

I'm a little more optimistic than most of you sand baggers. Keep in mind that Woody has never coached athletes of this caliber. This guy developed the best SoCon defense of the decade with inferior talent. Of course we need time to incorporate his scheme ect, but I would be disappointed if we weren't in the top 2 defenses in the SoCon by the end of the coming season.

As long as he can keep the Citadel under 40 points it will be an improvement.

"They’ve always done a great job of keeping everything in front of them and forcing a lot of turnovers, and creating a lot of pressure on quarterbacks.” Satt. quote

That is what I am looking forward too also, DO NOT GET BEAT DEP!!

Saint3333 wrote:That is a lot of inexperienced talent on defense, I hope our fans aren't expected too much.

If Woody can get us in the top 3 or 4 in defense in the SoCon and top 40 in the FCS that would meet my expectations.

I picked 24 as a nice round average D number. Top 40 in the country is about 22 ppg. Not too many FCS teams in the country are going to be able to hold App State to 22 ppg in 2013! 22 ppg should see us into the playoffs, and hopefully come playoff time that young defense will be operating like a 16 ppg defense, and we'll really be on a roll.

I want to see the only 3 peat champion DENY ndsu in the champ game.

And I agree with husky, getting beat deep is bad enough, but whatever we do, lets not get beat DEP!

mtnjax wrote:Answers my question on what kind of defense we'll run. Hopefully he can get the best out of the pass rush. i'm interested to see the starting 11. i'm thinking

Harris -DE
Burns - DT
Blair - DE

Deuce - LB
Law - LB
McGowan - LB
Hall - LB

Blackmon-CB
Lott - FS
Middleton - SS
Covington -CB

Covington is more of a safety prospect, he does not play man to man as well as Lott. Also Nate Woody defenses of the past use small DEs, think Ameet Pall. He likes quickness off the edge. Blair but especially Harris may not fit that role and could be moved to NG. I would expect Hall to play DE he is the typical size Woody likes. Last year his two DEs at Wofford went 6-3 258 and 5-10 250.

Those inferior athletes held the Gamecocks at bay for most of the last two games they played and they did a pretty good job of slowing us down as well.

AppAttack wrote:
Yes, that's what I'm slightly concerned about. Wofford's defensive numbers are skewed. Their offense may eat up 9-minute drives and keep the defense fresh on the sidelines. With our offense, we're either going to score or punt within 3 minutes. His defense will be out there for MANY more possessions and not be nearly as fresh. We'll see how he does. I still have a good feeling about the hire. We definitely needed a change.

That's true, but if the D can force more three-and-outs, it should even out somewhat. Better D on third downs, would drastically reduce their number of plays.

Kgfish wrote:Those inferior athletes held the Gamecocks at bay for most of the last two games they played and they did a pretty good job of slowing us down as well.

Yep. I think App has the athletic edge over most FCS opponents, but I also think that some folks are under estimating the athletes that Wofford has. Everyone recruits athleticism these days, and the other SoCon teams are not without talent.

ASU_MBA wrote: Covington is more of a safety prospect, he does not play man to man as well as Lott. Also Nate Woody defenses of the past use small DEs, think Ameet Pall. He likes quickness off the edge. Blair but especially Harris may not fit that role and could be moved to NG. I would expect Hall to play DE he is the typical size Woody likes. Last year his two DEs at Wofford went 6-3 258 and 5-10 250.

Is that the size he prefers or a result of the talent-to-size combo he was able to recruit to Wofford?

AppRy wrote:

ASU_MBA wrote: Covington is more of a safety prospect, he does not play man to man as well as Lott. Also Nate Woody defenses of the past use small DEs, think Ameet Pall. He likes quickness off the edge. Blair but especially Harris may not fit that role and could be moved to NG. I would expect Hall to play DE he is the typical size Woody likes. Last year his two DEs at Wofford went 6-3 258 and 5-10 250.

Is that the size he prefers or a result of the talent-to-size combo he was able to recruit to Wofford?

Woody likes speed off the edge, judging on the play last year I am pretty certain Harris is not a speed rush guy and would not fit a DE in his system. Also Blair played heavy last year and provided little if any pass rush off the edge.

Those two will need to play a lot faster if they want to hold down a DE spot.

Blair needs to get back down to 255-260 like his freshman year then maybe have the speed for the edge.

Yosef84 wrote:

Kgfish wrote:Those inferior athletes held the Gamecocks at bay for most of the last two games they played and they did a pretty good job of slowing us down as well.

Yep. I think App has the athletic edge over most FCS opponents, but I also think that some folks are under estimating the athletes that Wofford has. Everyone recruits athleticism these days, and the other SoCon teams are not without talent.

..I agree and would add this....sometimes "Athletes" are harder coached as they let (like to think they can let) their athleticism outperform their coaching. (overcome mistakes with athleticism).

Deuce was listed as a DE/LB all year last year on the roster, he's listed now as DL. As much as I would have liked his size at the bandit spot, we just couldnt get a pass rush without him on the DL. Smells right to me.