Are we missing a blue collar element?

is the idea that attitude is such a big part of defense. Teams struggle to have the perfect combination of talent and attitude. I’m wondering if we’re missing some attitude type players?

Rolando had the perfect combination of attitude and talent. So did Demeco.

Think about the lead up to the season, the over exposure and everything that comes with that. These are kids who hadn’t (and still haven’t) proven anything.

They lack experience, toughness and the ability to execute under pressure. Some of this was coaching (McElwain’s getting pretty predictable) but most of it was on the players.

I had them losing three games due to so many new bodies out there on defense. Saban’s defense takes two years before you start to click. We played confused in many situations, causing us to be a step slow. If your second guessing coverages, roles, etc. you play slower.

We really miss Rolando and somebody has to step up.

Now we go back to work and hope to play spoiler, though odds are VERY long.

…vital qualities those guys had are intelligence and experience. I don’t know enough about this year’s D to comment on the former, but there’s no getting past the youth we put on the field. Some of the attitude you mention may come with more seasoning.

Four senior starters. GMAC, Carpenter, Dial, I forget the other.

Juniors in play for the draft – Dareus, Barron, Julio (I think Hightower stays)

Not many players start out stars. Most certainly Cory Reamer did not. And Cody had some JC development first. Honestly, I see our young guys coming along pretty well. They are not perfect but they are playing above their experience. Cody, Javy, Ro, Mike Johnson, were playing at their experience level which was quite high. Marquis Johnson got beat several times in 2008 and in 09 it was like, “I’m not getting beat like that again”.

Julio Rules

It’s just my observation, but this has been personified for me at times this year when Kirkpatrick makes any decent play and proceeds to celebrate. It always makes me think of that scene from The Untouchables when Capone (DeNiro) is walking around the table with the baseball bat giving the speech about team players.

“I get nowhere unless the team wins.”

Coach Bryant’s philosophy was always that although we had a lot of pure talent like Namath and Stabler, he was able to build a real team by taking guys that were not superstars and get them to give more than they thought they could.

As I look at this team I think who are those guys? Who are the Rasaad Johnsons, the Marquis Johnsons, the Mike Johnsons, the Terrance Codys?

I see Dial as one of those guys, but after him whom do we have that you think…there goes an overachiever? Maybe Lowery?

I certainly would not say that about any of the guys on either line right now

Some 4-5star players forget that you have to keep earning the right to wear that jersey. A lot of this comes from your raising. Athletes like Julio and Mark keed fighting to be the best. Yes they have the talent but it is their work ethic that makes them stellar. On the other hand, you have mike vicks, where their talent oulls them through but they never meet the level of greatness. In addition, their self entitlement causes them to make very poor life choices.

Just because the sycophantic lap-dogs at ESPN call a kid a “4-Star” recruit or the “next (insert legendary football player’s name here),” doesn’t necessarily make it so.

There are plenty of players who aren’t worth their weight in “hype.” Not to say that our players suck, but our main downfall this year has been the defense. Considering the growing pains that the ’93 team endured — on the heels of what the great ’92 defense accomplished — 7-2 is pretty fantastic IMHO. The 2009 defense had far too many vets and leaders for there NOT to be a serious fall-off when they all graduated/got drafted.

It isn’t that our players “feel entitled” to victories or read too many of their press clippings. The problem is in having a heavily inexperienced group. Our “Blue Collar” guys are in there, but expecting even half the contribution of people like Arenas, Cody, Anders, etc, is unrealistic since those were a special group.