Didn't realize we have 8 Sr starters on D

[seccats04]

Hueguenin, C Johnson, Lewis, Forrest, Flannigan, J Johnson, Quinn, Stamps. We shouldn't be so surprised that we are much improved with all the experience on that side of the ball. How easily do we replace these guys next year? 8 is a lot to replace.

Miggins will take Huguenin's spot. Meant is a part time starter already and he will take CJ's spot. Hopefully Elam can develop into an every down player next year and move into Lewis' spot. Love will replace Forrest. Ware is a part time starter now and will take over full time once Jabari leaves. Jordan Jones has looked good for a true frosh and he will probably take Flannigan's spot. Darius West will take Stamps' place and Kendall Randolph or Derrick Baity will replace Quinn.

What's your opinion on how well we replace these starters? I think Miggins has the tools to be dominant. Meant is solid but is not as explosive as CJ. Elam is wait and see but will be hard pressed to replicate Lewis. Love has a lot of ability and may be a better run stopper than Forrest but will not have the same coverage skills. Jones will not be as physical as Flannigan (who is a freak btw) but he can run really well. Ware can be a star and is much better in coverage than Jabari, although Jabari is a beast in run support. West can be a star if healthy but Stamps is potential All SEC so there will be a drop off there. No offense to Quinn but he's easily replaceable. He's started almost 30 games in his career and still does not have an INT. Randolph has a lot of ability and Baity is huge for a CB.

Overall, you can't replace experience but at least we have some solid replacements ready for next year.

 

[brianpoe]

Those replacements will be very interesting.

I think those young guys playing now will set the tone for the defense for years to come... Hatcher, Ware, Westry. Many times defense is just contagious and you develop an identity and I think we are starting to see that.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Safeties will be better, supposedly. CB's will be better. LB may be a question mark. DL would be the biggest falloff, depending on Elam.

 

[brianpoe]

Safeties will be better, supposedly. CB's will be better. LB may be a question mark. DL would be the biggest falloff, depending on Elam.

AJ is really good, but I think he has been somewhat lackluster this year..

Maybe I was expecting too much, but he seems to be out of position on some big plays and missed a few tackles?

 

[CatDaddy4daWin]

yeah I'm a little concerned about defense next year. Losing 8 seniors on one side of the ball can be devastating to even the strongest teams out there. It may take us a bit to gel but it can't possibly be as solid as it has been so far this year. However, the offense should be elite.

Wouldn't hurt my feelings if Stoops tried to bring in a couple jucos to shore up linebacker position.

 

[UKWinsAgainYep]

Hueguenin, C Johnson, Lewis, Forrest, Flannigan, J Johnson, Quinn, Stamps. We shouldn't be so surprised that we are much improved with all the experience on that side of the ball. How easily do we replace these guys next year? 8 is a lot to replace.

Miggins will take Huguenin's spot. Meant is a part time starter already and he will take CJ's spot. Hopefully Elam can develop into an every down player next year and move into Lewis' spot. Love will replace Forrest. Ware is a part time starter now and will take over full time once Jabari leaves. Jordan Jones has looked good for a true frosh and he will probably take Flannigan's spot. Darius West will take Stamps' place and Kendall Randolph or Derrick Baity will replace Quinn.

What's your opinion on how well we replace these starters? I think Miggins has the tools to be dominant. Meant is solid but is not as explosive as CJ. Elam is wait and see but will be hard pressed to replicate Lewis. Love has a lot of ability and may be a better run stopper than Forrest but will not have the same coverage skills. Jones will not be as physical as Flannigan (who is a freak btw) but he can run really well. Ware can be a star and is much better in coverage than Jabari, although Jabari is a beast in run support. West can be a star if healthy but Stamps is potential All SEC so there will be a drop off there. No offense to Quinn but he's easily replaceable. He's started almost 30 games in his career and still does not have an INT. Randolph has a lot of ability and Baity is huge for a CB.

Overall, you can't replace experience but at least we have some solid replacements ready for next year.

Yeah, I was also noticing we have more seniors than I previously thought on Defense. It's going to be interesting to see if Stoops can replace all those guys adequately.

I personally think Stoops needs another 2 years of recruiting to really shore us up on Defense and get a consistent SEC defense playing every season.

It really looks like it takes a coach about 5 years to build a SEC program from the bottom.

 

[Levibooty]

Safeties will be better, supposedly. CB's will be better. LB may be a question mark. DL would be the biggest falloff, depending on Elam.

You are probably right but people here will have a hard time understanding that.

 

[MKGMVP]

There will be no fall off. The defense next year will be quite a bit more athletic. You guys are also forgetting the transfer from Minnesota.

