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We will see how well we have recruited and developed D line players over the past 3 or 4 years. I can't wait to see how they do.

Or how poorly..... Zelt is the first impact player we have recruited to the D Line in a while.

I hope Zelt is the stud we all hope he is but I have total faith that our coaches have kids ready to go. Coaching goes a long way in this game, especially on the lines.

Right. Our great coaches are coaching up our two stars to three stars. Their great coaches are coaching up their three and four stars to even better players.

Give me great recruiting over great coaching any day.

Its not an either or, you gotta have both to build winning programs. We have moved some guys away from the D-Line to O over the last couple of seasons and I feel like we are light in numbers at this position. A great LB corp. can make up for average D-Line play and I feel like this group of LB's is going to be special.

At DE, all of our players in the past have been 2 star players that have been coached up.

This year, we have Minor, Wood, and Smith, all of whom were highly regarded by Scout, Rivals, and ESPN. Nabuishi was well rated by Scout and ESPN, while Holloway was liked by Rivals. All of those are highly rated players than we have had for a long time (Taylor Thompson was a 3 star, but as a TE).

At DT, we have had 2 stars forever, and always managed to find someone to play pretty well. Wright was well regarded by Rivals and ESPN. Reed by ESPN. Cramer by scout and ESPN. So, those guys are all supposed to be better than what we lost and should be ready to play.

I expect that we will have a lot better depth overall on the line, and won't see a massive drop in production.

It will be interesting to see how we do at NT depth. Development is the key. I hope we did a good job in the offseason in that area.

Coach Mason seems to think pretty highly of some of the players we have on the line, and he knows a lot more about defense than any of us. He seems to like Zach Wood, Beau Barnes and Darrian Wright as the starters, and talks pretty highly of Andy M, Nick Reed and Elie N. among the backups. I'm not as worried about them as I used to be.

BleedingRed+Blue wrote:Coach Mason seems to think pretty highly of some of the players we have on the line, and he knows a lot more about defense than any of us. He seems to like Zach Wood, Beau Barnes and Darrian Wright as the starters, and talks pretty highly of Andy M, Nick Reed and Elie N. among the backups. I'm not as worried about them as I used to be.

That is true but the proof will be on game day when we line it up against some decent teams. I wish them well. GO SMU.

One name to remember: Elie Nabushoshi. Kid's gonna be a really good player.

I thought Zach Wood was a Rivals' 3 stars with offers from Minn, Virginia and Houston.

By the way, Zach’s father is from Conway, Arkyland and played at NTSU (That was the school name in the 70-78s).. He has some rather fond memories of Harvey Armstrong.

DE and WR both.

[quote]He has some rather fond memories of Harvey Armstrong.

ponyte--can you elaborate? would be interesting for those of us who saw harvey play.

BleedingRed+Blue wrote:Coach Mason seems to think pretty highly of some of the players we have on the line, and he knows a lot more about defense than any of us. He seems to like Zach Wood, Beau Barnes and Darrian Wright as the starters, and talks pretty highly of Andy M, Nick Reed and Elie N. among the backups. I'm not as worried about them as I used to be.

A coach talking up his players??? Just giving you a hard time...but I expect he says the same things every year. As you all say, we will have a good idea in 60 days.

gostangs wrote:Right. Our great coaches are coaching up our two stars to three stars. Their great coaches are coaching up their three and four stars to even better players.

Give me great recruiting over great coaching any day.

So you would rather have Lane Kiffen than Gary Patterson?