Defense

[Biggus Piggus]

Guys, we couldn't put together a defense that would last an entire game based on the spring roster.

Right now our safeties suck and we have about three maybe four linebackers.

Everybody Wommack ever recruited for safety was the wrong kind of player.

He didn't do jack for linebackers either.  Crazy.

We need freshmens to help starting game one next season, and very few are going to be ready for that.

We recruited a grand total of two juco and zero freshman safeties.

Our linebacker recruits are:

Adrian Davis, 6-4, 200, played safety in high school
Wendel Davis, 6-1, 210, at least I hope he's 210 by the time he gets on campus
Chip Gregory, 6-4, 215, played against awful competition
Ryan Powers, 6-2, 200, wants to be a tailback
Van Stumon, 6-4, 238, hope he has the speed

Who knows, maybe one of these guys can be a safety!  LOL.

It is flat STUPID that we're playing Southern Cal in game one.  Stupid.  Maybe we'll have it all put together by week five.

[Hoop]

what the hell happened to Kevin Thorton?

[JIHawg]

Thornton is too slow to be a safety.  May get a look at backer.

[Ugly Uncle]

Don't underestimate Chip Gregory.  That kid can fly...he is big and strong...

He may not have played against the best talent...but when he gets used to the speed of the game, I think he will be a star here.  I think with his size and speed he would be a better SS of FS.

[Factual Fiction]

We need freshmens to help starting game one next season, and very few are going to be ready for that.

Freshmens.   

Thanks for posting, Nolan.

Is this the white haired devil makin' fun of me?

[Tejano Jawg]

The only good thing, if you can call this good, is that safety is the easiest position on defense for a freshman to play and contribute.

Big game knowledge/leadership/experience/strength helps LBs.
Experience a must for corners.
Physical development/size/strength obviously for linemen.
But safeties, who could certainly benefit from all of the above, can get by with less of the above. General smarts about the game, attitude, ability, and the desire to HIT someone can make up for a lot. And I think that can be a good freshman. Such as BP's linebacker list possibly.

[Hogwild07]

We have kelly at FS.  He is a hard hitter and one of our better defenders.  He has improved tremendously.  West is really going to have to adjust quickly and step up at the other safety spot.  Our LB's are not very deep but we do have some good ones.  Butu, Fairchild, and Sims will be great.  Look for Stumon and maybe even Stoltz to get in the mix also. We're pretty deep at corner, but I really dont think we're great in that area.  I think the starters should be Grant and Vinnett.  Our D-line should be great.  We're returning Jackson, Anderson, and Harrison.  Brown has potential but hes really going to have to step it up at the other end spot.  Fred Bledsoe, Marcus Shavers, and Freddie Barnett should aslo have key roles. On paper, I really think this looks like a good defense.  Given some time, these guys should greatly improve and be much better at the beginning of the season last year.  We better hope so bc no one wants to see us get embarassed again by USC.

[Porkahontas]

I hear Herring might go with a patented 8-1-2 defense next year. We're deep as hell on the D-Line, play 1 LB to keep the injuries down at the position, and 2 CB/S hybrid types to minimize the lack of talent there, talent all the recruiting geeks on the premium boards hailed as "sleepers" and guys who we're better off having instead of top talent elsewhere.

[Hollywood_HOGan]

Guys, we couldn't put together a defense that would last an entire game based on the spring roster.

Right now our safeties suck and we have about three maybe four linebackers.

Everybody Wommack ever recruited for safety was the wrong kind of player.

He didn't do jack for linebackers either.  Crazy.

We need freshmens to help starting game one next season, and very few are going to be ready for that.

We recruited a grand total of two juco and zero freshman safeties.

Our linebacker recruits are:

Adrian Davis, 6-4, 200, played safety in high school
Wendel Davis, 6-1, 210, at least I hope he's 210 by the time he gets on campus
Chip Gregory, 6-4, 215, played against awful competition
Ryan Powers, 6-2, 200, wants to be a tailback
Van Stumon, 6-4, 238, hope he has the speed

Who knows, maybe one of these guys can be a safety!  LOL.

It is flat STUPID that we're playing Southern Cal in game one.  Stupid.  Maybe we'll have it all put together by week five.

What in the world happened to all those safeties we recruited two years ago?
I guess Dallas Washington, Desmond Williams and co didnt turn out the way we thought they would. I think we had something like 5 safeties in that class.

Maybe Richardson can move back to safety since we're good at corner. Hope John West and Hewitt can be ready by 9-3.

No doubt we recruited very poorly at safety and LB the past few years. Maybe Gregory, Powers and Stumon can step in and make some plays.

[BPPig]

I just posted about the safety thing on another thread. Don't forget about Culbert and D'wrighter who are already gone and Harris and Forte who are already her. Oh yeah and one of our DE's was a safety signee. Under the theory that even a blind squirrel can find an acorn sometimes I sure hope we can scrounge a pair of starters.

[AZHog]

I can't remember the last time that the Hogs were so deep at DT and NG. None have the talent to be real penetrators, but do an adaquate job upfront. Although not as deep, the DEs should be good this season.

Also, I agree that the CB position is deep enough, but no real lockdown corners.

