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DL position discussion/revision 2/spring practices

alabamagrizzly

Well-known member
**Revision 2**
Updated Zach Peevey, Addison Owen, and Aschan Richards

**Revision 1**
added Evan Miksch, Kyle Davis, Nick Mertes, Evan Defer, and Ben D'Alton.
removed Jessie Ginn.

It's time for the defensive line. We only graduated one Sr and granted, Bienneman was a beast, I think we have players capable of filling his shoes. We have four expierienced DTs and four ends with a good amount of playin time. Along with the new recruits we added and the position changes, this has become our deepest position on the team even with the loss of Ginn.

Projected 2014 depth chart
DT-Tonga Takai Sr (2013-11G 32tk 2.5tfl 1.0sk 2PD 3Qhur)
Caleb Kidder Jr (2013-13G 40tk 6.0tfl 3.5sk 5PD 1Qhur)
Trevor Rehm Sr (2013-13G 24tk 1.5tfl 0sk)
Zach Peevey So (2013-11G 3tk)
Bo Harris So (2013-2G 2tk 1Qhur)
Nate Bradley Fr (2013-redshirt)
Kyle Davis Fr (2013- high school)

DE-Zack Wagenmann Sr (2013-13G 64tk 16.5tfl 8.5sk 2PD 6Qhur 3FF 1FR)
Tyrone Holmes Jr (2013-13G 37tk 6.0tfl 4.0sk 5Qhur)
Derek Crittenden Jr (2013-13G 41tk 2.0tfl 0.5sk 2PD 1Qhur 1FR)
Addison Owen Jr (2013- 11G 16tkl 1Int 1PD 1FR)
Ryan Johnson So (2013-5G 4tk)
Aschan Richards Jr (2013- 0G at DL)
Evan Miksch Fr (2013- high school)
Evan Defer Fr (2013- high school)
Nick Mertes Fr (2013- high school)
Ben D'Alton Fr (2013- high school)

Projected 2015 depth chart
DT-Caleb Kidder Sr
Zach Peevey Jr
Bo Harris Jr
Nate Bradley So
Kyle Davis RS-Fr?

DE-Tyrone Holmes Sr
Derek Crittenden Sr
Addison Owen Sr
Ryan Johnson Jr
Aschan Richards Sr
Evan Miksch RS-Fr?
Evan Defer RS-Fr?
Nick Mertes RS-Fr?
Ben D'Alton RS-Fr?

Defensive Tackles
Tonga Takai will be returning for his Sr year as a three year starter. At 6'2" and 301 lbs, he is built to fill holes. His 68 tackles in 30 games is far from eye popping, but his big frame plugs up the interior where RB's are forced to run outside and allows our DE's and LB's to rack up all those tackles for losses we're used to seeing.

Caleb Kidder will be a beast next year. The 6'5" 260 lb Helena Capital product will be returning for his Jr year as a full time starter. He finished 2nd in tackles of the returning defensive lineman. Leading all lineman in passes defended with 5, he will be very disruptive in all areas for the opposing O. Some beleive him to be a possibility for #37. There's no doubt he will do the number justice.

Trevor Rehm will be a Sr next year after playing in 23 of the Griz's last 24 games the last two years. At 6'3" 265, he us a guy that's been all over the defense. Starting out as a LB, he moved to DE his So season, and last year relocated to his current position of DT. A very athletic guy, he earned all-state and co-conference MVP in b ball his Sr year in Dillon. While he don't quite have the ability to start for Montana in '14, he will be very valuable coming of the bench.

Zach Peevey is a local kid returning for his So year. At 6'2" and 250, he has good size and practiced DT some his true Fr year and is now making the change back. He played in 11 games last year but only registered 2 tackles. He needs alot of PT but he should get a little more this year. He might be starting as a Jr along side Kidder in '15.

Bo Harris was a pretty good recruit coming out of Fairfeild. He was a two time All-State selection and played in both the East/West game and N Dakota game. He was also selected to the "Super Team" by the Great Falls Tribune. At 6'3" and 265 lbs, he will be a So next year and will probably play in more then the two games he played in as a Fr.

Nate Bradley will be a RS-Fr in '14. At 5'11" 265, hes not a real big guy, but he has already put on 15 lbs from the time he signed to the beginning of fall camp. He has good strength, earning three letters competing in the shot putt and discus. He was also a 3 year starter for Billings West and his Sr year he was named All-State and played in the East West Shrine game.

Kyle Davis is a 6'1" 245 lb walk on from Cali. He's listed as a DT but played DE in high school. The coaches might think he has the best chance of bulking up compared to other new recruits. A four year letterman, he was not only his leagues best lineman but was also the leagues defensive player of the year. He was also a three time 1st team all league player at the DE position.

