LSU loses 4 DLine next year to graduation/the draft - possibly even 5 if RJF leaves early. How many do you guys think we take in this class? We took 4 DLine last year, 1 DT's & 3 DE's. Louisiana has several very good DT's in Davenport & Sentimore, plus OLine/DT Josh Downs. Texas boasts the nation's #1 DT in McFarland who we are in the top 3 for. DJ Fluker is a Bama commit, but should LSU pursue (we have not offered yet, which really begs the question of why he is a top 100 prospect) - we would be in very good shape as he is from Louisiana. At DE, LSU already has a commitment from Rivals 100 member Michael Brockers. Okafor & Kennard are two highly rated DE's that are currently interested in us.
Id feel real good about bringing in another DE or two. We should have a good year at DT with instate talent. With Nevis, we know we have another superstar on the horizon. We have a lot of potential stars at DE, but they have yet to play.
Davenport is a given at DT. So that gives us a DT and a DE (Brockers). I say we take 4. McFarland is who we would be waiting for at the other DT spot. I think Sentimore only gets offered if we swing and miss on McFarland. Okafor will commit first, if we don't get him then it's on to Kennard.
Al Woods was very highly recruited and I expect him to be a huge contributor, too. In all honesty, I actually expected him to this year and thought he would have established himself more- though I say that based on what I haven't heard and not anything I've heard/read. I didn't really pay attn. too much to what he did when he was in.
The problem is that Woods is a 2-gap DT, a space eater, while we utilize a primarily 1-gap scheme. Speaking of Woods though, he along with Rahim Alem will be Jr's next year - seniors when this class gets on campus. We should figure that into our consideration as well.
Okay, when we say "1-gap" or "2-gap", aren't we referring to defensive scheme/approaches and not exclusive characteristics? Even so, a "Two-gap" DT should be able to be a "One-gap" DT whereas, it would be harder for the opposite, because of higher skill level (Intelligence) as a two-gap tackle assignment must make a read first, in deciding which hole to attack. Am I correct in this line of questioning? I know those terms get tossed around but not sure if they're always used correctly.
Well, I'm no coach & my understanding of it is fairly basic, but to my understanding each play is specific to being one or two gap. However, most programs use primarily one or the other due to the need for different body types for each. Two gap DT's need to be large and powerful, like Al Woods, while one gap DT's need to be quicker & more athletic, like Glenn Dorsey. This may need to be a thread for the main forum...
I was not impressed by Woods last year. He looked like he came out of his stance high and just played patty cake with his defender on a lot of plays. He didn't penetrate, which many on the forum said was due to the scheme we played, but still he seemed slow. I think CParso is right, he is big and designed more as a space eater. Nevis seemed to show more promise as he was quicker and played with more leverage, probably due to his shorter stature.
Funny how perceptions are. Though, as I already stated, I expected Woods to become a bigger household name and agree with you analysis in part; however, he did have 22 tackles in 12 games he saw some PT in. Also recovered three fumbles and had two tackles for total losses of 15 yards so he’s penetrated some. By comparison, Nevis had 17 tackles in 8 games, no fumble recoveries (Which don’t mean anything, necessarily) and two tackles for a total loss of 6 yards. I've posted this before, dude's athletic- in HS at Elton, dunked a basketball and broke the glass.
That is true for the most part. He seemed to stand up tall... But the guy is athletic as anyone. He was pretty productive with bad form and will only get better. Dorsey wasnt really productive until hid JR year.
