Mailbag question: 2010 defense

Hello,

I love the blog and the quality insight you guys provide.

My question is about the 2010 defense. We are losing Graham, which will be a huge loss, but my concern is more with the defensive backfield. We are losing three starting LB’s (Mouton, Ezeh, and Brown) who have all been pretty bad this year, but the fact that they are playing above everyone else concerns me about the talent of the underclassmen. We might lose our one decent corner in Warren, and we are currently playing mediocre walk-on’s in the safety position.

It appears that this recruiting class will not bring in enough high-level talent to make a big contribution next year in the defensive backfield.

My question is who will step up next year?

Are there any signs of hope that next years’ defense will be better than this year’s, or should we expect another rough year?

Thanks,

Chris R.

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Thanks for the question and comments.

Mouton and Ezeh are red-shirt juniors and both have another year of eligibility.

S. Brown’s primary back ups have been Hawthorne and Jones this spring.

Do not be surprised if B. Smith gets a look at the Sam linebacker position.

We expect C. Roh to eventually grow into B. Graham’s spot, if not in 2010, then by 2011.

D. Warren would leave a huge hole if he chooses to leave, but we would expect JT. Turner, JT. Floyd and one of the incoming freshmen to fight for the position. We believe that T. Woolfolk will probably stay at cornerback, especially if D. Warren leaves.

JT Turner we believed, during the spring, would see playing time his freshman year. At that time we did not know there were going to be academic issues. He was not able to come in as soon as he graduated, or even during the summertime. He wasn’t able to come in until after the season was under way and missed several fall camp practices. It got to a point where we believe the coaches thought they would be fine with the players they have and did not want to take the shirt off of JT Turner. Then, he also came in out of shape and we believe by next season /spring JT will be on the field and probably a starter for this defense.

The biggest problem in our opinion right now is not having a high quality safety. As soon as UM moved T. Woolfolk to cornerback, the safety play has declined quickly.

We believe that the injury /swelling of Vlad’s knee has really hampered him this year and as an associated result this team. It is tough to count on a true freshman at a key position. We still stand behind what we said in the spring that he was our best safety. He is fine now, but the described medical condition set him back. We believe in the spring Vlad will be counted on and expected to play some key minutes next year.

We also expect W. Campbell to be ready to take many more snaps and become a factor on the defensive line. He is a kid that wants to work hard and improve, unlike what UM had at his position in the past with guys like A. Branch and G. Watson.

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