2020 defense returning

fourthandshort

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Too soon to talk 2020 ??? Nah !!!

So our defensive starters yesterday featured just 2 SRs, 4 JRs, and 5 SOs

- DL group had a JR and 2 SO starting, and backups Powell and Podkulski are both JRs .. so our top 5 DL is all SO and JR, so this group is total set for 2020

- LB group had 1 SR, 1 JR, and 2 SO starting with top 2 SR backups (Clark and Washington) .. so this group wil get hit hard in terms of depth in 2020, though 3 of 4 starters return.

- DB group had 1 SR, 2 JR, and 1 SO starting with mostly underclassmen for backups; so this group is set for 2020

Overall looks very promising on defense for 2020 .. just need to find some depth at LB. But our DL and DB groups should be very strong again.
 

Chi-bird

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We are losing 5 linebackers,
Tuvone Clark, Ty Deforest, Demarco Washington, Paul Engram, Aaron Mends
 

MadBird

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Chi-bird said:
We are losing 5 linebackers,
Tuvone Clark, Ty Deforest, Demarco Washington, Paul Engram, Aaron Mends

That's as good a LB unit as we've had in a while. Tough characters, worked well together.

I agree with saxman, a transfer would be nice, altho a couple of the redshirts were highly regarded, Wedig and Jordan (who I think might have led the spring scrimmage in tackles?), and Wilhoit played a lot of special teams and shows up on the stat sheet with 8 tackles including one for loss, so he played some from scrimmage. Fehrman, the transfer from New Mexico, is listed at LB but only played 3 games, was he injured?

After watching the Bizen game yesterday, I was thinking that this was a really special defense, we were lucky to have them. The DB's and LB's especially, but also McKnight had a great season and Ridgeway and all the DL played solid. There' s lots to build on, and as 4th pointed out quite a few are back. But I also thought, as much crap as many of us have dealt to Beathard, we should give some big credit to DC Travis Niekamp for putting together a great unit. After watching them bottle up the Bizen, you really have to appreciate how solid that group was. All the D coaches, which include alums Mike Banks and Kye Stewart too! Great job!!
 

fourthandshort

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MadBird said:
Chi-bird said:
We are losing 5 linebackers,
Tuvone Clark, Ty Deforest, Demarco Washington, Paul Engram, Aaron Mends

That's as good a LB unit as we've had in a while. Tough characters, worked well together.

I agree with saxman, a transfer would be nice, altho a couple of the redshirts were highly regarded, Wedig and Jordan (who I think might have led the spring scrimmage in tackles?), and Wilhoit played a lot of special teams and shows up on the stat sheet with 8 tackles including one for loss, so he played some from scrimmage. Fehrman, the transfer from New Mexico, is listed at LB but only played 3 games, was he injured?

After watching the Bizen game yesterday, I was thinking that this was a really special defense, we were lucky to have them. The DB's and LB's especially, but also McKnight had a great season and Ridgeway and all the DL played solid. There' s lots to build on, and as 4th pointed out quite a few are back. But I also thought, as much crap as many of us have dealt to Beathard, we should give some big credit to DC Travis Niekamp for putting together a great unit. After watching them bottle up the Bizen, you really have to appreciate how solid that group was. All the D coaches, which include alums Mike Banks and Kye Stewart too! Great job!!

As a team in a single game, our defense against NDSU had to be one of the top defensive performances in all of FCS this year.

For the year, IMO, we were not as consistently stout this year as we were last year, we were just much better at getting to the QB this year .. which is maybe why we werent always as stout. But we put it altogether against NDSU in playoffs.
 

ISUBU

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I thought DeForest and Draka really elevated their games this season. We had that with Zach Mathews last year. Clayton Isbell took a big step forward in 2019 as well, but will he remain a defensive back or become a linebacker? Only the coaches have a real good sense of how the freshmen are developing. Who will seize the opportunity in 2020?

As many injuries as we had on offense, we really weren't hit too hard on defense this year. As a result we had a deep team all season long. There will be some opportunities next year, but I really don't think we have that many truly questionable positions.
 

CaliRdBrd

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[/quote]

As a team in a single game, our defense against NDSU had to be one of the top defensive performances in all of FCS this year.

[/quote]

Amen!
 

fourthandshort

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As a team in a single game, our defense against NDSU had to be one of the top defensive performances in all of FCS this year.

[/quote]

Amen!
[/quote]

All the more impressive given how little we moved the ball on offense. We had one drive all game. Finished with just 9 1st downs
 

saxman210

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saxman210 said:
Would love to see a good FBS transfer at the linebacker position to at least provide depth.

https://twitter.com/redbirdfb/status/1207312470563524608?s=21

Ask and you shall receive.
 
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