I wouldn't say these guys necessarily have the most to prove, but the guys I want to see step up & show something:
Mark Pope - yeah I know, a lot of people on the board dislikes the kid, but he's been putting in a crazy amount of work this offseason, literally every single day since January he's been working with Speed & WR's coaches (mainly Th3 Lab/Chris Scott) on perfecting his route running & improving his hands. Playing in this new Air Raid passing style uptempo offense will benefit him the most IMO & he's set break out this year. He's probably the most doubted & hated on, but I'm certain he's going to kill it this year (if there is a season lol).
OL - The entire OL needs to prove they're not one of the worst lines in Division-1 Football, tall task, but they have to prove they can do the bare minimum basics of actually holding a block for 3 seconds & not giving up 51 sacks in a season.
DJ Ivey - He was the worst in the secondary last year, he gave up the most yards & had the most completions caught on him at 24 out of 41 targets with 349yds & multiple TD's. He also got beat routinely on plays where if the QB had simply made a good pass would've ended up as a big gain or TD. His footwork & overall technique needs major work, he's been working this offseason on it, so hopefully he improves, but until I see it on the field he will still be a liability in coverage as the CB2. Need a big big step up season from Ivey.
LB group - Agree with you 100% on McCloud D$. I'm not all that high on him, but hopefully a position change & being a 5th year senior will be good enough to make him a solid Mike LB for us.
But also the rest of the LB group needs to step up major. I'm higher on Brooks than anybody, I also love Huff's upside, but Huff has missed a ton of time being that he was a late fall add last year & was an academic redshirt. Which means he's missed all of Spring last year, all summer workouts & didn't get in Fall camp until about a couple days before the UF game. With the C-19 shutdown he's still missing valuable reps. I believe he'll be a good player for us, but he's going to need time to adjust & learn the Defense in full.
Also need to see a healthy LB group for once. Guys like BJ Jennings, Patrick Joyner & the rest need to get healthy & start contributing, can't sustain a full season having so many injured LB's, we need depth with how young & inexperienced we'll be at LB, can't afford to have Ragu out there playing meaningful snaps, I hope those guys finally get fully healthy & put it together.
Striker - Frierson & Keontra Smith; I actually liked how Gil played last year & can't wait to see Keontra get an opportunity to show his skills on the field, I think he's going to be a very good in coverage in this defense. I think athletically the two of them will be a very good Hybrid/Nickel pairing at Striker, probably won't have the IQ that Finley had at that spot, but will make up for it with Ball skills & down the field coverage.
Jeremiah Payton - Obviously, he was a TF who was Redshirted last year so there wasn't anything he could prove & I'm not arguing he has the most to prove, he's just a kid I have high expectations for & think he will be great in this offense once given the opportunity.
, Harley showed good progression as a junior. Maybe he takes another jump
