What this is: Our take on preseason all-Big Ten lists, drafting position-by-position.

Previously: Quarterbacks and Running Backs, Receivers and Tight Ends, Offensive Line

How things stand:

Seth: Snake draft. Random.org decided the order.

======DEFENSIVE TACKLES======

DT #1 Raequan Williams, Michigan State (Seth)

No way around him [Bryan Fuller]

There is no quote from this offseason that makes me angrier than this from Raequan after the Video Stores Still Exist? Bowl, regarding his choice to return for his senior season:

"I'm a better pass rusher than a sack and a half. I have to put that on film."

Based on no evidence I am convinced his coaches told him that.

It's offensively untrue. Williams has made 29 starts since taking over for, and playing better than, Malik McDowell in the year MSU went 3-9 (and Notre Dame went 4-8). What all that tape shows is the guy I will use from now until eternity to describe the perfect defensive weapon against zone running. His pad level is too good, his feet are too quick, those dang long arms make it impossible to get around him, or any kind of control, and he's so dang strong no QB vs. MSU has enjoyed a convex pocket for two years and counting.

SI has him going in the bottom of the 1st round. Gil Brandt has him the 4th DT off the board. PFF has him the best tackler in the conference, 4th in the country at run-stuffing and first among returning DTs, in a tight group with OSU's guys and the Panasiuk who gets singled all the time because of Williams. Izzo is probably telling him he should be a four.

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DT #2 Robert Landers, Ohio State (BiSB)

A short, active, immovable nose guard named Bob Landers sounds like something from a 1970s Bo team. [Eric Upchurch]

Landers is a Nose Tackle. Now, this seems like an obvious statement. But I'm not saying "he plays nose tackle." He IS a Nose Tackle. The absolute Platonic ideal of the thing. He's 6'1", under 290 pounds, and dominates the 2.2 yards around him in any direction like an angry walrus. He is quick off the ball and has great feet and short-area burst for a guy his size. He redirects well. He starts under your pads, and he stays there. He stands up well to double-teams, and you absolutely have to double-team him. Seth has compared him to Rob Renes, which is the easiest shorthand.

His Nose Tackle-ness does come at a cost: he doesn't really... uh... produce much. He had 1 sack all of last year, against [404 FILE NOT FOUND], 5 TFLs, and only 25 total tackles. And he didn't provide any real organic pass rush. But he can hold and push the pocket, and he is a thorn in the side of opposing running plays. Other guys on the board have more upside on counting stats, but Landers is like taking the center square in Tic-Tac-Toe; every move both sides makes is framed around the one round thing in the middle.

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DT #3 Mike Panasiuk, Michigan State (Ace)

No Respekt. [via YouTube]

While Williams is the better player and prospect, Panasiuk isn’t chopped liver. PFF named him second-team all-conference last year. He put up six TFLs on the top rush defense in the country according to fancystats. He can shift between the 1- and 3-tech. He’s stronk, as you can see before he makes this rather bizarre interception:

Panasiuk isn’t a major pass-rush threat but, as we’ll see, there are plenty of those on the edge. He’s still active against the pass; you saw his pocket-pushing above, and he got his paws on three passes last year in addition to the pick. He’s productive, consistent, and proven, which is hard to find at this position this year.

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Brian: Before I start I just want to say that combing through NFL draft bits here is a little painful because Jordan Elliott, Jay Tufele, and Levi Onwuzirike(!) all show up as draftable guys.

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DT #4: Lorenzo Neal, Purdue (Brian)

We haven't forgotten about you; we've just seen too many DTs with ACL injuries in our lifetimes. [Purdue University Athletics]

The main reason Neal has fallen this far is an injury. He tore his ACL in November and is a "game time decision," shading towards nope, for Purdue's opener against Nevada. Purdue being Purdue, this is not a situation where they're just resting a guy because they're going to whoop up on their opponent. He's still not all the way back.

NFL guys with longer timelines are usually ranking him third to fifth, although Todd McShay pulled a mini-Leidner by asserting he'd go 12th overall to the Falcons. Neal is a quintessential NT who crushes single blocking and has to be dealt with by multiple players...

Purdue RDT Lorenzo Neal (#9) vs. Michigan State (10/27/18). #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/x4tefFmDz8

— PFDZ (@PFDZ44) July 23, 2019

...he doesn't add a ton of pass rush but he's 320 pounds, so... yeah.

