Which Underclassmen and 2020 Recruits can help Defense next year?

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Otis

Otis

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Losing a lot of seniors out of the starters. Just wondering if anyone can give a list of who can step up and fill the starting hole gaps.
 

This topic has already been discussed a number of times in other threads but my take:

Guys Who have Played Significant Minutes (not including the guys who were already starters):

D-Line - Otemwo, Schad, Mafe, Teague
LB - Sori-Marin, Oliver
DB - Nubin, Swenson

Probable Rotation guys next year (sure I am missing a bunch) - Cheney, Rush, Gordon, Willis, Aune, Sapp

Think it is way to soon to know anything about the 2020 guys and there are a lot of others on the roster that have been in the system now for a few years and might be ready to contribute after another set of bowl practices, spring ball, and fall camp. Look at a guy like Sam Renner who came out of nowhere to become a really solid player this past year.

We are losing a lot of senior starters but we are not going to be devoid of experience as the guys behind them got lots of playing time. The big question will be who steps up from the group of unknown players that we haven't gotten a look at yet.
 

I think Braelin Oliver could be a stud. Needs to do a better job of film study as you could tell early on in the season he didn't play great. Then they basically used him as a situational rusher, which he played really well at. He's got the physical talent, just needs to be better at the mental side, which he'll get as he's still pretty young in the system.

I wasn't overly impressed with Sori-Marin. To start the year he played really poorly when forced into action. He did improve as the season went on ,but I think he has further to go to than Oliver to be relied upon for consistent performance.
 

True freshman (kept his redshirt this season) DeAngelo Carter is one to watch on interior of d-line.

Need one or both of true freshmen (both kept redshirt) linebackers james Gordon or Donal Willis to live up to hype. Might see more of them in Bowl game with Martin not playing?

Fleck says lot of good things about Nubin...hope he can help replace Winfield (or Williamson?).
 

swingman said:
True freshman (kept his redshirt this season) DeAngelo Carter is one to watch on interior of d-line.

Need one or both of true freshmen (both kept redshirt) linebackers james Gordon or Donal Willis to live up to hype. Might see more of them in Bowl game with Martin not playing?

Fleck says lot of good things about Nubin...hope he can help replace Winfield (or Williamson?).
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Gordon and Willis both played 4 games so won't be seeing them in the bowl game unless our LB corp is just decimated by injuries I would think.
 


I really hope we don't have to.

If we REALLY need to lean on a lot of guys, it's gonna be a rough 2020 unless they're all amazing.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Gordon and Willis both played 4 games so won't be seeing them in the bowl game unless our LB corp is just decimated by injuries I would think.
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Oliver and Sori-Marin will get a good test then vs Auburn offense.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Gordon and Willis both played 4 games so won't be seeing them in the bowl game unless our LB corp is just decimated by injuries I would think.
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I'm willing to step in and sacrifice myself to save those guy's eligibility. I estimate I've got 3 to 6 contact type plays in me before I break something...

PJ I'LL BE SITTING SOMEWHERE IN THE STADIUM CLUB SECTION WHEN YOU NEED ME!!!
 

Martin is passing on Bowl Game. I wonder in Winfield will as well with his injury history.
 



Aune got some limited playing time at linebacker this year. Would think he would be in the mix there. Rush has played some linebacker as well.

Phil Howard and Kiondre Thomas and T Smith were in the rotation in the secondary...would think they might help replace Winfield and/or Williamson in some way. Sapp?

Hickcox will be in year four. Got some run on interior of d-line this year.

Ahanotu and Okonji will be in third year. Fleck has spoke highly of both. Could help on d-line. MJ Anderson and DV Harris out of St Louis were big defensive end recruits last year.

Itayvion Brown is top ranked recruit...lists really nice offers; lists good size...he might be able to help at linebacker right away. New verbal Jaqwondis Burns also might help at linebacker as a true frosh.

The kid they got a verbal from this weekend from Missouri might help at DE.

Bringing in a freshman safety from Texas with good offer sheet, Abner Dubar.
 

Otis said:
Martin is passing on Bowl Game. I wonder in Winfield will as well with his injury history.
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In the video he posted from the awards ceremony he was at he made it seem like he was planning to play. Haven't heard anything else since so would guess if he was planning to sit it out he probably would have said something by now or will say something very soon.

I will be surprised if he doesn't play. Martin skipping it makes some sense because he has had so many injuries over the course of the season.
 






UpAndUnder43 said:
I think Winfield will be back next year...call me crazy.
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I won't call you crazy, but I think you are probably wrong. To me, the wild card is how much he likes school and playing college football. If he loves it, he might come back as he probably doesn't face all the same financial pressure to try to maximize his career football earnings that many in his position face.
 

2nd Degree Gopher said:
I won't call you crazy, but I think you are probably wrong. To me, the wild card is how much he likes school and playing college football. If he loves it, he might come back as he probably doesn't face all the same financial pressure to try to maximize his career football earnings that many in his position face.
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That, and if he is in fact getting 6th round grades as was projected in one of the mock drafts he may very well decide to come back again and try to move that up. Big difference in guaranteed money for just a few rounds so it might be worth it in his eyes.

If he does return it is a massive boost for the defense heading to next year because it is a huge weapon having a safety like Winfield roaming around back there.
 