Defensive Ends
Zack Wagenmann is obviously the top returning DE. With 29.5 tackles for loss and 20 sacks in his career, he is looking to move into some elite company. He should at least move into 6th in tackles for loss needing 19.5 for 1st all time and should finish at least 3rd in sacks needing 13 to take over the top spot all time. His sack numbers were down a little from his breakout So year but he raised all the others. His 16.5 tackles for loss were good for third in the conference. I beleive his counterpart, Holmes will have a better year also, taking some of the pressure off him.

Tyrone Holmes will be a 2 year starter as a Jr next year. With 11.5 tackles for losses and 9 sacks in his career, I would hope to see a significant increase in those numbers, especially with teams focusing on Wags. With alot of hype coming out of high school, he has yet to really show it in the stat book. His Fr sacks number was slightly inflated with getting 4 of his 5 sacks in one game against Id St. Last year was a little better while he only had 4 sacks, he did also have 5 hurries. He also raised his total tackles from 24 to 37. We must also remember he played as a true Fr. Wags redshirted his Fr year so his breakout year was the equivalent of Holmes's upcoming Jr year. Not sayin' everyone should redshirt, I'm just sayin...

Derek Crittenden will be a Jr next year returning as the #3 DE. He is also the 3rd leading tackler returning next year with 41 after racking up 20 his RS-Fr year. At 6'3" 240 he could stand to bulk up a little, which I'm sure he will. He only has a half a sack to his credit but I think he comes in for run support. He was also an all-state LB his Jr year before he was an all-state DE his Sr year so a move to LB is not completely unfathomable; but very unlikely.

Addison Owen will be switching to DE after playing his first three years at LB. At 6'2" and 220, he needs to bulk up a little but he's got great speed for a DE. I'm interested to see how we'll he does and I'm guessing he will be very good. This also tells me the coaching staff has alot of confidence in the other backers to move the most expierienced LB to DE.

Ryan Johnson will be back as a So next year. At 6'2.5" 245 as a Fr, he'll probably get bigger and stronger. He only played in 5 games and registered 4 tackles. He had a good spring in '13 but he's still buried in the depth chart and probably won't see alot of time until '15. In high school he was all-region in football his Jr and Sr year and b ball his Sr year. He was also a three time all-league first baseman.

Aschan Richards will be a Jr in '14. A Butte Central kid, he is switching to DE after playing TE the last two seasons. Hes tall at 6'6" and hopefully he can use that height to disrupt some passing lanes. He has struggled at seeing the playing feild and I'm not sure if this move will help that much but we'll see. I beleive injuries shortened his So season.

Evan Miksch is an incoming Fr walk on from Wash. He's listed as a DE but at 6'3" and 255, he could deffenetly switch over to the interior. He could possibly play on the other side of the ball also. He was an All Area OL his Sr year and a 1st team all league OL his Jr year. He excelled on the defensive side though earning 1st all state his Sr year and 1st team all league his Jr year as a DE. He is also his schools all time sack leader with 20 in his career.

Evan Defer is some what of a mystery. Go Griz has no info on him yet and depending on which site you go to he's anywhere from 6'0" 200 to 6'2" 220. He also runs either a 4.5 forty or a 5.02. One thing I can tell is he's got some good highlight footage(like most recruits). Fast forward through the 1st minute cus it's just pics but the 1:53 mark should tell you most of what you need to know about this kid. Pure determination.

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1430482/highlights/50481375?autoplay=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nick Mertes is a 6'3" 230 lb walk on from Minn. He was 1st team all league his Sr year. Some people have been real high on him since he first popped up on our board but he didn't receive much love from other schools in the way of schollies. I guess time will tell.

Ben D'Alton is a 6'3" 230 lb walk on from Billings Central. A three year letterman, he may be better suited for the other side of the ball if he could put alot of weight on. As a Sr he was a 1st team All state tackle and as a Jr he was 1st team all league. We may also see him move to the interior line in defense. Either way he will red shirt this year.
 
Offense (even the OL in my opinion) and defensive line are the two areas we should be excited about for next year. The secondary should be improved and I'm excited about the new guys. The linebackers are a complete guess; could be awesome or a train wreck.
 
grizfan95 said:
Offense (even the OL in my opinion) and defensive line are the two areas we should be excited about for next year. The secondary should be improved and I'm excited about the new guys. The linebackers are a complete guess; could be awesome or a train wreck.
Im stoked to see the improvement that our OL makes in the off season, those guys have some potential. The DL has been dominant since i've gotten into griz football (around 2001) i expect the same next year. Holmes and Wags should do fantastic, feeding off one an others success. I see next year as a great season for sacks.

