Next up, D-Line!
Defensive Line
Gone:
- Jahmeer Carter
- Jacob Holmes
- Cazeem Moore
Mitchell Melton- Daniel Rickert
Eligible to Return:
- Mitchell Melton - Bonus Sr - Edge (Medical waiver)
- Terrell Jones - RS Sr - SDE
- Fisher Camac - RS Sr - SDE
- Anthony Britton - RS Jr - DT
- Jason Hammond - RS Jr - DT
- Mekhi Buchanan - RS Jr - Edge
- Hunter Osborne - RS Jr - DT
- Tyler Simmons - RS So - DE/DT
- Chase Morrison - RS So - Edge
- Jewett Hayes - RS So - Edge
- Billy Koudelka - RS So - SDE
- Evan Ward - RS Fr - Edge
- Sichan John - RS Fr - DT
Incoming:
- JaySean Richardson - Fr - DT
Needs: Some good returners from the 2-deep including starting DE Camac, DTs Hammond and Britton, as well as key reserves Osborne and Koudelka (all five of whom logged snaps in all 12 regular season games). Massive if we can also get Melton back on a medical waiver for an injury- lost true freshman 2021 season. Will keep an eye on buried guys Terrell Jones, Simmons, Buchanan, Morrison and Hayes to see if any are finally ready to step up, though it doesn’t look good for many of them (Jones and Simmons are undersized DTs, Hayes was limited to special teams all year, and Morrison and Buchanan barely played). Staff seems high on Sichan John to move into a backup DT role next year. Bottom line, though, is we need significant additional help with five outbounds and only one inbound, to say nothing of backfilling any additional transfers we lose. Would like at least one DT, one SDE, and one rush edge / Bandit in the Portal, maybe more, this is the one position on the defense that does need real Portal help
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