I fully expect our defense to be as good or better next year. We return MDT, Schad, Teague, Otomewo and Mafe on the d-line. That's 5 guys that played a lot of football for us and who should be better. Add to that group Ahanotu, who was the scout team player of the year last season, and 5 redshirt freshmen who were arguably the best recruiting class on-paper we've ever had. Carter won scout team defensive player of the year this season and there are strong reviews on Anderson, Cheney and others. I fully expect we are better on the d-line than this year and that we can redshirt all of the incoming freshmen.

I think we will be as good at LB. Oliver has loads of talent - he was much more advanced as a freshman than Martin was and he appears to have a higher ceiling. MSM played a lot this year, and between Willis and Gordon we should have a solid 3-4 guys to roll with.

The biggest question mark is whether Winfield comes back as we aren't going to replace his productivity. Nubin has a chance to be an all-conference performed eventually, but there will obviously be a drop-off. Everyone else is back in the secondary except Williamson, so we will need someone like Solomon Brown to emerge as a slot corner. Or maybe Durr plays slot CB and St Just and Thomas play on the outside.

Bottom line, I think d-line is better next year, LB's are as good or slightly better, and we have a drop-off in the secondary if Winfield departs. If Winfield is back, I think the defense is better overall and we have a great shot at another 10 win season.
 

This topic has been covered well; but I'd like to mention one other player---Jason Williamson. If he is healthy, I'd like to see what he can do on defense.
 

Hopeful Pessimist said:
This topic has been covered well; but I'd like to mention one other player---Jason Williamson. If he is healthy, I'd like to see what he can do on defense.
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With what we are losing at RB (and all the reports about how good Williamson looked before the injury), I think there is zero chance he is not in the mix for snaps at RB next year. If he ever moves to defense, I'd see it happening in advance of his sophomore or junior year
 



PitinoFan said:
We agree on this. If I were him, I’d be gone. He’s a third round pick at worst, IMO.
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He isn’t getting that kind of grade that I’ve seen. I agree he should be...but the NFL may not
 

It's a sign of a healthy program that the Gophers had many upperclassmen or elite NFL prospects who may declare early starting on defense this year. The next guys are supposed to step up as juniors and seniors, and so on and so forth. We haven't seen the next guys a lot, but neither do a lot of the better programs.
 

I think the gophers will take a huge step in two years on defense. That's when I'm hoping we start to see a more game changing defense. Right now it was a bend but don't break, with a lot of break when playing the good teams. I think Fleck is on pace to make the defense awfully good to great but that takes much longer to get done. I'm excited to see these younger players who have more tools than the previous.
 

2nd Degree Gopher said:
I won't call you crazy, but I think you are probably wrong. To me, the wild card is how much he likes school and playing college football. If he loves it, he might come back as he probably doesn't face all the same financial pressure to try to maximize his career football earnings that many in his position face.
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Winfield just might be thinking what it would mean for him to be a two time, first team All American. I don’t think he’ll be back, but that is something that only a few players have accomplished
 

Our defense was good this year. I think we can be at a similar level next year.

In the recent ESPN NFL Draft rankings for all 7 rounds...they had Kamal Martin in round 3. They had TJ in round 5. No other Gophers were ranked.
So if Winfield is a 6th, 7th round guy...he could easily decide to return. His brother is on the team...possible reason to stay too?
 

MNVCGUY said:
That, and if he is in fact getting 6th round grades as was projected in one of the mock drafts he may very well decide to come back again and try to move that up. Big difference in guaranteed money for just a few rounds so it might be worth it in his eyes.

If he does return it is a massive boost for the defense heading to next year because it is a huge weapon having a safety like Winfield roaming around back there.
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6th round grade? Was that from a mock at the start of the season? I just did a little Googlin' and everything i'm quickly reading looks like most people think he may be a late second or a third round pick. I would be pretty shocked if he doesn't go in the first 100 or so picks.
 

Still hoping for Thomas Rush. (Cashman prototype)
Thought he'd be a big part of the D this year but got beat out by Braelin Oli..
 

I won't say that i think the LB core will be better than this year's group, but i think they might get as good or better performance on the field out of them. With Kamal's suspension/injury and maybe just a down year in Barber's case, there was a lot of production missing from that group. Count me in as one of the people who's excited about Braelen Oliver's hopeful trajectory over the next few years. I feel as confident about him as i did about Bateman coming into this season. Seemed to flash an 'It' factor on a few plays and definitely passed the eye test. Like some others, i'm not sure how high i am yet on Sori-Marin, but to his credit, coach and teammates seem to think highly of him.


Assuming good health for those two, any surprises from the redshirt group would just be a huge bonus.
 

2nd Degree Gopher said:
I won't call you crazy, but I think you are probably wrong. To me, the wild card is how much he likes school and playing college football. If he loves it, he might come back as he probably doesn't face all the same financial pressure to try to maximize his career football earnings that many in his position face.
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Sr probably has a good head on his shoulders but fortunes can evaporate pretty quickly with the wrong guidance and decisions...pretty dangerous for anyone to rely on the bank of mom and dad to make it. I imagine Antoine like most of us wants to make his own way in life, and make Sr proud. He’s a hell of a player and will do great in the NFL.

Plenty of talent on paper for the Gophers. Time to start breaking them in. The offense should be good enough to make another run for a double digit campaign and West push.
 

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