Junction

Porter and Moore should be a really nice outside tandem next year.

Stewart is a guy. If he is in our rotation again next year then we have done something wrong.

Charlie Thomas seems like he will be a nice situational guy this year, but does he have a spot in the SEC?

Jenkins seems to have the physical talent, needs to figure things out though.

After that its a whole lot of unknowns. Does Ward stay at ILB long term? If so, how effectively does he transition to a position hes never played before?

I like Darzil, but we have no idea what we will get from him.

Everyone raved about Baggs, but we are resistant to actually putting him on the field for some reason.

There is some definite talent, but our staff has a huge chore ahead of them to get some of these guys ready for prime time by next year. We really need Devall and Santos.

Agree that Thompson needs to stay at safety. I really hope that's the case. Thompson and Matthews, two 6-2 215+ safeties with 4.5 speed. Yes sir! Add in two 6-2 corners with 4.4 speed in Blake and Raven and you have yourself a bama or lsu type secondary.

I also agree that the linebackers could be a strength in a couple of years. We are not only building up numbers, but we are bringing in the size and speed necessary in the SEC. With that said, I seriously doubt we are getting santos, so I wish people would just stop throwing out his name. I would much rather have Turene anyways.

The area I'm most concerned about moving forward is the DL. We need a couple of JUCOs and a big time HS guy in this class. Jacobs, Sentimore, and Shittu would be absolutely ideal.

Our past with LB should be an indicator that we can't project that far out. I saw on a thread somewhere yesterday that Von had stupid penalities before it all turned on for him. If we have just one of our ILB spots have a light bulb moment the whole scenario changes. If Moore doesn't have his stupid ass penalties then he has a hell of a game. It's little stuff right now that is holding this unit back. Add it all up though and it's a big deficit. I think the group now (plus our 2012 recruits) will leave us in a good spot IF someone figures it out.

And where the fugg is Baggs? Either he can play or he cant. Freshman linebackers play meaningful snaps at every program in the country. Let him cut his teeth against some real competition see how low he lets his nuts hang.

Are our coaches scared to play him or is he having trouble beating out the below average competition in front of him?

it depends on how good Richmond, Richardson, Baggs, and Ward can be. Our ILBs are mediocre for Big 12, bad for SEC. I don't think we get Devall, but he isn't an ILB either. Moore is a great talent but lacks the discipline to be relevant consistently. The DL are below average for the SEC. We need as many JUCO DL as we can find, & I'm not big on JUCOs as a rule of thumb. I like the direction the secondary is going, though they will be abused this yr

Devall is playing ILB for his highschool right now. I could see him playing any of the 4 LB positions and be a talent upgrade wherever we put him.

The bottom line is that even if a couple of the players at inside backer do show something and the young guys turn out to be good, you need to stockpile talent at that position because you got to have playmakers at the linebacker postion in a 3-4. You go to a 3-4 so you can get more playmakers on the field at LB and right now, we dont have that guy on the inside and we certainly dont have multiple guys that are playmakers at the position.

Elite Dlinemen and true inside backers are hard to come by and when we've been in the mix for guys, we havent been good at closing them to bring them on board to the good guys when we have the chance.

when looking at the "future" I like to look at sophomores now & younger & what they'll likely play at in the future

when looking & analyzing I like what I see:

OLBs-

Damontre Moore- 6' 4", 260*
Deuce Jenkins- 6'1, 220*
Don Baags- 6'1, 220*
Brandon Alexander- 6'6", 260, maybe 270*
Michael Richardson- 6'2", 250/255

then you have the Taylor Bros who will probably both look like demons coming off the edge

ILB-

Shaun Ward- 6' 2", 250/260*
Jordan Richmond- 6' 2", 250/260*
**Denzel D- 6'2", 260/275*

don't exclude Obioha as a "potential" backer either

obviously a lot can interchange between inside & outside as well as LB/DE's & projected playing weights are far from exact but I really like what I see at backer in the future

I'm more concerned with the DL & outside speed at WR than anything. Need to get hot there.