My buddy and I were talking about our defense last night. We have differing opinions. What are your thoughts?
D-line last year was the strenght of the Nebraska Defense.
But we have some serious holes to fill.
How will the D-line look this year?
Linebackers: Some great starters, but not much depth.
Thoughts on linebackers this year?
Backfield: Lastyear was very suspect, and at times downright painful.
Did we get our guys to help this blaring deficit, and are the guys mature or are we still one year away?
Overall, how will the defense look this year?
The D-line is the most obvious area of concern due to the fact that every one of the guys on last year's unit are now in NFL camps. While I understand the concern of Husker nation, I don't think we are in as bad of shape as we initially thought. Suh will be a force on the interior, and in the right system Turner can return to his freshmen-level production when he was a freshmen all-american and had 6 sacks in limited duty. 6 sacks might not seem like a lot, but extrapolate over an entire season and he has all big-12 potential. In addition to these two talented performers, we have unproven but extremely gifted (at least physically) Pierre Allen and Zach Potter competing for the other d-end position. I'm not going to say they are dominant, but the tools are there for them to perform well. On the interior with Suh we have several options depending on the scheme we are running. Steinkuhler, talented JUCO transfer Shukree Barfield, and former H.S. All American Craig Roark should all compete for time.
I know it's tough to lose an entire defensive line, I think that we are going to do just fine at the LOS, as long as Cosgrove utilizes his weapons with the right schemes.
Some people have compared the linebacker and wide reciever positions due to the amount of talent each respective position group possesses. But as you note, the depth in the linebacking corps is lacking compared to the wideouts. I expect Octavien (IF HEALTHY!) to thrive at his "joker" position, where he should become a force coming off the edge as well as roaming sideline to sideline. When he is healthy, he's an impact player, but let's hope nothing flares up and prevents him from playing. I'd like to see 50 plus tackles with 6 or 7 sacks from him. I realize that's a high total, but from that position, similar to what Demorrio Williams was doing when he was here, Octavien could wreak havoc on opposing offenses. I expect McKeon to rebound after an injury-hampered junior campaign, he's going to be a force this year. The depth is a cause for concern, but I think Dillard will stay healthy and contribute a great deal this year, and I look for him to establish himself for a starting job next year. In addition to Phil, I think Covey could make some noise in spot duty.
Experience teaches a lot. At least that's what we are all hoping when it comes to Grixby and Green, guys who had a tough season last year when they were frequently abused by opposing receivers. That said, I dont think it helped Grixby at all having guys like Shanle behind him, and he'll benefit from having a more physical presence behind him like Asante and perhaps Thenarse (depending on where he is after camp, S or CB). Also, dont sleep on Bryan Wilson. He impressed a lot of people with his play during spring ball, and the senior could get significant playing time come fall. People forget, but he was one of the top 20 DBs in the country coming out of high school. Lastly, with some good luck we might even get Bowman back in time for the season (maybe), so we might not be as bad off as we thought. I think an increased presence from the safeties will go a long way in preventing being shredded like we were last year in several games.
Overall, I think the talent is there for us to make a return to a top-35 defense, which with our offense should be enough to take us back to the Big 12 title game and possibly a BCS bowl. And we shouldn't rule out them surprising some people and being dominant for some stretches, this is a unit that has a ton of talent, and if they mesh and are enabled by Cosgrove to make plays, we could see some fireworks this year. Some might see all of this as optimistic, but 'tis the season for hope.