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DT#5: Robert Windsor, Penn State (Brian)

It's rude to crap on somebody else's pick in a caption but it's so hard not to because I (in last year's FFFF), PFF, and Adam (in HTTV) all agreed that Windsor is just a blitzball/damn-the-consequences guy and his rotational backup Antonio Shelton is more effective. [Matthew O'Haren/USA Today Sports]

DT, 7.5 sacks, late-season surge, most of his damage done during Big Ten play. Added a few more TFLs to get up to 11 on the season to go with 39 tackles--pretty good for a DT. Notably, he did this as a nose tackle. (https://www.blackshoediaries.com/2019/7/12/18677885/penn-state-football…). A shift to three-tech is being bandied about and is probably a better fit for a guy who is not at all your traditional Lorenzo Neal type run engulfer.

Gil Brandt likes him! Woo! Please ignore Gil Brandt during the Michigan coaching search and focus on Gil Brandt the guy who's been evaluating football players since the middle Jurassic!

Also he provides his own highlights.

Check out some of my favorite sacks and qb this from this season? pic.twitter.com/2uimZWL092

— Robert Windsor (@RobertWindsor54) December 7, 2018

Ryan Glasgow-esque.

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DT #6 Michael Dwumfour, Michigan (Ace)

The throw-in on the Gary deal is now Michigan's big X factor. [Fuller]

Here’s where the position group begins to thin out, so it’s time to take a shot. Michigan’s defensive tackles were merely Guys last year. The one with the skills most translatable to Dude-dom is Dwumfour, who tallied three sacks in rotational action that mostly came on passing downs because he wasn’t reliable against the run. If he becomes more assignment-sound, he’s got Hurstian upside.

To reach that level, he needs to get his UFR numbers to catch up to his statistical production. That’s no guarantee, especially after a spring spent recovering from injury gave Donovan Jeter a chance to push for the starting job. The sure things are gone, however, and I’d rather grab a guy with major pass-rush upside than choose another plugger—Carlo Kemp is the safer bet to play consistently well but he’s mostly a pocket-pusher. Here’s hoping the foot injury that cost Dwumfour the spring also had a tangible impact on his game last year; health permitting, that could portend a breakout.

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Brian: Describing Dwumfour as "balanced against the run" is definitely a take

Ace: Indeed. Some clips hit the cutting room floor for that one.

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DT#7 DT Ben Stille, Nebraska

Seth stop using the captions to rip on peoples' picks. But he's a former linebacker! Yeah, well, look at the DTs in this conference this year; also you gave Stille a blackshirt in last year's FFFF. Yeah, but as an SDE. Yeah but he's up to 300-ish. Okay fine. [Brendan Sulivan/The World-Herald]

If this were Draftageddon Classic, this is where I would take one of the myriad defensive ends in the conference and plug him in at 3-tech, because why not. But enough of you lovingly threatened to burn down MGoHeadquarters over the structure of this series that this no is longer an option. Instead, I'll do the next best thing and take a 3-4 DE who would translate well to tackle in a 4-3. Stille's biggest issue in his first two season was a lack of sandwiches, but he is reportedly up to about 300 pounds. He lined up everywhere on the line last year, from the nose to a true end, and seemed effective everywhere. He was often asked to two-gap, and did so while still managing to generate pass rush. Only Windsor and Dre'Mont Jones accumulated more sacks as a DT or 3-4 DE than Stille's 5. He also tied for the most pressures in the conference from an interior defender with 24, tying teammate Khalil Davis.

Nebraska returns Ben Stille and Khalil Davis, who totaled 24 QB pressures each last season which leads B1G interior defenders. pic.twitter.com/iEDCp8Js59

— PFF College (@PFF_College) August 3, 2019

Truth be told, if I could select "The Best Nebraska DE," this pick would have been a no-brainer. Between Stille, Khalil Davis, and Davis's twin brother Carlos, Nebraska has a bunch of dudes on the defensive line (note: they also have a pair of brothers at NT, with Damion and Darrion Daniels). And of the three, and almost certainly at least one, will have a breakout year.

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Ace: Thank you for finding the Dwumfour graphic.

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DT#8: Davon Hamilton, Ohio State (Seth)

Davon Hamilton is ready to go out with a bang his senior season. pic.twitter.com/h4C0xNerpJ

— PFF College (@PFF_College) August 5, 2019

I can't believe everyone passed on the dude PFF gave an "elite" 85.6. With Landers in and out with injury, Hamilton had to earn most of that against the interior OL we drafted, making their B10 team of the week against Michigan (there's a video of this on Youtube if you're a sadist, no I'm not linking it) and MSU (but no fair beating up on MAC OL). He is the talk of Columbus after shedding some weight and inheriting Dre'Mont Jones's snaps.

