Positional Reviews and Previews: Defensive Line

This is series of positional reviews, which entail a look back and a look forward at each position for the Red Raiders. We'll try and take a look at who is gone, who remains and who we can look forward to playing in the not so distant future.

Season Review and Preview: Defensive Line

Who Is Leaving: Brian Jones graduated early so he's not going to be around and Tyler Yenzer is also a senior. Jones played in the first 6 games and in the Baylor game, but other than that he didn't see much time. Let's take a look at both Jones and Yenzer's careers:

• Brian Jones

  Year	Tackles	Sacks	TFL
  2007	5	1	2
  2006	0	0	0
  2005	4	0	0

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• Tyler Yenzer

  Year	Tackles	Sacks	TFL
  2007	2	0	1
  2006	0	0	0
  2005	6	0	0
  2004	0	0	0

One other player, defensive end Phillip Jones, left the team before the season started.

God Speed, gentlemen.

Who Returns: This is interesting because there certainly some potential for people to lose their job.

I'm going to divide this group into Starters and Backups:

• Starters: Of the returning starters I think that Whitlock's position is the only one that is safe. Whitlock got better as the year progressed and he didn't fade like you would expect from a freshman. Whitlock is a player. I am down a little on Williams and Ratliff. I thought that they should have had better production than they did, especially Ratliff. I won't complain too much about Williams, but there were long stretches in most games where Williams was not making his presence felt. I hope like hell he's motivated with all of the new talent coming. Henley is an excellent backup tackle, but he's not a starter. Not a knock against Henley, because I certainly think he has good utility, he's just really undersized for a DT.
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• Backups: I love Howard's and Riley's motors, but I'm afraid that with the addition of the Juco's that their time may be limited. It will be interesting to see how their playing time is distributed as I thought they were both effective in certain situations. Jones was solid, but not spectacular and Stoffels and Sharpe had little impact overall.

  I'm very excited about Neill and as I note below, he's the type of player that could play end or tackle, although I'd prefer that he play at the end position if that's where he's best suited. Even if he's added weight, I think we should want him where he's most effective. I'm not at all sure about Agoucha. I have a feeling that he's going to be a project. I have no idea about Hack. Again, I'm being literal.

Who Is Going To Be Here:

Dividing this group into Juco's and freshmen:

• McKinner Dixon, Brandon SeSay, and Broderick Marshall: I love, love, love the fact that Leach has recruited some talented players to play on the defensive line. All of these guys have size and speed, something that's been lacking on the defensive line for some time. You'll note that I have Dixon at defensive tackle and I'm not so sure that he belongs there, but he's got more size than Henley, by 20 pounds or so. For me, it's all about talent and not position.
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• Joey Fowler, Ryan Haliburton, Brian Christopher and Chris Perry: With the addition of Perry, this class gets so much better. I think by 2009, he's going to anchor the middle with Whitlock, which will allow Dixon to move back outside. Because of Fowler's size, he's going to be a lot like David Neill from last year. A guy who has added some weight and could play multiple positions along the line. I'll take it, so long as he can play. Christopher and Haliburton seem like projects in that they've got to probably add some weight. By the way, I would say that all of these freshmen should redshirt, especially with the addition of three talented Juco's.

Depth Chart: Keep in mind that any depth chart does include current commitments and there may be additional commitments that could change everything. In other words, we're all just guessing.

Much like the offensive line, perhaps we don't need to concern ourselves too much with position, but rather keep in mind the idea that the best players will play. I know that the defensive line is a little different than the offensive line, but the concept remains the same. The best players need to play.

Let the guessing begin:

Prior Positional Reviews and Previews:

• Quarterbacks
• Running Backs
• Receivers
• Offensive Line
• Defensive Line
• Linebackers
• Secondary
• Special Teams