STrib: Will the Gophers defense take a step back in 2020?

[BleedGopher]

per Megan's Q&A:

Q: We lost a lot of talent on defense this season. Do we have capable and talented players stepping in to replace them or is the defense going to take a step back and look like it did the last few seasons before 2019? – Dan Chang
A: I’d lean toward the former on this. Personally, I feel pretty good about most of the guys stepping in because basically no one is coming in with, like, minimal to no experience. On defense, you’ve got Boye Mafe, Keonte Schad and Esezi Otomewo, who made 57 tackles last season between the three of them. Mariano Sori-Marin and Braelen Oliver step in at linebacker. Sori-Marin played all three LB positions this past season and made several starts in Kamal Martin’s absence. Oliver showed terrific potential with three sack plays. The secondary has, perhaps, the biggest question marks for me, in Justus Harris at nickel and Tyler Nubin at safety. Harris has bided his time for his senior year opportunity, and Nubin is a four-star recruit who burned his redshirt last season be ready to fill in for All-America safety Antoine Winfield Jr. But I don’t anticipate such a huge regression as to be like the defenses of the past. I think D-coordinator Joe Rossi has done a really good job solidifying this unit in the past year and a half, so I’d bet on him to keep those guys on track.

You've Got Mailbag: Will the Gophers defense take a step back in 2020?

College football writer Megan Ryan answers your Gophers football questions, including her thoughts on recruiting, the 2020 season, longer-term goals for the team ... and food.

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[Veritas]

I hope I am wrong. With that said my experience over the decades is that the best players start and we need to replace seven starters. At the least, it will take the new starters a few games to get up to veteran speed. That will all be OK if our first three or four games are against weakish teams. Who knows?

 

[MNVCGUY]

Whew....we all needed something to bring us down from the Ortiz commitment last night. Let's rehash this topic for the 3,000th time....

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Nobody can really know. It’s not heresy to say the defense “could” struggle. All it takes is one guy not doing his job or doing it well but they turn out to not be as good as the last guy. I think we’re all interested to see some of the promising younger guys. And, the offense should be able to bail out the defense vs many and even most of the teams in the schedule. Probably not all...

 

[BobbyG]

I hope I am wrong. With that said my experience over the decades is that the best players start and we need to replace seven starters. At the least, it will take the new starters a few games to get up to veteran speed. That will all be OK if our first three or four games are against weakish teams. Who knows?

Iowa, FAU aren't "weakish", Tennessee Tech? Yes. BYU? Maybe. My take is that our defensive starters are going to have to play well immediately.

 

[hello-world]

Iowa, FAU aren't "weakish", Tennessee Tech? Yes. BYU? Maybe. My take is that our defensive starters are going to have to play well immediately.

Honestly, FAU might be the worst FBS team on Minnesota's schedule this year. They're not 2019 Rutgers bad, but they lost Kiffin and they don't get to practice this Spring so they could be pretty raw week 1.

It's tough to say that about any team that went 10-3 the year before, but Minnesota should take care of business in that game.