Let's take a loook at next years possibly Defense (Long)

Jan 12, 2016, 2:46 PM

I'm writing this from a worst case scenario standpoint meaning that I'm assuming Aleander, Kearse, Green, Tankersly, Carlos Watkins and Kevin Dodd all leave for the NFL Draft.

DE: We return Austin Bryant, Richard Yeargin, Dane Rogers, Clein Ferrel while bringing in Xavier Kelly and LaSamuel Davis.

There is talent here. Bryant and Yeargin definitely got much better as the year went on and both are ready to step up and play. Kelly is a borderline 5 star talent and he's more polished right now in HS then Bryant was and will definitely play. Ferrell was a higher rated DE then Bryant and could actually have played this year. As long as that knee is healthy he's going to be a stud. Rogers is servicable at best but he's played some good snaps and will provide depth. Davis will be a 3rd down specialist like Beasley was and his athleticism jumps off the film. He'll be a good one once we coach him up a bit.

DT: We return "War Daddy" Wilkins, The "Hawaiian Hulk" Pagano, Jabril Robinson, Albert Huggins, Gabe Cervanka, Sterling Johnson(who could move to SDE) and we're bringing in Dexter Lawrence and Nyles Pickney.

We're loaded at this position. Wilkins and Lawrence are going to ruin many an ACC interior OL. Running up the middle against us will be foolhardy at best in the coming years. We are soo deep I wouldn't be surprised to see Johnson move to SDE and Cervanka possibly move to OG. A five deep of Wilkins, Lawrence, Robinson, Huggins and Pickney is deadly enough as is. If Johnson and Cervanka remain then that's gravy on top. This group will be elite very soon.

LB: we bring back Ben Boulware, whom I can't say enough about as a player and great young man, O'Daneil, Kendel Jospeh, Chad Smith, Jalen Williams and are bringing in Shaq Smith, Tre Lamar and Jamie Skalski.

This group loses experience in BJ but the talent is about to go through the roof. Some services consider Tre Lamar a 5 star LB just like Smith and both are like Anthony and Steward, they are ready made commodities that will fill in the MIKE and WILL positions perfectly. Lamar will thrive in the middle and Smith will be a terror at WILL where Venables can blitz him any way he wants. Skalski is a tough hard nosed player and will find PT. Chad Smith is very smart and can play either position. O'Daniel is finally going to get the chains taken off next year and I think he'll thrive. He's perfect at SAM. Depending on how fast Lamar, Smith and Kendal Joseph mature this group could be better next year.

DB: We return Van Smith, Gibson, Jadar Johnson, Fields, Baker, Edmonds, Carter, Wiggins, Denzel Johnson, Dawkins Jr. Amar Trapp, Kaleb Chalmers, and Tanner Muse.

Losing our entire secondary will hurt, a lot. However Smith, Baker, Fields, Carter, Wiggins, and Jadar Johnson have plenty of experience between them. Wiggins can play NB or Safety so that helps. We will need Reed to really get these boys ready fast. Teams will attack them a lot and until we develop an effective pass rush these guys will be picked on. Fields and Baker at CB is solid and both have gotten good game experience in big games. They'll be ready. Smith, Johnson, Wiggins and Gibson have played and will be ready. The talent is here but there is not a lot of experience and as we saw last night when guys miss assignments it can kill.

This defense next year has the talent on it to be top 25-30. It will fall to the coaches to make that happen and I have complete faith in Marion Hobby, Dan Brooks, Mike Reed and Brent Venables to make that happen.

Thoughts?

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