The position im most excited to see next year are the WRs. We have some ball catching freaks! :P
 
OL may or may not have potential with the current group. I would submit that we need a couple of transfers as the OL this year was ineffective and you can't win with potential.
 
My guess is the D-line will be looked upon to lead the 2014 defense. It's very deep and rich with experience.

The loss of Bienemann is tough, not only was he maybe the best overall athlete on the D-line but he was clearly the emotional and vocal leader. That's the biggest unknown with this group.

Hopefully we get a healthy year out of Wags and see some more sacks and better run support out of Holmes. They'll probably rotate 5 guys on the interior, Takai, Kidder, Rehm, Kidder, and Harris. That's a formidable group. Kidder has the most upside on the D-line with his strength and good speed out of his stance. Takai is the stalwart, a grizzled vet who rarely misses games and has shown strong improvement every season.

I hope that we can see Ginn play to the glimpses of great potential we've seen this season. He appears to be on the upswing and that's a great thing. Rehm is the typical blue-collar guy, doesn't start, no huge stats, but has a few key moments each game.

Backup DE needs to show improvement. Crittenden started 2013 good but kind of got quiet as the season went on. Peevey and Johnson were the RS frosh phenoms in fall camp and in scrimmages. It's time for them to start translating that into game time opportunities. My guess based on ST play is that Peevey has a slight edge on Johnson but it's a good problem to have with the budding potential in these two as RS Sophs this year.
 
Spanky said:
OL may or may not have potential with the current group. I would submit that we need a couple of transfers as the OL this year was ineffective and you can't win with potential.

Can't win what? We went 10-3, averaged more points per game than everybody but EWU (37.7 ppg), put up over 450 yards per game, ran for more yards per game than any team in the conference that wasn't primarily a running team, and gave up the 3rd fewest # of sacks (again, only the two primary running teams were ahead of us) and had more TD passes than every team except EWU.

I'm not sure how that describes an offense that was "ineffective".
 
I believe both sides of ball will be strong.

Only thing I have concerns with would be our secondary

We will find our full stride in 2014!
 
alabamagrizzly said:
Projected 2014 depth chart
DT-Tonga Takai Sr (2013-11G 32tk 2.5tfl 1.0sk 2PD 3Qhur)
Caleb Kidder Jr (2013-13G 40tk 6.0tfl 3.5sk 5PD 1Qhur)
Trevor Rehm Sr (2013-13G 24tk 1.5tfl 0sk)
Jessie Ginn Jr (2013-12G 12tk 2.5tfl 0sk 1PD)
Bo Harris So (2013-2G 2tk 1Qhur)
Nate Bradley Fr (2013-redshirt)

Defensive Tackles
Tonga Takai will be returning for his Sr year as a three year starter. At 6'2" and 301 lbs, he is built to fill holes. His 68 tackles in 30 games is far from eye popping, but his big frame plugs up the interior where RB's are forced to run outside and allows our DE's and LB's to rack up all those tackles for losses we're used to seeing.

Caleb Kidder will be a beast next year. The 6'5" 260 lb Helena Capital product will be returning for his Jr year as a full time starter. He finished 2nd in tackles of the returning defensive lineman. Leading all lineman in passes defended with 5, he will be very disruptive in all areas for the opposing O. Some beleive him to be a possibility for #37. There's no doubt he will do the number justice.

Trevor Rehm will be a Sr next year after playing in 23 of the Griz's last 24 games the last two years. At 6'3" 265, he us a guy that's been all over the defense. Starting out as a LB, he moved to DE his So season, and last year relocated to his current position of DT. A very athletic guy, he earned all-state and co-conference MVP in b ball his Sr year in Dillon. While he don't quite have the ability to start for Montana in '14, he will be very valuable coming of the bench.

Jessie Ginn is a local kid that will be playing his Jr year in '14. last year he finally showed glimpses of what people have expected from him. At 6'5" 298 he's extremly large and very mobile for his size. He played in 12 games as the #5 DT and managed to collect 12 tackles including 2.5 for a loss. I remember one series in particular against Sac St where he forced the QB to scramble for a minimal gain, made a tackle on a RB at the line of scrimmage, and then knocked down a pass attempt to force a punt. The knock on him is he dosnt motivate himself consistently enough. I'm hoping that is changing with maturity. With him and Kidder playing side by side in '15 as Sr's, no team will be able to run up the middle.

Bo Harris was a pretty good recruit coming out of Fairfeild. He was a two time All-State selection and played in both the East/West game and N Dakota game. He was also selected to the "Super Team" by the Great Falls Tribune. At 6'3" and 265 lbs, he will be a So next year and will probably play in more then the two games he played in as a Fr.

