If things hold, and we keep our players and commits, next season's defense could be elite.
I absolutely love the young coaching staff on the defensive side of the ball, starting with DC MacDonald, Clinkscale, Helow, Bellamy (though I privately wish for him to be moved back to WR coach), and even Nua, who seems to have done a better job coaching this scheme, than the previous one.
I posted in the Kris Jenkins article thread about the DL depth next season. I'm looking forward to having 2015-2018-level size, talent, and depth as soon as next season, and adding guys like Benny, Rooks, Iwunnah to young up-and-comers like Jenkins, Mike Morris, McGregor, and Taylor Upshaw, along with some real big boys (Grant and Graham) coming in as recruits (especially if we can close on Deone Walker) bodes well for the next few years on the line. I'd bet both Hinton and Smith will return, as well, but, of course we will miss Hutch.
At LB, we will be losing Ross, which as we saw in the 2nd half of the Rutgers game, will be a big loss; But by season's end I think that the more experienced versions of Colson, Hill-Green, and Mullings will all be very good to great players. The depth may need some help. it would be big if Hood was ready for some snaps next season. I doubt that any of the 2022 recruits will be ready to play, but I see Pollard emerging year two, similar to Hill-Green.
Rush? I really like Ojabo on the edge, and Harrell backing him up. EJ really liked T.J. Guy as a recruit, and Kechaun Bennett was a 4 star, and I look for them to be contributors here, as well. The 2022 recruiting class has Eugenio, who looks more ready to play than the other, more raw Edge recruits this cycle.
The secondary will take the biggest hit, with superstar Dax Hill and steady, super-experienced Hawkins leaving, but we have the promising R.J. Moten returning, and with Gemon Green, Turner, and Gray, being possibly joined by not one (Johnson) but possibly two (Jackson) 5-star DB recruits, and a couple more really good ones (Pollard and Jones), and I think next season's DBs will be fine.
Of course this is all speculation, and 100% dependent that we finish the season on a positive note, but if we do, next season's D, despite losing what looks like a couple of 1st-round talents and a couple of other very good players, has a chance to be really good, and pretty deep at all but the LB position.
I absolutely love the young coaching staff on the defensive side of the ball, starting with DC MacDonald, Clinkscale, Helow, Bellamy (though I privately wish for him to be moved back to WR coach), and even Nua, who seems to have done a better job coaching this scheme, than the previous one.
I posted in the Kris Jenkins article thread about the DL depth next season. I'm looking forward to having 2015-2018-level size, talent, and depth as soon as next season, and adding guys like Benny, Rooks, Iwunnah to young up-and-comers like Jenkins, Mike Morris, McGregor, and Taylor Upshaw, along with some real big boys (Grant and Graham) coming in as recruits (especially if we can close on Deone Walker) bodes well for the next few years on the line. I'd bet both Hinton and Smith will return, as well, but, of course we will miss Hutch.
At LB, we will be losing Ross, which as we saw in the 2nd half of the Rutgers game, will be a big loss; But by season's end I think that the more experienced versions of Colson, Hill-Green, and Mullings will all be very good to great players. The depth may need some help. it would be big if Hood was ready for some snaps next season. I doubt that any of the 2022 recruits will be ready to play, but I see Pollard emerging year two, similar to Hill-Green.
Rush? I really like Ojabo on the edge, and Harrell backing him up. EJ really liked T.J. Guy as a recruit, and Kechaun Bennett was a 4 star, and I look for them to be contributors here, as well. The 2022 recruiting class has Eugenio, who looks more ready to play than the other, more raw Edge recruits this cycle.
The secondary will take the biggest hit, with superstar Dax Hill and steady, super-experienced Hawkins leaving, but we have the promising R.J. Moten returning, and with Gemon Green, Turner, and Gray, being possibly joined by not one (Johnson) but possibly two (Jackson) 5-star DB recruits, and a couple more really good ones (Pollard and Jones), and I think next season's DBs will be fine.
Of course this is all speculation, and 100% dependent that we finish the season on a positive note, but if we do, next season's D, despite losing what looks like a couple of 1st-round talents and a couple of other very good players, has a chance to be really good, and pretty deep at all but the LB position.
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