USCe - Your 2014 Defense and Signees

Our D is going to take a step back this year. You don't lose Clowney, Quarles, and Hampton and not. Our LB's will be a strength this year. Skai Moore is going to be a beast this year. Brison Williams has been croos training as a corner, but we have an ex-RB Jamari Smith who is looking good back there supposedly. As far as ends go, Darius English will be our main one. He is on the light side though and we've been trying to put weight on him. Think Devin Taylor with him, light, tall, but quick. Our interior DL returns experience and talent with both Dixons and JT Surratt.

As far as signees go, the only one who definitely wont be here is Jhaustin Thomas. It's still 50/50 on Dexter Wideman who would immediately get playing time if he can qualify. Of the CB's we signed the only ones not on campus yet are Wesley Greene and Lammons. Both were expected to play a lot, but both project to qualify, its just a NCAA clearinghouse issue. (I still have no clue what those arse clowns do there and how long it takes to review transcripts.)

We will be experimenting some with a 3-4 this year asit fits our personnel better. Bryson Allen-Williams will be our stud freshman and he's going to play a hybrid DE/LB role kind of like Eric Norwood did. Al Harris Jr. is turning heads as a CB so we may be better there than originally thought. We should be good at safety though between Williams, Kadetrix Marcus, and Chaz Elder. Our SPUR returns a lot of experience in Sharrod Golightly and Jordan Diggs. Our big recruit last year is going to get snaps too Larenz Bryant.

Overall, you don't lose Clowney and not take a step back. It may get dicey early, but I have confidence in Ward to field a good D by mid year. We'll see.

I said a step back. Not 40 back like A&M level.

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Who all graduated/left early? Clowney, Sutton, Quarles, Legree and Hampton? 3 of 4 DL and your top 2 CBs? Is that correct? It looks like a lot of production, but I haven't looked at the stats yet. May do so later.

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Clowney, Quarles and Hampton left early (the first two going early in the draft, the last... not so much), Sutton and Legree graduated. In addition to that we had CB Ahmad Christian transfer out. He was being penciled in at one of the starting spots this coming season by many, but if that were the case for the coaches I don't think he would be gone.

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Who will provide the pass rush?

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Darius English (Former Georgia HS defensive POY) seems to have bulked up to a solid 250 lbs on his 6'6" frame and saw pretty good playing time last year backing up Clowney. On the other side, right now, I would probably say that Gerald Dixon (6'2" 265ish lbs RS JR) has the edge at SDE. English has a nose for the ball, so will be the one getting after the QB off the edge of the line. In the middle we return Surratt (6'2" 305 lb RS SR) who started last year and will probably pair him with Gerald Dixon, Jr. (actually half brother to the other, not son... 6'3" 325 RS JR).

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Who is going to play corner?

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We'll probably have one or more of the freshman make an impact on the CB corps, but I'll wait til they actually start practicing to predict which ones. Returning we have Rico McWilliams who backed up both corner spots last year and Ali Groves who redshirted after an injury, but showed promise early on. We also moved Jabari Smith over from RB in the spring and he showed flashes in his limited experience. Brison Williams did play there in the spring and some early in the summer, and we have a very capable guy behind him at SS in TJ Gurley, but I think if some of the new guys show promise then he will migrate back to the safety spot.

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Is it safe to say your LBs will be the strength of the defense?

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Yes and the safeties as well.

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Who all rounds out the projected starting lineup?

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Kadetrik Marcus should continue to start at FS but he is being pushed by RS SO Chaz Elder who has showed great promise. Skai Moore (OLB), Kaiwan Lewis (MLB) and Sharrod Golightly (SPR) should form a solid starting corps with Jordan Diggs (SPR), Larenz Bryant (SPR, OLB), Jonathan Walton and TJ Holloman (LB) pushing themselves to get some starting time as well.

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What signees have already been ruled ineligible? What other signees are in jeopardy? How does this effect you defensively?

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Jhaustin Thomas (JUCO who couldn't get his grades up and is probably never going to put on the Garnet and Black), Dante Sawyer (already inrolled in CC and on pace to join our 2015 class in January, if he keeps his grades up) and Kalen Ritchie (probably headed to JUCO) are out. All three would have helped out our DE position, but I think it would have added depth more than pushing for starting spots. Dexter Wideman is still waiting on some grades to see if he will make it in, and depending on the week it's either looking good or dire. Joe Blue looks like he will make it in in August, as of right now, but he's going to be on the offensive side of the ball at FB and not ILB like 247 shows.

The only one I think who would realistically pushed for playing time is Thomas, but we still have plenty of talent behind English and Dixon (Mason Harris, Cedric Cooper and Devin Washington most notably).

All the CB freshman should report by Summer II or the start of Fall at the latest. Al Harris is already on campus and from all reports seems to be taking the field by storm. He does have the added benefit of spending the offseason in the Chief's training facility with his dad, though... so that's nice.

