DT present and future?

[Frenchise]

All,

I wanted to start a thread to discuss where we will be in terms of DT this year and the next. Right now we have only 6 DT's on the roster.

92Francis KallonDL6-5296RS SO
52Terrell LewisDL6-2227FR
91Patrick GambleDL6-5286RS SO
93Antonio SimmonsDL6-3228FR
96Adam GotsisDL6-5282JR
97Shawn GreenDL6-0276RS SR

Of these 6, only 4 are anywhere near playing weight. If we lose 2 this season to injuries, we'll have no backups on D for the DT. What do we do in that situation?

Green is gone after this season, leaving us with 3 DT's with playing time. Assuming Ant and Terrell don't 40 LBS, and we get Brent and Kyle, we'll have 5 DT's at playing weight, 3 with experience.

Does that look deep enough to anyone? Thoughts?

 

[MacJacket]

Pretty sure Simmons is DE and Lewis is a LB.

Green will be gone next year, but like you said, we'll add Brent and Kyle, possibly a Morgan twin, and Sellers. We will also be stronger at DE with Whitehead and Jabari returning and the youth (Freeman and Merriweather) getting playing time this year. I think at least one of next year's freshman DT's will play early.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Hard to ever be satisfied with depth at DT. I feel good about our starters this year. Uncertainty is with the 2s and how we'll they will be able to spell our 1s to keep them fresh. (Hopefully our O can help keep the D fresh also)

We need Gamble and Kallon to continue to improve no doubt. For this year and next. As for next year, we of course lose Green. Seriously doubt Gotsis going pro will be an issue....if so it will only be due to him having a truly amazing year IMO. So one of our starters should be set. Glanton looks like the real deal but it would be foolhardy at best to rely on a true fresh here. So Kallon and Gamble will be it. Backups next year will again be a major concern.

 

[jeffgt14]

I’m not too worried about next year. Gostis and Gamble will start with Kallon and Tay/Henderson coming off the bench. I’m comfortable with that.

A side note: I like Gamble a lot. He's not going to be a playmaker but I think he'll be one of those guys where the rest of the D will benefit from him being on the field.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Meant to refer to Henderson in prior post. He really looks legit. I think Glanton will be a good one too. Both will be true frosh tho.

 

[danny daniel]

Pretty sure Simmons is DE and Lewis is a LB.

Green will be gone next year, but like you said, we'll add Brent and Kyle, possibly a Morgan twin, and Sellers. We will also be stronger at DE with Whitehead and Jabari returning and the youth (Freeman and Merriweather) getting playing time this year. I think at least one of next year's freshman DT's will play early.

You are correct. Lewis and Simmons are not DTs and likely will never be. I thought Travis was moved to DT but he is a senior and light for DT. Gardner is listed as a DE but in the past was listed as DT and he is one with enough size to play DT. I believe he is a Jr. Gotsis returning is a big deal. IMO The 2015 freshmen DTs will have to play.

 

[Eric]

Gotsis
Gamble
Kallon
Gardner

Those are the returning DE's next year

Glanton, Henderson are the DT commits so far...Scott Morgan could he as well.

Some of them will have to play...Henderson will IMO.

 

[Frenchise]

You are correct. Lewis and Simmons are not DTs and likely will never be. I thought Travis was moved to DT but he is a senior and light for DT. Gardner is listed as a DE but in the past was listed as DT and he is one with enough size to play DT. I believe he is a Jr. Gotsis returning is a big deal. IMO The 2015 freshmen DTs will have to play.

I pulled this from the GT athletic site. I guess they need to update things.

 

[Frenchise]

Gotsis
Gamble
Kallon
Gardner

Those are the returning DE's next year

Glanton, Henderson are the DT commits so far...Scott Morgan could he as well.

Some of them will have to play...Henderson will IMO.

You mean returning DT's, right?

In any case, if we're offering immediate playing time to a frosh DT, shouldn't we be able to land a stud 4*? Not saying anything against our commits, but we need a playmaker.

 

[nod]

Michael Preddy is up to 275 lbs, was good DE in HS, I could see Tech switching him over to DT if he is not in play at OL by next spring. I would say Klock also, but he sounds like he's performing well at OL.

 

[iceeater1969]

Strengths coming into 2015 -
The lb and db - two deep has only 2 seniors and one could see less playing time if quality of play does not improve. We should be strong at lb and db.
Incoming freshman DT seem to have high upside.
DE while young now will have a year of experience and we could have JDH back
DT returning except green

With the above we will not redshirt the incoming talent, will be telling dt to hit the gaps ( have fun- we got your back) like Oklahoma State as we will rotate to keep every DT very fresh.

 

[jeffgt14]

You mean returning DT's, right?

In any case, if we're offering immediate playing time to a frosh DT, shouldn't we be able to land a stud 4*? Not saying anything against our commits, but we need a playmaker.

We landed 2 but they will likely stay a 3-star committed to us. I do doubt that Henderson would've ever been rated a 4-star though even if a big school picked him up. Rating a 6'0 DT as a 4-star is too risky for the recruiting services.