Ourlads Depth Chart Analysis: Defense

Like we did yesterday with the offense, we will go over where we think they got it right and where we think they got it wrong for the depth chart. As talked about, pretty tough to figure out where things are before the spring as there will be transfers and injuries going on. But what else are we going to talk about?

Defensive Line:
Pretty easy to have Robinson and Hutmacher as your starters at DE and NT, those are etched in stone. After that is where you have to start thinking a bit. While I agree Butler may get the nod early, I just don’t think you can keep guys like Lenhardt on the sidelines too long, and he may insert himself as a starter at some point. The other great thing is the beginning of our schedule has 5, 6, even 7 games where we may be able to get some young guys some reps and save our heavy hitters like Nash and Robinson for the big tests. Van Poppel, Lefotu, and Carroll-Jackson will all need to get themselves ready for next year when we graduate those two guys. It’s a big spring for guys like Jeudy, Rollins, and Wallin. And how will Tagaloa look coming off his big injury? We have a ton of depth here, so it’s important to bolster that this spring while keeping our main guys healthy. Starting in March, it will be all about getting Nash back to football weight (won’t be hard), keeping Robinson healthy, and just getting the younger guys reps.

Linebackers:
I put JACK and our inside linebackers together because last year we saw a ton of creativity with White in the spring while he tried to figure out where to put everyone. Even Butler who ended up at DE was playing some ILB at one point. At ILB you have Wright and Bullock as your front runners to start. And at JACK a guy like Gbayor really turned it on towards the end of the year, but Umanmiellen also had a breakout first year. So I feel really solid there at the JACK spot. You then had Stefon Thompson who DC White had at Syracuse transfer in. While he may be better suited for JACK, the need for depth at ILB is too great and I think he will battle it out for playing time there. From there, it’s a big spring for guys like MJ Sherman and Gage Stenger, I think Stenger can very much put himself in the mix at LB somewhere. But Sherman struggled to make himself a part of the rotation at a certain spot. Maverick Noonan comes back from a knee injury last year to help out the JACK LB position and Dylan Rogers redshirted at ILB in 2023 to hopefully help depth there. How will the true freshmen do?

Cornerbacks:
Tommi Hill by all accounts has one of these spots taken care of, so you just have to find the guy opposite of him. Ourlads has penciled in Hartzog and I think he will definitely get the nod to start spring. But there are a lot of guys with intrigue behind him and depending on how safety looks we could possibly slide him there. Ethan Nation got a ton of praise early but just couldn’t see the field as a CB and was mostly a returner, will he make the leap this year? We brought in transfer Blye Hill who is long and rangy and if our secondary starts having trouble with bigger outside WRs you could see him really start to make a name for himself. Bootle II got hurt last year and figures to be in the mix, and you have 15 DBs that are either freshmen or redshirt freshmen. The competition is going to be outstanding here.

Safety:
Getting Gifford back is a blessing, gives us one more year to figure some stuff out, Singleton will be healthy, and Buford will be a full-go finally for the 2024 season. I would have those 3 as my starters. Collier who they have backing up Gifford is no longer on the team. Koby Bretz they have starting and he’s an interesting one, i’ve been high on him since we signed him but he just hasn’t been able to make a name for himself. This is a huge spring for him. The real question is, where do these first and second year players slot themselves? There’s so many of them it’s really tough to try to say which one will start to make some noise.

It’s finally March, i’ll be able to get to a few practices this spring and will start my position breakdowns from what I see during live practices starting the beginning of April.