I just don’t see our D line being as good or better than last season. EB gave us a massive lift last year and made the O-line game plan around him. Just don’t see a lineman doing the same this year. I’m counting on our LBs to make up the difference in talent.

Because we were way too small last year, and tackles are so much more important than defensive ends.

How can more experience lead to regression? With the exception of EB and Moffett, we return several players.

Sure EB is a big loss, but White got his feet wet last year and should be better.

Not to mention, everyone is really excited about the type of players that are being brought in, i.e. Jacobbi, Demonte, so experience plus great recruits would have to be progressing, right?

And far too many times I saw
A) Kendrick getting swallowed up like Jonah
2) Griffin in a 7-second hugging match with the Oline
D) Thacker on his back like a turtle

I’ve been known to enjoy a snifter of single malt Kool-Aid from time to time, and I just don’t seeing us doing that poorly again this year.

My first gut reaction was “EB is gone, regression!” but I honestly feel we are going to be better inside this year. McCray is an animal and should have a good and possibly great year, and Markus White is a sleeping animal. He got robbed of quite a few sacks last year but he was in on the plays.

In the end, I think the middle will be better and the ends will be only slightly worse. So, improvement for the optimists and stagnant for the pessimists in my book.

If they can then we step back. If the O-line cant get to the LB’s then we are better. I think we are about the same because we had EB and that was about it. now we have better players (bigger at least) at DT but the DE not so much. We might as well as run 3DT and one DE with the size the DT we have coming in they could run there.

The Interior will be vastly improved and will steadily get better as McDaniel and McCallister get grow up, which they will hopefully do fast with playing time. EB is a huge loss but White has potential to be just as stunning. I don’t think we’ll notice Moffett’s gone with this group. Stagnant to slightly regressed on the end and progression inside.

I think McNeil can do his best Neefy impression this year. Although, I just don’t see how he weighs 250-260 lbs. Does he even lift weights? Doesn’t look like he’s made a whole lot of development physically since arriving here. Not worried about Marcus White. I think he’ll get around 8 sacks.

DTs will def be better and that’s huge. Our losses last year were a result of shitty run defense, as you guys have pointed out plenty of times. I’m pretty sure we’ll be better there. I see McCray and Mincey playing really well for us this year.

But even as an officer of the Kool-aid club, I have to go stagnant. EB will be irreplacible, and Moffitt was solid. I think White will be good, but not EB good. The middle should be stronger though, but I think it will be next year before we see a significant difference. Therefore- stagnant.

He was at FSU when I was.

But I have not seen his interior line playing as well as he did. In fact, iirc, we haven’t had a stellar line in any aspect since Jim Galdden stopped coaching the DE’s.

There’s a big difference between playing and being able to coach a position. I just haven’t seen the proof from Odell yet.

imho, he has this year and next to impress Jimbo that he’s in Trickett’s league. I hope he does. Otherwise, our new DC may well be hiring a new DL coach.

Hats off to Frank D. Until looking this over I had not realized how good the defense line had an opportunity to be. I can’t look over this and not see major improvement coming.

It is hard for me to believe that Neefy and Brown cannot be replaced. Yes Brown is good but White could very well come close to his standard of play. Outside that we have a lot of defensive ends who can rotate there and stay fresh.

Toshman Stevens is a scrapper and can definitely provide breathers if nothing else. I think Demonte McAllister is being overlooked here. He is probably bigger than Brown right now and he can play both tackle and defensive end.

He and Jacobbi McDanies don’t forget are high school all star type players we have not brought in in awhile. McAllister is chiseled and already past 260 pounds and he is cat quick.

Jacobbi has been called by many including Pete Carroll as the best technique defensive tackle he has ever seen coming out of high school. Yeah I am calling it right here I think he is as good as Neefy Moffett right now. He is benching 405 pounds already.

Even Jackson who has had injuries has had some time with Stroud and should be gaining some strength. He might be one to watch in fall drills.

