re: Perkins’ sack was beautiful

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if you read between the lines in Kelly’s public comments since the OM game, I think he has forced House’s hand in some of these adjustments.

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It's funny how reading between the lines always confirms our favored narratives.

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Also, if you read between the lines in Kelly’s public comments since the OM game, I think he has forced House’s hand in some of these adjustments. As he should if his DC isn’t adjusting and simplifying on his own.

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I just rewatched all of the defensive plays against FSU and the more I see, the more I understand how we got into this situation.

Perkins was at MLB in that game and he looked good early. But in the second half FSU started going with 21 personnel and running a lot of power up the middle. Perkins is good in space but he had a lot of trouble getting off blocks and stopping runs up the middle. FSU obviously saw that and exploited it.

On top of that, Duce Chestnut and Zy Alexander were our two corners. Chestnut got beat a couple of times by Coleman but I didn’t think he looked bad (Coleman’s a hell of a WR).

And then the icing on the cake is Greg Brooks. Dude was out there with brain cancer and was still one of our best defensive players.

So then fast forward a few weeks. Perkins clearly isn’t working at MLB so you move him, which also forces you to move the other LBs around. Speights is hurt so you’re splitting time between an injured Speights and a true freshman. Chestnut apparently can’t get his shite together so you’ve got Stamps and Yaites getting a ton of reps. Greg Brooks is out.

All of a sudden you have a completely different defense than you had throughout spring and fall camp. That’s a tough situation for the players and it shows. They were playing with a lot more confidence that first half vs. FSU than we’ve seen for a while now.

I’m not excusing House by any means. LBs are his specialty and he should have seen that Perkins wasn’t going to work out at MLB before the season started. But once that ship had sailed, I can certainly see how it snowballed on us. Hopefully the D is getting comfortable again and we see improvement from here on out.

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All of a sudden you have a completely different defense than you had throughout spring and fall camp. That’s a tough situation for the players and it shows. They were playing with a lot more confidence that first half vs. FSU than we’ve seen for a while now.

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The changes in DL play because of Jenkins’ return are an indictment on House. The fact that we didn’t make changes to benefit the personnel there before week 6 is a BIG problem. We beat OM if those changes had been made 2 weeks earlier, or better yet, back in camp. To me, that 100% falls on him. That and the constant confusion over assignments in the secondary have no excuses.

If you are going to run a very complex scheme in college, which is a risk with the practice time constraints and the potential for turnover in the NIL and Portal era, then it’s on you to make it work with what you have. We lost a ton of experience on the defensive side and it was those guys (BJ, Baskerville, Foucha, Gardner, JBC) and Brooks that made the scheme work last year. House shouldn’t be adjusting now. He should have seen this coming and done it in the offseason. To me, that’s why he should be moved on this offseason, no matter what happens. His scheme and stubborn mentality do not fit college football today.

Yes great play call and execution. But I saw him a couple times stop in his tracks when a play went away to the opposite side of the field. Just stopped and watched. Don’t tell me you would do the same.

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CBK may have dictated to House to have Perk on the field more to transform him to a mlb.

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Maybe that was a mutual decision. It would have made scheming easier if it had worked out because you could keep a traditional Nickle on the field without taking Perkins off or having to move him to Jack for passing downs. It’s unfortunate that House couldn’t figure out that Perkins wouldn’t be effective there before 2 games into the season.

That said, Perkins seems to be growing into the role of being a legit hybrid LB/Safety quickly, and that’s a good thing. Playing a 4-3 isn’t common today, but he’s making it work.