Hope he gets some great reps this year ... ironically, a red shirt year somewhere along the line would have put him in a prime position next year for 1st team reps. Sounds like he has some serious skill sets that are shaded by all world starters.
Any championship-caliber program has to be four-deep with stud DTs for those dogfight games on your schedule. It's huge in the 3rd and 4th quarters to have second-string DTs that can come in and make some plays while the first-string gets a rest.
We've all seen a good, but thin D-line get gassed from being on the field too long.