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- Jan 15, 2012
- Messages
- 8,929
Is for the Will LB position. It's no secret how embarrassingly bad the LB play was last year. McCloud and Jennings played most of the snaps and their play was so atrocious it set a new standard for bad LB play.
Now McCloud has moved to DE and 2nd year freshman Corey Flagg is set to build on what was a promising 1st year and claim the starting job at Mike LB. Flagg will have rising Striker Gil Frierson on one side and the TBD starter at Will LB. The DL loses 2 DEs to the draft but is deep, talented and will now be coached by Jess Simpson which should greatly improve technique, fundamentals and attention to detail. With the hiring of Travaris Robinson to coach DBs, the abundance of talent at the Safety position should translate to the field better than it did last year. Despit the lack of UM caliber depth the CB position returns experience and frontline talent that should also benefit from TRobs coaching.
This leaves the currently open Will LB position as the biggest question mark and likely the most important given the U it's dreadful performance last year. To be frank, seeing Jennings back out there does absolutely nothing for this defense. He has had his opportunities and it's time one of the more talented younger players step up and take that starting job. There are plenty of players competing for this position in Sam Brooks, Avery Huff, and Tirek Austin Cave. True freshmen Deshawn Troutman and Tyler Johnson will likely redshirt but I've seen stranger things happen. There is also the possibility of moving Keontra Smith from Striker to Will LB and this is something that I am very much in favor of considering the chatter out of Spring has been that Brooks is still dealing with injuries and that Huff and Cave may not be ready yet. On the other hand reports on Keontra Smith this Spring have been extremely positive as it has been said that Smith is legitimately pushing Frierson for the job at Striker. Why limit Smith to backup reps at Striker when we can move him to Will and have our best players on the field at once? Whatever the outcome, whoever gets the nod at Will LB will have a tremendous opportunity to turn around the disaster at LB that was last season.
Now McCloud has moved to DE and 2nd year freshman Corey Flagg is set to build on what was a promising 1st year and claim the starting job at Mike LB. Flagg will have rising Striker Gil Frierson on one side and the TBD starter at Will LB. The DL loses 2 DEs to the draft but is deep, talented and will now be coached by Jess Simpson which should greatly improve technique, fundamentals and attention to detail. With the hiring of Travaris Robinson to coach DBs, the abundance of talent at the Safety position should translate to the field better than it did last year. Despit the lack of UM caliber depth the CB position returns experience and frontline talent that should also benefit from TRobs coaching.
This leaves the currently open Will LB position as the biggest question mark and likely the most important given the U it's dreadful performance last year. To be frank, seeing Jennings back out there does absolutely nothing for this defense. He has had his opportunities and it's time one of the more talented younger players step up and take that starting job. There are plenty of players competing for this position in Sam Brooks, Avery Huff, and Tirek Austin Cave. True freshmen Deshawn Troutman and Tyler Johnson will likely redshirt but I've seen stranger things happen. There is also the possibility of moving Keontra Smith from Striker to Will LB and this is something that I am very much in favor of considering the chatter out of Spring has been that Brooks is still dealing with injuries and that Huff and Cave may not be ready yet. On the other hand reports on Keontra Smith this Spring have been extremely positive as it has been said that Smith is legitimately pushing Frierson for the job at Striker. Why limit Smith to backup reps at Striker when we can move him to Will and have our best players on the field at once? Whatever the outcome, whoever gets the nod at Will LB will have a tremendous opportunity to turn around the disaster at LB that was last season.
