Lehigh Defen

[Hawkineer2Participant]

It is fairly straightforward. Andy Coen has talked about tough physical football. It is mostly hot air as it relates to the Lehigh D which has insufficient size and toughness at both DL and LB. He tries to run a finesse defense based on speed and agility and this has failed badly. Opponents run all over Lehigh and especially via overpowering our line. We have one of the very worst run defenses nationally – year after year. It is because of a combination of personnel issues (too small), scheme, and coaching. This year’s class has 2 at DL and 2 at LB. They needed at least 3 at each position. An injury or two and Lehigh ends up with one. I don’t care that the previous class was larger. That is no excuse for dropping the ball with the current class.

[RichHParticipant]

Dont disagree with your take on the current status of our D or the current history. Also, agree on what it would have bern nice to get this year. It is not that we didn”t recruit more big LBs or DL. We did. Without exception. we lost out to FBS programs on the LBs and most of the DL.Others we lost to more local FCS teams and some to the Ivies. We won more often vs those schools than in prior years. The recruits we have are vety good, it would have beeben nice to get more.
I have voiced my reservations about the D staff ever since Coach K left. Hoeling at the moon gains us nothing. At this point , this is the team we have. Hope that the 2nd year in this system both the staff and the players will actually understand how to run it and play it.

[Hawkineer2Participant]

Let’s pray for few injuries and for some WOs.

The Swiss cheese D is getting old – regardless of what the scheme

[RichHParticipant]

Three succeeding years of atrocious D does get old. All we need is a middling D and our O.

[Lehigh74Participant]

What I truly don’t get is the infatuation with variants of the 3 man line. In his first go around as defensive coordinator Botts ran a 4 -3 and was successful. In this stint as defensive coordinator, the D has been nothing short of horrendous. Why not go back to a tried and system that worked well in the past?

[wilsonfootball2Participant]

I will say the new LB Jake looks very good and has some size for as well as he moves.

[RichHParticipant]

Coach K switched us to the 3-4 when he came in as DC. It was the D he ran at his prior stints. He was a genius at ddvising blitzes and calling games. He ran it as an attacking D. The next DCs lacked his mastery of the D and retreated into a much more passive implementation. We are all aware of the results. Botts came on as a LB and then took over as DC.IMO he should have switched to the D he knew the 4-3. He then ran a D he hadn’t before and then switched to a D neither the staff nor the players knew. Again we are all well aware of the results. Our only hope is that both he and the staff are more able to properly teach it and run it. Have no idda and minimal confidence that this will happen. Hope they will.

[RichHParticipant]

When was the last time we had an ILB who was also a sprinter on the track team. Impressi e.

[sundayamqbParticipant]

Let’s hope for AC’s sake that the D does execute this year. AC has apparently decided to stick with his DC and this scheme.

If they continue to navigate the boat together and there’s a remarkable turnaround, we’ll all be happy, learn a lot about modern football and trust and this team will go far.

If not, this board will be as angry as ever with fellow Sundayamqb’s — and the dynamic coaching duo should be looking for new jobs.

Like RichH, I hope they succeed — and, at this point, it is what it is (as much as few of us like it or trust it).

[Go Lehigh TU OwlParticipant]

One could argue that next year is the most important one in Coen’s tenure (right up there with 2010) as coach. When the offense was inept in ’08 and ’09 (and it wasn’t nearly as bad as the defense has been) Brown was let go and Cecchini was brought in. The offense in 2010 was far from explosive but it improved enough to compliment what was a very good defense. The results were a league title, playoff win over UNI and final Top 15 ranking.

I absolutely think the DL is trending in the right direction. They were clearly undersized in ’13 and ’14. Next year the DL will have legit FCS size. The LB’s remain on the smaller side though. I have no idea in regards to the secondary because it’s such a tough position to play. Lehigh’s DB’s seem to be good in coverage but have high school level ball skills. That seems to be a coaching issue.

IMO, the expectation should be for the 2016 team to return to national relevancy. That means winning the league and/or returning to the playoffs. If this year’s team fails to deliver one or both of those things due to the defense than Coen’s future should seriously be questioned.

[vanParticipant]

one of the keys to the stack 3 is the play of the rover, last year we saw injuries take out the 2 deep, if Lambert is back and 100% I look for much better play from the rover, seems that DL should be deeper and perhaps that translates to better, certainly will have more beef on DL if everyone healthy, we are still gonna be small at the corners and safety

gotta believe that the D will be better than last year with another year experience with the scheme, gotta dance with the ones that brung ya

[ngineerParticipant]

Iagree the main problem last year was injuries to the ROV position, but depth is going to be a continual issue now with more limited rosters. It would appear this year’s class has a number of athletes that have multiple skills that will allow players to be moved around. I note we recruited a few DBs with decent size. Hopefully, the mature quickly and can see the field this year. If we “hold” our opponents to 24 points or less this year, we could run the table. Championships start with defense.

[RichHParticipant]

“24”points a game?? Geez, I hope so. I should feel at least a bit sad but given the last 3 years and our Offense, D at that level could create an epic season.

[vanParticipant]

24 pts a game would be a huge improvement and maybe is possible, this O (assuming OL plugs in) should score 30+ on anybody

[TMHParticipant]

There is hope.
Last year at about this time, this board wanted Folmar out, Cecchini in, Shaf benched and the OL in shambles. Now we are talking about an offense that could score 30 on anyone.

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