PonyFans.com

Sources: Liberty DC Scott Symons is expected to take the defensive coordinator job at SMU. Liberty finished No. 11 nationally in total defense this season. From Hurst, Texas

I googled and read a bit after seeing the tweet.

The most critical thing to me is that they play a 4-2-5. This is the first defensive hire we have made that runs a modern defensive scheme. As Bob Sturm would say, "Nickel is the base". The extra player in the scheme is the "rover" position. The players on the depth chart at that spot are 6 foot, 190-200. Safety size, not LB size. In the writeups, they talk about this position being part of the secondary. It isn't a 3-4 with a LB playing "Fox". It is a true 4-2-5.

So, yeah, the defense is going to struggle against run-first teams. The Navy game will be a challenge, and require special scheming. But the defense will be set up to stop the pass.

I have no idea his recruiting history. But the results of turning around that Liberty defense are nice. And if he keeps the scheme, it is a much more modern approach to defense than we have had in a long time, and it will serve us well against the better teams.

Looking at our personnel, this could be a reason we took two DE in the recruiting class. If you look at us right now at DE, you have the two frosh, Coxe, Wiley, Paul, and Samuels. That is a really good group.

The other big thing is that we are starting to build some quality safeties on the roster with the new recruit, Massey, and NWO. I would not be surprised to see Massey at the Rover spot. I think he is perfect built for that role. We just need a transfer at safety to build it out a bit.

We’ve been linked to Kristopher Moll from UAB. He would seem to be a natural fit for the Rover position

He was born and raised in Hurst, played football at Fort Worth Christian, and hasn't been back to Texas since. This may be a coming home situation.

Thought we were going after Blake Baker, the LSU LB coach and former Miami DC who’s worked with Coach Lashlee. Baker announced last night he wasn’t returning to LSU next year

https://newsadvance.com/sports/college/ ... da63b.html

Says he grew up not far from the SMU campus in Ft. Worth.SMDH

SMU Pom Mom wrote:He was born and raised in Hurst, played football at Fort Worth Christian, and hasn't been back to Texas since. This may be a coming home situation.

Probably influenced by the Dallas uniforms and Triple D wear as well!

Seems like a great hire!!!

liberty folks are disappointed
https://forums.aseaofred.com/forums/vie ... 31fa556edf

indianmustang wrote:liberty folks are disappointed
https://forums.aseaofred.com/forums/vie ... 31fa556edf

Good find. Usually you can tell it's a good hire when the locals are disappointed he's leaving. As opposed to the "don't let the door hit you in the arse on the way out" crowd.

Looks like a good hire. I watched highlights of LU's blowout win over EMU in the whatzit bowl and the D looked solid. Gave up 20 points, half of which were in garbage time after the game was well out of reach.

It speaks volumes that Coach Lashlee and SMU are able to attract interest from coaches of this caliber. Hope he's another good recruiter who knows Texas.

Yeah... like the hire and about time we changed the scheme.

Let's win.

East Coast Mustang wrote:We’ve been linked to Kristopher Moll from UAB. He would seem to be a natural fit for the Rover position

https://uabsports.com/news/2021/3/18/fo ... afety.aspx

Looks like he utilized his RS year in his "final/Covid" year of eligibility at UAB

Yeah... like the hire and about time we changed the scheme.

Let's win.

Interesting that Thibodeaux and Naivar were announced before Symons. I assume this has been in the works for some time and that Symons was good with both Thibodeaux and Naivar. Important for everyone on this new staff to be on the same page and to hit the ground running.

We still have to add some additional coaches, but this may be the best staff since Bobby Collins!