 

[seccats04]

DE- Miggins/Bell/Daniel
NT- Elam/Kobe Smith/Hyde
DT- Meant/Middleton/Dubose
DE/LB- Ware/Laster
SLB- Hatcher/Allen/K Walker
MLB- Love/Firios
WLB- Jones/Eli Brown
Nickel- McClain/Beckham
CB- Westry/Harmon
SS-McWilson/Edwards
FS- West/Walker
CB- Randolph/Baity

Overall, a pretty solid looking two deep. We may not drop off too much.

 

[MKGMVP]

DE- Miggins/Bell/Daniel
NT- Elam/Kobe Smith/Hyde
DT- Meant/Middleton/Dubose
DE/LB- Ware/Laster
SLB- Hatcher/Allen
MLB- Love/Firios
WLB- Jones/Eli Brown
Nickel- McClain/Beckham
CB- Westry/Harmon
SS-McWilson/Edwards
FS- West/Walker
CB- Randolph/Baity

Overall, a pretty solid looking two deep. We may not drop off too much.

Please, how do you see any drop off at all. Everyone one of those guys will be better next year than they are this year. UK's losses are overachieving, hard working guy and I respect that but the pure talent won't be close.

Now, on the other side of the ball UK returns basically everyone.

 

[uofkFTW18]

We need Courtney Love to make an impact at LB next year. Replacing Forrest and Flannigan is no small task.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

AJ is really good, but I think he has been somewhat lackluster this year..

Maybe I was expecting too much, but he seems to be out of position on some big plays and missed a few tackles?

I think hes been solid. Had a pick 6 taken away by an iffy call. He just isnt the standout he was last season, because the unit as a whole is much better.

That said, practice reports suggest the young backups will be better. Sounds very promising.

 

[hmt5000]

Funny thing is we were all worried about lber this year and assumed that laster, love, and Firios would be an improvement over this year. Now just 1/3 of the way through the season we are all wondering how we will replace our lbers. Lol

Eli, jordan, firios, love, laster, hatcher, ware, allen... we have some athleticism coming back. The experience those guys are getting will pay off next year.... the O should really help them next too.

 

[seccats04]

Please, how do you see any drop off at all. Everyone one of those guys will be better next year than they are this year. UK's losses are overachieving, hard working guy and I respect that but the pure talent won't be close.

Now, on the other side of the ball UK returns basically everyone.

I agree. I think the replacements have more talent but you cannot replace 8 starters and not expect a drop off. By the end of the year we may be better but we should expect growing pains the first half of the year.

 

[CatDaddy4daWin]

DE- Miggins/Bell/Daniel
NT- Elam/Kobe Smith/Hyde
DT- Meant/Middleton/Dubose
DE/LB- Ware/Laster
SLB- Hatcher/Allen
MLB- Love/Firios
WLB- Jones/Eli Brown
Nickel- McClain/Beckham
CB- Westry/Harmon
SS-McWilson/Edwards
FS- West/Walker
CB- Randolph/Baity

Overall, a pretty solid looking two deep. We may not drop off too much.

Ok, I feel alot better now. Sometimes it's hard to see until someone drops a 2 deep on me...thank you sir!

I'm just worried about replacing guys like Forest, CJ and Flannigan. I want to see our run defense get even better next year!

 

[RV2]

DE- Miggins/Bell/Daniel
NT- Elam/Kobe Smith/Hyde
DT- Meant/Middleton/Dubose
DE/LB- Ware/Laster/Frosh yet to be named
SLB- Hatcher/Allen/K Walker
MLB- Love/Firios/K Daniels
WLB- Jones/Eli Brown
Nickel- McClain/Beckham
CB- Westry/Harmon
SS-McWilson/Edwards
FS- West/M Walker
CB- Randolph/Baity

True Frosh could very well impact again at Corner

Overall, a pretty solid looking two deep. We may not drop off too much.

 

[Pike 96]

Safeties will be better, supposedly. CB's will be better. LB may be a question mark. DL would be the biggest falloff, depending on Elam.

I agree with this...I think Inside linebacker may have some growing pains depending on how quickly Love, Eli Brown and Jordan Jones can replace Forrest and Flannigan. You have to think there will be some drop off unless Love is immediately the real deal. Not because of those replacements lack the talent but much more so because Forrest and Flannigan are playing at an elite level at this point.

The much bigger question is how we replace the three down linemen. Lewis and CJ Johnson will be on NFL rosters next year. Lewis is a stud NT that constantly plugs the middle. Johnson has high end athleticism for a 300lber. He sheds blocks well on the run and is a beast interior pass rusher. Hugenin is playing very well this year. Eating up lots of blocks and taking on double teams. He's extremely steady for as a 5th year player.