The starting LB corp is good. Fairchild has speed and size, Butu has, heart, hussle and a nose for the ball. Sims has all the physical tools, but I'm not convinced that he has a nose for the ball, which makes for a good MLB. Hopefully, he will show that he does have a knack for getting to the ball. Playing DE is much easier than MLB.

BP is right. The safties have been and still appear to suck. Even when Hamlin played, he played the run well, but sucked as a cover safty. Perhaps that was more of a coaching issure seeing Hamlin's success at the next level.

PC and every other DCs saw how poorly Hog safties covered, and all attack the middle and deep outs that require a REAL cover-2 defense. Provided one or two fresmen provide a little depth at LB, the LB situation should be adequate.

Provided Louis Campbell can stop the bleeding at the saftie positions, this defense has a chance to be good this season....not great, but better than we've had in a while.

[jkstock04]

I hear Herring might go with a patented 8-1-2 defense next year. We're deep as hell on the D-Line, play 1 LB to keep the injuries down at the position, and 2 CB/S hybrid types to minimize the lack of talent there, talent all the recruiting geeks on the premium boards hailed as "sleepers" and guys who we're better off having instead of top talent elsewhere.

LOL...thats good.

[BPPig]

The interior DL depth really is something this year, I agree. The good part is the most athletic one, Barnett, is not on campus yet. It could be a solid group.

We have two players that I think could become major impact players on D this year. Anderson and Fairchild. I loved seeing Freddie play in HS. He is going to light some folks up now that he is comfortable. Anderson just keeps getting better and better. Hell for a last second throw in as a WR. By the end of the year he was getting consistent pressure when he rushed and do y'all remember the catch he made on the INT that was disallowed when AR was in a zone blitz. Most DE are little more than a body back there in that situation. HE is dangerous and has to be accounted for. Those two could be something very special. We will see.

I also want to give props to Chris Houston. He made plays as a gunner last year that were incredible. Making the opponent go 99 yards is another way to help the D.

[mtownhog]

As of right now we have a walk on starting at Safety. Rashaad Johnson (Robert Johnson's brother).

[Hogwild07]

John West must really be struggling to adjust.  We need him to really bad.  A walk on at safety would be a disaster.

[mtownhog]

John West must really be struggling to adjust.  We need him to really bad.  A walk on at safety would be a disaster.

I'm not positive, but I think Reggie Herring naming Rashaad Johnson as a starter is just a ploy to get all the other safeties to step it up.

[hit_that_line]

Between Kelly, West, Hewitt, Forte, Johnson, Woods and co. we will have enough bodies at safety.

[tophawg19]

what was the final choice by tyrell graham ? i'd heard that he was leaving then that he was staying . right now he has the chance to play if he stayed .

[Boarcephus]

Guys, we couldn't put together a defense that would last an entire game based on the spring roster.

Right now our safeties suck and we have about three maybe four linebackers.

Everybody Wommack ever recruited for safety was the wrong kind of player.

We need freshmens to help starting game one next season, and very few are going to be ready for that.

We recruited a grand total of two juco and zero freshman safeties.

Our linebacker recruits are:

Adrian Davis, 6-4, 200, played safety in high school
Wendel Davis, 6-1, 210, at least I hope he's 210 by the time he gets on campus
Chip Gregory, 6-4, 215, played against awful competition
Ryan Powers, 6-2, 200, wants to be a tailback
Van Stumon, 6-4, 238, hope he has the speed

It is flat STUPID that we're playing Southern Cal in game one.  Stupid.  Maybe we'll have it all put together by week five.

Tell me one more time...who signed off on all this?  We enter every friggin year severely lacking in one or more areas.  Does there ever come a time when we "reload"?

[berryhog]

what was the final choice by tyrell graham ? i'd heard that he was leaving then that he was staying . right now he has the chance to play if he stayed .

I believe I read that he left school.  Don't know where he planned on going.

[Kilgor]

Ty Graham left the U of A.

[jabohog]

Guys, we couldn't put together a defense that would last an entire game based on the spring roster.

Right now our safeties suck and we have about three maybe four linebackers.

Everybody Wommack ever recruited for safety was the wrong kind of player.

He didn't do jack for linebackers either.  Crazy.

We need freshmens to help starting game one next season, and very few are going to be ready for that.

We recruited a grand total of two juco and zero freshman safeties.

Our linebacker recruits are:

Adrian Davis, 6-4, 200, played safety in high school
Wendel Davis, 6-1, 210, at least I hope he's 210 by the time he gets on campus
Chip Gregory, 6-4, 215, played against awful competition
Ryan Powers, 6-2, 200, wants to be a tailback
Van Stumon, 6-4, 238, hope he has the speed

Who knows, maybe one of these guys can be a safety!  LOL.

It is flat STUPID that we're playing Southern Cal in game one.  Stupid.  Maybe we'll have it all put together by week five.

With all the talk about the offense, finally a good post on what I think will be the real problem this coming season. I couldn't agree more that opening with USC is a bad deal. We can only hope the offense everyone is fired up about can keep up with the scoring that may go on. I hate to sound pessimistic, but here we are, what 3 years removed from Batman and Richardson leaving early and we are still having secondary problems to begin the year? One LB injury away from going to that 8-1-2 defense someone was kidding about. I hate having to throw freshmen into the fire. Someone needs to start recruiting for defense. Hell, maybe Gus can save that too.