Cue the Wringing Hands...the defense

So, having looked at what to expect from the offense, now we are looking at what we might see from the defense.

To begin with, I reviewed the defense from 2008 during the spring. What I concluded was that the defense was, on average, better than we thought, which was somewhere in the middle of the conference. Of course, there were some pretty bad meltdowns here and there that cost us a shot at the MAC Title, but on average, we were OK against the run and pretty strong against the pass and fourth in the conference in scoring.

That is not terribly surprising, given that it was a senior dominated unit. Since then, we've seen big losses in our defensive line and linebackers....positions that had already suffered losses from some of the Brandon-era disciplinary problems.

For example, on the defensive line, the starter at every position left (based on the depth chart for UT, and that includes Michael Ream who was dismissed from the team in the meantime) as well as super-sub Adrian Baker. And, at LB, we lost two very strong LBs in Erique Dozier and John Haneline.

Which leaves exactly one starter returning in the front seven--Jerrett Sanderson. This is a huge hole to rebuild for our team, and is the single thing that worries me most about our team for this year. If teams can grind the ball against us and if we can't pressure the QB, we will find it hard to get off the field.

The defensive line has three juniors--the media guide depth chart shows, left to right, Darius Smith, Nick Torresso, Kevin Alvarado and Angelo Magnone. However, these are juniors without a lot of playing experience. Smith, for example, played in six games last year. Torresso, Alvarado and Magnone all did get some playing time through the season and even had a few big plays.

Their reserves are the same issue, only more extreme.

At LB, I think the situation shows a little more promise. Certainly, we lost two very good players. Furthermore, Eugene Fells was a backup and kind of expected to move into a starting role, and the depth chart shows him still as a back up. But you have Jerrett Sanderson returning along with Cody Basler who was division player of the week against Wyoming and made 11 tackles vs. UT (Dozier was suspended). At the weak side you have James Schneider, a JUCO transfer who made a handful of stops last year.

I guess when you look at a team, you either have players who have proven they can do it, or you have players who have not proven they can do it. Doesn't mean they can't, only that they haven't. And, there are a high number of question marks in our front seven.

The defensive backfield has our two best defensive players (Jahmal Brown and PJ Mahone) at safety, but both corners graduated, and they were good ones too. Roger Williams and Adrien Spencer are the new players here, and they are both pretty untested, playing most in the occasional nickel coverage. Also, the players we would use in our nickel and dime packages are fairly untested too.

I guess I don't want to belabor the point. There are six seniors on our starting defense, and for all I know, they are gelling into a very strong unit. But that will be a surprise. This year's defense--especially on the line--is going to have to work hard to achieve. My hope is that the offense can take care of the ball and limit their snaps and that our new coaches are able to coach these guys up.