The closer we get to kickoff the more confident I get that Ward will have a dangerous defensive unit for the Aggies to test out in August. I can't wait to see what they can do.

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I'm not convinced we'll take a step back. To the contrary, there's a chance we'll be better.

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There's a chance but it's not likely.

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Kadetrik Marcus should continue to start at FS but he is being pushed by RS SO Chaz Elder who has showed great promise

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Chaz Elder took the starting FS spot from Marcus around the Arkansas game iirc.

Another strength of the team I haven't seen mentioned is DT. We are stacked with experienced players like JT Surrat, Dixon Jr. Phillip Dukes, Deon Green and Kelcy Griffin, plus JUCO transfer Abu Lamin got here in the spring and should make an immediate impact.

I think we'll see more 3-4 not only because of the talent and number at LB, but because we could slide some of the more athletic DTs out to DE in a 3-4.

CB will be a lot like LB was last year. Lots of early growing pains but around mid-season the light should start to come on for the true freshmen. Having Brison Williams play some corner and letting Elder and Gurley play FS and SS might help alleviate some of the problems, but I really like the combo of Elder and Williams at safety

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Gamecox20

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Loathor

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Thanks for the detailed responses, much appreciated.

I think the USCe defense has a chance to be pretty good, but we'll find out pretty early in the year w/ aTm, ECU, and UGA to open up. The trademark of your good defenses over the last few years, at least IMO, was the strength of the DL and the physical play from your DBs - not necessarily the best in coverage, but always seemed to be big and physical.

That was the primary reason for starting the thread - I know you have some legitimate talent at safety, but I knew next to nothing about your CBs and DL. I think our WRs will have a significant advantage over your CBs, but I'm not so sure that the interior part of our DL will be able to block your DTs effectively. I think the USCe D v. UGA O aspect of the game will really boil down to how our tackles handle your pass rush. If they can do so effectively, then I'm pretty confident we'll have a big day offensively. If they can't, then I'm not so sure. With that said, our offense under Richt never performs well in Columbia. Even though he's only lost 2 games there in his career the D usually carries the day, not the O.

I'm going to try and keep up with USCe's D as much as possible in fall camp and really observe how they perform against aTm. I think both fan bases understand how big of a game they have in week 3.

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scrooster

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If you're hoping we're going to be down on the D side of the ball, you're probably going to be disappointed.

We've been recruiting well there so we're not dependant on the new class for success on that side of the ball this year.

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Of course I'm hoping your down on the defensive side of the ball. I may be disappointed, but I think we're fortunate to catch you early in the year during a season where you're replacing both your pass rush and CBs. That's typically not the best combo for a defense.

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I'm not convinced we'll take a step back. To the contrary, there's a chance we'll be better.

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It's possible, I just have a hard time seeing a "better" D for USCe than what you had the last few years. No, I don't expect us to score 41 again, but that's merely one game. I could see the USCe D reflecting Bama's O from last year, kind of what slayerxing alluded to. Statistically, you could see improvement, but not relative to the other teams in the league.

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This year, as recently alluded to by the HBC himself, this is the hardest working, most focused team in the off season he's had in awhile.

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I can tell you from experience not to get caught up in that garbage.

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DLine and LB are most important to us vs UGA.

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I agree that your DL is most important because that will dictate just how much your LB corps can do. If we have to spend time chipping and double teaming, then I expect your LBs to have a field day. With that said, what makes those two positions groups any more important than DBs in this game? We're pretty talented at WR and our QB isn't a freshman that we'll be going out of our way to protect with play calling.

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We'll be better there this year than we were last year IMHO without all the attention and distration on Clowney. Different chemistry, more of a team thing than an individual thing.

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Sounds a lot like UGA fans going into the 2009 season with the departure of Knowshon/Stafford. Not saying that the results will be the same, but I'm interested to see if this sentiment is indeed true.

As an aside, were there anymore issues between members of the defensive coaching staff after the UGA game? Obviously that was in the heat of the moment, but I'm unaware about how it played out after that. Was there an overarching issue that went beyond the UGA game? Did the tension linger? Is it still present or was somebody sent packing?

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(I still have no clue what those arse clowns do there and how long it takes to review transcripts.

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It took the NCAA a year into Brian Bridgewater's enrollment at LSU to qualify him to play basketball for LSU, so I sympathize.

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With that said, what makes those two positions groups any more important than DBs in this game? We're pretty talented at WR and our QB isn't a freshman that we'll be going out of our way to protect with play calling.

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Our DBs, for the most part of the past decade and a half, have been above average. We just seem to recruit well there and reload every couple of years. I think this year will be the same. We're going to have to survive the learning process ... but that's where our DL and LBs should help us this year.

We're really as talented and deep at DT as we've ever been ... moreso even. At least in my memory. At DE we're replacing Clowney and Sutton, but honestly, we've got plenty of talent there.

