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Cane DTs over the decades. Who was the greatest?

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Applecane said:
I was thinking about our flimsy DT depth and my thoughts turned to this:

In order of greatness:

Jerome Brown (RIP)
Cortez Kennedy
Warren Sapp
Vince Wilfork
Gerald Willis

Did I miss anyone?

Remember how good it felt when we had a monster or two in the interior? You just felt secure.
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Brown. Biggest impact on the program.
 
Applecane said:
That’s why I put Willis in. Some people seem angry that I included him — and thus desecrated the pristine image of the U.
Why the hate?
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He took a lot of plays off and didn’t play the position cleanly (freelanced for stats and gave up big plays, unclear if he was acting on Diaz orders tho.)
 
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TemplarCane said:
Second greatest INT in modern Canes history, second to Matt Walters-Ed Reed at BC in 2001.

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I still think Ed Reed stealing the ball from Matt Walter's was one one the stupidest decisions ever... that easily could have cost us the game. The result was exhilarating, but it wasn't smart football.
 
Cane Tankerous said:
I still think Ed Reed stealing the ball from Matt Walter's was one one the stupidest decisions ever... that easily could have cost us the game. The result was exhilarating, but it wasn't smart football.
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SWFLHurricane said:
Not close...Top 5??...Yes...89-91 were better...so was 86-88
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The aggregate affect of the starters for the 94' team were really solid. From stem to stern, they weren't as good, but deserve special mention.

They just didn't have the depth, but Sapp in his final year, took a solid and relatively athletic DL (of starters) and made them elite. It also didn't hurt that arguably the best MLB of all time was standing 10 feet behind Sapp, ready to clean up everything...which he did.
 
SWFLHurricane said:
Not close...Top 5??...Yes...89-91 were better...so was 86-88
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If I had to put the five greatest Cane DL's in order from greatest on down:

1. 89' - Because of the combination, of two elite, uber dominant DT's, they made the DE's look elite. The DE's were very good, but the combo of Cortez/Maryland made this one of the best D's of all time, because you just couldn't do anything against them. If our QB doesn't get injured that year, they definitely beat FSU, go undefeated and are mentioned alongside 86' & 01' as one of the greatest overall teams of all time.

2. 87' - Not unlike the combo of Cortez/Meryland at the DT spot, the combo of Hawkins/Stubbs, had a similar affect on the Cane's D. They had good DT's, but those DE's were dominant in a way that has never been matched. For that time, those two DE's would suck the will out of the opponent and were just intimidating guys. Hawkins went on to become a lawyer and my cousin (also an attorney) worked at times with Dan, and he said that it wasn't just that he was a legit 6'6", it was that he had a deep voice and was just a dominant person. We've never seen a DT combo like Cortez/Maryland and we've never seen a DE combo like Hawkins/Stubbs who was great at stopping the run AND rushing the passer.

3. 86' - The combo of Jerome/Sileo/Hawkins/Stubbs, might be the greatest combo of all time. You could easily list this as the top Canes DL and it would be hard to argue. Nuff said.

4. 91' - As with all of the DL's on this list, they don't perform in a vacuum, so their aggregate effectiveness is definitely dictated by the effectiveness and level of their back 7 supporting them. The overall effectiveness of the 91' D definitely puts this DL in the top 5. They were backed by an elite secondary, but more importantly, the greatest starting LB's in a 4-3 D of all time. The DT's did their jobs, but the dominance came from the outside with the combo of Medaris/Krein/Patrick. DT's like Hamlet held serve, while the those DE's and Bam-Bam/Superman/The Flash, cleaned everything up. That D was light absorbing. You couldn't do anything against them. The number one team in the country (at the time) who were busy putting half a hundy on a top 10 Michigan team in Ann Arbor, couldn't break 20 against this team.

5. 01' - Again, it was the aggregate effect and they were maybe the deepest DL we've ever had. When the 2nd stringers came in, you barely noticed, accept with Wilfork, where you were going, "Who in the world is this freshman???"

Honorable mentions:

03' - Similar to 94', their starters were crazy good and led by Wilfork.

94' - Sapp had the most dominant CFB season as a pass rushing DT (against top competition) that I've ever seen and Ray-Ray cleaned up anything that got past Warren.
 
We going to include Allen Bailey or classify him more as a DE? Obviously he wasn't the greatest but dude was an animal for us and lasted a while in the league.
 
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SWFLHurricane said:
Sapp Destroyed that entire Nebraska backfield for 3 quarters literally all by himself. Sent Frazier to the bench for Berringer (RIP) and then Berringer there as well. If Riley, Lang and Holmes are at 100%, and Costa hits a Wide Open Chris T Jones and Jonathon Harris for easy TDs...we win going away.
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Sapp's performance before he got gassed might be one of the best of all time.
 
Jerome is my all-time favorite Cane, so he would probably get my vote. Although the most dominant DT performance I’ve witnessed in person is Sapp vs FSU in the OB, completely unblockable
 
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