The 4-2-5

Larry Fedora brought a high octane offense and a hybrid defense when he came with him from Southern Mississippi. The offense, in a season plus two games, has been everything as advertised, breaking 35 offensive records in his first season at North Carolina. The defense, not so much. After seeing the 4-2-5 for a season plus two games, I am not a big fan of the 4-2-5. I believe he needs to go to a more traditional 4-3 even with the pass happy offenses in college football these days. The 4-2-5 uses two hybrid linebacker positions called the "Ram" and the "Bandit", one being a hybrid linebacker/rush end position and the other being a hybrid linebacker/safety position. The front four is not getting much pressure on the opposing teams's QB without blitzing a lot, they are giving up a lot of yards on the ground, especially up the middle of the defense, and this defense is not turning defense into offense as Coach Fedora's teams did at Southern Mississippi. Granted, the majority of these players are not players that Coach Fedora and his staff recruited. I have always shared the belief that you tailor your gameplan to your players strengths and not try to force the square peg into the round hole. Norkeithus Otis and Darius Lipford have been playing lights out but when your linebackers and defensive backs are making the majority of the tackles, sacks, and tackles for losses, then it usually means those plays are happening 5 to 10 yards down the field or you are having to blitz a lot to make plays. Georgia Tech and their 68 points from last season are on the horizon and it will be interesting to see how much progress the Tarheels defense has made in a couple of weeks time.