[EKUAlum05]

im gonna have a lot of positives to say later but ill get my negative out to start

i always be the first to admit that the personnel isn’t great but at what point do we need to have talk about the defensive coordinator continuing to call the defense in a way that does nothing to address the talent deficiency in the front 3 and especially 7?????? still the same look with no stunts no wrinkles nothing it was great when you had d1 linemen up front like Horton and Bentley but that’s been 8 years now…… they do nothing to compensate for it……… and then they sit in cover 4 every single play……. Belfry failed to get a single stop tonight. The union county coach said on the radio before the game they aren’t going to change anything on defense they will sit in the cover 4 3-4 and stay in it………… Special teams sucks don’t get me wrong and that changed the game with the early kickoff but at this point the vanilla defense has been a repeated problem almost every single year since Horton walked across the stage at graduation…… gave up 435 yards tonight!!!!!! UNBELIEVABLE

2017 eliminated giving up 60
2018 eliminated giving up 41
2020 only gave up 10 in a loss
2021 won state but gave up 28 and needed Dixon to run for 400 yards
2022 eliminated giving up 48
2023 eliminated giving up 24 never got a stop
2024 eliminated giving up 43 never got a stop

2019 the defense was fine with baisden BUT if this is the guy they are leaving the keys to when haywood retires you might as well consolidate the program with pike central!!!!!!!

btw you have a former college special teams ga on your staff doing very little LET HIM RUN YOUR SPECIAL TEAMS ISNT like he can make it worse!!!! they have sucked all year and the last few years

end on a positive though the team will have plenty of weapons next year in their arsenal……. Thank you seniors!!!!!

When I look at the box score of this game, something happened at halftime. The two teams played a good even game the second half. Some good adjustments must have been made. Or maybe no turnovers which would help the defense.

Belfry turned it over. They threw an Interception.

What happened to cause an even 2nd Half:
The game was out of reach, Union just stuck to doing what they needed to secure the W..
Belfry got the ball to open the Half so they had an extra possession...
Union kneeled out their last possession. It was the only time Belfry stopped Union.

What was your thoughts on the game plan for Belfry on defense? Playing 2 safety’s 12 yards off the ball and corners 10 yards off receiver when they clearly had no intentions of throwing it was confusing. Whether Belfry plays a ground and pound team or a team that wants to throw it every play they play the same base defense. It was clearly early that wasn’t going to work. Marcum  and wolford should have got more time on defense to help stop the run.

I know this staff pours their heart out for Belfry and spends countless hours working for those boys. I will not ever call for heads to roll or try to get in their pockets.

What I will say is this:
- Belfry has clear weaknesses. They have had them the past three seasons now. When you don't have the personnel to play someone straight up you have to take risks. We chose not to take those risks.

- I heard Bobby Norman comment once "Wolford comes in to replace Hylton" and my first thought was... "I really wish we could have arguably our two best defensive presences in the Front 7 playing at the same time instead of an either/or situation"

- There was a 3rd and Forever that Union converted in the First Half when Belfry was desperate for a stop where Johnson extended the play a little, his receiver ran a very generic comeback route about 5-7 yards short of the sticks, our CB dropped beyond the sticks after giving about 8 yards of cushion to start, as Johnson threw our CB slipped reacting, the receiver made an easy catch and got up field and converted the First Down because the safety had to come over to finish the tackle. This play summarized what is wrong with Belfry. We had no pass rush, our DE was guarding basically noone in the flats, and our zone fell apart because we were being reactive and conservative.

That may work against Lawrence County.. that may work if Ray Horton is rushing the passer and is unblockable... that may work is David Jones is the CB and even after slipping has 4.4 speed to recover and get back to the receiver... that may work if Cameron Catron is at Safety and diagnoses what's happening and comes over to tackle the guy short of the sticks... but that doesn't work with the current Belfry defense against a quality opponent. 

- The frustrating part of all this is you can probably copy and paste posts I have made where Belfry needs to address improvement after disappointing season ends. It all ultimately comes back to the fact we need to evolve and we need to stretch comfort zones.

We drive 8 hours instead of Union driving 8 hours because we fatigue/cramp and lose a game to GRC we should have never lost and Johnson Central drives it down our throat after getting a late lead? Athletic Training needs to evolve.

Our DB's simply do not understand how to defend receivers, how to break on the ball, or how to not get cooked on double moves? An evolution of how we address 7 on 7 from the Middle School on.

Our WR's only are asked to run a basic route tree, we lack a chemistry and timing often, and we force deep throws into coverage? 7 on 7 would help as well.

For Belfry to drive 60 yards in the Semi's it usually means 9-10 plays minimum... this means no penalties, no fumbled exchanges, no negative gains, and no incomplete passes. Every yard matters! Our chance of success infinitely goes down the longer we have to drive. In other words, the better our field position the better our chance for success.  Yet... we will gladly let our opposition average starting field position at the 35 because of Special Teams.. thus ensuring that if they gain one first down we must drive 80 yards.... SPECIAL TEAMS must evolve.