(01-17-2020 01:24 PM)Duke Dawg Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 01:18 PM)olddawg Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 09:59 AM)Dukester Wrote:  

(01-16-2020 12:53 AM)Chalupa Batman Wrote:  

(01-15-2020 10:47 PM)JMUNation Wrote:  I was impressed that NDSU had the depth on defense to platoon lineman. They would sub four at a time. No wonder they were still fresh in the 4th quarter. I felt like we were playing P5 team.

We've been rotating like that for years. We learned very quickly after joining the MVFC that you need to have depth on the D-line to survive the conference grind.

I read the other day that Tuszka played 35 snaps per game this year, about 57% of our defensive snaps played.

It helps not only later in the game, but later in the season and in following seasons when you're younger players already have valuable game experience (and not just mop up duty against other teams' backups).

This is the least we have rotated in years.

Rotating is how you reload in future years.

Remember, Black at DT and Terrell at DE would have probably been in the rotation. They got decent, meaningful playing time last year before leaving in the Spring/Summer. We really lucked out that none of the 4 starters on the D-line suffered serious injuries.

i have no knowledge whatsover, but i suspect both those guys left because they were P5 transfers who couldn't beat out our homegrown HS recruits (Greene, Atariwa, Daka) for starting positions.

Transfer U what?!?

If a player is in their fourth year of eligibility and not a full time starter, they may decide the time and effort are no longer worth it. College football is a huge commitment.

Not everyone who plays football loves it. Some guys are just blessed with size and use it to either get an education or make a living on Sundays. For these men, football is work and not a game. They go to work each day at a job they don’t necessarily love but it is a means to an end.

It should never shock anyone to see players leave prior to exhausting their eligibility. This attrition is another reason why recruiting is so key and so is the culture of the program. People don’t always leave to play somewhere else. Sometimes they leave to do something else.