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D line

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ATLbuckeye

Rookie
With our secondary and LB's considered to be an upgrade this year, concerns about the D-Line seem to be the only reason not to expect a better defense than last year. This may be a rash statement, but i would say that the drop off on the D-Line will only hurt us at Will Smith's position. Darrion Scott was a good end, but i was not terribly impressed with him at DT (especially as he battled that groin injury all last year). I honestly believe that we will get an upgrade at that position this year with Quinn Pittcock. A senior Fraser over a junior Fraser should be an upgrade. The only other position is the other DT spot. Tim Anderson was amazing against the run (more so than against the pass). Depending on who wins out this spot (Patterson, Green, Penton) we could have someone who is better against the pass and not quite as good against the run. With Schlegel, Hawk, and Carpenter behind him, we should mitigate any dropoff against the run behind that DT spot.

Overall, one end gets better, the DT's remain just as capable as last year (i've got a real good feeling about Patteron, real good!) and we drop off at the end. Hopefully, we can use Kudla against the run, and Richardson and Frost against the pass to come up with the combination of power and speed that WS gave us.

All in all, i'm not really too worried about the D Line at all and am looking forward to a DEVASTATING defense in 04!!!
 
Who thinks our secondary will be better than last year's ?

Allen and Gamble were BIG for us. Our defensive line has only one player with the ability to end up making first or second team league: Patterson. Our linebackers may have a tougher time of it if the line can't hold up for them.
 
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LouisHMartinez said:
Our defensive line has only one player with the ability to end up making first or second team league: Patterson.
Click to expand...

I think Simon Fraser, Quinn Pitcock, and a couple others might disagree. We're loaded up front. All guys like Marcel Frost, Jay Richardson, Marcus Green, Mike Kudla, Sian Cotton, Brandon Maupin, and Nader Abdallah need is experience. The talent is there.
 
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granted, but...

most of those guys listed have star potential (particularly frost, cotton and abdullah)

i'm really excited about the possiblity of seeing fraser, pittcock, patterson and richardson/frost lining up in pass rush

it'll also be interesting to see if the Bobby Carpenter-at-D end experiment from this spring plays out on passing downs. a guy like carpenter, who can rush and drop into coverage, would be a nice substitution for big Will on passing downs.
 
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Hey, Louis, are you here solely to flame our players or what? If you don't think Simon Fraser is going to have his named called during the first day of the next draft, you need to put the bong down.
 
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Pitcock is very active and has a great motor. Reports state that he is ahead of where Anderson was at this point in his career. He has played a ton and even though he wasn't a starter he was a major contributor.

Patterson has amazed everyone thus far and also logged a lot of playing time. IF he is healthy he should be a beast. Green has played a lot but is thought of as alright. We know about Frazier and Kudla can be thought of as "servicable". Frost, Richardson and others have to prove themselves on the field.

All in all we are fine. As long as we can tackle in space, something we did all year with the exception of Michigan. Maybe some teams will run it a bit more on us but at least we are capable behind the DL to make the plays. As the DL gets reps and works as a unit they will get better.
 
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Our DL may not have the experience or chemistry that last years team had,
but the potential is as good or better. There will probably be some drop off in play, especially early on. That's to be expected, in most cases, when you lose three starters (all who were drafted).

But as experience and chemistry begins to grow, this DL group will be a force to be reckoned with and may have more overall talent than last years group. And even in it's present level, it is still probably the best DL group in the Big Ten.
 
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mark my words, pittcock is better now than darrion scott was last year. that's not a rip on scott at all, but he was an undersized DT who was playing injured. we will only have drop off at two positions (and one position won't be too bad of a drop).
 
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The D-line is only going to be as good as the allow themselves to be in the first few games. What I am trying to say is that if the DT and DE make the most of their opportunities. The Olines are not going to start double teaming with all the "new and unproven" off the bat and are going to try to get to the second level, LB. When they get off the blocks and move the Oline it will force teams to look at how they are blocking us. When the linebackers get just a second longer and have less of a blocker to check them then they will be in better position to make a big play. Now with all the speed that these guys seem to have it should be an advantage big time but we will have to see what is going to happen the first game or two.
 
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i don't really know enough to have an opinion on him either way, but very very few fans ever mention mike kudla as a guy they are pumped up about getting his shot this season despite the fact that he is a likely starter.

i can see why kudla doesn't get us all salivating since he lacks prototype DE size, but he definitely has the strength and enough speed to be a force rushing the passer. i just hope that he doesn't get ran right at and over, that is my only concern with him really.
 
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I'm in the Kudla camp as well. He's continued to log minutes and improve since day one. He fought through some health issues, and is one of the stronger players on the team. Besides Fraser, he has more game experience than anyone else the Bucks are counting on this year on the DL. He put in a lot of quality minutes on a national championship team. My guess is he will be All Big-Ten before he leaves Columbus.
 
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kudla

kudla did grow up alot as a freshman in the miami game. he got absolutely lit up on a block when he was on punt coverage against the big roscoe parish return. maybe he'll be dishing out the punishment like that next year.
 
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