The other week I put a post up on the offense and the big questions I had regarding that side of the ball and what I’ll be looking for this spring. Now I thought it’d be good to switch gears and look at the defensive side of the ball. Here’s what I’d love to see answered/addressed this spring:
Will the Defensive line 2-deep take shape? I count 19 guys listed for the D-line, and it would appear that all but 3 will be here for spring camp (those three are incoming freshman). I would assume there’s two “known” spots on the line. #37 Tucker Schye will open spring ball with all expectations to be our premier speed-rushing DE and that that Brandt Davidson will continue his role of being that guy that collects the double teams so the LBs/DEs can pile up the stats. Beyond that it’s appearing pretty wide open.
At DT you’ve got Jesse Sims who started half the year last year plus incoming transfer David Shaw. There’s also Kyle Davis who missed half the season with a bad sprain and Myles McKee Osibodu who improved as the season went on in some fill-in duty. Then there’s scout team defensive player of the year Randy Rodriguez who was a wrecking ball in fall camp, there’s Reggie Tilleman who’s finally got the weight to make some contributions and Trace Bradshaw coming off his redshirt. (Interestingly I’m not seeing Nate Bradley, I’m guessing he just decided to hang it up? If I recall correctly we saw Sims, Davidson, MMO, Tilleman, & Davis all play and contribute last season. With the addition of Shaw and the young talent of Rodriguez and Bradshaw you’ve got a group with some experience. It’ll be interesting to see it take shape. This group could be fairly deep.
Moving over to DE it gets even a little more unknown. Obviously we’ve got Tucker but beyond him there’s Donald Bedell who played a bit last season and I don’t think anyone else in this group has time playing DE for the Griz. There’s Favoroso and Gilfoy, both JuCo transfers with lots of hype who are here and will presumably be looked upon to step up. Rosling and Maua are coming off their red shirts, can they contribute? There’s also Sophomore Andrew Harris as well. With the depth at DT I wonder if Jesse Sims gets a look over at DE as well? We’ll have to see, and maybe the play of the two JuCo kids will help decide that.
Can the starting 3 LBs take it to the next level? This is our 3rd go around where the team has a returning trio of starting linebackers, however this time just two graduate this year (Strahm & Banks) while Buss has 1 more season in store. Recently when we saw a new group get installed their first season was solid but was low on forced turnovers, then in their 2nd years and beyond they upped the forced fumbles, sacks, and interceptions. Can this group follow suit?
Will any of the LB depth challenge for a starting spot? My guess is that they wont but they could provide some fill-in duty and subs to help keep Buss/Strahm/Banks from getting too gassed. Vika, Olson, and Cirmon are all returning back and I assume will be listed on the 2-deep again. There’s also Ryan, Smith, Steele, and Cochran and then some freshman that are coming off their RS in LeTexier and Lewis. There’s lots of guys here that will probably help shape ST but are probably positioning themselves in 2017 for a 2018 starting job.
How will the secondary depth develop? I’m just going to assume that Sandry, Strong, Markell Sanders, and McKinley are our starting 4 in the secondary. Behind them it’s a pretty vast sea of unknowns. At corner we’ve got 3 guys coming off their RS, Egbo, Cowans, and Nash (who converted from WR). Cowans impressed me in fall camp, I’m looking forward to seeing all three of these young guys who are going to be put to test fast this spring. At safety there’s a little more experience in depth, Delaney, Epperly, and Alexander (who played some nickel/slot corner I believe). There’s also Gavin Crow who is coming off his RS as well. I assume we’ll see some walk-on / scout team kids make a push for a roster spot at both CB and S.
Will we see more zone defense? Simple enough question. That seemed to be an issue for the Griz as they played most of September and half of October almost exclusively in man, but once NAU showed max-protect & throw it deep to slow the pass rush that really caused trouble. The team switched to more zone but had continued errors at bad moments.
Pretty straightforward questions I’ve got – what are you guys looking for this spring?
Will the Defensive line 2-deep take shape? I count 19 guys listed for the D-line, and it would appear that all but 3 will be here for spring camp (those three are incoming freshman). I would assume there’s two “known” spots on the line. #37 Tucker Schye will open spring ball with all expectations to be our premier speed-rushing DE and that that Brandt Davidson will continue his role of being that guy that collects the double teams so the LBs/DEs can pile up the stats. Beyond that it’s appearing pretty wide open.
At DT you’ve got Jesse Sims who started half the year last year plus incoming transfer David Shaw. There’s also Kyle Davis who missed half the season with a bad sprain and Myles McKee Osibodu who improved as the season went on in some fill-in duty. Then there’s scout team defensive player of the year Randy Rodriguez who was a wrecking ball in fall camp, there’s Reggie Tilleman who’s finally got the weight to make some contributions and Trace Bradshaw coming off his redshirt. (Interestingly I’m not seeing Nate Bradley, I’m guessing he just decided to hang it up? If I recall correctly we saw Sims, Davidson, MMO, Tilleman, & Davis all play and contribute last season. With the addition of Shaw and the young talent of Rodriguez and Bradshaw you’ve got a group with some experience. It’ll be interesting to see it take shape. This group could be fairly deep.
Moving over to DE it gets even a little more unknown. Obviously we’ve got Tucker but beyond him there’s Donald Bedell who played a bit last season and I don’t think anyone else in this group has time playing DE for the Griz. There’s Favoroso and Gilfoy, both JuCo transfers with lots of hype who are here and will presumably be looked upon to step up. Rosling and Maua are coming off their red shirts, can they contribute? There’s also Sophomore Andrew Harris as well. With the depth at DT I wonder if Jesse Sims gets a look over at DE as well? We’ll have to see, and maybe the play of the two JuCo kids will help decide that.
Can the starting 3 LBs take it to the next level? This is our 3rd go around where the team has a returning trio of starting linebackers, however this time just two graduate this year (Strahm & Banks) while Buss has 1 more season in store. Recently when we saw a new group get installed their first season was solid but was low on forced turnovers, then in their 2nd years and beyond they upped the forced fumbles, sacks, and interceptions. Can this group follow suit?
Will any of the LB depth challenge for a starting spot? My guess is that they wont but they could provide some fill-in duty and subs to help keep Buss/Strahm/Banks from getting too gassed. Vika, Olson, and Cirmon are all returning back and I assume will be listed on the 2-deep again. There’s also Ryan, Smith, Steele, and Cochran and then some freshman that are coming off their RS in LeTexier and Lewis. There’s lots of guys here that will probably help shape ST but are probably positioning themselves in 2017 for a 2018 starting job.
How will the secondary depth develop? I’m just going to assume that Sandry, Strong, Markell Sanders, and McKinley are our starting 4 in the secondary. Behind them it’s a pretty vast sea of unknowns. At corner we’ve got 3 guys coming off their RS, Egbo, Cowans, and Nash (who converted from WR). Cowans impressed me in fall camp, I’m looking forward to seeing all three of these young guys who are going to be put to test fast this spring. At safety there’s a little more experience in depth, Delaney, Epperly, and Alexander (who played some nickel/slot corner I believe). There’s also Gavin Crow who is coming off his RS as well. I assume we’ll see some walk-on / scout team kids make a push for a roster spot at both CB and S.
Will we see more zone defense? Simple enough question. That seemed to be an issue for the Griz as they played most of September and half of October almost exclusively in man, but once NAU showed max-protect & throw it deep to slow the pass rush that really caused trouble. The team switched to more zone but had continued errors at bad moments.
Pretty straightforward questions I’ve got – what are you guys looking for this spring?