Elam is a huge question mark still. will he lose the weight, learn the technique? Can K Smith provide valuable snaps at NG as a true freshman? Meant is solid and physical but isn't that athletic. Who takes the third spot? Will Middleton and Miggins and Dubose continue to develop. Will Daniel or Bell be the athlete we need on the line? Lots of questions...I think missing on Hamilton, Strowbridge and Provitt last year in recruiting has hurt refilling the linemen in the program for the short term. Would be VERY beneficial to keep winning this year and finish the class with a couple of stud Dlinemen. Perhaps a JUCO Dlineman like Aime.

I think the secondary and outside backers will be very very good.

 

[CatDaddy4daWin]

^ not to mention losing Tubman

One thing I am sure of is that Stoops has a plan.

 

[hmt5000]

Miggins was higher rated coming out of juco than cj was. CJ did not play like a beast last year. Proud of him for his start but I like miggins every bit as much this year as I do miggins. Heard several people say that Miggins really stands out in 1 on 1 drills and once he gets the D down he'll a good one.

 

[jauk11]

I think our defense is surprising some of us this year-----and I think it will next year too, despite losing all that experience. We have EIGHT freshmen in the two deep listed by Rivals above, four true and four redshirt, with two of them starters. They should take a big jump from year one to year two.

The OP already has developed a pretty good list of replacements for the eight plus one, but in addition to the ones he listed we have two very good four stars from the 13 class that will be very good seniors, Hatcher and McWilson.

The interesting thing to me is that we also have a slew of players that we were enthused about that also haven't been mentioned, just the youngsters from the 14 and 15 classes not mentioned include Edwards, Dubose, Middleton, Tucker, K Walker, M Walker, Allen, Beckham, E Brown, K Daniel, and M Walker, plus several others like the JC transfer Bell.

Interesting to me and a sign of where our recruiting is going is that the eight seniors we lose averaged a 5.5375 on Rivals recruiting scale (Lewis not rated, but gave him a 5.6, think he was rated lower), not very impressive at all compared to the numbers we are recruiting now, the fourteen I listed above that aren't even mentioned by the OP averaged a much higher 5.607 and the ones he mentioned as replacements much higher..

And while I don't think those numbers are very reliable in individual cases (Stamps in the senior class and Allen and Westry true freshmen maybe the best in those classes, all only 5.5s, but showing our coaches can also evaluate talent) I do think they show that our young players coming up will be more talented than the very good seniors they will replace. And all of them (plus the ones already in the two deep) will have another year of experience next year.

I don't see a big falloff next year, and definite improvement in the next few years.

 

[hmt5000]

crap, keep forgetting about kobie. he would be playing a lot of snaps this year if healthy. buh really likes him.

 

[StooperTroopers]

This is where bowl practice is really important. We are a young team that needs the reps in our depth to carry over to the following year.

Also, only reason we have 8 seniors on D is because we had to recruit Jucos to fill immediate holes. Out of those 8, I believe 4 of them are only in their 2nd year in the program.

 

[ZZZZCat]

I believe our depth and talent will improve every year under Stoops.

 

[K_TIME]

Of the 8:
1. CJ Johnson looks to be the one that will be biggest hole...I don't see any DE/DT close to his pass rush. And his improvement vs. the run game has been eye opening.
2. Forrest and how Flannigan performs rest of this year may be the 2nd biggest obstacle to replace. I guess it comes down to how good Love will be coming off a RS year. And the other aspect is those LBer spots are as much mentally knowing your assignments vs. just raw talent. You can see how much quicker Flannigan plays now that he knows his assignments. I won't argue that Frios/Jordan Jones/Eli Brown or a Freshman will improve upon replacing the LBers.
3. Lewis is a good NT...but Elam has a ton of potential. Will it come of age next year...we'll see. But Elam isn't doing a bad job at all...he really is a pile maker when he plays.
4. Stamps is pretty far down for who many claim is one of our best players. I like AJ...but I don't think he's been as valuable as the 4 mentioned above him...plus we have great talent at safety, I'm just not overly worried about it.
5. Jabari...good kid vs. the run...but not much else. Hatcher is an upgrade on the same roster.
6. Quinn...I'd argue we'll improve at that spot next year vs. go down.

 

[Levibooty]

If you want an example of what losing that many starters can do to your team watch/look at Miss. State.

 

[DACats86]

If you want an example of what losing that many starters can do to your team watch/look at Miss. State.

3-1, with the only loss being a 2 point loss to LSU... I'll take it.

 

[hmt5000]

If you want an example of what losing that many starters can do to your team watch/look at Miss. State.

But we return our entire O and they lost 16 starters...and just beat auburn.

 

[fabcat]

Having seniors every year is something we will have to deal with. And going forward there will be more. That is where your recruiting comes into play. We lost Bud and Z, and everyone thought we would struggle big time. Ware has been pretty good and now with Hatcher back we are solid at that position. We seem to be getting better players every year and I don't see that changing. Who's to say we don't get better at each position going forward. As long as we continue to recruit at or above the level we have we should be fine.

