I'm still far from convinced our defense will be the top unit in the Big10. Ohio State lost 9 starters, so I'll say we probably top them. But they still were the #3 scoring defense last year, they won't fall too far. Cassidy != Gomes/Hagg, Evans != Amukamara. The question is will Crick, Stein, Meredith, and David be "that" much better to compesate for the losses. Our line should be extremely dominant next year - I am hopefully it's enough to make up for our losses in the secondary. Only time will tell.
Fonzie is going to be a lock-down corner. We'll put Evans at the other corner, and if he plays remotely like the glimpses of brilliance he showed last year, we'll be fine in the secondary. Dijon Washington and Lazari Middleton were hyped up quite a bit, and should (hopefully) provide depth. At the two safeties we'll have a choice of Cassidy, PJ Smith and Courtney Osborne, all of whom have inspired confidence at one time or another. Andrew Green is in the secondary mix somewhere, as is Antonio Bell, and both appear to be coachable athletes. We'll have a secondary as good as anyone in the Big 10, if not better.
Our D Line is going to be solid. Crick should be a bulwark, and I presume that Steinkuhler hasn't peaked and will improve. Subbing Rome, Randle and Moore in shouldn't be much of a dropoff, so we have good depth at DT. Meredith should have a fine season and shouldn't drop off at all, and if he improves on 2010 he'll be a force. I don't presume to know who's going to get the starting nod at the other DE spot, but if Ankrah turns out to be anything like the hype, he'll be just fine on the other end. If it's Eric Martin, hopefully he's found a way to channel that aggression into smart play. If so, our DEs should be terrifying, and either EMart or Ankrah will provide quality depth. I am not concerned about our D Line at all.
Where I'm really concerned is at LB. Fisher and Compton have yet to live up to the gaudy hype they received when they were recruits. Neither have been terrible, and of course the jury's still way out on Fisher since he lost a year. Here's hoping both improve and provide solid run-stuffing hits. Compton should be ahead of Fisher due to game experience, but Fisher is supposed to be quite good. The one guy we're not concerned with is LaVonte David, who should bulk up a bit yet still remain a major force behind the line. I'm very happy to have him back this year. If guys like Whaley and Matt May can provide good minutes behind an improved Fisher and Compton, we'll be OK.
Overall I'm happy with where our defense is right now. We lose guys, but we have solid depth behind them. We should be a stingy defense once again in 2011.
I just hope our offense can figure out what's going on at some point so we can make some waves. If not, it's going to be another depressing year of stupid losses.
