First let me state, I really fucking hope Ray Brooks makes it back...it'd really help the DL.

If Brooks does not make it back I dont think it'll be as big a loss as Chappy was when we lost him prior to 2003 season.

Our 2003 DL was young all the way around....the 2 seniors we had, only had one year of d-1 college football experience and one was only avg(AH) while the other wasnt good at all(SL).

Let's look at the DE's we had then....
9 Mario Williams 6-7 265 4.65 Fr.
96 Renaldo Moses 6-6 215 4.60 R-So.
98 Maurice Charles 6-2 245 4.75 Fr.
95 James Martin 6-2 235 4.55 Fr.

and this is what we got coming up for 2006....
98 Littleton Wright 6-6 250 4.65 R-Jr.
97 Willie Young 6-5 240 4.60 R-Fr.
33 Raymond Brooks 6-3 260 4.65 R-So. -please god.
58 Matt Kushner 6-4 245 4.70 R-Fr.
99 Quentin Brown 6-5 245 4.75 R-Fr.
91 Audi Augustine 6-3 235 4.60 Fr.


....as you can see, we have older DE's than we had in 2003....physically and mentally they will be far more prepared, especially since all except AA has been in the program at least a year. I think Young and Wright will be pretty good and by 2007 will be close to just like having Manny and Mario all over again...especially if we got Brooks in the DE rotation.


The defensive tackles we have should be among the best in the ACC and maybe even the nation. In 2003 we had just lost our starting DTs while this year we kinda return both starters. Let's just say we bring back 1.5 starters. The replacements we had for 2003 wern't all that great, McCargo did good but he was still a freshman.

This is what we had for 2003 at DT....
94 Alan Holloway 6-2 285 4.90 Sr.
90 John McCargo 6-2 290 4.85 R-Fr.
62 Dwayne Herndon 6-4 280 4.90 R-So.
92 Sheldon Lewin 6-4 275 4.90 Sr.
72 Demarcus Tyler 6-2 315 5.10 Fr.

and now for 2006...
72 Demarcus Tyler 6-2 295 4.90 Sr.
92 Demario Pressley 6-4 290 4.80 Jr.
41 Martrel Brown 6-2 285 4.75 R-Jr.
93 John Bedics 6-5 290 4.90 R-So.
73 Gerard Miller 6-3 290 4.85 R-So.
49 Alan-Michael Cash 6-1 285 4.85 R-Fr.

....that's gonna be a good damn bunch of DT's we have for 2006. They clearly have more experience and are physically and mentally more prepared. Pressley and Tank are gonna be nasty. Behind them we have pretty good depth. Brown could see some PT at DE as well, we'll see how the Brooks situation plays out first.

[Edited on March 13, 2006 at 9:09 PM. Reason : .]

3/13/2006 9:06:50 PM

that sppears to be easily the most well-researched post ive seen in a long time

nice read

3/13/2006 10:07:04 PM

Whats funny is when Chuck got here that was the worst part of our Defense. Now we are producing NFL talent at the position with Manny, Mario, Pressley, Tyler, McCargo.

It is surely Chuck's best position recruiting wise.

3/13/2006 10:07:07 PM

I still dont know what to think about it. All I know is that either way, they better come out and play like they have something to prove. These past 3 years have been hyped as fuck, and now we're gonna be picked at the bottom of the ACC. Maybe this will improve our results. Even Mario and Manny got criticism for taking plays off.

3/13/2006 11:21:50 PM

The DT's should hold up at the point of attack but I see us being exposed to end arounds, sweeps, etc...

Our pass rush will be virtually non-existent from the edge.

Our CBs are gonna get hung out to dry next year and when you have chumps in the secondary to begin with, it might get ugly.

Overall our defense should be better than the 2003 unit but we are significantly worse on offense.

3-5 in the ACC would mean we got lucky

3/13/2006 11:48:37 PM

If Brooks plays, we'll be solid on one side of the line. He was easily our 2nd best D-End when he was on the field.... Manny was a freak, but Brooks was the better DE.


The other end (my guess is Wright) will have to really step up or else he's going to get abused with the run like Manny did.


Nice post.

3/13/2006 11:54:15 PM

The only talent we have at D-Line (not counting incoming freshman) is Willie Young which will be real good in a year or two and Raymond Brooks

3/14/2006 10:30:53 AM