depth chart

So we're pretty well into the season at this point (Nearly halfway! Dear god!). At any rate, we've seen a lot of play out of a lot of guys, but we've only seen a few depth chart moves so far, usually as a result of injury. I'm wondering if any of you have some moves you'd like to see take place that the coaches haven't done, yet.

A move that will be taking place this week is that Raymon Taylor has moved ahead of Avery on the depth chart, though he was going to start anyway, so that's really just procedureal.

I'd like to see a depth chart change at RB. Not necessarily movint Fitz out of the one, but maybe listing the one as Fitz OR Rawls, and I'd also like to see the options below those two more clearly demarcated and get some other guys a few chances. We have to find a back that can get it going.

I also wonder if something shouldn't be done about the depth chart at DE (Clark/Beyer). Your thoughts?

 I keep hearing how Alabama has more talent due to their amazing recruiting.  So I wanted to take a look and see what the differences were according to Rivals and ESPN.  Hope I didn't mess up the formatting I have never done this before. 

Also note I only included the players that were listed on the Two Deep depth charts.  So the ratings don't include the whole recruiting classes.  I was really suprised to see how many upper classman3 star guys Bama had on the OL and DL.  Most of their highly rated guys were at LB, CB/S, and RB.  I don't think there is as big a differnce as people think.

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Sorry about the formatting I have tried to fix it but every time I save it goes back to the large verson. [ed-S: fixed. Thanks for doing the research]

Greg Mattison recently stated he wants 22 defenders he feels comfortable with playing because injuries are not an excuse for any loss.  Pessimistic prognosticators point to our paper thin depth as a reason to pick us for 6 wins.  I ask, are we really that thin in depth?Or am I just inflating the following depth compared to the miniscule depth over the past three years?

Depth by position-

OL-Schofield-This RS Soph was already subbed in the past weekend and has received high marks from the staff.

WR-J. Robinson, J. Jackson, J. Gallon, D. Dileo-Three of these youngsters played last year and Robinson is the most hyped redshirt frosh on the team.

QB-Gardner-Denard is the absolute worst injury this team could suffer.  However Devin has the athletic talent to keep things interesting.

RB-Fitz, Smith, Hopkins, and Rawls-Fitz looks like a 1b starter from preseason videos and reports.

DB-Floyd, Talbott, and pick your favorite frosh DB-both played at DB last year.

LB-Assuming Hawthorne, Demens, and C. Gordon start-M. Jones, J. Ryan, B. Herron, M. Evans, and Fitzgerald-That's 5 linebackers that are either old dudes, or their stock is on the rise (Ryan this year, Jones last year who played on 3rd downs vs. ND pre-injury).

D-line-Heininger, Campbell, Qwash, Black-I think Qwash will step up this year.  He looked ok in limited time last year and Mattison said in the spring he could "roll" Washington and Campbell to keep them fresh.  Let's hope Brink is a true starter Kovacs style.

Conclusion: Overall I am not going to hit the panic button at any position unless Denard, Mike Martin, or Troy Woolfolk go down given their all-star power.  Only 6 days away, Go Blue!

Okay, I just want to break this down. I haven't tried my hand at analysis much, but I wanted to take on this recent confusion over why we're looking at so many Corners and Safeties. Please take this only as an attempt at reasoning through it. If you disagree, that's fine - I gave it the old college try.

Here we go.

We all know, there are a few highly rated DBs visiting over the next couple weeks. This year, with the offers we have out, there could be as many as seven DB prospects we get commitments from.

Locked in:
Blake Countess
Delonte Hollowell
Tamani Carter 
Greg Brown

Possible:
Floyd Raven
Stefan McClure
Raymon Taylor

Here's our current roster (scholarship only):

CB: Troy Woolfolk, JT Floyd, Cullen Christian, Courtney Avery, Terrence Talbott

S (Jeremy Gallon is listed here, but yeah right): Josh Furman, Ray Vinopal, Cam Gordon, Thomas Gordon, Brandin Hawthorne, Carvin Johnson, Marvin Robinson, Jordan Kovacs

That means we're 4-deep at Safeties, but only 2 1/2-deep at corner. We are still going after DBs hard in this class, so that leads me to a few conclusions:

1) We need some Corners.

With Woolfolk having just his senior year left, and Floyd looking unimpressive (to be fair, the whole defense was unimpressive, but still...), we definitely need a few corners.

2) Cam Gordon will be switched back to Wide Receiver.

This is not data. This is intuition. We are recruiting a lot of, say it with me, Defensive Backs. We are not recruiting very many, one more time with feeling..., Wide Outs.

Our WRs are: Hemingway, Stonum, Roundtree, Odoms, Jackson, Miller, Stokes, etc. BUT...Miller (6'4'') and Jackson (6'3'') are very young, and the rest of the depth chart has Stonum as the tallest receiver at 6'2'' with a bunch of little slot guys. Cam is perfect for a West Coast style of offense. Stolen from Football 101 at calsci.com:

The ideal size of a receiver [in the West Coast Offense] should be at least 6'3'' and weigh about 210 pounds.

 

Anyone want to take a look at Cam Gordon's height and weight? Of course, build isn't everything, but he was a receiver when he was first recruited, so it's not really out of the question.

3) Two of these commits are taking the place of Vlad Emilien and Justin Turner.

We lost 2 Defensive backs in the last year, so even if we end up signing 7 DBs, it's kind of a net 5 due to replacing those two.

4) We might not NEED all seven.

The question is, since we have a real shot with McClure, Raven AND Taylor, who is the odd man out? My guess would be Delonte Hollowell. It's great that he's Blue, but even if he stays with us, he's probably relegated to backup duty for his time here, barring a miracle.

5) There will be a bunch of redshirts.

For obvious reasons, but I don't know who, because I don't actually know which would be better - to redshirt the not-quite-as-good to see if we can coach them up? or to redshirt the possible stars to give them more time in maize and blue?

6) A safety will move to LB

We have 7 LBs right now (before this recruiting class), and we could probably use more. There are a couple of players listed at Safety that could definitely be LBs - Furman and Robinson, specifically.

Conclusion: Do I think we'll end up with 7 DBs in the class? No. That's a lot of Defensive Backs, but it looks like there's room, somehow. If we get Raven and McClure, we definitely have to hang onto them, though. If a couple guys redshirt, and the ones who are ready to contribute stay on the roster, we'll end up with a pretty excellent secondary for quite a few years. Now if we only had a DB coach...

Who does everything think will be our starting DBs and Safties in 2009 season?

Obviously Cisoko and Warren for DB, but who else? Brandon smith? Vlad Emilien? Justin Turner? Am I missing upperclassmen who could be starting safties?

Brian, you have Vince Helmuth listed as a DT on the 2009. Can you (or anybody) tell me if this is accurate. I have not seen anything that said he was moving to DT, though it would make sense considering he's in the same class as Moundrous and clearly not beating him out at FB before they graduate.