Your thought on our DC

[Optimus]

I for one was not thrilled with the hire of our current DC. My recollection of his tenure here was a defense that gave up a lot of points but was saved by a high powered offense that could easily put up 40 plus points per game and we had Pisa, Travis, Isaac and Abe. After the first two games I was hoping for a little upside to the defense.

[J-Rod]

It's still early, and depth is thin on a shaky defensive roster...but yeah, tackling and other fundamentals have been bad in the first two games. If I see UT-Martin Lawrence of whoever the hell they are shaking tackles this weekend, I'll signal the Lempa warning.

[EITSwarrior]

I'll hold off judging Lempa until conference play starts. Remember we played Cal and Michigan and Hawaii is not exactly bursting with talent to compete against them, especially with how the offense played against Michigan and how ST put the defense back out on the field after they got stops against Cal.

[akuhead2]

Is UTM a Division 2 school ?
What is the line on this game ?
Our Defense was really not good against Michigan, but there were a lot of 'but's. Those 'but's will be gone against UTM, and it is this game where the we will be able to get a good read on shaking tackles. Still, overall, UTM has to travel this week, and they might need to shake off some of the travel.
And what about Hendrie and Posa? Hope to see them both soon.

[kapakahi]

UTM is an FCS program.
Hendrie still not cleared by NCAA.....while Posa not among the top 3 OGs (behind Eli, Wa'a, Tupai).

[RedZone]

I really liked Lempa and was sad when he left. It was after he left that our defense went downhill. I think they went to defense by committee or something like that. Lempa was the db coach at Boston College which had the number one defense last season. His DC was Michigan's DC and you saw what they did to us. I wouldn't judge our DC after playing 2 teams with much more depth in talent. Going into this season especially with the loss of Kennedy and weak recruiting by previous coaches I knew that our knew DC would have a huge task ahead. We are soft up the middle and weak at the edge. This is something Lempa inherited. Can he fix it? I really don't know about this season. Some times it will take recruiting the right players and that takes time. He just needs a way to have the d do just enough to get wins. Going into this season it was obviuos that our offense would have to carry this team.

[ainoa808]

We gotta hold off until conference play as both teams overmatched our D, but the D overall lacks talent especially on D-line. Not being able to stop the run with only 7 in box and no pass rush from front 4 alone is recipe for disaster whoever we play.

[Irse]

I think the D will be just fine under him.

[poidog]

I really liked Lempa and was sad when he left. It was after he left that our defense went downhill. I think they went to defense by committee or something like that.

yep, Lumpkin was DC and Miano was Co-DC (but Lumpkin was mostly running the show in the beginning, I think). That defense gave up 50+ points several times, but were able to right the ship by simplifying things and moving players around to new positions and win out at the end of 2004 to make it to the Hawaii Bowl. Glanville came in after that.

I am not so much worried about who the DC is as much as I am worried about the lack of depth upfront and the lack of leadership on defense. I think they'll figure things out as the season goes and if they are able to bring in some Juco D-linemen in the offseason that the D will be good next season.

[stranger808]

Lempa wants to run an aggressive attacking defense, but in my opinion he doesn't have the horses for it. The horses in his stable are more suited to a read and react, zone defensive scheme.

[kalua pig]

i think this game against tennessee martin will show if lempa can have success with his personnel.

[RedZone]

Peni is back. Will be at nose. Kori will move to 3 tech tackle. We will be better inside. Our offense will have to control the ball longer because after those 2 we have no depth. Got to rest our d. We need to run the ball much better than we have. Ikaika will have to run the ball early otherwise they will be loading up on our runningbacks. You know we will run. We have that mentality and it really has not changed. So far I haven't seen any real surprises on offense.

[J-Rod]

UH got gashed by an FCS team playing their backup QB. This defense might be the MW's worst. I hope it's because the talent isn't there yet and not cause Lempa stay junk.

[My3Cats]

Lempa could be the greatest DC in the entire planet, but he can only do so much if the talent is just not there. Either that or his defensive personnel just don't understand the coverages. They certainly don't know how to tackle. It's like watching the Warriors chasing a greased pig around the stadium. How many missed tackles were there last night by the defense? At least Lempa can't be blamed for all of the missed tackles on that punt return touchdown.

[stranger808]

Lempa could be the greatest DC in the entire planet, but he can only do so much if the talent is just not there. Either that or his defensive personnel just don't understand the coverages. They certainly don't know how to tackle. It's like watching the Warriors chasing a greased pig around the stadium. How many missed tackles were there last night by the defense? At least Lempa can't be blamed for all of the missed tackles on that punt return touchdown.

i agree for the most part, but it's on the defensive coaches if more than one's having problems with proper tackling technique.