Wanted to get the conversation going on the defensive side of the ball, in terms of who we might expect to be the starting defensive 11 come early Sept. when Colorado begins its season @ CSU.
Let's start with the freebies:
ILB 1s: Nate Landman (Sr) and Akil Jones (Sr)
They both had great seasons, with Jones rising to the occasion in terms of steadily contributing from around week three to outright starting and becoming a valuable asset as the season went on.
Landman's campaign speaks for itself — both of these guys seem set to enjoy solid senior years in 2020. Landman essentially is untouchable and as for Jones, he'd have to really regress or otherwise nail himself into his own coffin for me to believe Jon Van Diest or someone else would usurp him atop the depth chart.
ILB 2s: Marvin Ham I think could prove capable of emerging as an understudy ready to contribute by the time Landman and Jones are gone, but of course, ILB is a position that's not and won't getting rotated as the d-line does, so 2020 for Ham here and now seems more likely to be another understudy campaign.
It's Van Diest I find myself concerned about for 2020, especially as Mister Williams gets on campus. Health has long been an issue for the former, and having ended the 2019 season essentially relegated to playing special teams, I think he's got an uphill battle for this upcoming year in terms of seeing reps at ILB.
Again, without injuries, there shouldn't be much of a concern at ILB, and Landman/Jones have proven to be pretty durable and tough guys.
OLB 1s: Carson Wells (Jr) and Jamar Montgomery (Sr)
Wells certainly would have liked to have had more than one sack in 2019 (he had four in 2018) but he will be the most battle-tested OLB Colorado has heading into 2020. Montgomery, who played in just four games, seeing 25 snaps, is the team's next-best in terms of experience.
Wells seems a lock and Montgomery, wishfully thinking, should be in a spot after offseason workouts, spring, summer and then fall camp, to at least be ready to step up to the challenge.
OLB 2s: Alec Pell preserved a year of eligibility in 2019, playing on special teams in his four games he participated on. He's definitely got a good frame — 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds, and I don't think it's unrealistic to suggest he could give Montgomery a run for his money in terms of putting up a position battle fight.
The incoming Devin Grant, listed as a DE but whom CU recruited as an OLB will be part of the backup OLB equation given the lack of depth there.
DL 1s: Mustafa Johnson (Sr) , Jalen Sami (RS Soph) , Terrance Lang (Jr): Injury-plagued certainly best describes the Buffs' defensive line in 2019 yet the Buffs should return (I'm assuming Johnson stays for his senior year) their three best and most experienced d-linemen. Lang led the team with six sacks last season and Johnson probably would have been in the same realm (he had 4.5) if he were healthy for the whole stretch.
I will say this, I fully expect the d-line next year to have something similar of a revolving door element to it — it was amplified in 2019 due to injury, but the likes of Nai'm Rodman, Jeremiah Doss and Janaz Jordan likely will assume the role of playing 15-30 snaps per game.
While the additions of guys like Jordan Berry and Alvin Williams among other incoming DLs no doubt is exciting, I'm not sure I see those guys penetrating into the second team tier or higher unless there is a laundry list of injuries to deal with and holes need to be filled.
CB 1s: Very hard to say. With Mekhi Blackmon (Sr) and Chris Miller (Jr) coming back from season-ending injuries, who's to say how they'll assert themselves when position battles start heating up.
Add Nigel Bethel into the mix, along with Jaylen Striker and Christian Gonzalez — this is the most congested position group on the defense.
I'm at a borderline loss to try and predict who will be the starting CBs vs. CSU next year. There's simply too many guys and too many possibilities to answer with confidence, but here's my educated guess:
K.J. Trujillo retains a starting spot and is joined by Jaylen Striker
CB 2s: Chris Miller and Mekhi Blackmon
Again, very hard to predict at this point.
Safeties: Derrion Rakestraw played well down the stretch and should by all indications be in a spot to be the team's leading strong safety in 2020 as a senior. Mikial Onu and Lucas Cooper's graduation leaves soon-to-be Sam Noyer as the leading depth chart guy at free safety but I doubt that'll be the case when all is said and done.
I could see Isaiah Lewis (Jr) being inserted at FS but ultimately, as it sits right now, there's probably going to be position changes to an extent in Mel Tucker working to plug a hole at free safety. Could be Lewis, who knows, maybe one of the corners might be considered a better fit at safety — it's definitely a possibility.
As for the STAR, Mark Perry (Soph) I think is set to have another tough task ahead of him in 2020. Whomever you talked to in terms of defensive coaches, all of them said the STAR position was the most mentally and schematically challenging position on that side of the ball. Davion Taylor handled it with grace for much of the year, and Perry certainly was an understudy in that regard during 2019, but that's a position that requires a lot of mental and physical maturity.
In other words, Perry I think still needs to get much better in a short amount of time. Not saying he can't do it, not by any means, but it'll be a challenge. Toren Pittman is being brought in with the intention of grooming him for that position, too, so he, like Perry, is going to get thrown into the fire early. Although I'd wager Pittman won't have as intimidating a task as Perry did in the injury-plagued defensive backfield that we saw in 2019.
Colorado's 2020 schedule, in particular the conference stretch, is by no means a walk in the park, but I foresee this defense being able to take decent steps in the right direction in terms of overall PPG allowed, pass defense and just in general.
