Spring Position Battles Defense
WoolleyDoog
Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 4,288 
The defense is less set than the offense going into spring and we quietly lost a lot of starters on D. Seems like we picked up starters in the portal at LB, CB1 and S but there's major competition at other spots…
EDGE - Even Doogs have to question if Durfee will ever really play. I have doubts, but he is probably listed at EDGE1 going in. Isaiah Ward is the most proven commodity coming back and has shown pass rushing ability, but he's 6'5 227 and that's not gonna work against Big 10 run offenses. Same goes for injury enigma Russell Davis II who is 6'3 217 but and was electric against UCLA but legit hurt every other game. Jacob Lane has made some nice plays in his career and is only in his third year. Could see a nice boost. Arizona transfers Uiagelelei feels like a backup piece who will help in run defense in the Big 10 as more of a stronger, bigger guy. The group lacks depth as the only other guy on my radar is Deshawn Lynch, who didn't look great and might be more of a DT.
DT - Think the expectation is Pepa and Thompson come from the portal and start. Jayvon Parker would be a potential star here to me but dont' know when and how he comes back from his achilles injury. Armon Parker has barely played in his career due to injuries. There's bodies here though as 370 pound Sagapolu comes back, Bryce Butler the Canadian JC transfer is intriguing as he missed a ton of 2024 due to family tragedy but looked decent when in, and Elinneus Davis feels like a high ceiling guy.
Nickel/CB3 - Trading Tacario for Thaddeus is a win, but does suck we couldn't get Thaddeus to stay because now this spot is a complete mystery. Leroy Butler has played the most but I never noticed him. Dyson McCutcheon is listed as a DB but could see him play here a lot with his experience, even if it hasn't been good and true freshman Dylan Robinson could get immediate PT. This is a top spot to consider a spring portal guy.
Comments
That's a pretty good recap.
I'm moderately concerned about S. There's a lot of unknowns about the portal guys. We'll have to LIPO this spring.
I really, really hope Elinneus Davis takes a big jump this year. I think the rest of the guys are JAGs. I don't think Jayvon Parker will ever give us a full season after his injury histroy.
I don't love safety either, but I'm thinking they are definitely settled on the NAU transfer, the FIU one, and Esteen. Maybe we're due for some of our lower level transfers to actually pan out.
At least for this year I feel like there's enough decent bodies there to where they should be fine. Davis to me certainly looks like a guy. The Parkers are at high risk for being guys who just are never healthy.
Yeah, I don't think they'll bring anyone in. It just feels….rickety.
This all reads like a 6 win team defense.
My take:
2024 vs 2025
Edge: Better
DT: Better
LB: Equal
CB: Better
S: Worse
DCoordinator: Better
Does a better defense along with a better offense equal more wins, sure.gif
9 wins
Safety has been an underrated Achilles heel since 2018
Demond is going to have to carry this entire team.
That always works well. Should add a Heisman campaign just to fuck it up further.
Penix is the only guy that didn't melt under the pressure of having the team on his back during a Heisman campaign. Maybe Tui but I don't think he was ever in serious Heisman consideration
Are you only talking QB's? Kaufman didn't rush for 1800 yards and get invited to New York but he had a really, really good senior year. Hard to overcome the riverboat gambler and all the underachieving he produced.
And UW was 7-4 and invented football at Oregon
I think the safeties will be fine. I like the two players they brought in, especially the NAU transfer. Losing Waters was a blow (thanks jedd, you cuck). CB is a net gain, two experienced seniors, one a lottery type pick and lots of "talent" waiting in the wings. LB is hopefully a push. Bruener was very good last year and Tupatala was stout against the run. Manu might not play this year or this might have been a net gain, he was first team All-P12 and a major playmaker under this staff. The DL is the major issue. Pepa hasn't been healthy for two years, the Parkers haven't been healthy for a full season yet, Durfee and D. Davis can't stay healthy, what is Sagapolus ceiling, MJ Ale? Will E. Davis take a step? Can Kahn provide meaningful snaps? Is Jacob Lane a tweener? Too slow and stiff on the edge and too slight to play inside? Sooooo many questions and unknowns on the DL. If all these dudes do what they've done recently then that position will be dreadful and the defense will get pushed around and man handled for a second consecutive year. If they all stay healthy then the line will have depth and size and interchangeability that will make the position group much better than 2024 but who's betting on that? Not this Doog.
94 was a pretty good year
It's quietly true we have been pretty pedestrian at safety since Rapp and McIntosh. I won't believe the NAU and FIU guys will be more than just guys, at best, until I see otherwise. We haven't gotten much out of our transferring up portal guys.
Outside of Demond's potential the biggest plus I see for the team is the competition. Outside of Ohio State and Oregon (and even both of them are in rebuilds), who on the schedule is bringing anything more to the table? I feel like outside of those two games we're going to see a lot of close games and we could go anywhere from 5-7 to 10-2 depending on the breaks.
3 of those dudes are dead already.
Is Caleb Presley really not ready to play DB3/Nickel? I forget what year he is but given the hoopla for landing him, should be playing a lot once he's past his first year, no?
I’m surprised you’re surprised.
The little I've heard about Presley unfortunately is that he's probably not a power conference level player. Doogman said the same thing about McCutcheon and he ended up playing a bunch last year so never say never.
So, is tracy ford able to develop players or no? I have zero idea what a reasonable hit rate is on kids being productive contributiors in college, but it seems like FSP has got to be batting well below the average.
I don't have metrics in fun of me but the state as a whole seems to be falling off in production in recent years.
With Presley my read was Deboer and company weren't big on him but there was pressure to not always have the top guy in state go to Oregon and they had a scholarship so they took him.