The guy's more of a traditional 1-tech, but hey, if you wanna leave the green guy on the Dwumfour chart single-blocked, that's on y'all and your non-Shea quarterbacks.

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======DEFENSIVE ENDS======

DE #1: Chase Young, Ohio State (Seth)

It was supposed to be a massive blow. Just a few games into the season Ohio State lost Nick Bosa, the best defensive end in the country who was projected to go in the top five of the draft. Then they barely missed him because his backup was an even better pass rusher, and a better run defender from their strongside position, and is now projected to go 1st overall in the draft. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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DE #2: Kenny Willekes, Michigan State (BiSB)

Former walk-on, sheesh. [Patrick Barron]

I feel legitimately bad leaving AJ Epenesa on the board for Ace at #3. But it would feel just as bad leaving him Kenny Willekes. Or Chase Young for that matter. For the second year in a row, the disparity between the quality and depth of the Big Ten DEs and those of the DTs is stark, bordering on comical. I'm taking the returning Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year and PFF's #16 player in the country, and I feel the need to defend it.

The two reasons I would take Willekes over Epenesa if forced to make a choice (which... well... I was) are snaps and run defense. Willekes almost never left the field for Michigan State, while Epenesa played about half of Iowa's snaps, primarily (though not exclusively) in passing situations. And while Epenesa was not a bad run defender by any means, Willekes was the best in the Big Ten by a healthy margin.

Kenny Willekes stood easily on top among B1G edge defenders when it came to run-defense. pic.twitter.com/181H6KcjK3

— PFF College (@PFF_College) June 6, 2019

Willekes doesn't really have a weakness in his game. He can rush with power, he can rush with speed, and he uses his hands well to disengage from blockers, all of which led him to chalk up 72 QB pressures, #2 in the country. He plays disciplined run defense, and is Sneaky Athletic for a former walk-on (did I mention he's a former walk-on? Because he's a former walk-on); teams occasionally tried to option him, usually to their own embarrassment. And while you have to take counting stats with a grain of salt, he led conference defensive lineman with 78 tackles, and his 20.5 TFLs were the most by a Big Ten defensive lineman since Joey Bosa in 2014. I recommend watching his every-snap video against Ohio State, whose tackles he thoroughly whooped.

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[Some time passes]

Seth: As soon as @ace gets over his surprise that Iowa has a bona fide 5-star...

DE #3: AJ Epenesa, Iowa (Ace)

Even the Romans weren't this sick. [via Iowa Athletics Communications]

My surprise is he was still on the board.

As a true sophomore, Epenesa played less than half of Iowa’s available snaps last year on a defense with an embarrassment of riches at end. The former five-star still led the conference with 10.5 sacks while also tallying six additional TFLs and four forced fumbles. He’s not some passing-down specialist; at 6'6", 280, he’s a force no matter the play. A person that large and young should not move like this or possess such an array of pass-rushing moves:

He’s got an excellent inside rip, he can dip around the corner on a speed rush, and his bull rush is… effective.

He’s a top-ten pick most everywhere you look and as high as #2 on places like Rotoworld.

Epenesa is a freak athlete who bends the edge and converts speed to power at an extremely advanced level for his age. Kid is strong as an ox (see below). But that’s not what he’s known for. What he’s known for is his dog-on-a-bone relentlessness. Ace Iowa beat writer Scott Dochterman has compared Epenesa’s no-kill-switch-pursuit style to former Purdue DE Ryan Kerrigan, who famously played each down like it was his last.

JJ Watt’s named is invoked. Epenesa may be the best player in the entire conference this year.

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Seth: It's a surprisingly sick year.

BiSB: I would be interested to see how everyone would have ranked the Big Three (assuming we can agree there are a Big Three). I would have gone Willekes, Epenesa, Young.

Seth: I think that's a ranking of last year's production. I agree with the draft order. Young is a potential 1st overall pick who kept pace with Willekes during what was supposed to be Young's breaking in year. Epenesa hasn't had to be an every-down player yet, but again: ridiculous player. I also don't think there's enough of a difference between them that it matters what order we draft them in.

Ace: I had it Epenesa, Young, Willekes, but it’s really close.

