Monday, July 29, 2013

Talking pad level in Death Valley

While we're celebrating the addition of Kolton Houston to our already deep offensive line, over on the other side of Lake Hartwell they're pretty proud of their defensive line's progress at pad level.
"When we got into the mentality that Coach Brent (Venables) brings us, which is attacking our keys, I felt like we got better at playing the run, getting off some blocks, and getting some pressure and some sacks. All of them just got better as they went along. They know what they're doing and they're confident in themselves."
Brooks said that the players, over time, "bought into what we teach."
"I've been doing this a long time," Brooks said. "My job was to make what I'm teaching fit into Brent Venables' scheme. Once we got that going, it was good."
It's true that the Tigers did much better against the run down the final stretch last season; something they'll have to continue to show improvement on against Georgia for sure. But said improvement was against the likes of Wake Forest, Duke and Maryland. Against South Carolina they were pounded mercilessly for 45 carries. Even though Spurrier was only getting three yards per carry on average. And in the bowl game against LSU the Venables defense only surrendered 99 yards. Of course, inexplicably, Les Miles' cats only ran the ball 25 times.

I bet if Bobo can get four yards a carry or better we'll see a greatly skewed rush/pass ratio in order to try and keep Tahj Boyd and Co. off the field.