Preseason Depth Chart Thoughts
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For Tre, I think you meant Nickel and not Nose. I’ve seen a lot of teams use a smaller CB for Nickel to keep up with a slot receiver. It’s a hard call, since some slot receivers are 6’5” players. It depends on the OC and team you’re playing.
For us, the Nickel seems more like a hybrid safety/corner player. If we moved Tre there, that means a change in scheme to me.
Last I heard, Djimon Brooks is coming back. He played NG for us last year.
DL is probably going to see more rotation than OL—they did last year when we were healthy. I’d be more exacting on the DL, because we’ve got WDE, DT, NG, SDE, and there’s a big difference between playing NG and DT. (If you prefer NT=Nose Tackle over NG=Nose Guard, fine by me)
At LB, we have a Mike and a Will, and they’re hardly the same position. The Mike and the nose guard usually line up across from the Center/QB. The Will lines up on the weak side, outside at or near the end. I’m not sure if Eley is going to play Mike or Will, but it changes the playing time a lot if he’s at Will. Eley played Will for Maryland.
Keion White played WDE last season. Makius Scott is transferring in from an SDE spot. I see a lot of DE rotation coming.
Kevin Harris was at OLB, but seems to be moving back in a WDE role. If Eley goes to Mike, does Harris stay at LB and play Will? I think Eley is going to be one of the two LBs—I just don’t know which one. A lot of dominoes fall when we see where he plays.
Juanyeh Thomas is back, and is likely to be a starting Safety. Tariq Carpenter is also back, so both starting Safeties are coming back.
Two weeks into Spring Practice, and our defense will be a lot less murky.
jacketup
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Nickel, not nose.
SWATlien
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Scott is and has always been at DT.
Harris is a WDE for GT. The only reason he was OLB for BAMA is due to their 3-4 scheme. Which is why he transferred.
I plugged Eley as starter due to his starter experience and accomplishments at Maryland. He’s big, athletic, and physical which is obviously a need in Collins scheme.
Trae has had his struggles at corner a hybrid role maybe a better fit for him as he is a willing and decent tackler. He has NFL
aspirations & imo he’s better suited as a safety in the league. He’s big and physical but doesn’t have great speed.
Sorry for misspelling Djimon.
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I pulled a couple of lineups from the Pitt game. I’m not sure if anyone would want to rewatch that game—at least the first half. We gave that game away, but that’s another discussion.
Here’s our first defensive lineup (btw, we got torched on this play—Carpenter ran to the right side instead of down the middle).
Carpenter is barely on the left side of the screen (you can see his helmet near the bottom ATL. He’s on the bottom hash). Pitt is trips to the top of the screen. Curry is at Mike and he’s WAY shifted to the top to cover the slant. Nickel has his toes on the 20. NG is between the center and guard. SDE has his hand in the dirt against the tackle. WDE is upright. DT is lined up over the guard. The DL is lined up normally—the back 7 are in a shift to the left/top.
This is a weird example, because we shifted our LBs way over to cover trips—which got us burned on a run to the weak side that was broken back to the middle.
Here’s another one. Somewhat more normal; Curry is almost lined up with the center. NG has shifted to line up with a guard.
I realize this is a long winded way of saying we’re not going to swap Mike and Will, or SDE and WDE. I’ll see if I can find another photo where Brooks is lined up over Center, but Guard is as far out as the NG will really go, and they have to be stout. You want them to take up 2 or more blockers. You figure out who is playing NG and you work the line out from there. That’ll be Brooks (and Stone, I think). Then SDE and WDE and DT.
Good explainer here that’s pretty much the way we play it. Key point is “if you don’t get pressure, you’ll get burned”, which was the story of our defense last season.
Here’s our first defensive lineup (btw, we got torched on this play—Carpenter ran to the right side instead of down the middle).
Carpenter is barely on the left side of the screen (you can see his helmet near the bottom ATL. He’s on the bottom hash). Pitt is trips to the top of the screen. Curry is at Mike and he’s WAY shifted to the top to cover the slant. Nickel has his toes on the 20. NG is between the center and guard. SDE has his hand in the dirt against the tackle. WDE is upright. DT is lined up over the guard. The DL is lined up normally—the back 7 are in a shift to the left/top.
This is a weird example, because we shifted our LBs way over to cover trips—which got us burned on a run to the weak side that was broken back to the middle.
Here’s another one. Somewhat more normal; Curry is almost lined up with the center. NG has shifted to line up with a guard.
I realize this is a long winded way of saying we’re not going to swap Mike and Will, or SDE and WDE. I’ll see if I can find another photo where Brooks is lined up over Center, but Guard is as far out as the NG will really go, and they have to be stout. You want them to take up 2 or more blockers. You figure out who is playing NG and you work the line out from there. That’ll be Brooks (and Stone, I think). Then SDE and WDE and DT.
Good explainer here that’s pretty much the way we play it. Key point is “if you don’t get pressure, you’ll get burned”, which was the story of our defense last season.
TheNaturalScientist
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By my count, we added 5 starters on defense versus last season. White at DE, Harris at DE or LB, Eley at LB, TK coming back from injury and Kenyatta at CB. That doesn’t even include Scott who will be top DL off of the bench. If Tre moves to NB then that’s an upgrade there too.
Switching to offense, we added 2 starters on the OL and more depth. We also added a number 1 receiver via northwestern and a stud freshman who should start day 1. I think TE and WR depth could be a hinderence next season though.
Finally, our kickers got healthy and we added a very strong transfer. The only position that took a hit on our entire team from a year ago is at punter.
The schedule is tough, but we should be very competitive in 2021!
Switching to offense, we added 2 starters on the OL and more depth. We also added a number 1 receiver via northwestern and a stud freshman who should start day 1. I think TE and WR depth could be a hinderence next season though.
Finally, our kickers got healthy and we added a very strong transfer. The only position that took a hit on our entire team from a year ago is at punter.
The schedule is tough, but we should be very competitive in 2021!
augustabuzz
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Tre stays at corner and Charlie Thomas plays nickel.
IM79
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Remember, we don't do depth charts. We have ATL and below the line.
684Bee
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Iiwii
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I thought Clayton had dropped out of FB, is he coming back?
MonroeJacket
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He’s been at workouts.
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We are loaded at WDE. I expect a lot out of Clayton this year. We’re so loaded at WDE that I wonder how we get them all on the field. We seem loaded at CB. I expect Tre Swilling to start somewhere; probably CB. I’m not sure how LB is going to shake out (partially because I don’t know where Eley is playing; most assume Mike). If you figure out LB, I think you figure out the most important factor for our defense for the season.
gtrower
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Agree Eley and White will probably start. Have very little experience at LB and no reason bringing in upperclassmen transfers unless we think they’ll be major contributors.
Harris has barely played any college football / not one snap at DE and you have him displacing Domineck? I wouldn’t bet on that.
Also not sold on Watson starting. Eventually I think he’ll be a stud, but we’re deep at CB in 2021.
UgaBlows
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He didn’t seem to make many plays at nickle last season, maybe still learning the position? I thought he was our best playmaker at LB, even being really undersized he shows out there at times. He may be a liability in run defense because of his size though and we have upgrades.