DE: Derrick Barnett/Kyle Phillips/Latroy Lewis
DT: Kahlil McKenzie/Alexis Johnson
DT: Shy Tuttle/Derrick Brown (hopefully)/Kendall Vickers
DE: Corey Vereen/Darrell Taylor
WLB: Jalen Reeves-Maybin/Quarte Sapp
MLB: Darrin Kirkland Jr./Kenny Bynum
SLB: Austin Smith/Cortez McDowell
CB: Cam Sutton/Micah Abernathy
CB: Justin Martin/Emmanuel Moseley
NB: Rashaan Gaulden/Malik Foreman
FS: Todd Kelly Jr./Nigel Warrior
SS: Stephen Griffin/Evan Berry
For the first time in a long time we'll have experienced talent starting across the board. And true freshmen are gonna need to be special to break into the 2 deep.
I think this can be a top 20 defense nationally if we keep Cam and land some stud recruits like Nigel Warrior and Derrick Brown.
And yet we were two 4th down stops from being 10-2.
We were actually very close to being as good as the optimists thought so it wasn't a bad call.
This thread is full of some hilarious comments, especially the negative ones. So because the secoondary has struggled this year, that automatically means they will next year. Every college football team has the ability to improve except Tennessee right? There is absolutely no way that our secondary can get better. Typical VN.
And yet our defense is in the bottom half of the SEC in total defense and 70th in the country. You don't get to say "what if"....we're talking about what is. Not only has our defense not been nearly what so many said it would be, we're actually considerably lower ranked nationally (37th last year, 70th this year) this year than last year.
The same crap is said year after year. We always think "next year" how awesome we are gonna be because this player or that player will be here. I still see our secondary as being trash next year unless Butch lands a couple dead ringer freshman. Cam is going to the NFL so don't waste your energy wishing he's not.
And yet our defense is in the bottom half of the SEC in total defense and 70th in the country. You don't get to say "what if"....we're talking about what is. Not only has our defense not been nearly what so many said it would be, we're actually considerably lower ranked nationally (37th last year, 70th this year) this year than last year.
Finally someone sees our D for what it is. This D needs a lot of work to be considered good. Our defensive backfield is poor at taking proper angles, tackling, and getting their assignments right. Far too many breakdowns in those areas this year.
DE: Derrick Barnett/Kyle Phillips/Latroy Lewis
DT: Kahlil McKenzie/Alexis Johnson
DT: Shy Tuttle/Derrick Brown (hopefully)/Kendall Vickers
DE: Corey Vereen/Darrell Taylor
WLB: Jalen Reeves-Maybin/Quarte Sapp
MLB: Darrin Kirkland Jr./Kenny Bynum
SLB: Austin Smith/Cortez McDowell
CB: Cam Sutton/Micah Abernathy
CB: Justin Martin/Emmanuel Moseley
NB: Rashaan Gaulden/Malik Foreman
FS: Todd Kelly Jr./Nigel Warrior
SS: Stephen Griffin/Evan Berry
For the first time in a long time we'll have experienced talent starting across the board. And true freshmen are gonna need to be special to break into the 2 deep.
I think this can be a top 20 defense nationally if we keep Cam and land some stud recruits like Nigel Warrior and Derrick Brown.
I don't like Tennessee's defensive coordinator.
We'll see what happens to Tennessee's defensive rankings after Vanderbilt and Missouri.
The "numbers" may be worse next season because a lot of offenses in this conference are going to get better, even if it's by accident.