We all know that DT is a major concern, though having a young and talented Nose like Devlyn Cousin is not the worst place to start in rebuilding that area. Further, in a recent interview Ayeni mentioned that he was up to 275 and striving to add more weight, so I believe he will be the guy to move inside next to Cousin. That position is far from solid, given the inexperience of both players and their backups...but it is wrong to assume there is not potential there. Aka, Trent, and Garcia have all been mentioned as possessing good raw ability and its quite possible some of that ability will start to convert to actual productivity on the field this season.
Back to some surprising strengths for this team.
Defensive End may wind up as the strongest position on the team, and Pierson, Morrissey, Meyers and Luna are going to be an aggressive and very capable four players...at a minimum. Morrissey is likely a 2nd team to Honorable mention all conference guy, but its Pierson that is likely to be the star of this position. Yes, this is speculative, but his pass rushing skills seem...based on his film and juco stats...to be exemplary. If he comes through as it seems he's likely to do, and puts Meyers in a backup role...well that's VERY good position group with nice depth.
LB is evolving into a strength as well, though they may be hampered a bit by mediocre DT play during the season. Nonetheless, Brackens has looked fast and capable, Knott looked quite good when healthy last season and is likely to be a bit bigger/stronger/faster this year. Meeks, Mills and Peters all are young and talented guys who will make mistakes, but possess the ability to have a positive impact on games. Miller is Miller, and that means he's a guy who looked much better as the season progressed and should give solid minutes...I expect he starts early and shows continued improvement OR will be bypassed by some of these solid young backups. Jordan Harris is the guy that can take this group up a notch IF he starts "getting it" in terms of learning curve with D1 football...he seems to have the ability to be a Jeremiah George, though it may take some time for him to catch up to the speed of the game. By midseason, its reasonable to expect him to be very good.
The DB's also seem to be "ahead of schedule", and Mutcherson and Tribune appear to have the kind of talent to grow into all league type players...perhaps not this year, but their ability on the field will show through. Lynn looked solid in the spring and Sam Richardson is very capable, especially as a tackler in run support. Depth is a huge problem in the secondary and there's no ignoring that fact, we need some young guys to step up early and we need good health at all four positions...so DB play in the starting four looks solid but we need a bit of good luck here to avoid injuries.
Overall, the defense with all its new additions and Juco dependence will struggle early...and will likely focus on using speed and big plays to overcome an inherent weakness in the DT position (a weakness that may not be as big an issue as many believe IMHO). The talent level, however, is actually better than last season...but some guys are going to have to grow up fast in the middle of the defense. The key to success will, as always, rest with the offenses ability to increase its scoring output and possession time. Improvements there, alone, will give this young defense the opportunity to grow and develop...which is really all it needs.
FYI, I may be off on some of the LB positioning...it gets confusing as to who is practicing at which position. In the end, I expect Wally will put the most talented 3 guys on the field together.
Back to some surprising strengths for this team.
Defensive End may wind up as the strongest position on the team, and Pierson, Morrissey, Meyers and Luna are going to be an aggressive and very capable four players...at a minimum. Morrissey is likely a 2nd team to Honorable mention all conference guy, but its Pierson that is likely to be the star of this position. Yes, this is speculative, but his pass rushing skills seem...based on his film and juco stats...to be exemplary. If he comes through as it seems he's likely to do, and puts Meyers in a backup role...well that's VERY good position group with nice depth.
LB is evolving into a strength as well, though they may be hampered a bit by mediocre DT play during the season. Nonetheless, Brackens has looked fast and capable, Knott looked quite good when healthy last season and is likely to be a bit bigger/stronger/faster this year. Meeks, Mills and Peters all are young and talented guys who will make mistakes, but possess the ability to have a positive impact on games. Miller is Miller, and that means he's a guy who looked much better as the season progressed and should give solid minutes...I expect he starts early and shows continued improvement OR will be bypassed by some of these solid young backups. Jordan Harris is the guy that can take this group up a notch IF he starts "getting it" in terms of learning curve with D1 football...he seems to have the ability to be a Jeremiah George, though it may take some time for him to catch up to the speed of the game. By midseason, its reasonable to expect him to be very good.
The DB's also seem to be "ahead of schedule", and Mutcherson and Tribune appear to have the kind of talent to grow into all league type players...perhaps not this year, but their ability on the field will show through. Lynn looked solid in the spring and Sam Richardson is very capable, especially as a tackler in run support. Depth is a huge problem in the secondary and there's no ignoring that fact, we need some young guys to step up early and we need good health at all four positions...so DB play in the starting four looks solid but we need a bit of good luck here to avoid injuries.
Overall, the defense with all its new additions and Juco dependence will struggle early...and will likely focus on using speed and big plays to overcome an inherent weakness in the DT position (a weakness that may not be as big an issue as many believe IMHO). The talent level, however, is actually better than last season...but some guys are going to have to grow up fast in the middle of the defense. The key to success will, as always, rest with the offenses ability to increase its scoring output and possession time. Improvements there, alone, will give this young defense the opportunity to grow and develop...which is really all it needs.
FYI, I may be off on some of the LB positioning...it gets confusing as to who is practicing at which position. In the end, I expect Wally will put the most talented 3 guys on the field together.
| DT | Devlyn Cousin | So | 305 | 6'1 | Vernell Trent | So | 280 | 6'3 | OR | Robbie Garcia | Fr | 280 | 6'3 | |
| DT | Terry Ayeni | Jr | 275 | 6'4 | OR | Pierre Aka | So | 285 | 6'3 | Ma'Kayle Phillip | Fr | 330 | 6'3 | |
| 290 | 6'2.5 | 283 | 6'3 | 310 | 6'3 | |||||||||
| DE | Dal Pierson | Jr | 265 | 6'4 | OR | Mitchell Meyers | Jr | 265 | 6'4 | Trent Taylor | Jr | 255 | 6'3 | |
| DE | Corey Morrissey | Sr | 260 | 6'4 | Gabe Luna | Jr | 250 | 6'1 | Darius White | So | 241 | 6'1 | ||
| 263 | 6'4 | 258 | 6'2.5 | 248 | 6'2 | |||||||||
| LB | Jordan Harris | Jr | 5'11 | 241 | OR | Jevohn Miller | Sr | 6'2 | 245 | Kane Seeley | So | 240 | 6'1 | |
| LB | Jared Brackens | Sr | 6'1 | 215 | Alton Meeks | Fr | 6'2 | 249 | ||||||
| LB | Luke Knott | So | 6'0 | 220 | Brian Mills | Fr | 5'10 | 227 | OR | Levi Peters | So | 220 | 5'10 | |
| 6'0.5 | 225 | 6'1 | 240 | 230 | 6'0 | |||||||||
| CB | Nigel Tribune | So | 5'10 | 185 | Matt Thomas | Sr | 5'10 | 170 | Brian Peavy | Fr | 5'9 | 170 | ||
| CB | Kenneth Lynn | Sr | 5'10 | 175 | Sam Richardson | Sr | 5'8 | 175 | Victor Holmes | Fr | 5'11 | 180 | ||
| S | TJ Mutcherson | So | 5'11 | 203 | Kamari Syrie | Fr | 5'9 | 203 | Darion Cotton | Sr | 5'11 | 190 | ||
| S | Qujuan Floyd | Jr | 6'0 | 190 | Kam Cot-Moya | Fr | 6'0 | 180 | Devron Moore?? | Jr | 5'11 | 195 | ||
| 5'10.5 | 188 | 5'10 | 182 | 5'10.5 | 183 | |||||||||
| NB | Drake Ferch | Sr | 5'11 | 212 | Darion Cotton | Sr | 5'11 | 190 |
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Regarding the seniors that you mentioned that I highlighted, that's how it works. I mean those guys paid their dues then got to play as seniors, so saying that youngsters who were 2 classes behind them are not talented, I don't buy. They usually are not developed or understand Wally's scheme well enough yet (because they haven't had the reps). You don't want young guys beating out older ones, so I don't make much of their replacements not being as talented. Time will tell. Losing Jensen & Coe hurts the worst IMO because of their size. Irving never really impressed me much, and I do question the effort of both of them as it turns out, and so did CPR. 
