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keep em coming

I like the fact that even though he's a senior, Free (and presumably anyone else who has sat out) has to earn his way back in to the rotation. More competition!

Shows we have depth as June has said before.

I sure would think a True freshman in the first game having to start at Baylor spells trouble. I can't imagine that is the kind of Depth we need to start the season if Lowe is not ready. That guy would have to be an amazing player in our offense.

A lot of folks on here think experience trumps talent from what I've read. You play the talent and eff the experience IMHO. The 2010 and 2011 classes were stellar and the talent is much better than anything we've had post DP. Play the talent. If a freshman or underclassman (Myers, Lasecki, Rice, Holloway, Deiter, Roundtree etc) is better than a senior (Free, Grenier, Ryan Smith et al) you play him. Don't tell me Holloway is not here, I know that -- my POINT is that you play the TALENT. It's not a red flag to start a freshman if he's better talent-wise. (most underclassmen on this team are better than the seniors talent-wise). We saw this last year via Stephon Sanders vs. Victor Jones (Sanders should have started from the beginning because he's just flat better).

I'm getting more and more worried about the DE spot. I just don't think Grenier is BCS caliber (might not even be Div1 caliber - reminds me of the kind of guy who was a star on the teams from when I went there ... 1993-1997 ... but we've moved way past that now).

My "expert" opinion based on the years of coaching/recruiting experience I have (zero).

Agree with ojaipony.

Are you are female?

ojaipony wrote:A lot of folks on here think experience trumps talent from what I've read. You play the talent and eff the experience IMHO. The 2010 and 2011 classes were stellar and the talent is much better than anything we've had post DP. Play the talent. If a freshman or underclassman (Myers, Lasecki, Rice, Holloway, Deiter, Roundtree etc) is better than a senior (Free, Grenier, Ryan Smith et al) you play him. Don't tell me Holloway is not here, I know that -- my POINT is that you play the TALENT. It's not a red flag to start a freshman if he's better talent-wise. (most underclassmen on this team are better than the seniors talent-wise). We saw this last year via Stephon Sanders vs. Victor Jones (Sanders should have started from the beginning because he's just flat better).

I'm getting more and more worried about the DE spot. I just don't think Grenier is BCS caliber (might not even be Div1 caliber - reminds me of the kind of guy who was a star on the teams from when I went there ... 1993-1997 ... but we've moved way past that now).

My "expert" opinion based on the years of coaching/recruiting experience I have (zero).

Chad Patton?

I actually think we are fine at DE. I know that people are going to look at Beau Barnes on the second team and if a walk on is second team DE, that must spell trouble. But I think he plays pretty well, it is really more of an indication of him being a good player than having a lack of depth.

We are going to miss the size of TT and his ability to free up linebackers. But I think we have better depth than last season at all of the line positions, and it isn't going to be a problem.

I think we will definitely get a better gauge after the Baylor game but if JasonB say that we will be okay then we will be okay.

Thanks, SMU 86, but I definitely would not go that far....

That said, here are the d-line stats:

Starters: 6-5 265, 6-1 285, 6-8 275
2nd string: 6-5 238, 6-3 290, 6-3 265

Now, that is going off the SMU website, which I don't think has been updated.

In fact, ESPN has the old one up, and Frazier was 6-3 287. For some reason Taylor thompson isn't on there, and barnes is listed at 6-5 238, so the SMU site hasn't been updated. I think Thompson was running at 280 last season.

From a size perspective, Hunt is over 280, and Grenier has added some size. I don't think we lose size at all from Frazier and Thompson. So, the starters should have around the same size, and that is what you want from your front 3 - players who can eat up blockers.

In the second string, according to ESPN Czerniack (who was serviceable in a backup role), was 6-5, 266 last year. Barnes, Wood, cameron smith, all those guys have put on weight. I think we have a ton of guys right now on the line who are at least 260, including Barnes.

In short, as long as those guys all have the toughness to engage, I think we should be okay from a size standpoint. It would be nice if across the line, we had a slew of guys at 280 2-deep. But I think the starters are all around that size, we have good size depth at DT, and on the outside we are talking about 250-270 right now in the second string. Which isn't bad and a far cry from when we used to recruit DEs at 215/220 and hope that they add weight.

It's not perfect, but the D-line isn't going to be an issue if our offense is effective.

JasonB wrote:
Chad Patton?

How'd you guess?

I'm comfortable with going with whatever you think.

The bottom line is that we need to get up on Baylor and aTm early and keep our boots on their necks to have a chance. Last year's TCU and aTm games are great examples of what to do and what not to do. (that Tulsa game is still a mystery to me - they were good but not THAT good - I have no idea what the heck happened in that game).