Maybe LB will be better than I feared?

[JasonB]

Barnes on the outside allows Yenga to move back inside.

Sanders on one side, Barnes, Seals, and Longoria compete for the other.

Nwosu and Yenga start inside, with the JUCO and Horton backing them up. I like Mitchell and Bordono as third string instead of second.

The question marks obviously are can either Seals or Barnes break out at OLB and can Nwosu adjust to a new scheme coming off a knee injury. But the potential is better than I thought it was coming in.

It is also interesting because it looks like a little shift in the 3-4. In the past, we ran more of a balanced 3-4, but now you have it set up to play an end at one outside LB, kind of like D Ware or M Williams did under Phillips. Allows you to more easily adjust to a front four when you shift to a nickel or dime. One of the things I think really hurt us when we played a nickel in the past was we still only rushed three a lot of times. You get essentially a 4 man front in a nickel situation and it might look a lot better.

[ideal]

Thanks for your analysis, enjoyed it.

[ojaipony]

I really like Yenga on the outside unless he put on about 20 pounds of muscle. If Barnes is moving to OLB because Minor is a stud at DE, then I'll for it. (maybe also is Stephon Sanders FOR SURE playing this year? - last I heard it could be questionable . . . due to return from injury . . . maybe another reason to move Barnes to OLB?).

[Junior]

I really like Yenga on the outside unless he put on about 20 pounds of muscle. If Barnes is moving to OLB because Minor is a stud at DE, then I'll for it. (maybe also is Stephon Sanders FOR SURE playing this year? - last I heard it could be questionable . . . due to return from injury . . . maybe another reason to move Barnes to OLB?).

i didn't realize Sanders might not be healthy. he would be a big loss on this LB corps.

[ojaipony]

I really like Yenga on the outside unless he put on about 20 pounds of muscle. If Barnes is moving to OLB because Minor is a stud at DE, then I'll for it. (maybe also is Stephon Sanders FOR SURE playing this year? - last I heard it could be questionable . . . due to return from injury . . . maybe another reason to move Barnes to OLB?).

i didn't realize Sanders might not be healthy. he would be a big loss on this LB corps.

AFTER I typed this, I read an interview with Mason somewhere else and it sounded like Sanders is good to go. Maybe, PP, you can verify that and let us know?

[East Coast Mustang]

I too think Yenga is better outside but he's a player wherever he's at. Hopefully he added 10 lbs of muscle in the offseason

If we go Barnes and Sanders outside, Yenga and Nwosu inside and Minor/Darrian/Zach up front, that's a pretty solid front seven in my opinion.

[Stallion]

as a freshman Yenga routinely got blownup at the point of attack. He was great chasing people down though

[JasonB]

I know the coaches have repeatedly said they like Yenga inside for what it's worth. In their mind, moving him inside would get him back to his original position. It sounds like Barnes has lost a lot of weight; I hope he can do well because I thought he was pretty solid on the line.

[ponyswim]

I am not sure was that good on the outside, but he looked that way because he was so much better than anyone else we put out there. With Mason saying he wants to try Sanders in the middle, it seems like he is getting ready to have a lot more different looks and probably use a lot more people in some creative ways.
I am glad he is looking at different ways to defend.
I have got to think that Yenga has continued to put on wt and get a lot stronger.