My point was that if our DL and LBs can contain your running game, because we're not going to stop it, and put the pressure on your passing game that you're going to have to try to execute to open-up your running game ... then our LBs and DLine take a lot of pressure off of our secondary. I think that's going to be the game plan and Ward is already known for scheming a lot of pressure on opposing backfields.

Cockopatomous' post is worth noting again:

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Another strength of the team I haven't seen mentioned is DT. We are stacked with experienced players like JT Surrat, Dixon Jr. Phillip Dukes, Deon Green and Kelcy Griffin, plus JUCO transfer Abu Lamin got here in the spring and should make an immediate impact.

I think we'll see more 3-4 not only because of the talent and number at LB, but because we could slide some of the more athletic DTs out to DE in a 3-4.

CB will be a lot like LB was last year. Lots of early growing pains but around mid-season the light should start to come on for the true freshmen. Having Brison Williams play some corner and letting Elder and Gurley play FS and SS might help alleviate some of the problems, but I really like the combo of Elder and Williams at safety

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He put it well. We are stacked along the DLine with some seriously gifted, talented, athletic, big boys. I'm most excited about (DT RS-Soph) Green myself. I saw him the other day when I was visiting the camp and he is just a beast. He's a legit 6'4" or better, and going every bit of 290 of solid muscle, not an ounce of fat on him and he can play. Abu Lamin, Suratt, Dixon Jr, Dukes, Griffin ... I mean it's a big time group of DTs.

And at DE, someone mentioned English might be undersized but he's not really anymore. He looks good. He's always been talented and fearless, but he looked skinny at 6-6 210. Now he's closer to 260 and, although he still looks thin for his height he can really run and with those long arms of his he's did very well last year. Add to him Dixon, Harris, Washington, et al., and we're just stacked along the DLine.

LBs ... everyone already understands that we have good LBs.

So the secondary is where the real question is and I suspect where most A&M and UGA fans are hoping to exploit? I dunno. We're not completely new back there. We've got some returning talent with quite a bit of game experience. Depth is the real question truth be known - although we may have to start one freshman at one corner, probably boundary corner, one of the guys who enrolled early and participated in Spring practices.

If I was an opposing team I would just expect us to be good on both sides of the ball. I mean loaded and with depth. But if I were looking for a weakness it would be on special teams. Special teams has the potential to be our Achilles' heal this year if we are not careful.

We've got a solid FG and XP kicker in Fry, but his distance is average. He's good to about 40-45 yards.

Our punting game has just been horrific. We've got to solve that this season, and early, or it will cause us problems with field position and that can be costly early in the season.

KO coverage has been so-so but we gave up a TD return to UCF last year on a late kick-off that was unacceptable. Punt coverage is another problem area but a lot of that had to do with shitty punting. I think we'll be okay on KOR if Cooper stays healthy. Punt returns ... I dunno. It's up in the air.

Good special teams are usually the result of having a lot of good players so that even the guys not getting regular time on the field can concentrate on special teams ... the young guys. We've got some of those we just need to put them to good use.

Our punter sucks. That's just the truth. I hope he gets it done this year but I have very little faith in him.

Our D and O will be powerful this year, both sides of the ball, but I am very concerned about our special teams and I suspect that if special teams cost us a game this year, much as it did against UT last year (shanked punt, one of three, late in the game), we'll be looking for a new Special Teams coach immediately following the coming season.

I'm predicting that special teams will play a bigger role in more games throughout the league this year than in any recent years on memory. I mean I get the whole Auburn-Bama game and how big it proved to be in that one ... but it's going to be front and center around the league this year and it's going to be interesting to see how many teams play flawless special teams ball because it's gonna be those teams that have the really special seasons in 2014 around the league. Why? Because the league is going to be brutal this year, more than any in the past decade or so, total smash mouth, close games, attrition due to injury ... and games are going to be won and lost with special teams. Mark my words. It always goes back to starting field position in years like the one coming and field position is almost always the result of special teams play one way or the other.

SCAR has work to do on special teams if we're going to compete for a title this year.

DT and LB should be a strength. DE is thin and inexperienced. English has a very quick burst, very similar to Clowney, but nowhere near the power or strength. I just don't see him being able to hold up against the run as an every down player, but he has gained some weight, so hopefully that'll help.

Safety should be solid. Williams was kind of disappointing last year, but I think he'll step up as the leader back there. Corner is scary.. we return nobody with meaningful experience. We have a couple of talented freshman coming in and I'm positive at least one will end up as a starter.

Overall, expect to see some type of hybrid scheme similar to the way we used Norwood in 2009 to take advantage of our LB's and stack the middle of the field with our DT's. Our DC prefers man coverage, but played more zone last year to alleviate stress on our young linebackers and safeties. I think you'll see a return to more man to man to make things simpler for the young corners.

Ward is an under-appreciated DC. I'm sure we will take our lumps early in the year, but he'll get them back to the normal style of stingy defense we have been accustomed to by the middle of the year; very much like 2013.

They'll still likely beat us, but our offense is going to clown their secondary.