Defensive Tackle
Paul Boyette and
Poona Ford have been your top two interior performers throughout camp and each guy is poised to have a very solid season – the problem is that their skill sets are more overlapping than complementary. Poona is a born 3-tech Poonatrator who also has the agility to cross a guard’s face into the A gap, but he’s still got a tough row to hoe against double teams or an upper-echelon guard who locks on head-up and drives him back. Boyette is more suited for a 1-tech role than Ford, but he’s still more consistent when he shoots gaps than when he’s asked to stand strong against the double team. Both these guys should take a step forward from last season and they’ll hang tough and win their share of battles, but don’t expect a Hampton & Rogers redux.
Chris Nelson appears to have opened a few eyes and improved his conditioning. He still seems like a bit of an odd-body athlete, but he’s got some potentially unique movement skills and could be a disruptive dude on the interior.
Jordan Elliott appears to be leading the charge among the true freshmen and may already bring the best combination of gap-shootin’, two-gappin’ and double-team survivin’ of anyone on the depth chart.
DeAndre Christmas brings the best one-gap skill set of anyone in the freshman class and could be a surprisingly effective pass rusher as the season goes along. It wouldn’t be shocking to see him catch or pass Ford for overall 3-tech effectiveness by November as his experience catches up to his superior frame.
Reports have been more variable on
Gerald Wilbon – there’s some degree of consensus that he’s the functionally strongest member of the interior DL right now, but some reports have him immovable on double teams while others portray him as a mixed bag at best.
Chris Daniels seems to have opened eyes here and there in the last week or two, but his conditioning remains a major question mark and in the No Huddle Era that’s a severe obstacle to playing time.
I still have no more idea what to make of
Marcell Southall than I did when practice opened.
Defensive End
As opposed to the poisonous upperclass vs young bucks dynamic that threatened to completely submarine the 2015 season, it looks like many of this year’s juniors seniors have fully bought in and accepted the challenge of being pushed by the young ‘uns. Two cases in point are
Bryce Cottrell and
Naashon Hughes. Cottrell appears to have held on to the nominal starting role on the strong side, while Hughes may be turning the light on when it comes to translating his impressive athleticism into consistent production. I’d have a hard time taking the over on 5.5 sacks for either dude this year, but if they can serve as physical edge-setters with a bit of pass-rush pop then we’re reasonably well ahead of where we were last season.
Charles “The Omen”
Omenihu remains the highest-ceilinged and most intriguing guy in the DE rotation. He’ll probably serve as the primary pass rusher from the strong side, and he’s got the bend and burst to challenge left tackles as well.
Bryce [sic]
Hager has taken to the weakside end position like a duck to water, and he’s got solid athleticism for the position to go along with a relentless demeanor. Figure him for significant question marks in the head-up run game, but he’s shown the ability to chase things down from the backside and use his arms well enough to okey-doke a left tackle and dip around him on the pass rush.
Malcolm Roach is currently running as your third-team Fox and offers physical potential that could lap the guys ahead of him once things start clicking. He probably grows into a strongside end in the next year or so, but should be able to contribute 7-10 aggressive snaps a game this season if called upon. It’s kind of nifty that this year’s third-team weakside end is already more physically impressive than last year’s starting strongside end.
Quincy Vasser – haven’t heard much about him throughout camp. It’s been largely quiet on the
Andrew Fitzgerald front.
Linebacker
lt remains the
Malik Show at linebacker, and #46 remains on track to be this defense’s most crucial difference-maker. He’s nominally the Mike while
Anthony Wheeler is listed as the Will, but Malik often finds himself in either a strong-side overhang role or lined up between the DT and DE on one side with Wheeler mirroring that position on the other. They’ll both have to fill a variety of roles this year, but don’t fret that the #FreeMalik campaign is dead because he’s nominally playing the same position as Steve Edmond. Malik should be improved-not-outstanding at meeting the guard in the hole, but his pass drops have improved dramatically and he remains a pure terror as a detached edge rusher.
The buzz about
Anthony Wheeler was going strong in the Spring and hasn’t really abated. He’s packed on muscle and developed a newfound confidence in diagnosing and attacking runs between the tackles. His primary job was to offer enough head-knocking potential to give Jefferson more freedom of movement, and he looks to have met that brief. He’ll look like a different guy in the run game this season while also capably dropping back into hook zones.
Edwin Freeman is probably your starting SLB, and it’s not out of the question that he’d be the first man up if either Malik or Wheeler went down. While his game is still more speed than power, he’s coming along the Wheeler Physicality Curve at a decent clip and figures to play 20+ snaps a game one way or the other.
Cam Townsend has added some good weight and continues to fly around – his path to significant playing time isn’t immediately clear, but he’s the kind of guy you could get creative with in some Dime-type looks given his elite wheels.
DeMarco Boyd just keeps on making plays – knocking guys on their back in practice. He’s likely the Longhorns’ most physical between-the-tackles run defender. He’d be limited to a (traditional) MLB role and probably given the simplest of pass coverage assignments if pressed into duty this year.
Erick Fowler looks to be starting life on the 40 as a Malik-style Mike. He’s got the physicality and aggression to stand up against the interior run game while offering terrifying potential as an interior blitzer. There will be plenty of chances for a nominal Mike to come off the edge.
I’d have pegged
Jeffrey McCulloch to make an early move behind the starters but it seems like Boyd’s instincts and physicality might make him more likely to see time early. Still think Shark has a fantastic future but don’t know if we’ll see much of him at least early on this season.
Cornerback/Nickel
Holton Hill and
Davante Davis remain the men on the outside, and while either is likely to have the better practice on any given day both dudes have burgeoning lockdown potential and the length to survive when singled up down the sideline.
Kris Boyd would be starting in a lot of places already, but the staff has elected to have him focus on outside corner rather than cross-training at nickel. His athleticism is off the charts but he’s still grasping some positional nuances, so it’s understandable that they don’t want to overload his plate just yet.
Sheroid Evans continues to have some rusty moments and get caught peeking in the backfield, but nobody’s running past him once he’s up to gear and he’s showing a Mykkele Thompson-esque senior year affinity for contact.
P.J. Locke has remained the unchalleged #1 option at nickel corner since Spring Ball and hasn’t given the coaches any reason to question their decision. His coverage has been all-in-all impressive at what can be the toughest coverage spot on the field.
Perhaps the most interesting recent news in the secondary has been 5* freshman safety
Brandon Jones cross-training at nickel. The staff obviously puts a premium on both physicality and cover skills at the position, so it speaks volumes to Jones’ feet that he’s getting work here.
Antwaun Davis has bounced around a bit but has also gotten some work at backup nickel. It seems like he’s been recruited over at every likely starting spot, but he should provide quality depth.
Eric Cuffee and
Chris Brown have shown reasonably well but figure to make their mark on special teams if at all this season.
Safety
As of now,
Dylan Haines and
Jason Hall still look like your starting safeties against ND. Both guys kind of are who they are at this stage of the game. Haines continues to get everyone lined up well, find himself in the right spot for INTs and find himself on the wrong end of the stick if he’s singled up with speed in space.
DeShon Elliott and
Brandon Jones are pushing both guys, but with Jones cross-training at nickel we’re likely to see Elliott logging more snaps at safety over the course of the year. Strong has commented on Elliott’s physical ability as well as his need to play smart and keep everything in front of him. He’s a dream box safety with reasonable cover skills when he’s got his assignment down.
[BC]
