Infusion of Attitude, Work Ethic, Heart and Leadership on D.

[Shawn]

Our D is looking at a turning point. The old guard is stepping aside for the new guard. The problem, the new guard is lacking. I don't see fire, heart or leadership qualities in any of our young D talent besides maybe Cortez Allen. It's time to look past 40 times, and just look at underrated ballers with leadership qualities, a love for the game, and a contagious work ethic. Two guys come to mind.

The first is John Simon from tOSU. This guy won't break any clocks with his 40 but he is fast enough to play OLB in our system. He is a high motor, leverage player who always seems to be in the right position. But, just as importantly he loves the game, works, and oozes leadership.

The other name that comes to Mike Mauti. If this guy can get and stay healthy I love his attitude. He just sweats Steeler mentality.

We need these kind of guys in the upcoming draft.

[Shawn]

Ok this went over like a lead balloon.

[thor75]

Ok this went over like a lead balloon.

But I think the point is valid. The defense is older and has/had some big names (Polamalu, Keisel, Harrison). Maybe the younger players are hesitant to speak up. A new voice is definitely needed imo. I thought Cam Heyward plays with some fire and would spark something in the defense but that's probably hard for a revolving player.

[steelz09]

We just signed Foote to a 3 year deal and we will likely lose Lewis ...... so much for getting younger.

[squidkid]

Our D is looking at a turning point. The old guard is stepping aside for the new guard. The problem, the new guard is lacking. I don't see fire, heart or leadership qualities in any of our young D talent besides maybe Cortez Allen. It's time to look past 40 times, and just look at underrated ballers with leadership qualities, a love for the game, and a contagious work ethic. Two guys come to mind.

The first is John Simon from tOSU. This guy won't break any clocks with his 40 but he is fast enough to play OLB in our system. He is a high motor, leverage player who always seems to be in the right position. But, just as importantly he loves the game, works, and oozes leadership.

The other name that comes to Mike Mauti. If this guy can get and stay healthy I love his attitude. He just sweats Steeler mentality.

We need these kind of guys in the upcoming draft.

just following the qualities of the head coach

[DukieBoy]

Shawn, I like Mauti a whole lot, from what I saw of him with PSU, except for the injuries. He's a high character guy and a tackling machine, and worth a mid to later round pick, still. IMO.

[lloydroid]

I think there are some players on the roster who will be future leaders. Heyward was a captain at OSU for 3 years, I think. If he can offer quality play, he will also offer leadership. If Spense recovers from his knee blow out, he will provide leadership; he is the all-time tackler in the history of Miami U; I think that says a lot. I, like you, want players who have produced at the college level, ala Jimmy Johnson's way of evaluating players (He was pretty good at finding good players, I think all would agree.)

We have made a successful transition from the early-mid 90s group to the early 2000 group. We went from Joel Steed, Greg Lloyd, Kevin Greene, Rod Woodson, Carnell Lake, Levon Kirkland to a Troy Polamalu, Joey Porter (later Harrison), Ike Taylor, Woodley (until he got fat and worthless), Timmons, Hampton, Smith, Keisel, etc. Now it is time for the next transition. We've done it before, we can do it again, IF they draft well. But looking at the last 5 years drafts, I don't have a huge amount of confidence that they can pull it off again. They have been crapping the bed the last 5 drafts and that means we don't have the capable players already on the roster. The horrid drafts will catch up with us. If they reverse that trend now, it still may take us 2-3 years to get out of this hole.