Virtually every preseason article on the BYU football team includes mention of two things: The Cougars' BCS aspirations and the one potential Achilles' heel to those hopes: An inexperienced defense.
BYU's offense, with 10 starters returning, is sure to be a high-octane attack, say preseason prognostications. But that defense ...
Preseason magazines point to the major loss at linebacker with the departure of Bryan Kehl and Kelly Poppinga. And then there's this number: 3. That's the returning defensive starters BYU has this fall.
But a closer looks reveals a defense with far more starts and much more experience under its belt.
The "3" referred to are Jan Jorgensen, Ian Dulan and David Nixon. But let's not forget about the other returning starters.
In reality, the defensive line returns three "starters." With Russell Tialavea back in the fold, the Cougars are stacked up front. Yes, Tialavea missed all of 2007. But don't forget he started seven games at nose tackle for the Cougars and played in all 13 games of the 2006 campaign.
Off the bench, Brett Denney has one start and plenty of time under his belt, as does Rick Wolfley.
At linebacker, Matt Bauman started the final four games of his freshman season. Last year, as a returned missionary sophomore, he saw action in all 13 games and totaled 34 tackles.
There's also Shawn Doman, who has played in 24 games as a Cougar, including significant time in 11 outings last year as he tallied 38 tackles.
While it's a stretch to call Vic So'oto a returning starter, the former tight end did play in all 13 games in 2007. While he's new to the defense, he's certainly not new to seeing major minutes.
BYU's secondary is considered the biggest weakness in terms of experience. While corners Brandon Howard and Scott Johnson will be making their first starts this fall, both saw action in all 13 games last fall.
At safety, BYU returns two players with starting experience. Kellen Fowler started the final five games of 2007 and played in all 13. David Tafuna missed the '07 season after a fall camp injury, but played in all 13 games of 2006, and started in the home win over Tulsa.
Sophomore Andrew Rich Led Snow College with 120 tackles and five interceptions in 2007 on his way to all-America honors, and should make a huge contribution.
So while the standard formula for returning starters yields the paltry number of three, in reality BYU has nine players with Division I starting experience on this year's first-string defense. And the new corners saw a decent share of snaps in 2007. Only So'oto will be seeing his first real game action on the defensive side.
If the "more athletic" secondary can be faithful to its assignments in the reliable 3-4 defense, the Cougars should field another quality defense in 2008. The D-line has talent throughout the two-deep. The linebackers, while thinner with the loss of Terrance Hooks, have the ability to make plenty of plays. And the secondary could wind up better than its predecessors the past two seasons.
If that happens, than BYU's perceived weakness may just turn into one its greatest strengths.
3 comments:
Well put. I think that the story of BYU's "explosive" offense coupled with an unknown on defense is much more exciting than just predicting an awesome season on both ends. Plus, it's a safety valve for (other) sports writers and message board junkies who want to be able to say "I told you so" no matter how the season turns out.
No matter how good the offense is, I predict (yea I know it's a fairly safe assumption)that we will have a tough time moving the ball and scoring against UCLA. The last two games it has been tough, especially the last one, and this time they will stack the box again, run blitz and cause us all kinds of problems. Basically they have great athletes with great speed and they have our number. I think we win but it will be close.
Good read, however, along with most sports writers you failed to mention the incoming JUCO Linemen: Bernny Afutiti,(6-0 260) Tev Hola
(6-1-310)
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