re: Worse defense: 2005 or 2013

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As for the upperclassmen in our front seven next season, it won't be much better:

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no, it won't but it will be better. Instead of a host of guys their first year on campus, we'll have a ton of 2nd year guys. Some of them will step forward (whether as SO or R-FR)

I think Porter was exceptional even as a sophomore (it helped having JR all-world Von on the other side of course). Everett came on as a sophomore. And except for the game atmosphere, a lot of the R-FR are equivalent to SOs. They sat through film study and watched mistakes. They've been in the weight room. They have a much better shot at not making dumb mistakes when they get out there.

But probably the biggest impact is that if a guy is sucking, there is a body to replace him that will at least do his job. When Claiborne went out, we had to put in another true Fish in Mastro (who got suckered badly). Mentally 5 of our 7 LBers are in their first year here. Three of them are even in their first year playing LBer. Next year we will have 8 guys that will have been on campus a year. If one guy isn't getting it, someone else will.