Is 2015 the Year of the defensive lineman in the SEC?

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WilliamDuVOL

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Is 2015 the Year of the defensive lineman in the SEC? - SEC Blog - ESPN

I pulled the parts that discuss Barnett. Feel free to read the full thing. It's pretty good. I think this is an interesting prospect though. I've heard quite a few people mention this year could be focused heavily on RBs in the SEC (e.g. Hurd, Fournette, Chubb) with so many questions at QB for many programs. Looking at the full article and all the names mentioned on that list and the acheivements and talent associated with them, however, I'm beginning to wonder if DLs across the board could be the stars in the SEC. We know we should have a great D line this year, but will defense eclipse offense as the strong point of some teams this year? Thoughts?

Two of the returning sack leaders in the SEC were both true freshmen a year ago.

Texas A&M's Myles Garrett was second in the league to Ray with 11.5 sacks as a freshman, and freshman Tennessee's Derek Barnett was just a few spots behind with 10 sacks. The amazing thing is that neither player was an early enrollee last year. They both reported in the summer without the benefit of spring practice and immediately started putting up huge numbers.
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The Vols were thrilled to get Barnett a year ago and knew he was an excellent prospect, but coach Butch Jones had no idea the 6-foot-3, 267-pound Barnett would have the impact he did as a freshman. His 18 tackles for loss in SEC games led all players, and nobody else in the league had more than 12.

"He just took off and kept getting better," Jones said. "The best thing about him is that he's nowhere near as good as he's going to be."

Barnett is recovering from shoulder surgery and won't participate in spring drills. The same goes for senior Curt Maggitt, who finished with 11 sacks last season and gives the Vols the best returning sack tandem in the league. The 6-3, 251-pound Maggitt splits his time between outside linebacker and defensive end, but is at his best as an edge rusher.
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#2
#2
Future top 10 pick in the NFL DRAFT, the only bad thing about that is we will just have him for 2 more years the good thing about it is he will dominate like no VOL has sense REGGIE WHITE in the early 80s, i seen White play in person as a Freshmen Barnett is alot better than White was as a Freshmen.
 
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#3
#3
terrypedigo said:
Future top 10 pick in the NFL DRAFT, the only bad thing about that is we will just have him for 2 more years the good thing about it is he will dominate like no VOL has sense REGGIE WHITE in the early 80s, i seen White play in person as a Freshmen Barnett is alot better than White was as a Freshmen.
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How so, especially since they played 2 different positions. People fail to realize that Reggie was a DT which makes his stats even more impressive. Not knocking Barnett but seriously trying to say he is better than Reggie is crazy, especially at this point in his career. You are talking about a guy who changed the way dline was played at the pro level. he could line up at any spot on the line... there are few few that could do that in college much less the NFL.

Lets let Barnett linger in leonard little company for now until he earns comparison to the great one.
 
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#4
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pimo1 said:
How so, especially since they played 2 different positions. People fail to realize that Reggie was a DT which makes his stats even more impressive. Not knocking Barnett but seriously trying to say he is better than Reggie is crazy, especially at this point in his career. You are talking about a guy who changed the way dline was played at the pro level. he could line up at any spot on the line... there are few few that could do that in college much less the NFL.

Lets let Barnett linger in leonard little company for now until he earns comparison to the great one.
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I agree with your response above. However, he has shown he already possesses elite capability and potential. What's great though to me is to think about what he'll be capable by his junior season. I'll be surprised, honestly, if he stays for his senior season.
 
#5
#5
WilliamDuVOL said:
I agree with your response above. However, he has shown he already possesses elite capability and potential. What's great though to me is to think about what he'll be capable by his junior season. I'll be surprised, honestly, if he stays for his senior season.
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What I am interested in watching is how high the motors will be revved on our defensive front this season. I seriously doubt any offense is going to get the median time to pass the ball down field. As this group will not only routinely be in the backfield but they will be there fast!
 
#8
#8
pimo1 said:
How so, especially since they played 2 different positions. People fail to realize that Reggie was a DT which makes his stats even more impressive. Not knocking Barnett but seriously trying to say he is better than Reggie is crazy, especially at this point in his career. You are talking about a guy who changed the way dline was played at the pro level. he could line up at any spot on the line... there are few few that could do that in college much less the NFL.

Lets let Barnett linger in leonard little company for now until he earns comparison to the great one.
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I agree with this. We need to pump the breaks with Barnett, the same way I believe Georgia fans need to pump the breaks with Chubb. We need to see 2 years of amazing production before we can start comparing a true freshman to an NFL hall of famer. Barnett was awesome last year and I believe he'll be tremendous this season as well. But we need to have some perspective.

I do agree that he'll be a future top 10 draft pick in the NFL though.
 
#10
#10
pimo1 said:
How so, especially since they played 2 different positions. People fail to realize that Reggie was a DT which makes his stats even more impressive. Not knocking Barnett but seriously trying to say he is better than Reggie is crazy, especially at this point in his career. You are talking about a guy who changed the way dline was played at the pro level. he could line up at any spot on the line... there are few few that could do that in college much less the NFL.

Lets let Barnett linger in leonard little company for now until he earns comparison to the great one.
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I agree with your sentiments in large part, however, Pedigo is correct in stating that Barnett showed more AS A FRESHMAN than Reggie. You're absolutely correct regarding their playing different positions, and Reggie is to be revered as the greatst defensive player/lineman in Tennessee history. However, a caveat regarding Reggie is that he didn't come into his own until he was an upperclassman in large part due to injuries early in his career. For example, 100 of his 293 career tackles and 15 of his 32 career sacks came in his senior year.

All that being said, Reggie is an all-time great and as fantastic as Derek was last year, he still has a ways to go before he can be mentioned in the same regard.
 
#12
#12
Well if the SEC is going to be a RB driven league this year, I'm glad we appear to have a DL that will be more than capable of going toe to toe with the best rushing attacks in the SEC.
 
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