DE depth - razor thin

#26
#26
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.
 
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#27
#27
ILB and CB is my worry. I think it will be less frustrating when we put points on the board. The Pruitt years were so barren of offensive punch.
 
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#33
#33
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.
We send a brinks truck to the top 3 defensive coordinators homes next season and see which one can be bought.
 
#35
#35
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.
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.
 
#36
#36
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.
Last I saw, he looked like he's lost weight since HS. Dude looks <4% body fat... def looks like Tarzan
 
#38
#38
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.

Look at the bright side, maybe if they are winning by a lot, they will be less likely to go knee-hunting........

Naah, its uga. Cheap shots are what they do!
 
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#39
#39
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
 
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#40
#40
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

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.
 
#42
#42
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.
 
#43
#43
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.

I saw your CB title above all their names, that's why I thought you were grouping safeties and corners together. I'll take your word about all those guys practicing at corner at some point in their careers. I don't remember reading about Jackson, Flowers, or Fields playing corner in practice and I've definitely never saw any take a corner rep in a game. At any rate, I don't think any of those players possess the skill set of an SEC corner. I'd be scared to death if I saw Theo Jackson playing press man on anyone other than a TE. Its relatively rare (not unheard of) for a safety to move to corner in big time CFB or the NFL...... this is usually because safeties lack speed burst, change of direction, and hip flexion compared to corners.

I've heard a few people's observation about Taylor playing safety. I think most people think he'd be a good safety because he plays physical and is a good tackler. One of the other main requirements for safeties, along with being able to cover over the top hash-sideline, is they gotta have a high level of awareness and be cerebral. I don't think Taylor is that type of player. That's not a knock on him. He plays relentless and balls to the wall....just doesn't have the intangibles to QB the secondary IMO. I really believe had he been playing safety, we'd see even more bone head blown coverages like the one vs BYU.

Totally agree about passrush.
 
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#44
#44
The staff could potentially move an offensive lineman to defensive end to help with depth.
 
#45
#45
The defense wont be very good and that will help to keep Tennessee in the 5 wins range in my opinion
 
#46
#46
So I’ve seen threads or read comments about several position groups being “razor thin.”

OL
LB
TE
DE

Those I can recall, there may be more. Might be best to just start saying the whole team is thin.
 
#47
#47
Depth will be thin for almost every position until we can get to the 85 limit. Even Saban would have a tough time filling out a team with the holes we now have in our roster for at least 2-3 years.
 
#48
#48
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...

You misspelled "every position" in the thread title.
 
#50
#50
It's so weird after offense was so bad last year, but I agree. It's not just DE. We're thin everywhere on D.

We're going to have to hope to win games by scores like 45-42 this season.
 

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