Fall ‘25 Roster Heights and Weights Update
- Thread starter Aclone
- Start date
Cannon Butler from what i have scouted is an edge setting / good defensive end against the run. So he should play plenty on 1st and 2nd downs. I think he can help us as our rush D was not great last year.
pass defense is a flawed statistic. As a defense in conference last year we were:
1) 16th out of 16 teams in sacks. Dead last.
2) 9th in forced fumbles, 5th in scoring D. (really the 5th in scoring D isn't bad at all)
3) 9th in yards per game. This was about as mediocre as we have been since early Matt Campbell with Rhoads holdovers.
4) 2nd WORST in rush defense. In other terms 15th best rush D out of 16 teams. Major yikes.
And I know we had a ton of injuries at linebacker last year, we missed Caleb Bacon who was trending to be a GUY for us before he got hurt.
What I am concerned about, is we don't have an impact pass rush specialist who can go out and get 8-10 sacks in a given year. That's a huge deal on 3rd and longs in critical moments of a game.
AND I am concerned that other Big 12 offensive coordinators have figured out how to put up good rushing numbers against the 3 man front. We have been using the 3 man front for a while (so has the rest of college football) and I feel like teams are no longer thrown off by it. It used to be a unique differentiator for us, and it is not anymore.
I agree with the concern about our lack of pass rush. Bacon can help some, but I don't see it being strong this year either.
I think our terrible run defense last year was 100% due to linebacker injuries. There was a significant stretch of the season where we basically had a banged up Kooper Ebel and 3-4 freshman walk-ons taking all the snaps. I'd expect us to be middle of the pack, or better against the run this season.
With a 3 man rush, opposing QB's are going to have time. But by design the defense has more guys in coverage to confuse college QB talent. But I think even the coaches would say our defense has to get pressure on opposing QB's.
Our pass defense was solid last year, but in part because opposing teams didn't have to rely on the pass to move the ball. Our defense was 15th in rush yards surrendered. Opponents passed the ball 239 times vs. our defense last year. Two more than league lowest Cincinnati. The median passes thrown against was 286 in Big12 Conference play.
I think so many issues last year were due to the injuries at linebacker. If those guys are healthy and that group plays well, I think Heacock will have the defense playing well this year. I also think they had big plans for Bacon last year and losing him really changed the pass rush plans.
It just continually gets glossed over by some people. But its a new year now. I hope we can stay somewhat healthy.
We've always been bad with getting a pass rush... but most of that IMO is due to our scheme. It drives most of us insane to watch opposing QB's on Saturdays just standing back there for hours with no pass rush.... but generally I guess it appears to work, right?
I thought Ike was going to be our stud pass rushing specialist... but now he's gotten huge and is more of an inside type player it seems? Maybe Same? I see he's listed as a LB now... not DE... so maybe he will be that Will McDonald type position... wasn't Will listed as a LB even though he played mostly on the line... or coming off the edge from a stand up position??
I feel like Bacon and McLaughlin are going to help a bunch. Whether they are putting their hand on the ground or not, I don't know. The good thing is that they have so much depth at LB that if they do move up to a 4 man front on passing downs, there are good LBs to play behind them.
I counted 121 guys on our roster today. So that 105 limit I guess is not yet in effect. Don't we get a year delay on that? I never read anything about that when the Settlement was finally approved.
