I feel really good about our defense in 2013....

[Coach34]

the talent level is pretty impressive for us to put on the field:

DT's- we have 5 guys that will play- Eulls, Evans, James, Jones, Virges- a 5-star and three 4-stars

DE's- Autry, P. Smith, R. Brown, C. Jones- two 5-star players in that rotation...plus 4-star AJ Jefferson thrown in trying to make the 2-deep

LBs- McKinney, Bohanna, Skinner, R. Brown, B.Brown, Wells, Hughes- should be a pretty good group

CB's- Love, Calhoun, Jiles, Redmond- gonna be battle out of those 4...ima predict Love and Jiles start the season at CB

Safety- Cox, Whitley, Jay Hughes, and Dee Arrington- Whitley needs to come back strong after a disappointing Jr season


That's some really good talent with depth...Collins is a lucky man- 1 true freshman on the entire 2-deep

 

[57stratdawg]

It certainly looks good on paper, then again, so did last years. I don't expect a tremendous amount from Jones next year. Tough to go from MS 3A (?) to SEC caliber.

I think Autry is the guy to really get excited about next year at DE.

 

[missouridawg]

Admittedly, I've been pessimistic on what our defense is going to do next year solely based upon losing Slay, Banks, Lawrence, Boyd, and Broomfield. That's 5 starters who played a lot of reps for us.

After looking at the depth chart you posted, I'm starting to change my tune, however. We have a lot of talent on that side of the ball (especially the D-Line). I think people are underestimating a few players on the D-Line as well; Torrey Dale and Jordan Washington. Those two should be right in the mix for reps with the 2 deep.

A change in scheme will do us very good, as well. Hopefully this unit plays like the defense of 2010.

 

[FreeDawg]

We get to observe a interesting defensive makeup. I think our front 7 this year can make our DB's better next year than our DB's helped our front 7 in '12

 

[Buford T. Justice]

I agree.

The only linebacker we lose is Cam Lawrence. Everybody else will be back one year stronger and older, and I can't wait to see the 2 Browns play.

A lack of a pass rush off of the edge has hurt us the last few years. Autry seemed to get better as the year went on, Preston Smith and Ryan Brown showed flashes of being good pass rushers, and Chris Jones has all the potential in the world. Our defense will improve greatly if we can pressure the QB without having the blitz.

We've got to improve our safety play (Cox should help), Nick James needs to be in shape, and Jiles and Redmond need to step-up and make solid contributions.

 

[InaccuratePredictionsDawg]

All I ask is...

..can they please start hitting people again. The MSU defense shyed away from contact in 2012. Even Croom's defenses didn't do that. I like the talent level, but if there are no headhunters in that group, then we're back to Square 1.

 

[patdog]

Jones dominated at the Army AA game. He should be able to at least be a decent contributer this fall. I'm cautiously optimistic about next year's defense. The talent looks good, but most of it is unproven. Sometimes players turn out to be as good as or better than expected, sometimes they turn out to be worse or a lot worse.

 

[CadaverDawg]

the talent level is pretty impressive for us to put on the field:

DT's- we have 5 guys that will play- Eulls, Evans, James, Jones, Virges- a 5-star and three 4-stars

DE's- Autry, P. Smith, R. Brown, C. Jones- two 5-star players in that rotation...plus 4-star AJ Jefferson thrown in trying to make the 2-deep

LBs- McKinney, Bohanna, Skinner, R. Brown, B.Brown, Wells, Hughes- should be a pretty good group

CB's- Love, Calhoun, Jiles, Redmond- gonna be battle out of those 4...ima predict Love and Jiles start the season at CB

Safety- Cox, Whitley, Jay Hughes, and Dee Arrington- Whitley needs to come back strong after a disappointing Jr season


That's some really good talent with depth...Collins is a lucky man- 1 true freshman on the entire 2-deep

I agree completely. And the most important thing about the defense is that Chris Wilson is not in the two deep at Defensive Coordinator.

I think we will see Nickoe have a good year after a disappointing 2012. He looked much better against Northwestern than he had most of the year. Plus, I think having Deshea Townsend coaching corners will help, because hopefully he can work with the entire secondary some to improve Nickoe's angles. I think Nickoe was playing the same last year as he did the year before, but unfortunately he was a few steps slower so he was exposed. He has to make up for lack of speed by taking better angles and just being a smarter player as a Senior leader.

