Shaun Nua Appreciation Thread!

Submitted by SMart WolveFan on October 1st, 2021 at 11:47 AM

Time for many of you louts to eat crow!

And show a little love to one of the most unfairly treated members of the team.

He took a lot of grief for something that clearly wasn't in his control.

Hey Coach Brown:

 

But ever since he was released from the maniacal tyranny of "Mad Don Brown", he has contributed to the biggest (literally) turnaround in the program: The Defensive line, especially the interior.

Just since January, he:

Helped close recruiting on

Rayshaun Benny (275lbs)

George Rooks (260)

Signed Ikechukwu Iwunnah (275)

Added transfer Jordan Whitley (348!)

 

Got them in the weight room:

Hinton (310) +5

Smith (328!) +21

Jenkins (275) +10

Jeter (325) +6

Spieght (310) +20

Benny (292) +17

Rooks (270) +10

Giudice (275) +25

Iwunnah (306) +31!

= +140lbs!

That's like having a 12th man on the field in the interior Dline,

of course he's only the size of an oompa loompa:

:

 

On top of all that, Coach Nua drove to Indiana last Friday to close the deal with Kenneth Grant, a 335lb! Dtackle who he recruited the whole way and got him to commit rather than wait on OSU.

No more "girly man" DTs 'round here

 

Obviously, their play on the field speaks for itself, and although I would chalk most of that improvement to the 9 on 7 drills they ran against our Offensive Line, Coach has them playing at a much improved level. Even though they weren't dominant last weekend, shout out to Mike Morris, Chris Hinton and Dave Ojabo on making great plays to seal that win defensively even though they were gassed.

So let's give some love to the big guy coaching the big guys up, because we're gonna need them this weekend for sure.

GoBlue!

And for those who wanted him gone: You were wrong.

MGoBoard
Football

TeslaRedVictorBlue

October 1st, 2021 at 12:44 PM ^

yup. and honestly, in my opinion, if our interior linemen were more disruptive and stout, our ends would flourish more. Aiden etc... i know he's doing great, but.. would love it if teams were forced to double inside, leaving guys like aiden, uche, etc... to beast out. 

But, like you said... they are meh against meh. there are some OLs coming that will challenge them. You'd think facing our OL would prep them a little at least. lets hope!

5-0. thats all we want this week.

Joined: 09/02/2021

MGoPoints: 35137

Don

October 1st, 2021 at 11:59 AM ^

Recruiting has definitely picked up for large humans, but I'm going to wait on the celebrations until our existing DL proves that it can dominate the LOS on a consistent, reliable basis against good opponents.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 148379

SMart WolveFan

October 1st, 2021 at 12:06 PM ^

Most didn't wait to call for his head when Wisconsin ran for 359 right up the middle in '19.

And no one is asking you to celebrate, that's why it's an an appreciation thread;

appreciate the work they put in to become more stout and encourage them to continue when we need it most, this weekend.

Joined: 04/20/2015

MGoPoints: 14700

WampaStompa

October 1st, 2021 at 12:04 PM ^

Thank you for posting this the day before our DL faces off against Wisconsin and their famously beefy offensive line, you definitely haven't cursed them at all. 

Joined: 11/20/2018

MGoPoints: 3032

MFun

October 1st, 2021 at 3:39 PM ^

You just should have waited until they played a good O-Line lol.
We'll know more after Saturday but the first 4 games were easy compared to the next 8. 
Mine was 8-4, maybe 7-5 and I was trying to be positive after last year. 

Anyway, hope you are right. 

Joined: 09/11/2020

MGoPoints: 705

The Fugitive

October 1st, 2021 at 12:12 PM ^

Let's see how they do against Wisconsin, a Oline that has absolutely punked the M Dline, the last two games. I'm not optimistic. 

But I did get a good laugh at your idea Nua is responsible for their weight gain. 

Joined: 01/26/2016

MGoPoints: 77748

MacMarauder

October 1st, 2021 at 12:18 PM ^

I like the positivity, although I think the jury is still out on the line and the defense as an entire unit. I'm in the wait and see camp, we've been burned too many times by Don Brown's top rated defenses that collapsed at the end of year.

Joined: 01/22/2016

MGoPoints: 6226

Hail to the Vi…

October 1st, 2021 at 12:50 PM ^

Same. I was critical of Nua, especially early on when it didn't really appear he was contributing much on the recruiting trail, and his unit was getting gashed against literally every opponent in 2020 (whatwouldyasayyadohere?.gif).

But credit where credit is due, he did a nice job "flipping" Benny, flipping Iwunnah, closing on Rooks and now landing Kenneth Grant. On the field, I think his unit is spread extremely thin due to Don Brown's inexplicable approach to interior defensive line recruiting. But I think both Smith and Hinton have been solid if not spectacular in their third years, which is typically when you expect that position group to emerge. Hinton in particular played an excellent game last Saturday (this according to UFR, but the gifs seem to back that up). He's one to watch if he can stack back-to-back performances like that.

I'm not sure Nua needs an appreciation thread (although being appreciated is nice). In my opinion he's gone from "liability" to "contributor" on the staff. That's nice to see, and he certainly deserves credit for that. I wouldn't say he's some coaching asset dynamo that is making a huge impact on the program as of now either.

Joined: 09/13/2010

MGoPoints: 12888