Elijah Melendez

So if the pressure pushes Texas Tech into third and long, the drive is probably not going to be in a great spot.

Now, Tech's answer to the quicks Are two of the blitzes are the quick throws to Aiken or to Williams prior to the blitzes arrival? Question number three, who wins the first hit when Williams meets Arizona's linebackers? on his run defense is good when it wraps up, but it's linebackers occasionally will fly past the ball carrier.

They might miss them every once in a while.

William's the kind of back that can turn just one missed tackle into a 25 yard run and a complete field position flip.

The difference-making defenders – Wisconsin is going to win with Joseph's legs.

They're going to run out of some unique formations and they will take a well-timed deep shot.

So Iowa's key defenders are the linebackers who have to fill and spy the quarterback, plus a corner that's going to have to win those occasional one-on-ones.

So we'll start with Cam Buffington.

You have to get that stuff right first to give the guys their best role, right? So they can't really afford anybody their best role right now.

Maybe Elijah Melendez.

That's about it.

Yeah.

whenever I read off a guy who transferred in from USF.

Sylvester Smith-Reed, Rayshon Pleasant, Eric Winters, Caleb Harris, Elijah Melendez, Darian Smith, Deshaun Womack, Bryce Dees, Andre Jordan Jr., Dallas Walker, and Cody Sigler.

And you know what? I read through all 11 of those guys, and no one stopped me because none of those guys are USF guys.

None of them.

Caleb Harris, four or five-star prospect, been on the team for a couple of years.

Bryce Diaz was a four-star prospect.

Elijah Melendez was a four or five-star prospect, all on their second or third year on the team.

Jared Smith, on his second year on the team, four or five-star prospect.

So that's frustrating.

But outside of that, like, a lot of it did seem to be – coaching and the plan there were some like andre jordan jr was bad today but i don't think some of the catches he allowed were like all on him like there were some where he's not going to turn around that dude was not going to turn around today because he was getting work consistently but he did force some smaller windows at times and just sam levitt hit it hit it where he needed to go but man just as far as putting guys in situations to succeed like you didn't do that Um, you know, your, your best guy on defense has been Elijah Melendez and like, was not his best game.

I mean, at half or maybe like halfway through the second quarter, we said on the op cast, I'm like, I haven't really noticed Elijah Melendez yet, which is unusual.

Normally he has kind of a moment by that point.

He really didn't have a moment, you know, he had a few, he had a few tackles around the line of scrimmage, but you know, nothing groundbreaking.

That is really the deepest, most talented position on that team.

And Elijah Melendez, the middle linebacker, is a sophomore.

He is playing like a first-team OSCC player right now.

He's putting up incredible numbers and certainly is going to be a special player that the NFL is going to really want here in another year.

And D.J. Durkin loves to use his linebackers in a lot of different ways.

It's kind of a linebacker-centered defense.

So you're going to see Elijah Melendez, Diaz, Riddick really attacking non-scrimmage and trying to be the guys that disrupt and get the tackles for Lawson Sachs.

All right, going into tomorrow's home game, I'm going to tell you, I've had younger, much younger coworkers.