A Sea Of Red

Well we are approaching the start of training camp and with all the talk about who is going to start at QB I thought Id get some discussion going on the different units and I thought Id kick off the discussion with the Defensive Line.

Looking at the position:

Returning:

Terry Adams Redshirt Junior Elkin, NC
Asa Chapman Sophomore Orange, VA
Stan Herring Redshirt Freshman Woodstock, GA
Trey Jacobs Senior Columbia, SC
Rick Personna Redshirt Senior Miami, FL
Daryl Robertson Junior Bedford, VA
Greg Schuster Redshirt Freshman Waxhaw, NC
Tim Smith Redshirt Junior High Point, NC
Soeren Wendland Redshirt Junior Cuxhaven Germany

Lost:

Kevin Richard Lynchburg, VA (Graduation)
Jay Coady Forest, VA (Graduation)
Ryan Jackson Forest, VA (Left Team)

Incoming
Jay Weatherington Woodbridge HS Woodbridge, VA


I think Weatherington will probably redshirt and Jacobs and Chapman will probably be two-thirds of the starting line. The question comes at the other end position. My personal feeling is Robertson or TIm Smith could be the third lineman but I want to know what you guys think as well.

Walk-On Bryant Lewellyn

The starting line will be Trey Jacobs, Asa Chapman, and Daryl Robertson. Terry Adams will be the first backup at the end position with Soeren possibly after that. The intriguing part of all of this that BJ missed is Steven Wilkes. The kid is insanely athletic and beefed up to play DE instead of TE. 6'6 and 270 is pretty scary coming off the edge. He'll be a redshirt freshman and didn't practice with the team last year so he may be a year or so away. If he can get it to click, along with Soeren and Tim Smith, we could be very deep at the DE position.

WOW now that's a d-line Robertson, Jacobs, Chapman. I think this Defense will be really good overall and make it tough for other teams to roll up big numbers.

What about Pat Bannon, how does he fit in the mix at DE?

SuperJon wrote:The starting line will be Trey Jacobs, Asa Chapman, and Daryl Robertson. Terry Adams will be the first backup at the end position with Soeren possibly after that. The intriguing part of all of this that BJ missed is Steven Wilkes. The kid is insanely athletic and beefed up to play DE instead of TE. 6'6 and 270 is pretty scary coming off the edge. He'll be a redshirt freshman and didn't practice with the team last year so he may be a year or so away. If he can get it to click, along with Soeren and Tim Smith, we could be very deep at the DE position.

Great stuff. That is always a plus to have such an athletic end.

jcmanson wrote:What about Pat Bannon, how does he fit in the mix at DE?

Completely forgot about Pat since he was hurt in spring ball. He'll be up there as well. We're going to be able to rotate DEs throughout the game and not really lose much. It might even allow Daryl to play a little nose guard in certain situations.

Another question I have, Asa's stamina. Will he be able to play multiple snaps consecutively? And who's his top back up?

Hey. I messed up. I thought Soeren had moved to DL this spring instead of moving to OL. I just flipped them in my head. If it clicks for him, he could be seeing time on OL. That's what I was thinking and just mixed up OL and DL. Yeah, it was a BJ moment.


As for Asa's stamina, he started hitting the weight room much better in the spring and I've heard he was doing really well this summer. I think you'll see him play most 1st and 2nd downs and then he'll come out for 3rd and Daryl would switch over. I could be completely wrong though. Wouldn't be the first time.

Jon sort of answered it, but I was also wondering who will spell Asa at nose tackle. I know his stamina has improved, but he is not going to be playing 60-70 snaps.

Schfourteenteen wrote:Walk-On Bryant Lewellyn

He's one strong dude

So Jay is being looked at on D-Line and O-Line? Interesting.

The defensive front is arguably our greatest strength heading into camp.

Sly Fox wrote:So Jay is being looked at on D-Line and O-Line? Interesting.

The defensive front is arguably our greatest strength heading into camp.

Yea I thought he was O-line

Thanks for all the info Jon...I did miss Wilkes switching sides of the ball. Looks like DL will be a real strength going in. About half of the sacks last year came from the front three so with that much depth you certainly could see those numbers increase a lot. As for Weatherington Sly, I am pretty sure when he was in high school he played both sides of the line. As I said I think he'll redshirt and that will give the coaching stafff time to see where he would best fit.