If Manny could not stop the spread offenses that were so prevalent in the Big 12 while he was at Texas, why do we think he will be able to stop them in the SEC?
Manny stopped the spread in the SEC before. It wasn't just Auburn, but also Urban and RichRod. It was Arkansas' pro-style passing attack that gave us the most trouble... and even then, we held them to 24 in regulation...
Personally, I can argue both ways on Manny, and I'm pretty sure I have at one time or another. He had an amazing amount of front line talent here in 2010 across all levels of the defense. Enough front line talent that if it had been the number one defense in the country that year, given the hindsight of the guys in the NFL now, no one would have batted an eye at the thought. He had enough LB talent to stop the sideline to sideline bs even if the scheme wasn't that good. In those ways, I can argue that he underperformed while here -- and took more risks than we had to take given the skill level we had.
At the same time, he had no depth then. None. Only 3 of the "1Bs" at the time of the Gator Bowl ever became starters for us, which is insanity. And makes it all the more insane that we didn't take a larger step back in 2011. Thanks Fletcher...
I'm not just crazy about it -- but I like him as a DC infinitely more than the idea of turning the keys over to O. Manny always seemed to make excellent halftime adjustments...
