3 days until game day. Let's start with should be the strength of our team.
Let me start off by saying that just by moving to a 4-3 should do wonders for some of our team, although we did do some 4-3 last year but just called it something different.
I'm not saying a 3-4 defense is right/wrong, but we never had the right guys for it.
I'm not telling any tales from school when I say that we didn't look like were in very good shape last year. Covid and blah blah blah, but that was pretty pathetic. It seems like everyone is now in the best shape of their lives.
Big Boi's
Coach Drake is back, so no change in coaching talent. He's got a lot of capable bodies to play with.
Sam Burt & Caleb Sampson sitting at the top of the depth chart, and we know who they are. Both in their 5th year. Neither are a massive plug guy that will clog up the middle, but the two of them together should be good enough to hold their own and not let their OL push them out and take out our LB's.
I would expect Wilson and McGee to get close to a third of the snaps, maybe more for Wilson. Both in their 4th year. From what I've seen from Wilson, there is little to no drop in talent there. Don't know much about McGee, but supposedly he's one of the top performers this summer as far as body transformation goes. Lost a lot of fat and put on a lot of muscle.
Also expect Caleb Taylor and Kenean Caldwell to get a few series. Both in their second year. Neither was able to show a ton, but with Taylor you saw someone that could move pretty good. Caldwell was fat AF and I didn't think there was any chance he could play, but he got in 6 of 9 games and was actually able to do a little more than just take up space. I will be watching to see what he turned himself into this offseason. I know he was hurt for a good chunk, but hoping he was still able to get work in.
Tommy Dunn is the future. Not sure when he'll be ready to be unleashed, but I can't wait.
Ends
Schoonover in his first year. Hired to be OLB, now moved to DE. I imagine Drake chimes in as well while Schoonie is with the ST.
I'll start on the Strongside with Malcolm Lee. 5th year out of HS, 3rd at KU. Came in with some hype, hasn't really lived up to it. Put on bad weight, lost a bunch of weight, arguably too much weight, not really sure where he's at now. Should look better in a 4-3. Could be good if he's got it all together.
Jereme Robinson the backup. 2nd year here, but was a grayshirt so he's actually 3rd season after HS. You always hear positive things about him. A little overshadowed by Terry and Harris. Played in 8 games, seems to have a motor. Alabama boy, will be knocking on the starting door if Lee doesn't show up.
Do we play Debose on the strongside? Figured he would be more of a Weakside pass rusher, but maybe not. Withers will likely end up here, but no clue where he's at. Caleb Taylor could easily get reps here as well. There was camp chatter about True-Frosh PWO Cole Petrus, but not really expecting him to see the field. Maybe we throw Dom Orange a bone and play his brother a series?
Alrighty then, moving on to Weakside DE. If there's one name you've heard this offseason, it's Kyron Johnson. He reminds me of Azur Kamara as in he's a freak of nature, but KU just never seemed to utilize him to his strengths. He's an edge rusher, so let's all pray to god that he's used that way and not chasing down TE's and slot receivers in the backfield. I'm a little nervous about that because our LB's are really speedsters.
Backing him up is Hayden Hatcher while Steven Parker gets back to form. Maybe Parker is in good enough shape to play? I hope so. Hatcher seems like a workhorse, not sure about his overall talent, we'll see.
Would think Debose will get reps as well. I'm curious to see what his speed is off the line. Should know pretty quick which Zion Debose we're getting.
Backers
Eliot is gone. Simpson is in. I didn't hate Eliot like some did. Excited for Simpson though. Seems intense, and is supposed to be Buffalo's top recruiter.
Will be interested to watch how we use our linebackers. Sounds like we will be more of a 4-2-5 than a traditional 4-3.
We'll start with was I expect to be the Will, Gavin Potter. Third season at KU. Has as ton of reps. Thrown in the fire right away and has been figuring everything out on the go. Has been exposed a lot, but also has made some of our better defensive plays. No excuses anymore. The tools are there, is his head there? I wouldn't bet against him yet.
The talk of camp for the LB's has been Drew Barrymore, I mean Taiwan Berryhill. We'll need hope he's there, because he needs to be the QB of the defense. Only 5 games under his belt coming into his second season.
I think Dineen and Channel will be first off the bench for either of these positions. You know Channel will put his body on the line, and Dineen has dropped like 20lbs, so hopefully that will help in coverage, although a lot of mistakes I saw from him were mental errors.
Would expect Rich Miller to sub in these spots as well as the hyrib LB spot with Betts.
Speaking of Betts, he's the other starting LB. What's this hybrid going to be? Is he more of a DB or a LB? I thought Betts was pretty decent last year, although I'd trade him for Ferguson. Sounds like he's been doing all the right things this offseason. We'll see how it goes. I think Miller is going to get a lot of reps, think he's pretty good. Wouldn't be surprised to see Miller get more reps at the traditional LB spots while Betts owns this spot, which occasional reps given to Gaines.
