How do you feel about our DT's this year?

[Eric]

Personally I really like this group...Gotsis, Green, Gamble, Comissiong and Kallon.

 

[OldJacketFan]

The only worry I have is a significant injury or two due to lack of depth. Gotsis is proven, Green has played well when healthy, it time to see what Gamble, Comissiong and Kallon bring to the table. All 3 has the physical skills, do they have the want to?

 

[danny daniel]

The only worry I have is a significant injury or two due to lack of depth. Gotsis is proven, Green has played well when healthy, it time to see what Gamble, Comissiong and Kallon bring to the table. All 3 has the physical skills, do they have the want to?

Two things. (1)Injury free is key, but we can't do much about that. (2)Considerable playing time for the backups in the first three games. They need the experience and the coaches need to know who can be counted on when it is crunch time. Our DT performance could go either way but my best guess is +

 

[ATL1]

Thin ..
Hopefully no injuries
I would for Kallon to go to Chuck Smith's defensive line academy.

 

[Eric]

I personally do not see us at thin at DT right now...we have 5 players who I think can play at a pretty good level. Now if we suffer a few injuries or something like that then I would call us thin...but right now I really like this group overall.

 

[RamblinCharger]

I thought Kallon might be moving to OL? Has he shown improvement at DT?

 

[Eric]

I thought Kallon might be moving to OL? Has he shown improvement at DT?

Not sure where that came from.

He is second string DT.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

I'd feel better if we had one more guy there. Gotsis is all conference caliber, Green has played well when not injured....that's two solid starters. The other two have tons of potential but have to show it. Overall I'm not as panicked as many. Next year could be too thin. Even this year we need to stay relatively injury free.

 

[collegeballfan]

I am more concerned about both DE than both DT.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I'd feel better if we had one more guy there. Gotsis is all conference caliber, Green has played well when not injured....that's two solid starters. The other two have tons of potential but have to show it. Overall I'm not as panicked as many. Next year could be too thin. Even this year we need to stay relatively injury free.

This is similar to my thoughts. Gotsis is proven; the rest have potential. But the potential seems to have not panned out over the last few years along with injuries.

So I'm worried about the DTs because I'm just projecting recent experience to the future.

I'm less worried about DE for much the same reason, we have been able to find fast enough and big enough players and coach them into great DEs. For the DTs, you can coach both size and strength. It seems to be genetic to be able to have that much weight and muscle mass; just getting fatter doesn't do it. And if you work out a lot, you can't keep the weight on.

 

[ATL1]

I like the size and potential of
Chungong, Gamble, Kallon, Whitefield Defensive Line.
That's a tall athletic group up front. Not sure if 2 6 '5 guys up front is good but we'll definitely have two mountains.

 

[CobbTech]

I'm not as confident as you guys. Gotsis is solid, not sure if he's all-conference. Green is ok but can't stay healthy. Commissiong is unproven and so is Kallon. Right now those two guys are just names on a roster with ideal size. A lot of potential though.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I'm not as confident as you guys. Gotsis is solid, not sure if he's all-conference. Green is ok but can't stay healthy. Commissiong is unproven and so is Kallon. Right now those two guys are just names on a roster with ideal size. A lot of potential though.

Somebody else can go back through six years and look at our DTs and how they panned out. We seem especially snake bit at this position and on the OL. Hopefully this time is different.........

 

[sidewalkGTfan]

I think this is the best DT group we've had in several years. I also think having Pelton for a 2nd year with these guys will help tremendously.

 

[Eric]

I'm not as confident as you guys. Gotsis is solid, not sure if he's all-conference. Green is ok but can't stay healthy. Commissiong is unproven and so is Kallon. Right now those two guys are just names on a roster with ideal size. A lot of potential though.

I usually tend to look on the pessimistic side of things...so maybe this is me just being optimistic.

I just feel that Green is primed to go out with a good year and the young guys we have are going to be good.

Gamble has also packed on some weight and showed some good things this Spring.

 

[CobbTech]

Somebody else can go back through six years and look at our DTs and how they panned out. We seem especially snake bit at this position and on the OL. Hopefully this time is different.........

We weren't awful last year. Cummings was ok. But you're right. Really, the entire DL has been an issue. Think about the guys we've recruited. Green was a 4 star, A. Williams, Denzel McCoy, JC Lanier. Throw in Justin Akins and Kevin Robbins who were both highly regarded. Were due for one of these guys to turn into a stud.

 

[Boomergump]

How do I feel? Worried, to be honest. Gotsis is a good player. However, if we had a couple of (+) DTs, he would be probably be slated for SDE. I think he fits there best, but what do I know. I like Green, but he has only really proven himself as a situational player to this point. He is our quickest DL off the ball, without question, and he is adept at staying low and knifing into creases, causing the opposition problems with penetration in short yardage situations. In the pass rush and other situations his limitations become more obvious. Hopefully, his improved health will maintain its current status and we will see what he is fully capable of. Of the rest, Gamble has seen the most time. I have yet to see anything on film that gives me a great deal of encouragement. He is too light and lean for his height to be a DT and he is not athletic/agile enough to be a DE. He is capable but most likely a second stringer for the duration IMHO. Sorry, it sounds harsh, I know. I will say, he looked larger in the spring game. Has he gained some weight in the off season? If so, it may play in his favor. Kallon, is a great athlete for his size. It is easy to see on film. However, running sideline to sideline, and jumping back and forth doesn't help much in the confines of the trenches. He still needs to learn how to play football. He has yet to learn the hand to hand combat skills to effectively deal with the guy who is right in front of him with leverage. It is obvious he has the potential, but whether he ever does figure it out is anybody's guess. I have never seen Commissiong play so I offer no input. Hopefully he is great. We need him to be.

Most likely, we will get by with this group, but be far from dominant. We will probably, once again, witness well formed pockets that seem to last forever. DTs don't usually get a lot of sacks, but they should, at least, get some push and eliminate the ability of the QB to step into throws comfortably with a lot of space in front of him. We didn't do it much last year. Expect the blitz to be deployed with great frequency to offset this weakness. I don't expect a lot of 4 man pressure from this group of names. I would be overjoyed to be proven wrong and actively hope that I will be.

One thing I feel absolutely confident about, in a coaching and schematic sense, is that we won't be asking these kids to do something they can't do ( ala CAG ). We will set up our scheme and play calls that take advantage of their abilities and mitigate their weaknesses. That will help, combined with some good players behind them. Any DC would love to set up a defense behind an ALL ACC pair of DTs. CTR won't have that luxury. It won't mean we can't be decent on defense. It just means we won't be great. Committing extra resources creates holes elsewhere.

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

I think we have a lack of high-end talent on the D-line, and I think we lack quality depth. Now, I hope I am proved wrong in both areas.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Maybe I was being a bit harsh. We probably have above average but not elite DL. Think of all the teams that we gash up the middle. The exception are the teams (VT, Iowa, LSU, UGAg etc) that we don't gash. Poor UNC usually comes into our game with an elite DL and gets gashed.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Commissiong is unproven and so is Kallon. Right now those two guys are just names on a roster with ideal size. A lot of potential though.

D. Commissiong was a beast in college and a big get for us in recruiting. Kallon was a big get, too, but a project. DC was not a project.