Intime login indiana12/28/2023 Super seniors Bryant Fitzgerald and Devon Matthews are returning starters to anchor the safety position. These three corners rarely come off the field but when they do, Alabama transfer Brylan Lanier, Christopher Keys, and Louis Moore fill in. Noah Pierre is a first time starter at the HUSKY position and he did okay, but all three of these players contribute to the struggling pass defense. Jaylin Williams dealt with injury against Nebraska and has also been unusually choppy, losing his star in the process as well. We will delve into his performance later but the numbers are ugly and he has lost his star. Tiawan Mullen, 2020's Dangerman and the author of one of the great freshman corner seasons in B1G history back in 2019, turned down the NFL and right now it's looking like he really should've gone. The CB room was supposed to be the strength of the defense but right now it has been a disappointing season. Matt Hohlt was used a decent bit against Nebraska but hasn't played much in other games this season. The two deep is populated by transfers, including Miami's Bradley Jennings and Jared Casey, but they don't come on too often. Casey did not have a particularly great showing in the game I saw, particularly with tackling, but he did manage to avoid getting the cyan. Aaron Casey is the new starter, filling the hole left by the pass rushing savant that was Micah McFadden. Having a fine season, Jones is one of the few veterans who has not concerningly regressed on this team. The linebacker position sees veteran Cam Jones still around and he was the best player on the Indiana defense against Nebraska. JH Tevis gets a lot of snaps to the point he's basically a starter, rotating in on many passing downs. The backups beyond these three are a step down, LeDarrius Cox and Patrick Lucas in particular were culpable for some rushing plays against, while I didn't see that much of Nick James but he has played some this season. They don't get any passrush from these positions, but Nofoagatoto'a did okay at not budging. Weston Kramer exits from the program and is replaced by Sio Nofoagatoto'a, who was rotating in with Elliott last season. I was not a fan of his last season and thought his tape this year was better, but we opted to keep the cyan on him. The interior of the DL sees DeMarcus Elliott return. UCLA transfer Myles Jackson is the nominal reserve at these positions. Those two play the lion's share of snaps at the ends of the line, while Dasan McCullough plays a lot as the fifth lineman when Indiana goes 5-2-4 (often on running downs). Robbins generated no pass rush and got shoved around too often on off-tackle runs for my liking. Beau Robbins is the new starter at the other EDGE spot and this is a major step down from Ryder Anderson last season. I didn't like Bryant much last fall, but he didn't do poorly enough in this game for me to put the cyan back on him. On the defensive line, Indiana is running the geriatric Alfred Bryant out there at the BULL position, which has the ability to pass rush or drop into coverage. Indiana is still true to the Tom Allen fundamentals, running a 4-2-5 with a stand-up BULL on the DL and a "HUSKY" which is functionally a slot corner. Personnel: Click the chart for big or here for PDF. However, some Cincinnati clips will appear, as I made my way through that game looking for clues. Cincinnati also seemed like a suitable option but I opted to go with Nebraska because the Huskers had more success on the ground and I wanted to see what that would look like, given how Michigan's offense sets up. The Huskers have a pretty solid offense and this was the most recent game that Indiana played. The Film: For this game I used the Nebraska tape. The remnants of the 2020 defense are still here, but the unit is not clicking. Their pass defense, which was supposed to be a strength of the team, is getting gashed week after week. Indiana enters Saturday's clash with Michigan ranked 73rd in SP+ defense. So far, my optimism has not been rewarded. They lost some big pieces on the defensive line and star LB Micah McFadden, but returned an experienced secondary with several key pieces. I came into this year reasonably optimistic about the IU defense.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |