What, you never saw McCarney's first couple of groups? When he was sticking freshman offensive linemen out there (TeBrink and Co) just to put bodies on the field? Now THAT was sad--and nowhere near what this group brings to the table.
A Look at the DL in 2011
- Thread starter delt4cy
- Start date
If positions do not change from last year, Ruemp is the NG, then either McDonough or Laing the starter @ DT. Depth chart showed Black as back-up to Ruemp, & McD & Laing both as backups to B Johnson. Believe in our system, 1 of these is a 2-gap player & the other a 1-gap. They occupy blockers or stunt so that the DE's can pressure upfield (in passing situations) & the LBs can make tackles (in running plays).
Wildcards @ NG/DT: who will come in & show the most improvement? Laing (stripped ballcarrier vs someone) & McD had some moments (interception in backfield), but who can come out & consistently make more plays & be a leader?
Also, who may move in we are not thinking of? I still think if Moore gets near 270, he'll be a DT. Woods appeared to have a motor, but does he have the college strength & can he be a durable college player? Same goes for Jensen.
I think with our #s @ OL, one like Jon Caspers comes in to be a 300 lb space-eater in the middle. I think of all the OL (new recruits included), Jon's name has come up before in the possibility of playing on the 'D'.
Wildcards @ NG/DT: who will come in & show the most improvement? Laing (stripped ballcarrier vs someone) & McD had some moments (interception in backfield), but who can come out & consistently make more plays & be a leader?
Also, who may move in we are not thinking of? I still think if Moore gets near 270, he'll be a DT. Woods appeared to have a motor, but does he have the college strength & can he be a durable college player? Same goes for Jensen.
I think with our #s @ OL, one like Jon Caspers comes in to be a 300 lb space-eater in the middle. I think of all the OL (new recruits included), Jon's name has come up before in the possibility of playing on the 'D'.
Nice insight. Based on the staff grabbing a JUCO C, I thought it might be a possibility that our young center from last year who redshirted(Tom Farniok), might make the move over. Anyone heard anything like this, or am I just smoking?
From what I heard around here is that Farniok is being groomed for that center spot and has a good shot to start.
Farniok or Tautolo probably 2 locked in for fight @ Center. Don't recall any other names thrown out there for this position.
Just thought I'd heard about Caspers before possibly playing D - but that could simply be speculation I remember from when he was originally recruited & not anything since he's been in Ames.
Still, Tuba Rubin came as on OL, & that transition worked out well.
Also, remember our better DLs of recent memory were all undersized to a degree - Leaders, Curvey, James Reed. I believe Carstens had both the heigth & weight you would want (but he had to build himself up weight/strength-wise).
Our current guys will need sufficient strength, but that does not always equate to size/weight. Most important will be how they play with leverage & with motors that won't quit. Leaders & Curvey played this way, as have many at Iowa over the past several years.
Just thought I'd heard about Caspers before possibly playing D - but that could simply be speculation I remember from when he was originally recruited & not anything since he's been in Ames.
Still, Tuba Rubin came as on OL, & that transition worked out well.
Also, remember our better DLs of recent memory were all undersized to a degree - Leaders, Curvey, James Reed. I believe Carstens had both the heigth & weight you would want (but he had to build himself up weight/strength-wise).
Our current guys will need sufficient strength, but that does not always equate to size/weight. Most important will be how they play with leverage & with motors that won't quit. Leaders & Curvey played this way, as have many at Iowa over the past several years.
I think we will be ok this year with a lot of experience and some pretty good tallent returning. The thing I think everyone is worried about is that we have 4 seniors and 3 or 4 juniors depending on what Nelson is. Very few underclassmen for the future. And we really havent signed an exciting DT in a couple years. We keep finding people to fill in but remember Lattimer was a LB converted to DE. We need to get some tallented DT and DE recruits this year!
You still need a good frame, IMO. Mansfield by all accounts was a very strong player, and one of the strongest on the weights, but his smaller frame pretty much led to him being swallowed by 6-7 linemen.
Aaron Moore is the player I think will provide some depth at the DT spot. When he was recruited, his coach said the most impressive thing about him was his strength. He was the strongest kid on his team, and one of the strongest he said he had coached.
As long as Wally's coaching the D, I'm not too terribly worried. Between him and Rhoades, those are some pretty sharp defensive minds with a ton of experience. Our LB's were supposed to be a huge weakness this last year, yet they were put in positions they could succeed in. For a good portion of the teams we play, having a stout run-stuffing D isn't as important, as so many teams use the spread and throw quick passes all over the place. Speed is the future, and we're much better at that than we have been at any point I can remember. I think we've all just gotten sick of having teams we should be able to beat, namely K State, run all over us. The DT's will make me happy enough just by eating up 3 blockers between the 2 of them. As many plays as our LB's made, I think they might have done a decent job of that. Our biggest need is a difference maker at DE. Lattimer has some of the tools, he just needs to do it consistently, and most of the DE's we have now are at least intriguing. If we can get some pressure from one side or the other our D could be really good even without a blue-chipper in the middle. No need to worry too much about it right now, the coaches are paid for their ulcers, no need for everyone here to get them too.
I look for Lattimer to have a breakout year. Nelson as well. Maggitt and Neal are adequate backups. I think David Irving is going to be really special. He isn't even 18 yet.
At DT, I look for Ruemp to be an immovable object. He continually occupied at least 2 guys. And I think that Laing and McDonough will be okay at the DT. We have enough bodies to spell those guys.
We absolutely can not afford an injury to Ruemp. We don't have a player of his caliber backing him up.
For the next year or two we are okay, but in the long term we definitely need some DL recruits.
I wouldn't say we are ok for the next year or two. We MIGHT be ok this year... if Rump stays healthy all year and either McDonough or Laing step up their games.
2 years from now is a different story. With Rump and Black gone, that means at LEAST two guys need to step it up big time. We don't know for sure if anyone else on the roster (McDonough, Laing, Woods, Jensen) are Big 12 quality DT's?
We need to sign one or two JUCO DT's next year at least IMO. Someone HAS to be able to push McDonough and Laing. And then we had better grab one or two high school DT's as well. There is no guarantee whatsoever that Woods and Jensen will ever be quality starters for us?
If we need 16 WR's on the roster in order to find 4 good ones, and 6 QB's in order to find one good one, then we should have probably 8-10 DT's on the roster to push for those two starting spots.... for good competition anyway.
Considering we only need 2 starting DT's then maybe 5 or 6 should be enough. We play at least 3 WR's sometimes 4 WR's so 8 to 10 should be enough. I look for a couple QB's to possibly switch positions.
Let's see, Ruemp, Black, Laing, McDonough, Woods, Jensen, and possibly 1 or 2 others that might move from OL. How many DT's do you want???
I admit that DT will be a high priority next year. But no need to panic and just take bodies that can't play. We can always switch OL to fill the needs if we just want a warm body. After all Tim TeBrink played DT for us a while back.
I saw Carstens the first day he walked into the dorms. The guy was built like a big wide receiver or pass catching TE, and he grew into the position (thanks to stealing a lot of beef jerky from his RA and OT at the training tables). I have to think that we are just now going to see this year what CPR can produce. We lost way to many invited walk-on and borderline project guys from the Chizik era to have the depth last year, but I really think with the attitude CPR has built around this program and the excitement to compete that we will have guys next year (or this Spring) that surprise us all). I do think we need a good DL recruiting class next year to maintain it and to continue to make the steps forward, but I don't think this will be a bad group. It just may not be as good as we want it...yet.