Doorknob
Getting winded, let's power through it. Borland taking over the safeties. Upgrade from Peterson, who I liked and is still here as an analyst.
Should be a strength. We've got 2 guys with a ton of reps, then a talented youngsters with no experience.
Kenny Logan. Leader of the team. Showed NFL athleticism right off the boat. Getting better every game, but still has a lot to prove as far as being an NFL guy goes.
Ricky Thomas is entering his 6th year, 4th year at KU. He's reliable. Isn't going to wow you, not a big turnover threat either, but he can cover the field.
Two True Freshman backing them up. OJ Burroughs going to be great one day. Jayson Gilliom may end up being even better. I hope he can add some muscle and move over to that hybrid spot next year. They will help bring us back to being a turnover squad.
Lastly, the CB's.
Chevy Chase Jackson back at it.
With Prunty leaving, CB could be looked at as in the biggest trouble on the team. But I don't think so, Tim. I think we're loaded. Out with the old, and in with the new.
Duece Mayberry starting at CB1. Our top recruit in the 2020 class. Played in all 9 games last year. Supposedly has been impressive all camp. I think he's ready to move on from last season and take over.
Shocker for me on the new depth chart was Ra'Mello Dotson getting the nod at CB2. Nothing against him, I just never really heard much about him, other than he's one of the 5 players on the team that now have a 40+" vertical.
That's great news for us that he's that highly regarded, because we have Jacobee Bryant and Jeremy Webb behind them. I'd bet they all get pretty good reps.
We all saw Bryant in the Spring game. Last summer people said he was the best CB on the field (which included Prunty, both Mayberry's and Elijah Jones). He's gonna play and has a knack for getting to the ball.
Maybe it's just because I've seen highlight videos, but I think Jeremy Webb is a freak. I thought there was no way he wouldn't be starting. He's 6 fricking 4 and can run with WR's. You have to respect that height or you will get picked. He's tore his achilies twice, but his MO St tape looks just fine. I'm excited to watch him play.
Great googly moogly I'm tired. Long story short is we've got some guys, a lot of our depth is super young, and we'll still probably suck but that's ok because iron sharpens iron, we are getting 1% better every day.
RCJH
Let me start off by saying that just by moving to a 4-3 should do wonders for some of our team, although we did do some 4-3 last year but just called it something different.
I'm not saying a 3-4 defense is right/wrong, but we never had the right guys for it.
I'm not telling any tales from school when I say that we didn't look like were in very good shape last year. Covid and blah blah blah, but that was pretty pathetic. It seems like everyone is now in the best shape of their lives.
Big Boi's
Coach Drake is back, so no change in coaching talent. He's got a lot of capable bodies to play with.
Sam Burt & Caleb Sampson sitting at the top of the depth chart, and we know who they are. Both in their 5th year. Neither are a massive plug guy that will clog up the middle, but the two of them together should be good enough to hold their own and not let their OL push them out and take out our LB's.
I would expect Wilson and McGee to get close to a third of the snaps, maybe more for Wilson. Both in their 4th year. From what I've seen from Wilson, there is little to no drop in talent there. Don't know much about McGee, but supposedly he's one of the top performers this summer as far as body transformation goes. Lost a lot of fat and put on a lot of muscle.
Also expect Caleb Taylor and Kenean Caldwell to get a few series. Both in their second year. Neither was able to show a ton, but with Taylor you saw someone that could move pretty good. Caldwell was fat AF and I didn't think there was any chance he could play, but he got in 6 of 9 games and was actually able to do a little more than just take up space. I will be watching to see what he turned himself into this offseason. I know he was hurt for a good chunk, but hoping he was still able to get work in.
Tommy Dunn is the future. Not sure when he'll be ready to be unleashed, but I can't wait.
Ends
Schoonover in his first year. Hired to be OLB, now moved to DE. I imagine Drake chimes in as well while Schoonie is with the ST.
I'll start on the Strongside with Malcolm Lee. 5th year out of HS, 3rd at KU. Came in with some hype, hasn't really lived up to it. Put on bad weight, lost a bunch of weight, arguably too much weight, not really sure where he's at now. Should look better in a 4-3. Could be good if he's got it all together.
Jereme Robinson the backup. 2nd year here, but was a grayshirt so he's actually 3rd season after HS. You always hear positive things about him. A little overshadowed by Terry and Harris. Played in 8 games, seems to have a motor. Alabama boy, will be knocking on the starting door if Lee doesn't show up.