Moses McCray? This guy is a man mountain. If he had not been injured people would be raving about him right now. Even Thacker has had the summer to shake off injuries and can certainly be a decent back up adding depth.

Yep looking it over reminds me we have some tremendous talent and potential here.

This is not about the defensive backfield but it is the same, Robinson and Robinson, Parks, Moody, Dionte Allen is benching 385 pounds with 4.4 speed now boys. He might come into his own and if not It will be interesting to see if Reid (the real deal) can help as a pure freshman. If not why not?

Much will depend on how Mickey uses them and the schemes he puts them in.

Ended up going with stagnation.

A) Same coaching, mostly the same players, same scheme = stagnation

2) Added beef in the middle, young talent behind them to compete, and hopefully a ball control offense to keep them fresher = progression

D) Pounding schedule from game 1, inexperience and lack of true depth, and probable lack of favoring field position due to special teams deficiencies = regression

Just a thought

Some others have already mentioned my reasoning: I think our interior will be noticeably better this season.
 - McCray is gonna be a monster – I think we can expect a decent step up from his play last season. He’s got muscles in to next week and with a full season under his belt he should make a big time jump. His play is huge next year. I think he can be our most dominant lineman this coming season. We’ll have to see…
Mincey and Stewart both gained weight with will definitely help them from being pushed around like at time last year. They might not be All-Americans, but if they can stay healthy I think their play also steps up mostly due to the arseload of talent behind them working hard.
Then you have our freshman studs who are talented enough to make in impact at some point in the season (most surely later in the season). To me, even if Nole fans don’t see much play at all from McDaniel and McCallister this season, you can bet they at least pushed our upperclassmen to play better and work harder. These two are going to be great for us, just not world beaters this season.
I’m not expecting much out of Thacker but if he can make some plays it’s a huge boost.
Everette Dawkins is out of position at the tackle, but he should also be playing at a higher level this season and certainly has the talent to be a force (I just wish it was on the outside, honestly). We’ll see how much he and Demonte line up outside this year.

Overall, its easy to see that our ends are going to be not ass good as last year. It all depends on how big Markus White can play. If he has a big season getting to the quarterback we will be fine. I think his run D will be as good or better than EB’s. We’ll see in regards to Jamar Jackson, He has to be able to hold his own on his side. from reading reports throughout this off season, I am almost expecting a big contribution from Brandon Jenkins. Then i remember he’s a true freshman. We’ll have to see how it works out – the sooner he comes on the better.
Overall, with better play on the inside, we have a better chance against some teams who would have ran right down our throats last year. While, we’ll miss Everette Brown’s production, we don’t know how good White can be quite yet. He may even be better..in which case – Holy Pleasant Surprises Batman!———> and this basically sums up my feelings (and hopes) about our D-line for this coming season. I’m thinking we’ll all very pleasantly surprised (and the kind of surprise like finding a 10-spot in your pocket, not like waking up in the morning next to a farm animal)

I just started reading this website last september so forgive me if EB was already getting pre-season 1st rounder type attention from everyone on this site. But to me, he came out of nowhere and really made a name for himself last year alone. Which seems to be the case every year with the noles on defense. There is always that one player that exceeds everyones expectations and becomes a star. ( buster davis and geno hayes are two other recent ones for me)

Somebody made a comment on Jacobbi and I think it was Pete Carroll. He may not have said best but one of the best. I remember it.

At any rate take a look at him, 5 star, great size, mean, Armour All Star.

The bottom line is DocHoliday2 is calling for great things, What else do you need?

I’m not sure what answer choice that would be in an A2D format, though.

McCray, Mincey, Bradham and White need to stay healthy. Injuries here could be devasting.

Like much of the rest of the defense, just not as much. Maybe the DTs will improve but that won’t make up for the loss of Everette Brown and the retention of Mickey Andrews. There is no sign that Everette’s replacements will be close to what he is.