I expect David Turner to fully utilize Quay's ability to disrupt the line of scrimmage this year. If we are able to get a decent push from those DT's, Autry will go off McPhee style in 2013. I don't expect Chris Jones to start right away, but either way our pass rush should improve because Cherrington will be out of the way, and Eulls will be off the edge. Giving us two guys with speed coming off the edge, and some serious beef in the middle with quickness and speed.

The D-Line improvement with Turner will do wonders for our LB play too in my opinion. We have some stud LB's and a ton of depth...I see nothing but good things from this group.

I hope you are right about Love and Jiles. If Wilson and Melvin were here, I have no doubt that Calhoun would start next year. Not saying Calhoun is bad, but I think Collins, Turner, Townsend will ALWAYS put our best guys on the field.

Overall, I think we see a similar style of pass defense due to inexperience at the corners early in the season....but our ability to rush the passer should improve, so I don't think a soft secondary will be as noticeable.

It all starts up front, and we have the talent and depth to have a big year defensively.

 

[Coach34]

It certainly looks good on paper, then again, so did last years. I don't expect a tremendous amount from Jones next year. Tough to go from MS 3A (?) to SEC caliber.

I think Autry is the guy to really get excited about next year at DE.

Jones will be fine- but he wont start early- if at all. He has to get alot more strength in his shoulders and learn the hell out of some technique. But with all his talent, he can win battles even when he isnt technically sound. He is not going to be a star in 2013- thats for sure. But he should have a solid year rotating in and getting reps.

I agree on Autry-he looked pretty good the 2nd half of the season.

 

[cofreb]

Jones is not

dissimilar to Channing Ward (great athletes, small-town MS players without great 'technique', etc), who also had a very good Under Armour game and didn't do a whole bunch for Ole Miss this season. Of course if Jones can make his grades and get to Starkville in June that could make a huge difference relative to Ward's experience.

 

[dogeatdog]

If that secondary is going to have any success, we will have to get more

pressure on the QB. There's a lot of young guys back there and if we can't get pressure (like this year), our secondary will get roasted.

 

[57stratdawg]

I think there is more athletism in Jones than in Ward, but probably not as much upper body strength. I think Ward ultimately ends up inside (at least I thought that last year, haven't heard much from him since he's been on campus). I think Jones is true DE.

 

[Beretta.sixpack]

my early "ya boy" is Justin Cox. He will be all SEC in first season IMO.

Saban knew his talent. We got him. Will be a beast in the secondary at SS

 

[rugbdawg]

This is right on.

We looked good on paper last year and we look good on paper for 2013.

Unless there is a drastic change in philosophy, we will continue to get shredded.

 

[Coach34]

We looked good on paper last year and we look good on paper for 2013.
.

I disagree about 2012- we had many questions last year and knew we had issues on the DL:

We knew Jones was going to be suspended and miss some games
we knew that Quay was a true freshman
we knew that James was getting in late and wouldnt be in shape as a true freshman.
We knew Autry was going to have to adjust some from juco
We knew that Eulls couldnt rush the passer

We hoped that the freshmen could contribute more, Eulls would get better pass rush, Autry would adjust quicker, and Cherrington would never have to play. But those didnt happen.

in 2013:

Quay and James are a year older and more mature with a year under their belt.
Eulls is going to play inside where he should be more effective
Smith and Ryan Brown have experience and have shown some promise.
Autry has now adjusted to SEC football
Hopefully PJ Jones learned his lesson
Chris Jones should be a pretty good back-up

Alot less questions on the DL in 2013 than in 2012 in my opinion

 

[JackShephard]

U ready to concede our first baseball game yet?

 

[57stratdawg]

We dont know much about our DEs in 2013.

We HOPE Autry continues to improve. We don't know anything about Smith or Brown. We HOPE Jones can contribute off the edge some. There is still alot uncertainty at position.

 

[Coach 57]

I have met Coach Turner and studied his philosophies and specialties. He is great at coach interior lineman. I fully expect Quay & PJ to be absolutely monsters this year which will in turn give Autry and whomever the other DE 1 on 1s. Someone to keep an eye on is AJ and Torrey Bell. These two are going to put a tremendous amount on competition on the practice field which'll fuel drive from out recent 5* in Jones. I was telling a tsun fan who was arguing with me the other day that Chris Jones not only wasn't going to start but was going to struggle with a log jam of kids his exact build. Torrey is 6'5 240lbs, Ryan Brown is 6'4 240lbs, Autry is 6'5 255, Preston Smith is 6'6 245, and AJ is 6'2 240. My point is that these kids ALL are going to be special talents and especially the AJ & Bell. Now is the time to move Kaleb where he belongs which is inside. Balis needs to put on another 15-20 lbs on him and watch his speed inside work to the level I think he can be. To me Kaleb is a quicker Fletcher. And has the potential to be a versatile player. He can be a DT in a 43 or a nickel scheme or if we decide to go to a 3-4 he can be the DE that forces a double and allows the OLB (most likely Skinner) to come clean.


