ADVERTISEMENT

Give me your DL 2-deep for this fall...

Bell has a ton of young talent, will this line rival some like we've seen in 2004, 2009, etc? Wow, we could go 10 deep.

Bowie
Lee
Black
Waggoner
Van Ness
Hurkett
Craig
Jones
Graves
Evans
Pittman
Reames
Shannon
It's going to be fun to see who blows up in spring practice. I had forgotten about Sullivan as well, but it looks like he is at LB.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Torg
I'm not concerned about the depth at all; I actually thought Shannon was done and felt he really came on as the season progressed. What I am concerened about are the ends. Wags played well but rarely got pressure on the QB. Craig showed some big talent at times in that area but need to see more. Would they be wise to go after a DE pass rush guy?
 
DE - Waggoner, Craig - backups Hurkett, Evans 3rd - Reames
DT - Lee, Shannon - backups Van Ness, Black 3rd - Jones, Bowie, Pittman

Graves maybe redshirts.

Don't forget Llewellyn
 
DL1: Waggoner, Shannon, Lee, Hurkett
3rd & Long: Evans, Van Ness, Shannon, Craig
DL2: Evans, Van Ness, Black, Craig

Looks to me like those freshmen we all like and are expecting big things from will have to work their asses off on order to see some time. Looking for big things from Logan Jones, especially. Is there a pass-rushing specialist in the group opposite of Evans? That will be one of the things I will be following this spring, summer and OOC schedule.
 
DL1: Waggoner, Shannon, Lee, Hurkett
3rd & Long: Evans, Van Ness, Shannon, Craig
DL2: Evans, Van Ness, Black, Craig

Looks to me like those freshmen we all like and are expecting big things from will have to work their asses off on order to see some time. Looking for big things from Logan Jones, especially. Is there a pass-rushing specialist in the group opposite of Evans? That will be one of the things I will be following this spring, summer and OOC schedule.
Before Craig got hurt, he seemed to be getting in the backfield quite a bit. Even in limited time.
 
I think it is
Waggoner, Evans, Shannon, Jones, Lee, Black, Craig, VanNess, Hurkett, Reames as the top Ten and will play. You will also have guys like Bowie, Llwewlyn and Pittman pushing guys because I think that was a good Freshman class. DL is stacked. Plus you have Graves coming in.
 
Like to see a dominant DE emerge as a force on the edge to virtually shut off one side of the line to the opposing O.
The group overall looks to be very solid.
 
Base 4-3 Two Deeps:

DE: Waggoner/Craig
DT: Shannon/Black
DT: Lee/Jones
DE: Van Ness/Hurkett or Llewellyn

Raider Package
DE: Craig or Hurkett
DT: Van Ness
DT: Jones
DE: Evans
 
  • Like
Reactions: millhawk
I think Van Ness is going to be that guy. With what he showed as a RS FR and his size and length he has what it takes to get to the QB.
If someone could step up and follow and in the mold of AJE that would make a big difference in the overall disruption that the D-line can cause. Think of what it's been like for the Iowa O-line when they have to account for that one dominant DE for the opposition.
 
I'm not concerned about the depth at all; I actually thought Shannon was done and felt he really came on as the season progressed. What I am concerened about are the ends. Wags played well but rarely got pressure on the QB. Craig showed some big talent at times in that area but need to see more. Would they be wise to go after a DE pass rush guy?

If Craig and Evans can play the run really well then those two will be strong in pass rush. Waggoner can maybe put in a couple of new moves on the pass rush.

Will Jestin Jacobs gain a bunch of weight and muscle that will put him at 255 or more. There can be a lot of change in 9 months. I wonder if DLinemen unofficially practice against Olinemen in the offseason,
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mohawkeye
I think Evans had like 7 sacks this year. Wouldn't surprise me if he and Waggoner get the most snaps at DE.
 
I remember a lot of people were really high on Black, curious if he'll take another step this year
 
I think Evans had like 7 sacks this year. Wouldn't surprise me if he and Waggoner get the most snaps at DE.
JW had 50 snaps against Kentucky with no stats. Hard to do playing 50 snaps. Steady but not overly explosive off the edge.
 
This was Waggs first year of really seeing a lot of reps. He was mainly seeing reps on early downs too ... so those downs are tough because you're usually expecting run ... so you need to make sure that you're taking care of your gap responsibility.

Furthermore, there is the balancing act of making sure you're keeping the LBs clean ... but, at the same time, putting yourself in position to make plays.

A D-lineman can do a great job of keeping his LBs clean ... but have a very light stat-line himself.

Also, there is the temptation for a DE to crash to the inside to make the play and stop the run ... but then that frees the edge. If the play bounces to the edge ... then we've lost outside contain.

My guess is that Waggs will continue to improve and we'll find him getting closer to the action next year (i.e. making more plays that are to be had).
 
Evans had continued to expand his role ... seeing increasingly many early-down snaps. He's not just an edge-rusher ... but that has been one of his significant roles.

He was seeing a lot of his snaps at LDE ... with VanValkenburg graduating ... I wonder if he'll see more snaps at RDE.

I've posted this before ... I like the guys we have at DT ... so I wonder if a guy like Van Ness (who seems rather versatile) might bump out and see some snaps at DE.