Do we play Debose on the strongside? Figured he would be more of a Weakside pass rusher, but maybe not. Withers will likely end up here, but no clue where he's at. Caleb Taylor could easily get reps here as well. There was camp chatter about True-Frosh PWO Cole Petrus, but not really expecting him to see the field. Maybe we throw Dom Orange a bone and play his brother a series?
Alrighty then, moving on to Weakside DE. If there's one name you've heard this offseason, it's Kyron Johnson. He reminds me of Azur Kamara as in he's a freak of nature, but KU just never seemed to utilize him to his strengths. He's an edge rusher, so let's all pray to god that he's used that way and not chasing down TE's and slot receivers in the backfield. I'm a little nervous about that because our LB's are really speedsters.
Backing him up is Hayden Hatcher while Steven Parker gets back to form. Maybe Parker is in good enough shape to play? I hope so. Hatcher seems like a workhorse, not sure about his overall talent, we'll see.
Would think Debose will get reps as well. I'm curious to see what his speed is off the line. Should know pretty quick which Zion Debose we're getting.
Backers
Eliot is gone. Simpson is in. I didn't hate Eliot like some did. Excited for Simpson though. Seems intense, and is supposed to be Buffalo's top recruiter.
Will be interested to watch how we use our linebackers. Sounds like we will be more of a 4-2-5 than a traditional 4-3.
We'll start with was I expect to be the Will, Gavin Potter. Third season at KU. Has as ton of reps. Thrown in the fire right away and has been figuring everything out on the go. Has been exposed a lot, but also has made some of our better defensive plays. No excuses anymore. The tools are there, is his head there? I wouldn't bet against him yet.
The talk of camp for the LB's has been Drew Barrymore, I mean Taiwan Berryhill. We'll need hope he's there, because he needs to be the QB of the defense. Only 5 games under his belt coming into his second season.
I think Dineen and Channel will be first off the bench for either of these positions. You know Channel will put his body on the line, and Dineen has dropped like 20lbs, so hopefully that will help in coverage, although a lot of mistakes I saw from him were mental errors.
Would expect Rich Miller to sub in these spots as well as the hyrib LB spot with Betts.
Speaking of Betts, he's the other starting LB. What's this hybrid going to be? Is he more of a DB or a LB? I thought Betts was pretty decent last year, although I'd trade him for Ferguson. Sounds like he's been doing all the right things this offseason. We'll see how it goes. I think Miller is going to get a lot of reps, think he's pretty good. Wouldn't be surprised to see Miller get more reps at the traditional LB spots while Betts owns this spot, which occasional reps given to Gaines.
Doorknob
Getting winded, let's power through it. Borland taking over the safeties. Upgrade from Peterson, who I liked and is still here as an analyst.
Should be a strength. We've got 2 guys with a ton of reps, then a talented youngsters with no experience.
Kenny Logan. Leader of the team. Showed NFL athleticism right off the boat. Getting better every game, but still has a lot to prove as far as being an NFL guy goes.
Ricky Thomas is entering his 6th year, 4th year at KU. He's reliable. Isn't going to wow you, not a big turnover threat either, but he can cover the field.
Two True Freshman backing them up. OJ Burroughs going to be great one day. Jayson Gilliom may end up being even better. I hope he can add some muscle and move over to that hybrid spot next year. They will help bring us back to being a turnover squad.
Lastly, the CB's.
Chevy Chase Jackson back at it.
With Prunty leaving, CB could be looked at as in the biggest trouble on the team. But I don't think so, Tim. I think we're loaded. Out with the old, and in with the new.
Duece Mayberry starting at CB1. Our top recruit in the 2020 class. Played in all 9 games last year. Supposedly has been impressive all camp. I think he's ready to move on from last season and take over.
Shocker for me on the new depth chart was Ra'Mello Dotson getting the nod at CB2. Nothing against him, I just never really heard much about him, other than he's one of the 5 players on the team that now have a 40+" vertical.
That's great news for us that he's that highly regarded, because we have Jacobee Bryant and Jeremy Webb behind them. I'd bet they all get pretty good reps.
We all saw Bryant in the Spring game. Last summer people said he was the best CB on the field (which included Prunty, both Mayberry's and Elijah Jones). He's gonna play and has a knack for getting to the ball.
Maybe it's just because I've seen highlight videos, but I think Jeremy Webb is a freak. I thought there was no way he wouldn't be starting. He's 6 fricking 4 and can run with WR's. You have to respect that height or you will get picked. He's tore his achilies twice, but his MO St tape looks just fine. I'm excited to watch him play.
Great googly moogly I'm tired. Long story short is we've got some guys, a lot of our depth is super young, and we'll still probably suck but that's ok because iron sharpens iron, we are getting 1% better every day.
RCJH