Our LBs are going to be incredibly athletic and fast. I have done nothing but brag on Richie Brown since I saw him last year. He is a meaner thicker Cam Lawrence. And coupled with Skinner, Benny, Wells, Bohanna, McKinney and a host of others this group might be our strength. I see the potential of our front 7 and we have some special talent. But football is as much about X's & O's as it is about Jimmy's & Joe's. Scheme....scheme.....scheme......personnel....personnel.....personnel.







DBs/Secondary: I talked and talked and talked about the guys I like on this unit. Most have disagreed and that's fine. I think that pressure from our front 7 has the potential to make this unit good. I have seen Cox and he has the biggest upside of any kid on our DB unit. He's a faster Banks that'll be covering the back end. Special talent! He can be an All SEC DB in his first yr. Watched him at WP and saw him at Scooba, absolutely killed Raymond Cotton and most other JUCO QBs.

 

[muddawgs]

I really like Quay and I'm expecting good things from him this season

the talent level is pretty impressive for us to put on the field:

DT's- we have 5 guys that will play- Eulls, Evans, James, Jones, Virges- a 5-star and three 4-stars

DE's- Autry, P. Smith, R. Brown, C. Jones- two 5-star players in that rotation...plus 4-star AJ Jefferson thrown in trying to make the 2-deep

LBs- McKinney, Bohanna, Skinner, R. Brown, B.Brown, Wells, Hughes- should be a pretty good group

CB's- Love, Calhoun, Jiles, Redmond- gonna be battle out of those 4...ima predict Love and Jiles start the season at CB

Safety- Cox, Whitley, Jay Hughes, and Dee Arrington- Whitley needs to come back strong after a disappointing Jr season


That's some really good talent with depth...Collins is a lucky man- 1 true freshman on the entire 2-deep

It seemed when he was in the game he played hard and was our only DL to disrupt plays. Excited to see what he does this season. If he keeps his head on straight, Quay will be one of the best DL to come through Msu.

 

[rugbdawg]

All of your points are correct. However, the question

marks on the Dline last year are very similar to the question marks we have in the secondary this year.

 

[BoomBoom.sixpack]

"ima predict Love and Jiles start the season at CB"

that scares the hell out of me. they both were terrible last year. Cherrington-level.

 

[RougeDawg]

Our horrible scheme and play calling from Wilson was the reason..

We get to observe a interesting defensive makeup. I think our front 7 this year can make our DB's better next year than our DB's helped our front 7 in '12

Our DB's didn't help out more. His **** zone cover 0 call he ran 75% of the time hurt their output.

 

[Railin Jemmye]

Well, as we saw time and time again in 2012, the DL is much more important than the secondary. We should be just fine.

 

[Coach34]

Well, as we saw time and time again in 2012, the DL is much more important than the secondary. We should be just fine.

I see that Goat is on the smiley side today.

DL > Secondary in importance...you stop the run and get more of a rush- the Secondary doesnt have to tackle as much or cover as long

 

[squirldawg]

Is that only 2 seniors on our 2 deep? 2014 is going to be "the year".

 

[CadaverDawg]

Is that only 2 seniors on our 2 deep? 2014 is going to be "the year".

Yep.....

Defense will be stacked and experienced. Offense will be back to what we should be doing scheme wise. Dak will be experienced...Malcolm Johnson will be a Senior...O-Line will have several experienced guys...Ross, Chappelle, Morrow, RoJo, and all of this years class at WR...JRob, Shumpert, Griffin(?) at RB. AND the schedule will be favorable. Could be a big year.

 

[coach66]

Hearing that Jefferson is going to be

A great player, very hard to block and brings the wood.

 

[mcdawg22]

I think everybody on this damn board is downplaying both the losses and the importance of our secondary. Pass rush is great but if DB's are out of position it dont take a hell of a lot of time to toss a 7 yd hitch that turns into a 79 yard TD. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. But when teams are throwing at 75% against us don't be shocked. Good DB's and Good DL's kind of have a symbiotic relationship that results in great defenses. I've always said OL and DB are the two positions on the field where you are only as good as your weakest link, and if there is a weak link it will be attacked and exposed over and over again.

 

[Koldfire]

Jiles will be a great corner..