 

[PhattyJ4UK]

If our offense can play like they did last week every game, we could be sending those 8 seniors put in a very special way.


Next year excites me ..but not as much as next game

 

[CatsFanGG24]

Not worried.

Look at that list of 8 and tell me if you would have been worried about losing them a year or 2 ago...Stoops and Co can recruit AND develop. Quinn, J Johnson, Hueguenin, Forrest all 4+ year players that have developed under Stoops...Flannigan, Poop Johnson, Stamps & Lewis all Juco recruits signed by the man himself to plug holes.

 

[Pike 96]

Miggins was higher rated coming out of juco than cj was. CJ did not play like a beast last year. Proud of him for his start but I like miggins every bit as much this year as I do miggins. Heard several people say that Miggins really stands out in 1 on 1 drills and once he gets the D down he'll a good one.

Hope you are right on Miggins and the staff seems to love him. But CJ was rated higher. He was a 4 star on rivals and Miggins was a,2 star.

 

[JSDC]

DE- Miggins/Bell/Daniel
NT- Elam/Kobe Smith/Hyde
DT- Meant/Middleton/Dubose
DE/LB- Ware/Laster
SLB- Hatcher/Allen/K Walker
MLB- Love/Firios
WLB- Jones/Eli Brown
Nickel- McClain/Beckham
CB- Westry/Harmon
SS-McWilson/Edwards
FS- West/Walker
CB- Randolph/Baity

Overall, a pretty solid looking two deep. We may not drop off too much.

Minus the mental breakdown vs. ULL, J. Jones has been impressive to me. He plays fast and is physical for his size. Really like his potential.

 

[Pike 96]

Of the 8:
1. CJ Johnson looks to be the one that will be biggest hole...I don't see any DE/DT close to his pass rush. And his improvement vs. the run game has been eye opening.
2. Forrest and how Flannigan performs rest of this year may be the 2nd biggest obstacle to replace. I guess it comes down to how good Love will be coming off a RS year. And the other aspect is those LBer spots are as much mentally knowing your assignments vs. just raw talent. You can see how much quicker Flannigan plays now that he knows his assignments. I won't argue that Frios/Jordan Jones/Eli Brown or a Freshman will improve upon replacing the LBers.
3. Lewis is a good NT...but Elam has a ton of potential. Will it come of age next year...we'll see. But Elam isn't doing a bad job at all...he really is a pile maker when he plays.
4. Stamps is pretty far down for who many claim is one of our best players. I like AJ...but I don't think he's been as valuable as the 4 mentioned above him...plus we have great talent at safety, I'm just not overly worried about it.
5. Jabari...good kid vs. the run...but not much else. Hatcher is an upgrade on the same roster.
6. Quinn...I'd argue we'll improve at that spot next year vs. go down.

DLINE talent and the inside linebackers stepping up are the big worries.

I will say this.. I think Quinn is being undervalued. He has played extremely solid this year. Would like to have him back next year as a RS SR.

Not to high jack the thread but it still pisses me off with the redshirts Joker burned. Darrian Miller made an NFL roster...how great would it have been to have him as our RS SR left tackle this year. Same thing for Swindle next year. How much better is Jabari Johnson and Hugenin as RS seniors verses only 4 year players...oh well. We are doing it right going forward, less blowing Daniels RS. Which was this staffs one roster mistake to date

 

[CatsFanGG24]

DLINE talent and the inside linebackers stepping up are the big worries.

I will say this.. I think Quinn is being undervalued. He has played extremely solid this year. Would like to have him back next year as a RS SR.

Not to high jack the thread but it still pisses me off with the redshirts Joker burned. Darrian Miller made an NFL roster...how great would it have been to have him as our RS SR left tackle this year. Same thing for Swindle next year. How much better is Jabari Johnson and Hugenin as RS seniors verses only 4 year players...oh well. We are doing it right going forward, less blowing Daniels RS. Which was this staffs one roster mistake to date

Did see Daniel getting some run on defense in a package vs Florida. Hope to see him a bunch this weekend.

 

[Tskware]

Not going to worry about who is going to play next year until at least Spring Practice.

 

[hmt5000]

Hope you are right on Miggins and the staff seems to love him. But CJ was rated higher. He was a 4 star on rivals and Miggins was a,2 star.

Depends on who's ratings you go by. Our coaches apparently had miggins rated higher and msu had miggins penciled in for a starting spot on their line before we flipped him. Not going to diminish cj's play so far this year but he has been battling to start as it is and the guys pushing him for that spot are coming back. Glass half full way of looking at it. Lol