My last one for a while, lots of numbers on the roster here:

Darius Scott 5'8 160 SR
DaQuan Pace 5'10, 175 SO
Willie Creear 5'10 195 SR
Pudge Cotton 6'0 225 SR
Michael Denson 5'10 200 SR
Amos Houston 6'0 216 SO
Jalen Williams 5'10 200 SR
Ray Tillman 5'11 195 JR
Oliver Kathalay 5'9 180 SR
Kevin Johnson 5'11 210 SR
David Pulliams 6'1 205 SO

Newcomers:

Gary White 6'0 215 R-JR
Youssef Barakat 5'11 205 R-Fr.
Brandon Bossard 6'2 210 R-Fr.
Aaron Abbott 6'0 185 SO
Herb Alford SR

Cameron Bouldin 6'3 170 FR
Ross Williams 5'11 160 FR
Jason Beck 6'1 195 FR
Tyrie Mack 5'11 180 SO prep school
Tim Gordon 5'11 175 FR
Dartez Jacobs 6'2 200 JR (JUCO)

I expect most of the true frosh to redshirt.

I'll special teams probably right before the season.

Hopefully it all finally clicks for Pudge Cotton, and we get a Latarrius Thomas-like season out of him. He's a senior, a captain, and arguably the most physically gifted talent on the defense. We've seen how good he can be in spurts...consistency is the issue. He can go from looking completely lost to looking like a guy who can play on sunday's pretty quickly. If he minimizes the former, I wouldn't be shocked to see a big year out of him.

Our senior-laden secondary needs to be better than they were last season. Willie Creear is solid, but Darius Scott and Kevin Johnson struggled. Can Creighton and McCaslin turn them around? Remains to be seen. But if anything, the experience factor should play a role in improving.

The question I have is how effective is the 3-4 going to be against the run and also in terms of generating a pass rush? I would assume the 3-4 give us lots of option on the blitz.

(08-18-2014 12:11 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  Hopefully it all finally clicks for Pudge Cotton, and we get a Latarrius Thomas-like season out of him. He's a senior, a captain, and arguably the most physically gifted talent on the defense. We've seen how good he can be in spurts...consistency is the issue. He can go from looking completely lost to looking like a guy who can play on sunday's pretty quickly. If he minimizes the former, I wouldn't be shocked to see a big year out of him.

Our senior-laden secondary needs to be better than they were last season. Willie Creear is solid, but Darius Scott and Kevin Johnson struggled. Can Creighton and McCaslin turn them around? Remains to be seen. But if anything, the experience factor should play a role in improving.

I agree, as others a d CC has said as Cotton goes so does the defense. I am not sure what the situation was with him and English but there must been something happening.. We need a huge year from him as a leader and making big plays.

We will get the plays from the D line.

(08-18-2014 01:19 PM)NKOTB Wrote:  

(08-18-2014 12:11 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  Hopefully it all finally clicks for Pudge Cotton, and we get a Latarrius Thomas-like season out of him. He's a senior, a captain, and arguably the most physically gifted talent on the defense. We've seen how good he can be in spurts...consistency is the issue. He can go from looking completely lost to looking like a guy who can play on sunday's pretty quickly. If he minimizes the former, I wouldn't be shocked to see a big year out of him.

Our senior-laden secondary needs to be better than they were last season. Willie Creear is solid, but Darius Scott and Kevin Johnson struggled. Can Creighton and McCaslin turn them around? Remains to be seen. But if anything, the experience factor should play a role in improving.

I agree, as others a d CC has said as Cotton goes so does the defense. I am not sure what the situation was with him and English but there must been something happening.. We need a huge year from him as a leader and making big plays.

We will get the plays from the D line.

Agree. I don't know if he couldn't or wouldn't play English's defense but it appears that it wasn't working.

He could be the 'most improved' player on the team this year...

(08-18-2014 01:19 PM)NKOTB Wrote:  

(08-18-2014 12:11 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  Hopefully it all finally clicks for Pudge Cotton, and we get a Latarrius Thomas-like season out of him. He's a senior, a captain, and arguably the most physically gifted talent on the defense. We've seen how good he can be in spurts...consistency is the issue. He can go from looking completely lost to looking like a guy who can play on sunday's pretty quickly. If he minimizes the former, I wouldn't be shocked to see a big year out of him.

Our senior-laden secondary needs to be better than they were last season. Willie Creear is solid, but Darius Scott and Kevin Johnson struggled. Can Creighton and McCaslin turn them around? Remains to be seen. But if anything, the experience factor should play a role in improving.

I agree, as others a d CC has said as Cotton goes so does the defense. I am not sure what the situation was with him and English but there must been something happening.. We need a huge year from him as a leader and making big plays.

We will get the plays from the D line.

Comment: We better get the plays from someone on the defense, last year I believe we ranked 120th in the country in total defense.

Gary White was playing, and excelling at IMO, LB during Spring Ball.