Looking at DT ... Shannon made a really nice jump from '20 to '21 ... kudos to him on the improvements/development he made! Also, Logan Lee was rock-freaking-solid. '21 was really Lee's first season seeing a lot of snaps ... let alone starting! Lee's production was right there with Shannon (maybe even a shade better).
 
  • Like
Reactions: WSC72
My take for the DL:
LDE: Waggoner, Craig/Reames
LDT: Shannon, Black
RDT: Lee, Jones
RDE: Evans/Van Ness, Craig/Hurkett

I could see a young guy contributing on situational downs. I anticipate that Craig will likely be the guy who gets a lot of extra reps on our pass-rushing downs ... but other guys will fight him for it!

I'm willing to bet that Van Ness remains on the interior on pass-rush downs ... but, on early downs, I'll be curious if Coach Bell tries him at DE.

Evans is a really tough guy ... and Meier was ultra productive for us as an undersized DE ... but given how active our rotation has been of late, I'd expect for Coach Bell to make sure that guys are always pretty fresh.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WSC72
Evans is a really tough guy ... and Meier was ultra productive for us as an undersized DE ... but given how active our rotation has been of late, I'd expect for Coach Bell to make sure that guys are always pretty fresh.
I think Evans is legit. I keep seeing that smallish guy from WI just terrorizing our tackles a few years back. We couldn't stop him. The difference is that Evans will actually bull rush. It's just the damnest thing to watch him play.
 
Same here, he seemed to go from the most hyped DL coming into the year to a relative non-factor amongst those rotating.
Black played a lot of snaps this season and did a good job stuffing the run, which is what the coaches were looking for. I expect he still has a lot of upside as a pass rusher.
 
This was Waggs first year of really seeing a lot of reps. He was mainly seeing reps on early downs too ... so those downs are tough because you're usually expecting run ... so you need to make sure that you're taking care of your gap responsibility.

Furthermore, there is the balancing act of making sure you're keeping the LBs clean ... but, at the same time, putting yourself in position to make plays.

A D-lineman can do a great job of keeping his LBs clean ... but have a very light stat-line himself.

Also, there is the temptation for a DE to crash to the inside to make the play and stop the run ... but then that frees the edge. If the play bounces to the edge ... then we've lost outside contain.

My guess is that Waggs will continue to improve and we'll find him getting closer to the action next year (i.e. making more plays that are to be had).
I thought Waggs did a very solid job this year and look for him to be even better next season.
 
Bell has a ton of young talent, will this line rival some like we've seen in 2004, 2009, etc? Wow, we could go 10 deep.

Bowie
Lee
Black
Waggoner
Van Ness
Hurkett
Craig
Jones
Graves
Evans
Pittman
Reames
Shannon
And Bruce, Allen and Crawford also. 😎❤️🏈
 
DL1: Waggoner, Shannon, Lee, Hurkett
3rd & Long: Evans, Van Ness, Shannon, Craig
DL2: Evans, Van Ness, Black, Craig

Looks to me like those freshmen we all like and are expecting big things from will have to work their asses off on order to see some time. Looking for big things from Logan Jones, especially. Is there a pass-rushing specialist in the group opposite of Evans? That will be one of the things I will be following this spring, summer and OOC schedule.
Maybe Graves fills that specialists role opposite of Evans? His highlight video is really impressive. Big Motor!!!
 
Bell has a ton of young talent, will this line rival some like we've seen in 2004, 2009, etc? Wow, we could go 10 deep.

Bowie
Lee
Black
Waggoner
Van Ness
Hurkett
Craig
Jones
Graves
Evans
Pittman
Reames
Shannon
Give me more Graves!
 
Graves is a guy who seems motivated to want to be an early contributor. We'll see if he can pull it off.

If he can pull it off ... it would certainly be a pretty impressive feat ... because I think our DL personnel is pretty good ... and pretty experienced too!

Looking back to 2017 ... between the fact that Anthony Nelson blasted onto the scene in '16 (quite a RS FR campaign!) and the arrival of AJ Epenesa ... that ended up contributing to Matt Nelson's shift to the interior (because our DT situation was definitely the weak spot of the unit that year). Our additional depth at DE that season came from Brincks ... quite a pleasant surprise!

The 2022 DL doesn't appear to have the same level of high-level rushers like it had in '17 ... but it arguably should be a much stronger group against the run. Of course ... Anthony and AJ were still quite young that year (in '17) ... so maybe our pass-rushers in '22 might just surprise us. After all, both Evans and Van Ness have demonstrated a pretty good knack for getting to the QB.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WSC72
Waggoner doesn't seem to have the rush skills at DE. I think he would be better on the inside.
Waggoner is a strong side defensive end, at his best when hitting and delaying the enemy's tight end. At the same time you have to contain your inside gap and try to contain the outside.

It's not an easy position to play. You have to be very aware of what is going on in about one second. John seems good at that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: waggoner50325
I think Graves moves inside

Are we sure Evans comes back? He battled some injuries this year
Where is he gonna go? Unless he hangs it all up I think he’s a guy that could be here for 2 more years unless young talent completely buries him, but I’m sure we’ll see him at least one more year.
 
ADVERTISEMENT