Hill Fired

[Goatnapper'96]

please no.

I agree. I think BYU has a system that serves them about as good as it can be done. They are never going to have the corners that allow for an aggressive heavy blitz and pressure scheme. Well, what I mean is that they will not have the corners consistently enough to justify a move to that type of scheme. They might have that type of corner play occassionally, but defensive schemes are not something you change every year.

I have no real strong opinion on 4-3 verus 3-4. I think Mendenhall likes having fewer players on the LOS, and with the right set of OLB his 3-4 can become very interchangeable with a 4-3. I think those type of LBs are in the program they are just very, very young. I don't think this year will usher in another 3 year term like '02-'04.

But right now we suck ass.

[KillerDog]

I have no real strong opinion on 4-3 verus 3-4. I think Mendenhall likes having fewer players on the LOS, and with the right set of OLB his 3-4 can become very interchangeable with a 4-3.

I agree with you on defensive scheme generally. I think you should tailor your scheme to what your recruiting base produces every year. Our recruiting base produces linebackers and linemen therefore a 3-4 or a 4-3 would be best. We don't produce great dbs and therefore a 3-3-5 isn't a good scheme.

On the subject of determining between a 4-3 and a 3-4, I think it doesn't matter much. Pick one and stay with it. We often have run a 3-4 as a 4-3. I personally prefer a 3-4. I think it is easier to find d-linemen who can clog up holes, occupy blockers, and eat space than it is to find d-linemen who are 6'7", 270lbs, long arms, and quick first steps.

My real concern about our defense is that we aren't putting enough of our good athletes on D. How is it smart to have 5 freshmen TEs? That seems stupid to me. It seems especially stupid when we are struggling on the d-line and at linebacker. Some of those TEs are guys who could play on the defensive side of the ball and improve our team. Coaches need to make the tough decisions, let the kids know what has been decided, and move forward doing what is best for the team. Putting everyone on offense works for the kids who want the glory but it doesn't help the team and often isn't the best thing for the kids.

[jay santos]

My real concern about our defense is that we aren't putting enough of our good athletes on D. How is it smart to have 5 freshmen TEs? That seems stupid to me. It seems especially stupid when we are struggling on the d-line and at linebacker. Some of those TEs are guys who could play on the defensive side of the ball and improve our team. Coaches need to make the tough decisions, let the kids know what has been decided, and move forward doing what is best for the team. Putting everyone on offense works for the kids who want the glory but it doesn't help the team and often isn't the best thing for the kids.

Amen. How many 2nd, 3rd, 4th string guys on offense are schollie guys vs the D where it seems half the team are walk-on's. Fui should have been a linebacker. Pritchard better stay at LB. Wilson ought to move back. He's 6'0 and has bad hands.

[cougjunkie]

Amen. How many 2nd, 3rd, 4th string guys on offense are schollie guys vs the D where it seems half the team are walk-on's. Fui should have been a linebacker. Pritchard better stay at LB. Wilson ought to move back. He's 6'0 and has bad hands.

Wilson is scared to hit they tried him at linebacker last year.

Who else moves to defense from the tightends besides Wilson?

Holt? Muehlman? Mahina? Certainly not Matthews who has never played D in his life.

I do not see any of those 3 breaking the 2 deep at D-end.

[jay santos]

Wilson is scared to hit they tried him at linebacker last year.

Who else moves to defense from the tightends besides Wilson?

Holt? Muehlman? Mahina? Certainly not Matthews who has never played D in his life.

I do not see any of those 3 breaking the 2 deep at D-end.

My comment is more high level. Like maybe our scholarship offer strategy is somewhat imbalanced, more heavily weighted to offense. I don't know. I just don't like the lack of athleticism and depth across the board on D right now.

[cougjunkie]

My comment is more high level. Like maybe our scholarship offer strategy is somewhat imbalanced, more heavily weighted to offense. I don't know. I just don't like the lack of athleticism and depth across the board on D right now.

I disagree, Bronco has specifically mentioned that they love the hybrid DE/TE body types. Because they can play anywhere along the D-line and even move to OLB if needed.

2006- 25 commits, 14 defensive players
2007- 24 commits, 12 defensive players
2008- 25 commits, 14 defensive players
2009-21 commits, 10 defensive players
2010-27 commits, 17 defensive players

Looks like the commitment to defensive is there. However where it really hurts is the loss of so many players:

G Pittman
Gary Nagy
Brannon Brooks
Brandon Howard
Star Lotulelei
David Angilau
Matangi Tonga
Rick Wolfley
Ian Dulan (he will most likely be back)
Nate Moncur
Michael Moore
Magnum Mauga
Bernard Afutiti
Shiloah Te'o
Garrett Nicholson (may be back?)
Masi Tuitama
Lee Aguirre


That is just since 2006, you can not tell me that their are not a lot of guys on that list that could have helped this year. In fact I bet we have 11 guys on that list that would give us a better defense than we have right now.

