Defense issues - scheme? personnel? coaching?

[Jim Johnson]

So... after three FBS games, it seems our defense has trouble stopping anyone.  Is it a scheme? Are the players just not up to the task?  Is Glen Spencer and the other coaches part of the problem?

Our defensive backs seems to have issues in man coverage, and USF has done okay against the pass when playing zone... but zone spreads out the team and makes it vulnerable to the run.

It does seem a lot of the players aren't tackling with the right technique -- a lot of "bump" attempts and not enough wrapping up.  I've also seen too many first defenders (the first one to the ballcarrier) more interested in stripping the ball than stopping the carrier.  Both of these point to coaching as a shortcoming.

8 of the 11 starters are upperclassmen (Juniors, Seniors, or Grad students)... the DBs are the youngest unit on the depth chart. 

[I heard on the BYU broadcast that USF only had 16 defensive players available last night, not sure if that was true or not.]

Where do you think the problem lies? Why isn't this defense better?

Edited September 26, 2021 by Jim Johnson

[Fold FB Invest in BB]

Lack of size and talent up front plus youth and inexperience in the secondary is not a good combination.

[El_Toro_86]

Mainly lack of talent.  Nothing was done in the transfer portal to address the front 7.  

[MoneyBull]

The number one issue on defense is depth. 

[Bulls On Parade]

D line might be worse I have seen at USF cant wait for upperclassmen to graduate.  Big part of the problem. 

[HOTDL]

I’m gonna pin this on depth as well as youth 

injuries are tough right now and it was #15 in the country

That was a quality passing QB we just played against

[NewEnglandBull]

Low quality players. Going to take another off season to get better on that side of the ball. 

[MSBulls]

Depth, speed and strength. We're just way too underdeveloped on that side. 

Also a note on the offense, I don't know if we need Weis Jr. to get out of the press box or what but we cannot keep waiting until the 3rd quarter to look like we made adjustments. We can't keep wasting 30 minutes

[HyperBullee]

1 hour ago, Fold FB Invest in BB said:

Lack of size and talent up front plus youth and inexperience in the secondary is not a good combination.

Exactly. Spencer doesn’t have much to work with yet. Our “best” tacklers are afraid to wrap up. You can coach as much as you can, but you can’t get on the field and strap up for the players. 

He’s been making solid adjustments between UF and now. We just aren’t talented/gritty with our current (soft) personnel.

[Triple B]

I didn't see Williams on the stat sheet and if he didn't play, that means we're down 2 of the 3 portal db players brought in to bulk up a depleted position. I think pretty much everyone recognized before the season that the defense was going to be an adventure and it's certainly living up to it ....