FanPost

FRONT FOUR

With Stoops on board -- and given our personnel/recruiting prospects -- I think we can safely assume that we are going to be running a 4-3 next season. That may give us enough clarity to start mapping out prospects for our depth chart up front. Only counting committed recruits, things might look something like this:

1st: Dawkins (~270, Jr) McCray (300+, Jr) McDaniel (290+, So) McAllister (260+, So)

2nd: White (250-260, Sr) Barnes(~270, Fr) McCloud (~280, So) Jenkins (240+, So)

3rd: Cummings (~250, Fr) Erving (~300, Fr) Jacobs (~300, Fr) Stevens (~240, Jr)

Other: D. Hicks (Fr), J. Jackson (Jr).. no idea how much/whether these guys will contribute. Hopeful Hicks can surprise, given his pedigree.

Note that this assumes a heavy rotation at DE, with little significance between 1st/2nd team besides the heavier run-stoppers in there on early downs and the pass rushers on the field for obvious passing downs. Note that I am also not too concerned about order in the depth chart so much as overall quality.

Observations:

1. It looks as though we will gain some coveted mass up front, assuming the new crop of DTs allows Dawkins to move to his "true" SDE position, and that McAllister is able to leapfrog some of his elders.. While we actually fielded similar weights among our eventual starters for 2009 (White-261, McCray~300, McDaniel~285, McNeil-255), the real dropoff occurred in our backups, when guys like Yarborough (230), Dawkins at DT (260), Stevens + Jenkins(225) got thrown into the mix.

2. DT remains a serious concern. We have the same starters... though with another year under their belts and hopefully heavier and stronger next year. However, the fact remains that the next 4 guys behind the starters will either be coming straight out of high school or otherwise fielding zero NCAA experience.

3. On the positive side, I believe with proper technique/coaching on the outside (DEs), we may be able to put up a very formidable pass rush, provided we can induce 2nd or 3rd and long situations. We actually appear to have a lot of talent to be mined at the DE positions, and one would think an able coach would be able to mold a number of true contributors out of the raw materials that he will have to work with.

4. Deas' ability to gain admission would make a massive difference, literally and figuratively... perhaps as much as a 20 position swing in terms of our defensive efficiency ranking. I know some say that, if he qualifies, he would come in as an SDE, but I do not believe there is any way we could afford NOT to use him in our DT rotation given our circumstances.

5. Other recruiting notes... Lemonier looks like our only other quality prospect out there to the casual observer, and while a tremendous talent, he is not precisely the type of player that fills our most pressing need (as a freshman). We already have a surplus of speed rushers, and he wouldn't appear to be an every down DE straight out of the gates. Is anyone aware of other "below the radar" prospects that might have a chance to contribute early, particularly any big bodies that could contribute early???

6. Schematically, I would expect that we will continue to have to rely on a heavy run blitz/stack-the-box approach on early downs, but if successful, may then be able to move to a more conservative/zone approach on passing downs, as I am predicting our 4-man pass rush could make significant strides, though our run interior defense should still be sub-par.

Side notes. Perhaps this is overly optimistic, but I expect us to immediately jump to a top 60 defense next year, based purely on the development of young guys, who will no longer be handicapped by a coaching vacuum at DB, LB, and DE positions. If Deas turns out to be the NFL-caliber talent that he is rumored to be, especially at the DT position, it could make us a bone fide top 5 ACC defense next year.

Not to get too far off subject, but top defenses should include Miami (lose only 2 Srs.), UNC (retain almost everyone, if Austin stays), Clemson (though they lose 3/4 of DBs if McDaniel jumps), and VT (will face struggles, though, as they lose at least 6/11 starters). BC is always a schematic player, but losing 3/4 of their DL pulls them out of contention, in my opinion. GT might be considered a wild card to contend for top 5 as well, as they sit in a similar situation with a lot of returning players, but coming off a very bad season.

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