[BostonCard]

Tobin Phillips is the only DT with any size, so he will be critical to stay healthy. No player on the team outside of McKee is more important to play the whole season. And it would seem they are going to need a contribution from True Frosh Jaxson Moi. I don't get why Stanford has him listed as a DE when he is needed at DT. Zach Rowell could potentially move inside too?

THERE IS NO "DE" AND "DT" ANYMORE. How many times do I need to keep saying it?

Stanford listed the #CardClass2022 recruits tab with their positions PRIOR to the official 4-3 shift. Note that the OLBs are still called OLBs on that page. 

Moi (and Zach Rowell, and Pat Caughey) are all considered DL now, and will all be at those 2 inside spots.

What you are describing sounds more like a 2-4-5 defensive alignment than the old, traditional 4-3 we used to play before we switched to the 3-4 a dozen plus years ago.  Maybe that makes sense, given that we are in the nickel more than 50% of the time, but I legitimately wonder what the alignment will be when we are in clear running downs (third and short).

The old 4-3 really did differentiate between interior defensive linemen and defensive ends.  The two DTs were not as big as a stereotypical nose tackle, but you aren’t merely taking the NT out and slotting two defensive ends in to play the a gaps. The whole reason we switched from a 4-3 to a 3-4 was that it was much easier to recruit linebackers than interior defensive linemen.  The reason we are switching back is likely that true 3-4 nose tackles are unicorns, and it is easier to find two 300 lb 4-3 DTs than one 320 lb 3-4 NT who can chew up two blockers and cover both A gaps.

But again, now that most of our game is played in the nickel, it makes sense to rid ourselves of our undersized nose tackle, bring our defensive ends inside and hope we can grow them into DTs, take our outside linebackers and call the EDGEs, and play two MLBs.  That’s not really a traditional 4-3 front though, where we would have two DTs, a strong side and weak side DE, and a Sam, Will, and Mike LB on the strong, weak, and middle.

BC

[BostonCard]

Tobin Phillips is the only DT with any size, so he will be critical to stay healthy. No player on the team outside of McKee is more important to play the whole season. And it would seem they are going to need a contribution from True Frosh Jaxson Moi. I don't get why Stanford has him listed as a DE when he is needed at DT. Zach Rowell could potentially move inside too?

THERE IS NO "DE" AND "DT" ANYMORE. How many times do I need to keep saying it?

Stanford listed the #CardClass2022 recruits tab with their positions PRIOR to the official 4-3 shift. Note that the OLBs are still called OLBs on that page. 

Moi (and Zach Rowell, and Pat Caughey) are all considered DL now, and will all be at those 2 inside spots.

What you are describing sounds more like a 2-4-5 defensive alignment than the old, traditional 4-3 we used to play before we switched to the 3-4 a dozen plus years ago.  Maybe that makes sense, given that we are in the nickel more than 50% of the time, but I legitimately wonder what the alignment will be when we are in clear running downs (third and short).

The old 4-3 really did differentiate between interior defensive linemen and defensive ends.  The two DTs were not as big as a stereotypical nose tackle, but you aren’t merely taking the NT out and slotting two defensive ends in to play the a gaps. The whole reason we switched from a 4-3 to a 3-4 was that it was much easier to recruit linebackers than interior defensive linemen.  The reason we are switching back is likely that true 3-4 nose tackles are unicorns, and it is easier to find two 300 lb 4-3 DTs than one 320 lb 3-4 NT who can chew up two blockers and cover both A gaps.

But again, now that most of our game is played in the nickel, it makes sense to rid ourselves of our undersized nose tackle, bring our defensive ends inside and hope we can grow them into DTs, take our outside linebackers and call the EDGEs, and play two MLBs.  That’s not really a traditional 4-3 front though, where we would have two DTs, a strong side and weak side DE, and a Sam, Will, and Mike LB on the strong, weak, and middle.

BC