Observations from Happy Hour

[Stallion]

nm

[Stallion]

Please SMU hasn't had a dominant LB in 20 years except perhaps Bordano-have we even had one drafted by the NFL? Have we even had any others make an NFL roster? How about NFL Europe. Perhaps the the Indoor Football League? The best you can say is that we've had a few overachievers who hustled.

[giacfsp]

Think we could use another Chris Bordano/Craig Swann/Vic Viloria?

[huntnfish]

Stallion by your stupid logic we couldn't use another Ramon Flanagan b/c he wasn't drafted- you are all over the map- sometimes you say something smart but then leave me puzzled w/ stupid remarks like this- look at the number of all conference (SWC & WAC) linebackers we produced in the mid and late 1990s- those guys could help

[JasonB]

Bordano and Viloria were solid players. Not spectacular, but solid college football middle linebackers.

I am excited about the fact that we have Cox coming in, and Lee and Carrington coming back. However, two of those three guys need to be on the field at the same time. Our d-line is getting bigger and better, but we don't have the behemouths up there that will allow us to play with smaller linebackers. I agree the McCray looks quick, Rico did well at times last year, and Nnabuife is a good player. But playing two of those three at linebacker should ONLY happen in nickel situations. Rico and McCray should battle for the weakside position. Nnabuife should ONLY be in the mix in our nickel package, coming in for Lee. Unless the other team is running out 4 wide receivers, we need big linebackers in the game. If SMU is forced to play against Rice with three safeties playing linebacker again, that will spell disaster.

So, all I am saying is that if Cox or Carrington isn't good enough to win a starting position, we are going to struggle on defense again this year.

Also, someone mentioned a 3-4. With Bonds and the JC transfer, we might have a nosetackle to act as a plug. But I don't think we have the size at DE to get away with it. That said, using Muse/Cox as a passrushing LB would be very disruptive.

[huntnfish]

they don't necessarily have to be huge, Bordano was not that Huge until his last year- Viloria, Simonton, Bordano (until later) and Swann were not that big just very good college players who could stop the run- we don't necessarily need top round draft picks like Stallion wants- just very good college football players

And Stallion will love this - Rossley recruited 3 of those 4, and one of his holdovers (Malin) recruited Viloria

[davidsmu94]

Ahhh Malin. I went to High School with Malin. He was the deep snapper on the football team.

[davidsmu94]

NM

[DallasDiehard]

Please SMU hasn't had a dominant LB in 20 years except perhaps Bordano-have we even had one drafted by the NFL? Have we even had any others make an NFL roster? How about NFL Europe. Perhaps the the Indoor Football League? The best you can say is that we've had a few overachievers who hustled.

You're saying you wouldn't want another Vic Viloria? Your credibility is spiraling the drain, dude.

[MrMustang1965]

Stallion: you're just mean.

[Stallion]

Yep you heard it here first-they were average college LBs-I didn't see us playing in any bowl games when they were DOMINANTING the defense. If we want to raise the bar the first place we need to look is to find some dominant LBs.

[huntnfish]

average LBers don't make first team ALL SWC and ALL WAC- you can argue about the competition in the WAC but the guys who did it in the SWC you can't argue with b/c the coaches at UT and A&M are voting and if they think a guy is first team then it means they could play for them as well- average LBers make 8-10 tackles a game, w/ none behind the line of scrimmage- the guys you are dissing would turn in 20 tackle games, sacks, tackles behind the line of scrimmage and forced turnovers- Stallion its a good thing you were never head of recruiting at SMU or you would have passed up on all these guys in high school b/c they weren't "pro" LBers but were great SMU LBers

[Stallion]

let's see 5-9, 5-10 and 5-11----I guess you've been watching too many SMU games and haven't seen any quality Division 1A Football lately. The truth is-and I'm sure you're going to throw a temper tantrum-that none of those guys except for perhaps Boradano would have even made the starting lineup of a Top 25 quality football team. First of all none of them would have even been recruited by a quality football team-and none of them were. Which brings us to my second point- those guys were two small to excel week after week in a BCS conference. Were they overachievers-yes as I said in my initial post but they were not dominanting LBs unless you are grading on the SMU grading curve which YOU probably are because you think a Coach who actually lost to Rice 7 straight times and had a 22% winning per centage was a great college coach. Oh and by the way as much as Flannigan actually made Rossley's Punch and Judy offense look good by his sheer athleticm and improvisation, Ramon Flanigan could not be called an outstanding college QB either.

[Higher Authority]

So height determines success? You're right.

Zach Thomas can't play -- he's too short.
The late Sam Mills couldn't play -- he was too short.
Ex-OU star Torrance Marshall couldn't play -- he's too short.
Dat Nguyen can't play -- he's too short.
Dexter Coakley can't play -- he's too short.
Vic Viloria couldn't play -- he was too short (even though he was recruited in the SEC).
Craig Swann couldn't play -- he was too short.

See any flaws in this logic?

Using the same thought process, I guess Chris Bordano couldn't play, either, because he wasn't recruited by enough big schools (all those tackles he made were just lucky, right?) Or maybe it's because he's too tall. Yup, that's why the Saints drafted him -- his height.

[Stallion]

I was waiting for somebody to post that. You just listed a number of small NFL LBs who made it in the NFL. Explain to me why none of our small LBs even got so much as a sniff from the Indoor Football League? This is the third time I've posted they were overachievers. But they ain't no Mike Singletary or Derrick Johnson either unless of course you are grading on the SMU grading curve which is very popular around here.