Defense will shine for Gophers in 2015!

The 2015 Gopher defense will be the best it has been in more than 20 years.  Mark my words.

It will improve on takeaways (24), passing defense (141) and points allowed (24.15) this coming season. It would be nice if the run defense could get under the 200-yard mark, too. That will be tougher.

All three segments of the defense look to be improved. Despite playing probably the top two ranked teams in the nation in TCU and Ohio State in 2015, Minnesota’s defense should shine due to experienced and able linebacking and secondary play.

The linebacker position, despite only one signed in the 2014 recruiting class, looks strong for the Gophers in 2015. We have starters Jack Lynn, Nick Rallis and Devondre Campbell back.  Rallis went down early last season with a knee injury but will return and probably be given sophomore status.  Lynn will be a junior.  Campbell is 6-5, 241 and the longest armed linebacker in the BIG.  He could have a really special season as scouts are eyeing him up for the NFL draft.

Now add Cody Poock, who will be a sophomore after a community college stint in Iowa.  The one thing all four have in common is speed.  They move well both laterally and on the drop.  Poock was projected to be in the starting miss before blowing out a knee last spring. Deniro Laster has speed and size and will get playing time as well.   One recruit of mention is Julian Huff, brother of Jacob, who is highly regarded out of Illinois.

The secondary has improved greatly since Tracy Claeys took over as coordinator.  They have speed, size and are extremely athletic and have more depth than ever.  The secondary is the crown jewel of the defense and can hit, run and cover.

Back are stalwart senior starters Eric Murray, Antonio Johnson (safety) and all BIG corner Brian Boddy-Calhoun.  Add junior starting corner Jalen Myrick, who also returns kicks, and you have what Jerry Kill is calling the POTENTIALLY best secondary in the BIG.

A new recruit who could see playing time is four-star DB Dior Johnson from Michigan. Another big ticket may be Ace Rogers (6-1, 210) who actually played for Iowa State at one time.  Other potential guys with playing time are Ray Buford (6-2 190) , Zo Creighton (6-1, 190) and Jacob Huff (5-10, 205).

Which brings us to the defensive line. It is thin but experienced with a young corps coming back from last year.  Starters Theiren Cochran (DE), Hendrick Ekpe (DT), Steven Richardson (DT), Gaelin Elmore (DE), Alex Keith (DT) and Andrew Stelter (DE) are all back.

Add Scott Ekpe, who suffered a torn ACL last year in Game 1 and led team in sacks in 2013, and you have a pretty good top 7. Yoshoub Timms (DT) looks to get playing time and three highly regarded freshmen join the group as recruits this season.  They are Colton Beebe, Mose Hall, and Julian Kafo.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Can Mitch Leidner Take Gophers to Next Level?

Image
I am going to try not to be too critical of any Minnesota Gopher football players in my blog over the foreseeable future.  It's not right to be too harsh to kids playing their hearts out who are really amateurs who happen to be the entertainment for millions of college football watchers. But an interesting question arises when I look to next season:  Can Mitch Leidner, Minnesota sophomore quarterback, take our football team to the next level?  That level would be competing for a BIG West Division championship, going at least 6-2 in the BIG and making a New Year's Day Big Six bowl. Or even maintaining our second-place finish in the West Division with at least a 5-3 BIG mark. My initial impression is no.  And here's why.  He completed an average of about 10 passes per game this season, for a completion rate of 49 percent.  He has 13 career TD passes and nine interceptions.  He's been sacked 31 times over parts of two seasons.  That is just not g...
Read more

2015: A Minnesota Football Season To Forget

Minnesota Gopher football fans are not holding their collective breath as the college football world sorts out the bowl picture as the season closes this coming Saturday. In fact, most would probably prefer that Gopher football ceased operation after a 5-7 season. If the Gophers make a lower tier bowl there is little chance a large contingent of fans will travel with the team to the two projected destinations -- Detroit or New York City. And you really cannot blame them.  Cold weather destinations, awful cities, and MAC or ACC opponents that don't really make fans grit their teeth. What a difference a year makes.  Remember the New Year's Day Citrus Bowl in Orlando? As one who attended all but the Ohio State, Northwestern and Purdue games, my reflections on Gopher football are as follows: Nineteen seconds spelled the difference between a 6-6 season and the 5-7 mark.  With a first and goal and 19 seconds and a timeout left against Michigan on Halloween Night --...
Read more