Seth: For what it's worth, Pro Football Focus goes Young (5th nationally), Epenesa (10th), Willekes (16th).

No edge defender brought in more total pressures a season ago than Young as he made the loss of Nick Bosa an afterthought in 2018. Over the past two seasons, he’s won 19.4% of his pass-rush attempts and recorded a pressure on 17.0% of his snaps, both of which are top-10 figures among active edge defenders. Young uses a combination of speed, power and handwork to secure his pressures and he should see no dropoff in 2019.

He was doing that from the tight end side too. Every mock draft has Young going in the top five, most of them 1st overall, or else behind a quarterback and offensive tackle with the explanation that those positions are worth passing on the best player available. If a lot of that's projection, well, his coach is Larry Johnson Sr.

Ace: They also said this:

The only thing holding Epenesa back from being mentioned in the same breath as Young at the moment is playing time. The sophomore was a part of a heavy rotation in Iowa and played just 412 snaps as a result. That only makes his 10 sacks and 46 pressures all the more impressive. At 6-foot-6, 280 pounds, Epenesa will be coveted for his versatility.

Again, it’s really close. The thing that separates them for me is that Epenesa does it at 280 pounds.

Seth: Epenesa's an incredible player—you can't get into his chest because of those arms and his acceleration is that of a guy 60 pounds smaller. And it's not like it's shameful to be behind Parker Hesse and Anthony Nelson, like Rashan was when Wormley and Taco were around. Of the three however, Chase and Willekes are playing beside elite DTs, while Iowa's DT situation is so bad they are seriously mad you guys about an academic non-qualifier recruit from outside the top 500 who magically just got into Michigan State.

BiSB: The one thing that does give me a little bit of pause is that Willekes is coming off a broken leg suffered during the My Eyes, The Goggles Do Nothing Bowl. He should be back to 100%, but you can never really know for sure.

Alex: I really regret missing that game.

[Much more time passes]

BiSB: (if the delay is one of pronunciation, it's "EEE-Tore")

Ace: (the saddest defensive end)

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DE #4: Yetur Gross-Matos, Penn State (Brian)

YGM isn't one of the big three, but he's a top-two DE most years, and giving chase. [Fuller]

Well I mean the guy had 20 TFLs last year as a true sophomore en route to first team All Big Ten. Mel Kiper projected him sixth overall on his first 2020 draft ratings, PFF had him 25th overall . SI put him in their top 50 college players. PFF's grade isn't quite commensurate with the stats but it's quite good already and likely headed up since Gross-Matos is still in the rapid improvement phase of his college career.

Yetur Gross-Matos is ready to get after the quarterback again this season and is a player to watch. pic.twitter.com/7uT4TantjH

— PFF College (@PFF_College) August 12, 2019

This is the #4 DE in the Big Ten. Did I mention that I'm thrilled Michigan is moving to a crap-ton of RPOs?

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"DE" #5: Carter Coughlin, Minnesota (Brian)

Brian goes BUCk with a guy who's basically Uche with starter minutes. [clipped from YouTube]

Man, Minnesota could be a thing this year. Coughlin is a gray area DE/OLB in Minnesota's 3-4 but I claim him as my WDE because he does things like this:

Yeah we’ll be talking about Carter Coughlin Minnesota edge next draft season pic.twitter.com/SUWLUBEskf

— Jon Ledyard (@LedyardNFLDraft) March 7, 2019

He beat Isaiah Prince like a drum last year in that extremely entertaining Minnesota-OSU game that didn't quite come off for the Gophers. My dude has getoff. Here he is against Alaric Jackson:

Minnesota JR EDGE Carter Coughlin (6'3 245, per Draft Scout). Jot that name down.

His 2018 season: 15 TFLs, 9.5 sacks, 4 FFs. pic.twitter.com/NUjXvS8F2s

— Ty Wurth (@WurthDraft) December 26, 2018

And he's got weird family!

Had a really weird interaction with one of his family members or someone like that. Just slid into my DMs in like November and said "Hey how bout that Carter Coughlin 15 TFLs last year"

— Mark Jarvis (@WhatsOnDraftNFL) March 7, 2019

Coughlin racked up 9.5 sacks and 15 TFLs last year, and that was after good sophomore production (11.5 TFLs, 6.5 sacks). And he's done that despite Minnesota generating zilch from the rest of their DL. He's not getting cleanup sacks, he's forcing the play.

