DE Strength to Problem

[apaladin]

With the loss of Raynard Ellis and now his heir apparent Melton the transfer from Georgia Southern DE has quickly turned from a possible strength to a glaring weakness. Currently only 4 DE's on the roster and 2 with no experience and one with very little. Only one DE with significant PT. I assume their will be some shuffling going on trying to find someone to lineup at DE. It's bad when you unexpectedly lose 2 quality players at the same position at this level. Very hard to replace.

[FUBeAR]

Ellis played Inside LB; not DE.

[AstroDin]

We have both starters back… Washington (JR) OLB and Okonya (SR) DE.
Hanff (JR) and Seabrook (SO) got plenty of PT last season as reserves at DE.
Ben Page 6-3 235 DE was redshirted. Wondering if we could see Landon Lawerance move from DT to DE.
Anyways we have plenty of options at DE.

OLB gets really interesting after Washington. You have Perryman (JR) played a lot towards the end of the season.
Adrian Hope could be a big sleeper at OLB.

[The Jackal]

You may be mixing your 3-4 and 4-3 defensive looks. The DE in a 3-4 defense is similar to a 4-3 DT. I could be mistaken, but I don't think we graduated any defensive linemen, so we have a whole lot more depth there this year than last.

Our starting three across the front (Reid, Tibbs, Okonya) are talented veterans. There's also a lot of depth behind those guys, with a lot of younger players who handled a lot of snaps last season (Stokes, Lawrence). In fact, the defensive front is one area where Furman focused on redshirting guys (Page, Lewis, Sochovka), so they will just add to that depth.

Coach Staggs likes to rotate a lot of guys in there. We are solid in the initial line and have two very good NGs to serve as keystones to the defense.

[Paul C]

I can see how you’re trying to manufacture a problem. Aside from the mild disappointment in Brown not working out this thread is a waste of cyberspace. Carry on.

[FUBeAR]

You may be mixing your 3-4 and 4-3 defensive looks. The DE in a 3-4 defense is similar to a 4-3 DT.

Reasonably true, but an Inside LB (as Ellis was) is nothing like a DE or a DT in either a 3-4 or a 4-3.

Citing the loss of Ellis as a primary reason for starting a thread entitled “DE Strength to Problem” is _______. (I’ll leave it to you to choose your own word to finish that sentence.)

[furman88]

Mr. Brown never played a down for us. Things happen. Coach Hendrix and Coach Staggs will respond and move on, we should too.

[gofurman]

APaladin was wrong by position.. It still stinks we lost them - one a Jerry Rice award candidate STUD at LB and one a transfer we obviously wanted. I was amazed we were returning EVERY Defensive player minus the one .. now we return 9 (no Ellis) which is still an amazing number - 9 out of 11 ! .. but that's a key loss. Ellis was one of the top 3 D players. At this level that really hurts. LIke a Will Bouton one great guy can completely change the game and be worth a win or two easily.

[gofurman]

APaladin was wrong by position.. It still stinks we lost them - one a Jerry Rice award candidate STUD at LB and one a transfer we obviously wanted. I was amazed we were returning EVERY Defensive player minus the one .. now we return 9 (no Ellis) which is still an amazing number - 9 out of 11 ! .. but that's a key loss. Ellis was one of the top 3 D players. At this level that really hurts. Like a Will Bouton , one great guy can completely change the game and be worth a win or two easily.

I wasn't quite clear - the one we were losing regardless was the safety - his name escapes me. As I get older I forget more names in the offseason.. LOL

[FUBeAR]

APaladin was wrong by position..

Yes...also wrong by the very SUBJECT of the thread initiated.

Not the same as a spelling error or forgetting a name. It’s creating an entire topic about a false negative. Somewhat akin to the “Aliens Taking Over” headlines that scream at us from those fine publications in the grocery checkout lines.

[Jasper]

APaladin was wrong by position.. It still stinks we lost them - one a Jerry Rice award candidate STUD at LB and one a transfer we obviously wanted. I was amazed we were returning EVERY Defensive player minus the one .. now we return 9 (no Ellis) which is still an amazing number - 9 out of 11 ! .. but that's a key loss. Ellis was one of the top 3 D players. At this level that really hurts. Like a Will Bouton , one great guy can completely change the game and be worth a win or two easily.

I wasn't quite clear - the one we were losing regardless was the safety - his name escapes me. As I get older I forget more names in the offseason.. LOL

In the offseason? Hell, I forget them from hour to hour.

[gofurman]

APaladin was wrong by position.. It still stinks we lost them - one a Jerry Rice award candidate STUD at LB and one a transfer we obviously wanted. I was amazed we were returning EVERY Defensive player minus the one .. now we return 9 (no Ellis) which is still an amazing number - 9 out of 11 ! .. but that's a key loss. Ellis was one of the top 3 D players. At this level that really hurts. Like a Will Bouton , one great guy can completely change the game and be worth a win or two easily.

I wasn't quite clear - the one we were losing regardless was the safety - his name escapes me. As I get older I forget more names in the offseason.. LOL

In the offseason? Hell, I forget them from hour to hour.

Exactly - the older i get the more i have to look back to recall the names in the summer... I recall Schmidt, Ellis, Dirks , Gordon etc but my ability to basically know the names of most of the 22 is gone by February. LOL

Ill be interested to hear about the QB development / OL work / and hopefully another edge threat on O as we move through August

[apaladin]

Regardless, the loss of these 2 is big. Yes Brown had not played a down but he was dominant in the spring game. We only have one DE with a lot of game experience.

[The Jackal]

Regardless, the loss of these 2 is big. Yes Brown had not played a down but he was dominant in the spring game. We only have one DE with a lot of game experience.

And back to my original point, the 3-4 DE is essentially a DT. We have good rotational depth up front.

Okonya is the likely starter, he’s played a lot. Seabrook played in 10 games last season. Landon Lawrence played in every game. Tibbs will anchor the other side of the line. Alec Hanff (who might be recovering from injury) has played a lot of snaps at DE.

I’d have liked to see Brown play for Furman. He’d be a useful asset. Still, we didn’t lose anyone off last years rotation, which saw a lot of guys play a lot of snaps. Add to that a handful of redshirt freshmen, and there should be good depth there. Hendrix is apparently comfortable enough with depth along the DL that he’s moved some interior linemen (Jordan Harris) to offense.

And, let’s remember, Hendrix inherited a pretty bare cupboard, especially on the defensive line. That’s one area in particular we look to have been really strong in recruiting the last two seasons. That first recruiting class is going to see some playing time this year, so we will just wait and see.

[AstroDin]

Trying to be less reactionary to posts this season…

I was on the field shooting and watching the flow of the players - from my, POV Brown played but what impressed me about the defense was the edge speed of Hope.

Let's remember London Lewis was redshirted last season… on paper probably the top-rated recruit of the 2017 class.
He's BIG - 6-4 287 and athletic: http://www.hudl.com/profile/2799098/London-Lewis
Lewis played DE and DT in high school.

and let's not forget Cameron Coleman, the big fella committed early, he's a beast: https://www.hudl.com/profile/6263243/Cameron-Coleman
Coleman can play across the d-line too.

and not the correct thread but not very concerned with receiver edge speed - Gordo and Burnette are going to be a hand full. I also really like DeLuca and Avery.