I've been avoiding the board topics of late, concerned my lead body suit will not hold up to that jhackney dude going WOPR on every post. So instead I've been staring at the 2-deep, depth chart and official roster weights for a couple of weeks. One thing that has been jumping out at me is that the 2011 DL could look almost exaclty like the 2009 DL.
While Jibreel may not have been BG reincarnate this season, he certainly did not embarass himself as a true freshman DE in the Big Ten. I would consider that as pretty much a win and good news for his future. If he emerges over spring as a stronger pass rusher and more diciplined, is it at all likely that VanBergen returns to the 3-tech? If so, I think I'm really liking the DL next year. Roh will be a much bigger, stronger, experienced version of his 2009 self. Martin should contiune being Martin, demanding double teams which means single blocking everywhere else. And overall, I feel VanBergen was actually more effective in 2009. Anyone else have and opinion on where he played better? And Jibreel showed some quicks and explosion, and he's #55, so yeah, could work out.
Also, is it crazy to think the reason we ran so much 3 DL sets this years was due to there not really being 4 DL's worth starting and coaches wanted to maximize athletes on the field. Well, any way, stare at the depth chart and think positively, and an actual defense in 2011 is not really that far fetched of an idea.
I will agree that Black did look like he was going to be special in a yr or two