re: Let's talk college football defensive lines

Looking forward to watching the DL this year for VT, we are usually good to very good but always undersized and ultimately get killed by a team that can up the gut.

But we have actual big boys.

Trevon Hill - 4* great pass rusher
Ricky Walker - 4*
Tim Settle - 4* freak athlete who will in the NFL
Vinny Mihota - 4* tough SOB

Lots of young pups behind, so we have to avoid injuries.

But in Bud Foster we trust

Ours will be very mediocre save Arden Key

And the Buckeyes have Larry Johnson, Sr. coaching that talent. I'm nauseous just thinking about it.

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Wisconsin returns everyone from last season's DL.

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And they'll still lose 3-4 games in the Big Ten

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Tillery will be Jr this yr right? He is very impressive I remember seeing him on that showtime show

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Tillery is actually an example of a problem we've somewhat had over the last decade or so but seems to have increased over the last five years: we recruit what are, on paper, very talented kids who could definitely play professionally (and we've even put a whole hell of a lot of kids in the league as it is - top ten over the last decade IIRC), but they use Notre Dame football to get an elite degree and maybe do not put in the effort required to be an elite college player because they now have so many more professional options in front of them that, if you calculate an NPV and figure out a career path, the odds of a high career income and so forth are better if you choose the non-football option.

Tillery is a pretty good example of that. He is a very intelligent kid (both his parents are teachers IIRC); he is a Notre Dame scholarship athlete; he is heavily involved on campus in non-football activities and is reputed to be a very good student; he has done missionary work and trips overseas; he will have his pick of lucrative jobs when he graduates if he doesn't want to go into professional football. I am not sure the fire is there to be a great player.

Steve Elmer was a perfect example. He was a 5*, all-everything tackle whom everyone wanted. He came to Notre Dame, started for several years, was a solid-but-not-great player (started in that FSU game that we should have won and against you guys in the rain game in 2015), and forewent his last year of eligibility (and he probably would have been a lower round draft pick) for an opportunity at an elite management consulting firm in DC. Probably not enough fire there to be a great player.

Torii Hunter Jr. is another example, though I hear he is having a stellar minor league career so far and is on a straight shot to the majors, so maybe not as much. Corey Robinson (son of the Admiral) is probably the best example: if he really wanted to have been, he would have been another Michael Floyd, if even in college. He was gifted as hell - great hands, physicality, great size, solid speed - and could have been a great receiver had he really wanted to have been. However, his priorities were definitely elsewhere (he was student government president last year) and used football to put himself in a position for other endeavors.

I don't begrudge the kids at all for following the maxim "Use football - don't let football use you", but it is costing us at the moment. Stanford seems to have figured it out since the Harbaugh/Shaw run, and we recruit better (mostly, a lot better) than they do, so that isn't an excuse at all for our performance, but it is certainly an issue that we have to deal with, and Tillery is a pretty good example of it. Kelly has a difficult time positively drawing competitive fire out of players, and I think that's because he's a shitty leader.

Should be good

Dashawn Hand 5*
Daron Payne 5*
Isaiah Buggs 4*

Quinnen Williams 4*
Josh Frazier 4*
Raekwon Davis 4*

Jamar King 4*
Phidarian Mathis 4*
Labryan Ray 5*


Ray is the smallest one at 6'5" 272. Mathis is the only one from that group that probably won't contribute this season, with 8 other guys that are capable he can afford to redshirt

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Wisconsin returns everyone from last season's DL.

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And they'll still lose 3-4 games in the Big Ten

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Flexing your football prowess, once again...

1. Wisconsin returns 17 starters from a team that finished 11-3 (7-2) in 2016.

2. Wisconsin has lost more than two B1G games just once in the last seven years. Conference record during this time? 43-14 (.754).

3. Wisconsin's conference schedule in 2017 pales in comparison to what they went through in 2016. Crossover games are Purdue, Maryland and Michigan.

4. Vegas disagrees, strongly, with you.

Help me find "3-4 games in the Big Ten" that Wisconsin will lose.