keenobserver
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We send a brinks truck to the top 3 defensive coordinators homes next season and see which one can be bought.Completely agree here...once Heupel gets the offense rolling and kids see the fun, exciting, "put your name on the highlight reel" type system the QBs, RBs, TEs, WRs, Onlinemen will be clamoring for a spot.
My concern like yours is how to attract the quality defensive guys we are going to need...and we are going to need a lot of them too.
I do remember him being undersized. Almost like jacques smith was when he came in. Didn't know if they was able to slap about 30 pounds on yet or not. It's rare you find a elite DE under 6'4. If he wants to play on Sundays LB may be the better route for him.Still looks like a beast, but he is an OLB. Too small to be a DE, though he may add some much needed pass rushing.
Last I saw, he looked like he's lost weight since HS. Dude looks <4% body fat... def looks like TarzanI do remember him being undersized. Almost like jacques smith was when he came in. Didn't know if they was able to slap about 30 pounds on yet or not. It's rare you find a elite DE under 6'4. If he wants to play on Sundays LB may be the better route for him.
This is one of the reasons I am really not looking forward to UGA's ground and pound in November and to a lesser extent UK, doesn't help that we play UGA right after UK. Those are going to be two physical games late in the year after a lot of wear and tear on this defensive line.
Although he's out for spring, I think R. Harrison is still playing edge rusher, which would be WDE. I think depth at CB is much more concerning. DE depth is only concerning to me because im not sure we have any good ones and we've been abysmal at getting to the QB really for some time.
So far Harrison has only showed that he seems unable to follow the football from the edge. Not to mention he's practicing at MLB right now anyway.
6'5 265 Baron SO
6'2 270 Eason SO
6'3 240 Young SO
All look good at that one DE spot.
6'4 295 Butler SR
6'3 290 Bumphis SR
6'7 310 Middleton SR
6'2 290 Blackley SR
All look to be good options on the opposite DE side.
CB
Taylor SR 36 games
George SR 21 games
Burrell JR 15 games
Charles FR 0 games
Rucker FR 0 games
T Jackson (NB/S) 36 games
Slaughter SO (NB) 6 games
Fields RsSO (NB) 6 games
We have 5 CBs and 3 NBs that have played CB or even safety.
Linebacker by far is the biggest worry. It was an issue before Henry T and Crouch left. French and Willis are missing valuable time. That's a 2 deep. That is completely unavailable to us right now.
And are we running true 4-3 base?
Even in nickel with just 2 Lbs we are hurting.
Needed Beasley to step up...smh
I didn't group all the DBs. I mentioned one safety- Jackson.Nice breakdown, though I see that your projections include players arriving in the fall and I also see your lumping all the DB's in with the CB group. FS and SS are relatively similar positions in many ways, but playing on the edges at CB is much much different than playing safety. Theo Jackson, McCullough, Flowers, McDonald, and Fields have never played corner. I will say that I read somewhere D. Slaughter is getting a look corner this spring. I haven't heard diffenitively if Fields has made the switch. (butchna) seemed to assert he did the other day.
With the suspension of Beasley, I would tend to agree ILB is at least as much of a concern. I can't totally agree with you yet that's it's more concerning right now than CB because we only have 3 that have played any football. (I realize the same can be said about ILB). I'm also probably in the minority that would say while he seems like he's turned the corner as far as leadership qualities, Alonte Taylor has been below average so far in his career. He costed us big time in several games and has been benched almost every year at certain times. The only other players with any other experience covering WR's is Kenneth George III and Warren Burrell. I'm not sure who among those couple of guys I trust the most in covering SEC burners.
I didn't group all the DBs. I mentioned one safety- Jackson.
Flowers practiced at CB when he first got here.
Same for Fields. Then he went to NB. Then safety.
Jackson played CB much of the spring of 2019 and was able to contribute at NB in 2020.
I'm not saying its a "strength ". Even with Bryce it wasn't, because we had no pass rush. And our Rush primarily came from LBs.
Fast forward to now...who knows?
But it looks like the edge guys will play with their hand on the ground mostly.
Yeah i think A Taylor is a better FS prospect, but he's our most experienced CB. And he got a beat quite a bit. But most CBs do anyway because of the rules these days. He's relatively steady out there. Burrell has been a bit of a disappointment. George average to below.
Need a pass rush in the worst way. Baron, Eason and Joseph need to make an impact in their 2nd years.
Even if we covert 3 DT’s into DE’s, I’m only seeing 6 DE’s on our team....snd tgats if they switch those 3!
Im Thinking this could be the DL depth chart, something like this...
WDE - Byron Young/ Ty Baron/ Eason
DT - Solomon/ Garland/ Simmons/ O. Thomas
DT - Butler/ Middleton/ Emerson/ D. Bailey
SDE - Bumphus/ Blakey/ I. Washington
It looks alright but very thin at DE.... it would be nice to see us add 1-2 DEs via transfer portal...