Thoughts? Particularly on the CB situation?
Let's start with the freebies:
ILB 1s: Nate Landman (Sr) and Akil Jones (Sr)
They both had great seasons, with Jones rising to the occasion in terms of steadily contributing from around week three to outright starting and becoming a valuable asset as the season went on.
Landman's campaign speaks for itself — both of these guys seem set to enjoy solid senior years in 2020. Landman essentially is untouchable and as for Jones, he'd have to really regress or otherwise nail himself into his own coffin for me to believe Jon Van Diest or someone else would usurp him atop the depth chart.
ILB 2s: Marvin Ham I think could prove capable of emerging as an understudy ready to contribute by the time Landman and Jones are gone, but of course, ILB is a position that's not and won't getting rotated as the d-line does, so 2020 for Ham here and now seems more likely to be another understudy campaign.
It's Van Diest I find myself concerned about for 2020, especially as Mister Williams gets on campus. Health has long been an issue for the former, and having ended the 2019 season essentially relegated to playing special teams, I think he's got an uphill battle for this upcoming year in terms of seeing reps at ILB.
Again, without injuries, there shouldn't be much of a concern at ILB, and Landman/Jones have proven to be pretty durable and tough guys.
OLB 1s: Carson Wells (Jr) and Jamar Montgomery (Sr)
Wells certainly would have liked to have had more than one sack in 2019 (he had four in 2018) but he will be the most battle-tested OLB Colorado has heading into 2020. Montgomery, who played in just four games, seeing 25 snaps, is the team's next-best in terms of experience.
Wells seems a lock and Montgomery, wishfully thinking, should be in a spot after offseason workouts, spring, summer and then fall camp, to at least be ready to step up to the challenge.
OLB 2s: Alec Pell preserved a year of eligibility in 2019, playing on special teams in his four games he participated on. He's definitely got a good frame — 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds, and I don't think it's unrealistic to suggest he could give Montgomery a run for his money in terms of putting up a position battle fight.
The incoming Devin Grant, listed as a DE but whom CU recruited as an OLB will be part of the backup OLB equation given the lack of depth there.
DL 1s: Mustafa Johnson (Sr) , Jalen Sami (RS Soph) , Terrance Lang (Jr): Injury-plagued certainly best describes the Buffs' defensive line in 2019 yet the Buffs should return (I'm assuming Johnson stays for his senior year) their three best and most experienced d-linemen. Lang led the team with six sacks last season and Johnson probably would have been in the same realm (he had 4.5) if he were healthy for the whole stretch.
I will say this, I fully expect the d-line next year to have something similar of a revolving door element to it — it was amplified in 2019 due to injury, but the likes of Nai'm Rodman, Jeremiah Doss and Janaz Jordan likely will assume the role of playing 15-30 snaps per game.
While the additions of guys like Jordan Berry and Alvin Williams among other incoming DLs no doubt is exciting, I'm not sure I see those guys penetrating into the second team tier or higher unless there is a laundry list of injuries to deal with and holes need to be filled.
CB 1s: Very hard to say. With Mekhi Blackmon (Sr) and Chris Miller (Jr) coming back from season-ending injuries, who's to say how they'll assert themselves when position battles start heating up.
Add Nigel Bethel into the mix, along with Jaylen Striker and Christian Gonzalez — this is the most congested position group on the defense.
I'm at a borderline loss to try and predict who will be the starting CBs vs. CSU next year. There's simply too many guys and too many possibilities to answer with confidence, but here's my educated guess:
K.J. Trujillo retains a starting spot and is joined by Jaylen Striker
CB 2s: Chris Miller and Mekhi Blackmon
Again, very hard to predict at this point.
Safeties: Derrion Rakestraw played well down the stretch and should by all indications be in a spot to be the team's leading strong safety in 2020 as a senior. Mikial Onu and Lucas Cooper's graduation leaves soon-to-be Sam Noyer as the leading depth chart guy at free safety but I doubt that'll be the case when all is said and done.
I could see Isaiah Lewis (Jr) being inserted at FS but ultimately, as it sits right now, there's probably going to be position changes to an extent in Mel Tucker working to plug a hole at free safety. Could be Lewis, who knows, maybe one of the corners might be considered a better fit at safety — it's definitely a possibility.
As for the STAR, Mark Perry (Soph) I think is set to have another tough task ahead of him in 2020. Whomever you talked to in terms of defensive coaches, all of them said the STAR position was the most mentally and schematically challenging position on that side of the ball. Davion Taylor handled it with grace for much of the year, and Perry certainly was an understudy in that regard during 2019, but that's a position that requires a lot of mental and physical maturity.
In other words, Perry I think still needs to get much better in a short amount of time. Not saying he can't do it, not by any means, but it'll be a challenge. Toren Pittman is being brought in with the intention of grooming him for that position, too, so he, like Perry, is going to get thrown into the fire early. Although I'd wager Pittman won't have as intimidating a task as Perry did in the injury-plagued defensive backfield that we saw in 2019.
Colorado's 2020 schedule, in particular the conference stretch, is by no means a walk in the park, but I foresee this defense being able to take decent steps in the right direction in terms of overall PPG allowed, pass defense and just in general.
Thoughts? Particularly on the CB situation?