Athlon has him 16th amongst draft prospects, which is probably too aggressive. I would be surprised if he wasn't off the board by the time the second round is over.

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Ace: Damn, I was hoping/expecting Coughlin to drop to me.

Brian: I mean we all watched that OSU game.

Ace: True, was hoping/expecting we’d blame that on Isaiah Prince.

Brian: Well then we all watched the Michigan-OSU game.

mmm bleach

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DE #6: Joe “The Gaz” Gaziano, Northwestern (Ace)

The Gaz leads returning Big Ten players with 16.5 sacks over the last two seasons. In fact, he’s only a half-sack behind Anthony Nelson for the lead among all Big Ten players, including departed NFL draftees, a list that includes the likes of Bosa and Gary and Winovich. He’s not quite the athlete as some of the players on this list and he doesn’t get a lot of help but he’s got the proverbial high motor to make up for it:

Of the seven players listed here, Gaziano actually tied with (Michigan transfer DE Mike) Danna for the fewest amount of unblocked pressures that he recorded as he worked his way through offensive linemen at will a season ago.

Like Danna, Gaziano graded out well on PFF (82.1 overall). Unlike Danna, Gaziano was working against Big Ten offensive lines every week, and PFF doesn’t grade on a curve. The Gaz has been one of the conference’s better under-the-radar players for a couple years now. He’s got some NFL hype going for him, too; #5 among senior DEs to Kiper and 15th to Draft Scout.

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Ace: Uh, Kiper has JK Dobbins ahead of Taylor on his RB rankings.

BiSB: Draft-wise?

Ace: Yes.

BiSB: That's spicy.

Seth: What in the actual f---?

Draftageddon Seth: /self-fives

Ace: He does have Bredeson as his #1 senior guard so

BiSB: Unless he's worried that JT will have almost 1000 college carries? Derrick Henry-esque 'tread on the tires' stuff?

Ace: Maybe passing game worries. McCaffrey is the new archetype. Taylor doesn’t catch the ball much. They used Garrett Groshek as their passing down back.

Brian: If the Kiper thing that I cited was the only thing I cited that would be more of a problem. The Gaz! I wanted to take the Gaz. Just because, you know, the Gaz.

Seth: I'm surprised you didn't. You know, for SDE/WDE purposes.

Brian: Gross-Matos is 6'5" 270, so, whatevs

Seth: Good lord he's that big now? He was 255 last I looked. And that was before his offseason-long suspension for "team violations."

Brian: Also I suspect that Gus Johnson exclaiming "THE GAZ" last year was because of us? Maybe? Probably?

Seth: Whoa man. I think very highly of your internet website but claiming credit for things that explode from an excited Gus Johnson?

Brian: Someday someone is going to read this website Seth.

Seth: Maybe if you can find someone to print it. /2004

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#7 DE: Josh Uche, Michigan (BiSB)

You going 3-3-5 son? [Barron]

Yes, this is cheating. If you were constructing an 11-man roster to play every defensive snap, I'm not sure Uche would have a spot, and he's probably still too small to hold down a WDE role on an every-down basis. But, man, if you're letting me pick dudes... Juche is a dude.

He played, what, a quarter of Michigan's snaps, and led the team with 7 sacks. In fact, he was the first played in the PFF era to record 7 sacks on fewer than 100 pass rushes. And none of them were against Southwest Technical College of Art and Pacifism; they were all against bowl-eligible Big Ten teams (though, granted, two were against MSU). His combination of explosiveness and bend is about as good as you will ever find. Brian talks sometimes about how Karan Higdon defined what "running behind your pads" means, and for me, Uche defines what "bend" means:

Uche is up to 250 pounds (up from 238 last year, and five pounds heavier than Carter Coughlin). With Winovich gone, I have to imagine Uche taking a more prominent role, and not just on pure passing downs.

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DE #8: Mike Danna, Central Michigan (Seth)

There is just one Wolverine who made PFF's top 50 players for 2019, and he didn't even play for Michigan last year. That would be their #22 guy in the country:

Danna brings with him a ridiculous set of pass-rush moves and a strong presence in the run game. He ripped off 50 or more pressures in each of the last two seasons including 55 a year ago with 19 combined sacks + hits

...

Over the past two seasons, Danna has won 24.3% of his pass-rushes, the second-highest rate in the nation.

