2021 Defense

I would think that with vastly improved DL play we will improve significantly. We have to be honest, last year in order to get good athletes on the field we had to move guys out of position like Anderson into the interior DL. We could not get any pass rush nor shed blocks to clog running lanes. That had a huge domino effect on the rest of the Defense in the fact that our LBers were not “clean” to take proper angles to tackle RBs and without a pass rush our DBs couldn’t maintain coverage for +6 seconds (reference the LSU and MSU games).

So I think the development of the early enrollees will be key to the overall performance. Iton, Gordon, Robbins in the interior will be huge. While on the edge, Sam Williams returning, a years experience for Demon Clowney and Tavius Robinson should enhance the pass rush.

Throw in Malone, Smith and Hawkins this summer and we should see a much more athletic front with the depth needed to have a dramatic impact on the Defensive performance. If Malone is as advertised (the strength and first step) he should see the field immediately.

I can see our defense being on the same level as the 2012 defense was. Lot of young hungry guys up front and in the secondary who aren’t the most talented or developed but are eager to make a play. Considering what we bring back on offense, that should spell a 7 or 8 win season for us.

We may struggle early in conference play but finish strong once our young guys on defense get some playing time.

We lost a lot of what talent we had from our 2019 defense. Specifically on the DL.

If we can be a 70-80th ranked defense next year, that may be good enough for 8 or 9 wins with a little turnover luck.

I'm hesitant to rely on JUCO DTs to be instant impact guys... cross your fingers and pray. The good news is that the benchmarks from last year were so fricking low, it really can't get much worse on the defensive interior.