[Goatnapper'96]

My real concern about our defense is that we aren't putting enough of our good athletes on D. How is it smart to have 5 freshmen TEs? That seems stupid to me. It seems especially stupid when we are struggling on the d-line and at linebacker. Some of those TEs are guys who could play on the defensive side of the ball and improve our team. Coaches need to make the tough decisions, let the kids know what has been decided, and move forward doing what is best for the team. Putting everyone on offense works for the kids who want the glory but it doesn't help the team and often isn't the best thing for the kids.

I agree with this sentiment. Chambers or Ashworth should have been moved to safety. I think that Mendenhall needs to get more adamant about personnel moving to positions that benefits the team.

[Hot Lunch]

I disagree, Bronco has specifically mentioned that they love the hybrid DE/TE body types. Because they can play anywhere along the D-line and even move to OLB if needed.

2006- 25 commits, 14 defensive players
2007- 24 commits, 12 defensive players
2008- 25 commits, 14 defensive players
2009-21 commits, 10 defensive players
2010-27 commits, 17 defensive players

Looks like the commitment to defensive is there. However where it really hurts is the loss of so many players:

G Pittman
Gary Nagy
Brannon Brooks
Brandon Howard
Star Lotulelei
David Angilau
Matangi Tonga
Rick Wolfley
Ian Dulan (he will most likely be back)
Nate Moncur
Michael Moore
Magnum Mauga
Bernard Afutiti
Shiloah Te'o
Garrett Nicholson (may be back?)
Masi Tuitama
Lee Aguirre


That is just since 2006, you can not tell me that their are not a lot of guys on that list that could have helped this year. In fact I bet we have 11 guys on that list that would give us a better defense than we have right now.

4 of those loses are directly related to Jaime Hill. One could argue that Hill played a major part in running 2 or 3 others off on top of the 4 that are directly related to him.

BYU fans should be happy about this move.

[cougjunkie]

4 of those loses are directly related to Jaime Hill. One could argue that Hill played a major part in running 2 or 3 others off on top of the 4 that are directly related to him.

BYU fans should be happy about this move.

Not to mention almost running off our best defensive player in Andrew Rich.

[Coach McGuirk]

Not to mention almost running off our best defensive player in Andrew Rich.

Was Pendleton ever close?

[Hot Lunch]

Not to mention almost running off our best defensive player in Andrew Rich.

Yep, those rumors of Rich leaving the team were 100% true and Hill was 100% the reason. Luckily for BYU Andrew had some good teammates that talked him into coming back.

[Goatnapper'96]

Yep, those rumors of Rich leaving the team were 100% true and Hill was 100% the reason. Luckily for BYU Andrew had some good teammates that talked him into coming back.

Above the issues with Hill what is your take on the situation at BYU? Is the talent this bad or is it the perfect storm so to speak?

[byu71]

Above the issues with Hill what is your take on the situation at BYU? Is the talent this bad or is it the perfect storm so to speak?

I too am interested to see what the Luncher thinks.

On 1280 after the game Criddle and Jan said the recruiting of defensive talent has gone downhill. I wish I could remember exactly the things they said, but I was quite surprised at how blunt they were on the subject.

[Flystripper]

I too am interested to see what the Luncher thinks.

On 1280 after the game Criddle and Jan said the recruiting of defensive talent has gone downhill. I wish I could remember exactly the things they said, but I was quite surprised at how blunt they were on the subject.

I doubt HL's opinion will be different than that of Criddle and Jan.

[Goatnapper'96]

I too am interested to see what the Luncher thinks.

On 1280 after the game Criddle and Jan said the recruiting of defensive talent has gone downhill. I wish I could remember exactly the things they said, but I was quite surprised at how blunt they were on the subject.

I was looking at the DL recruiting 2007-2009. BYU recruited 6 DL over that span and 3 are already lost to attrition. One is on a mission and already been moved to OL. The other two are Manu and Bryson. The DL depth sucks this year and if not for one journeyman Vic So'oto there isn't even a player that anyone can make a rational argument for being NFL caliber (edit I am not saying Vic is NFL caliber just that he is the only one with NFL type physical talent - really good teams don't need every player to be talented but any individual player to be good must be talented and every team needs a few really good players). I think the DL has some solid players but BYU needs at least one very good DL playmaker to make up for the average at best secondary.

Linebackers were reputed to be talented. Hopefully some of them are, but so far nobody is showing it. Further, it appears that the best two ILB are Jorgenson and Stout. Neither was even in the program last spring ball and that coming on the heals of BYU playing two lackluster ILBs for the past two years. The other options are Leing Wei and Ogletree, again one more who was not in the program the past spring ball. This glut of innexperience is poor program management. When is the last time BYU went without an all conference caliber ILB for 3 years?

Beyond the mismanagement of ILB and DL, look at safety. Uggh. What if Andrew Rich has not come back?

There have been defections and attrition, perhaps Jaimie Hill is to blame for some of that but that happens at every school and often at BYU a bit more. I have said that for Mendenhall to become a good recruiter the biggest challenge is to improve BYU's attrition rates. The past few years were not good - and to add support to Mendenhall's firing of Hill the majority of the attrition has been on the defensive side. Mendenhall's failings were not heading this off earlier and not flexing enough offensive players soon enough to deal with the issues.