Yes, yes, he built that 91.6 grade against weaker competition, but PFF's pass rush grades have correlated strongly to NFL success. So. Remove, say, a 20% Big Ten tax off the production from this greasy, 6'2/260 technique-rat of bull-rusher who was PFF 1st team All-American in the MAC…

The Wolverine's newest addition, Mike Danna brings a ton of production and talent to the Michigan defensive line. pic.twitter.com/tCLhoVcqCP

— PFF College (@PFF_College) April 29, 2019

…plus a small refund for switching to the weak side and what do you get? I dunno, probably not 1st team all-THIS conference, and maybe a second-day pick to the NFL, but still between Chase Winovich and Anthony Zettel on the friggin hate playing that guy meter. Fire up Chip!

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Seth: Since we are done with defensive ends was anyone else a little bit tempted by Kwity Paye after Don Brown said he will be the best football player in college football? Floor, he's a versatile run defender already up near DT size reminiscent of Juaquin Feazell. But if he ever learns to pass rush...

Brian: I probably would have taken Paye over Danna since Paye is likely to be first amongst equals in Michigan's DE rotation. There was just so much established production in the league that it's hard to say "this guy should be good" and take him. Everyone is already good. Uche is also a wildcard pick. He got 20% of Michigan's snaps last year and if he's going to get more Michigan has to run a stack.

Seth: He's 250. I want Michigan to go with Kwity inside against spread teams and try Uche at end. If there's a year for M to mimic the Rushmen package this is it.

Brian: They already did that last year. The problem with Michgian DL is there is no obvious Winovich who's going to get 90% of the snaps, so grabbing any of them is a risk.

Seth: We should bring up Illinois had a dude they lost to a freak diving accident. Wonder where Bobby Roundtree goes otherwise.

Ace: I was considering Hutchinson if I ended up with the last pick. I really like his upside. Was also considering Danna for my second pick but it’s really hard to find film on him and, as Brian noted, the depth chart at DE is a bit crowded here.

Seth: Yeah, I'm more confident that the aggregate production of Michigan's defensive end positions will be up there with the rest of the conference than I am of any one player matching the top three. In 'bits this morning I compared them to the 1997 trio.

Ace: If he’d slipped and we did a hybrids round, picking Uche would be a different story.

Seth: Ace you know how the readers feel about Funageddon.

David: Wait...this is for the readers?

BiSB: This is the content the readers demand.

Seth: Quickly around the rest of the league: Zack Baun is the latest from the Wisconsin OLB cloning factory with stupid high pass rushing success making the traditional move from weak to strongside. They might even have some DEs this year.

Zack Baun was a terror for opposing offenses last season. pic.twitter.com/CaddvpS8GZ

— PFF College (@PFF_College) August 8, 2019

Ace: I was choosing between him and The Gaz after seeing Baun’s pressure numbers last year. He didn’t convert many into sacks but those tend to follow.

BiSB: Wisconsin also gets Isaiahh Loudermilk and Garrett Rand back from injury, IIRC.

Ace: Iowa had a fourth productive end last year in Chauncey Golston, who had 9 TFLs and 3.5 sacks behind the Nelson-Hesse-Epenesa trio. Two of those guys are gone, so his numbers could jump.

Seth: Iowa's DTs this year are just going to be so bad though. It's hard to wrack up stats from the end when there's no interior rush. The one other guy I looked at for an upset is Northwestern's Samdup Miller, who had a quite the comedown from a super-productive (8.5 TFLs, 5.5 sacks) freshman year in 2017.

Ace: Nebraska has a starting DE who’s also an All-American in the discus. Athlon has him as fourth-team all-conference, which would be defying his numbers from last year.

Seth: Year Zero teams are hard to scout because they can't figure out whom they want to play. A year ago Carlos Davis was the only thing they had going for them on the DL. Stille was moving down from 3-4 OLB, Freedom(!) Akinmoladum had been ruined by a similar transition, Carlos's twin Khalil was buried, and their problem was they couldn't have Carlos play all three positions. By the Michigan game Carlos wasn't even starting, and by the end of the year Khalil had the best numbers.

BiSB: And their linebackers were so bad, it's hard to draw much in the way of conclusions about, like, what people were supposed to be doing.

Seth: I thought it was pretty clear. One of the Davis twins would be responsible for getting pancaked by Runyan, another was told to wait for Ben Mason to run him over, the OLB was coached to let a Down G puller escort him gently off the M, and the linebackers were told to run into each other.

BiSB: Poor damn Mohamad Barry.

How things stand: