The Challenge Going Up Against Tennessee's Monster Offensive Line
by Nestor on Sep 8, 2009 5:00 PM PDT
in Football
9 comments
I wanted to delve a little deeper into the matchup between our defensive front-7 and the Tennessee OL. I think this will be the biggest challenge for our Bruins on Saturday. If our Price, Jerzy, Carter and co. are not able to hold their own against the behemoth Volunteers frontline, I think it will be a long day of watching prime time football on ESPN.
First, let's put the numbers of Tennessee front line in perspective. Here is a look at the Volunteers OL depth chart:
| LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Scott, Sr (6-5, 330) |
Vladimir Richard, Sr (6-4,300) |
Cody Sullins, Sr (6-1, 260) |
Jacques McClendon, Sr (6-3, 324) |
Jarrod Shaw, Jr (6-4, 332)+ |
| Dallas Thomas, Fr.* (6-5, 268) |
Cody Pope, So (6-6, 288) |
Cory Sullins, Sr (6-1, 270) | William Brimfield, So (6-5, 346) |
Aaron Douglas, Fr* (6-6, 282)+ |
*Indicates red shirt
+ Listed as "Co-No. 1"
And now here is a look at the depth chart of the San Diego State's OL heading into last weekend:
| LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tommie Draheim, So (6-4, 290) |
Mike Matamua, So (6-4, 290) |
Trask Losefa, Jr (6-0, 290) |
Ikaika Aken-Moleta, Sr (6-2, 295) |
Peter Nelson, Sr (6-5, 295) |
| Tom Rische, Jr, (6-4, 290) |
Alec Johnson, Fr* (6-3, 300) |
Damian Shankle, Sr (6-2, 295) |
Emilio Rivera, So (6-4, 295) |
Kurtis Gunther, So (6-8, 285) |
*Indicates red shirt
You guys see the difference? It took couple of series for Brian Price and rest of the Bruin defensive frontline to generate pressure on the Aztecs. I don't think we can afford to have that luxury on Saturday evening. The Tennessee guys will come out right away and look to establish their own tempo and rhythm, by power running all over the Bruin defense.
If you recall they had decent amount of success against the Bruin defense rushing the ball last year as they ran for 177 yards in 34 attempts. They lost control of the game when for some inexplicable reasons they decided to go chuck and duck with Jonathan Crompton with astonishing 41 pass attempts. I don't see the Vols making the same mistake this time around.
You can bet they will come out at Neyland and serve up heavy doses of Hardesty and Brown. Don't forget though. Tennessee also has other talent at the tailback position. From Athlon.com's season preview:
Senior Montario Hardesty hits holes hard and possesses breakaway speed, and with a healthy spring behind him is on pace to enjoy his finest season. But before Hardesty can lead the Vols to victories he must first win his position. That figures to be a challenge with highly regarded prospects Bryce Brown and David Oku coming to fall camp. Brown, a 6'0", 215-pound super talent from Wichita, Kan., was ranked the No. 1 overall prospect in the nation by Rivals.com, and a visit to various YouTube highlight reels shows why. Oku, a 5'10", 185-pounder, was Rivals’ No. 1-rated all-purpose back and offers quickness and receiving ability. Freshman Toney Williams enrolled early and was expected to challenge for immediate playing time, but suffered a season-ending knee injury in summer workouts. Tauren Poole is another shifty option who should get into the mix this year. Fullbacks Kevin Cooper and Austin Johnson could get competition in the event the coaches move a tailback to the position.
Looking the boxscore from last Saturday, it looks like Oku got a decent chunk of action. He carried the ball 8 times for 42 yards, scoring 2 TDs, while Poole also carried the ball 5 times for 62 yards. So no doubt Hardesty and Brown are going to get the spotlight. However, I am sure our coaches will also be aware of Oku and Poole.
It will be interesting to see how Bullough scheme up his defense for Saturday. I thought our defensive effort in the early going was fairly vanilla. It seemed like the San Diego State OL (who clearly are not in the same league as the Tennessee OL in terms of size and athleticism) handled our stunts pretty well. It took us a while to get serious pressure going on the Aztecs passing game.
So what do we do? For starters, I think we are going to need more intense effort from our LBers. For whatever reason, I though Reggie Carter and Akeem Ayers came out a little slow last weekend. I didn't think their concentration level pick up till the second half (perhaps I am being bit harsh here but calling it as I saw the action). I think those guys will need to focused and locked in so that they can help our defensive frontline in containing the Tennesee ground attack.
I think the key for us will be to disrupt Crompton's comfort level. If we can contain their running game early on and get some heavy pressure on the Tennessee QB by blitzing him through different looks, I think we might be able to get him rattled a bit and throw him off rhythm. It is going to be a huge challenge.
That is why it will be imperative for a total team effort. The defense will need all the help it can get from an offense that will need to play effective ball control and the special teams doing whatever it can to give us good field position on both sides of the ball. Otherwise with that kind of imposing size and experience, I can see their OL eventually wearing down our front-7 in front of a rocking Tennessee home crowd.
GO BRUINS.
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How big
Does UCLA’s D-Line weigh out at?
I got punk'd by UT's Athletic Department.
by bobo_the_vol on Sep 8, 2009 7:07 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
The starting defensive line
runs 242 (Bosworth), 296 (Siewierski), 300 (Price) and 267 (Jones).
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Sep 8, 2009 7:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I know Price is good
But I haven’t heard much about the other’s. We’ll see if the lesser size means more speed, and if so if that can be effective. (Which, is obviously what you were talking about in your post, Nestor.) As a note, Chris Scott was named SEC offensive lineman of the week. I know, I know, it’s Western Kentucky, but if Rahim Moore can have a good game against SDSU, Scott can have one vs. the Hill Toppers!
I got punk'd by UT's Athletic Department.
by bobo_the_vol on Sep 8, 2009 7:29 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Here is our depth chart
This came out prior to San Diego State game. Meant to link it up in my post. Forgot about it.
by Nestor on Sep 8, 2009 7:24 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
SPEED KILLS - AND WE HAVE LOTS OF IT!!!
Your chart only shows me that we are basically facing the same unit as last year. And after watching some highlights, their linemen don’t have the foot speed to keep up with our guys. They also run off the edges. Remember, that if we beat them to the point of attack we will cause problems. As you all know Price has the speed that only a hand full of defensive tackles posses. This is there first and biggest problem. Do they double team him or allow him to beat them to the gaps and create havoc in the backfield. Siewierski will hold his own. He has the size and strength to be a problem. A double team of B.P. gives J.S. some space to operate. On the outside i think we are in good shape with the speed of Bosworth and the athletic ablity of Jones. And i think with the proper substituion pattern, to give the starters breaks when needed, they are very capable. We have great speed at linebacker and good run support from the safeties. We will hold our own and then some. I hope the Vols are being realistic about their opponent last weekend and are not reading all the hype. They played a team that would have had the same troubles against a top WAC team. Tenn. is in for a fight. We are not the same team they played last year. We beat those guys without a o-line. Saturday they are gonna get an o-line, and some running backs, receivers and a big surprise from our tight-ends(that is my prediction). Then again this is why they have to play the game. GO BRUINS! I think we win a close competetive game.
by #1bruinfan on Sep 8, 2009 8:00 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I agree totally!!
The defensive line really should be filling gaps against the run and funneling ball carriers to the linebackers and safeties (preferably to the linebackers). If the Bruins defensive line can beat the blockers to the gaps up the middle, and hold contain to the outside, I believe that the linebackers can end up causing lots of chaos for the Vols. Speed kills (Agent Orange lyric if I recall: ).
Put the Vols into second/third and long and I believe that this game is very winnable!!
by sam_in_hb on Sep 8, 2009 9:11 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
The Key will be....
whether our offense can sustain some drives and give our D some rest like they did last week. If our guys on D can remain relatively fresh going into the 4th quarter, I predict we should be at least within striking distance. If, however, our boys on Offense have several series of 3 and outs, and force our D to remain on the field for extended periods of time in the sticky, humid, late summer southern climate, we may be in for a long day. Thankfully it won’t be as hot as it was back in 1996, the last time we played in Knoxville when it was a 108 degrees and people were passing out in the stands and we lost 35-20. Game time temp predicted at 85 degrees with about 91% humidity.
I hope our boys don’t welt in a sea of hot, bright orange sun and “Vol Wear”.
Go Bruins!!
by Bald Eagle on Sep 8, 2009 11:24 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
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