Nate Bradley will be a RS-Fr in '14. At 5'11" 265, hes not a real big guy, but he has already put on 15 lbs from the time he signed to the beginning of fall camp. He has good strength, earning three letters competing in the shot putt and discus. He was also a 3 year starter for Billings West and his Sr year he was named All-State and played in the East West Shrine game.

Looks like Bo Harris's minutes just increased dramatically. Now I wonder if Ginn's "motivation" issues were internal or external.
 
Makes me nervous with the loss of Ginn, the DT spot was 2-deep with experienced players. This is a big opportunity for Harris who did look the part last year, he's now going to move up to 2nd string DT and it gives the Griz just 5 guys total, including the one guy who took a RS this year (Bradley) for the spot. An injury or two could decimate the interior D-line.
 
Someone should check with Big Geezyforsheezy, but I am pretty much sure this confirms that MSU is now better at all 11 positions on defense.

We are f-cked now for sure.
 
Raider said:
Someone should check with Big Geezyforsheezy, but I am pretty much sure this confirms that MSU is now better at all 11 positions on defense.

We are f-cked now for sure.

Breaking News: UM cancels 2014 season. "Just can't compete with the Cats anymore," quoted by AD Kent Haslam.

:lol:
 
BWahlberg said:
Raider said:
Someone should check with Big Geezyforsheezy, but I am pretty much sure this confirms that MSU is now better at all 11 positions on defense.

We are f-cked now for sure.

Breaking News: UM cancels 2014 season. "Just can't compete with the Cats anymore," quoted by AD Kent Haslam.

:lol:

Well played, men! I'm on my way to Universal Athletics for some new blue & gold gear!
 
Ursa Major said:
BWahlberg said:
Raider said:
Someone should check with Big Geezyforsheezy, but I am pretty much sure this confirms that MSU is now better at all 11 positions on defense.

We are f-cked now for sure.

Breaking News: UM cancels 2014 season. "Just can't compete with the Cats anymore," quoted by AD Kent Haslam.

:lol:

Well played, men! I'm on my way to Universal Athletics for some new blue & gold gear!


Be sure to grab some Solo cups and a couple of "No Means No" T-shirts as well.
 
EverettGriz said:
Ursa Major said:
BWahlberg said:
Raider said:
Someone should check with Big Geezyforsheezy, but I am pretty much sure this confirms that MSU is now better at all 11 positions on defense.

We are f-cked now for sure.

Breaking News: UM cancels 2014 season. "Just can't compete with the Cats anymore," quoted by AD Kent Haslam.

:lol:

Well played, men! I'm on my way to Universal Athletics for some new blue & gold gear!

Be sure to grab some Solo cups and a couple of "No Means No" T-shirts as well.

C'mon EG! THINK before hitting submit!

I smell a new catch-all phrase...but I never played the game.
 
Ursa Major said:
EverettGriz said:
Ursa Major said:
BWahlberg said:
Breaking News: UM cancels 2014 season. "Just can't compete with the Cats anymore," quoted by AD Kent Haslam.

:lol:

Well played, men! I'm on my way to Universal Athletics for some new blue & gold gear!

Be sure to grab some Solo cups and a couple of "No Means No" T-shirts as well.

C'mon EG! THINK before hitting submit!

I smell a new catch-all phrase...but I never played the game.

:lol:


5633995909_874e477f25_z.jpg



It looks like the guy with the big green brain mush must've played the game. Too many concussions....
 
Big time bummer. Depth chart, bio, and position summary have been updated.

We have really got to recruit some DT's now. Might be time to hit the JC ranks to shore up the position. 3 DT's on the roster for 2015.
 
Added Evan Miksch, Evan Defer, Kyle Davis, Nick Mertes, and Ben D'Alton.

Miksch, Defer, and Davis will be the cream of this crop. Losing Ginn deffenetly changes things. I think we may see Zach Peevey move back to DT, a position he played some his Fr year. Miksch and Davis are the heaviest and closest to playing on the inside but none of em are real big. They are young still and all should redshirt unless the coaches feel one of them is ready to play DT by fall. At any rate I feel a little more comfortable then I did before signing day.
 
A couple big changes here. Ginn has left and Peavy is sliding over to play DT. Also Addison Owen is coming down to the DL to shore up the end position. This is our most expierience defensive group. I'd like to see Peavy, Johnson, and Harris get alot of reps this spring. Also interested to see how Bradley fares givin his lack of size.

I'm really excited about a couple of the incoming Fr but unfortunately we won't see them tell fall camp.
 
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