Next years secondary

I think our safeties will be just as good, if not better next year if Metellus returns.  We have some decent depth, and Daxton Hill (watch his highlight film) looks like a guy who can step in and play Day 1.

As far as CBs go, would be nice to bring back one of them.  If not, I'll guess Ambry Thomas and Sims are our starters.

Some form of:

Ambry Thomas

JKP (nickel)

Josh Metellus

Daxton Hill

Myles Sims 

Khaleke Hudson (viper)

I think we all hope Daxton Hill will replace Kinnel

If we have a young secondary wouldn't it be smart for Don Brown to switch to zone? 

Im not too knowledgeable on schemes but I believe man is harder for less experienced DBs to cover than zone, right? Zone defense is also the reason PSU hung with OSU's offense much better than we did

I wanted us to get away from man coverage anyways. Don Browns current defense is way too susceptible to big plays by the offense

Jaylen Kelly Powell??

He has got to fit in there somewhere right?

Guessing that Josh Metellus and Brad Hawkins have the inside track to start at safety.  Unless both J'Marick Woods and Jaylen Kelly-Powell leave, they're probably in line to join Dax Hill, if he proves to be as good as expected, to compete in the rotation at safety.

Cornerback would be a major concern if both LaVert Hill and David Long leave, especially considering the lack of experience there beyond Ambry Thomas.

Keith Washington might've left too soon.  This season, he tied for the interception lead at West Virginia with three and had a 51-yard "pick-six".

It's going to be young and less experienced next year.

But comparatively pretty talented.  Adding Daxton Hill (S) and Jalen Perry (CB) to 2019 class certainly fortifies the secondary. But M probably needs some more high-talent bodies in those spots.

Harbaugh brought in 147 DB's last year, I'm sure Zordich will get it sorted out.  But don't sleep on St Juste, either.  If he comes back from two season ending injuries, he's bringing a boatload of athleticism to the table.

Guess it's a good thing we had like six corners in last years class

Who tf is Dan Brown?

Even if Hill and Long both go, we'll be fine.

Thomas, Sims, Green, Hawkins, St-Juste, Gray, JKP, Woods...there are plenty of bullets in that chamber.  And Metellus will likely take another step and be an All-B1G 1st-teamer.

I think it will be better than 2017's version and the defense overall will only take a small step back.  If our DTs develop, we might keep pace with this year's defense.  Need Solomon healthy to pair with a surging Kemp and Dwumfour to come along.

I mean they took a lot of cover guys last year.  I would imagine at least one of those would be ready to see the field. 

They’ll be young and inexperienced. But between Ambry Thomas, BSJ, and Myles Sims I’m sure we will get decent production at the very least. Maybe with Dax Hill coming in JKP will move full time to corner as well. We also have a couple really good corners in the ‘19 class coming in.

So yeah, they’re young and inexperienced, but so were Long and Hill. Until they give me a reason to worry, I suspect they’ll be fine. Expecting a bit of a drop off obviously, but nothing terrifying.

Ambry, st. Juste, daxton. 

Gonna be fast

I think they'll find quality replacements. They will be unproven however. Overall, I'm expecting the defense to take a slight step backward next seaon but still very good.

This is another reason why JH should open up the offense. They may need to score more and more frequently as the offense may be the strength next season.

I wouldn’t be surprised if both of the green brothers and Sims transfer.  It’s a legit possibility.  

Didn't we sign like 8 defensive backs the last two years? A handful of them were pretty highly rated. Seems logic to think that a trio of Thomas, Sims and St. Juste could be a pretty good group of corners. And if any of the other million DBs that they recruited bust out then all the better.

Best guess:

• FS = Hawkins and Hill (rotation)
• SS = Metellus
• CB1 = Thomas
• CB2 = St-Juste and Sims (rotation)

Depth is young but good across the board. Should be fine in the secondary, but it may take a few games to jell under live bullets.

Hawkins and Dax Hill will probably compete for the other safety position.  Then I'd assume Thomas and St-Juste are the top candidates to replace the CBs.  Guys vying for depth will be Kelly-Powell and Woods at safety and Sims, Green, Gray, Perry, & Turner at CB.  CB is one position that being a freshman if physically ready doesn't seem to have a big learning curve.

Ambry will step up, and we’ll have to count on some gems emerging from the many young lengthy guys we have recruited. I think Myles Sims could be special. 

Starting safeties will be Metellus and Hill.

Starting corners will be Ambry and either Sims or St Juste(if he can stay healthy)

Nickel will be JKP if he doesn’t transfer due to hardly playing this year

CB1 : Anyone who returns or Ambry Thomas

CB2: Ambry Thomas or JKP

CB3: JKP or JMarick Woods

SS: Daxton Hill

FS: Josh Metellus

We will be fine. R-E-L-A-X

I'm much more concerned with the D-line and overall depth ability to step up. UM signed so many awesome athletes at CB they will be young but it will work out just fine. 

We may have a "caravan" of guys heading to the league and so the back 7 may be really inexperienced next season.  Agree with other posters that we'll probably need the offense to be able to score a lot of points.

Don Brown is an excellent coach, regardless of the OSU game.  We have recruits ready to take over the secondary, no problems.

Long - 100% departure

Hill  - 85 % departure

Shea - 20 - 40 % departure

So, I went through the Depth Chart By Class and if everyone we think MIGHT leave DOES leave, there will be a few spots that will be question marks.

QB - OUT: Shea / IN: D-Caf

We saw what McCaffrey can do. It will be a slight downgrade, but he can run those read options and RPOs. Needs to build up some arm strength. Hopefully, the collarbone heals.

RB - OUT: Higdon / IN: ?

I can't imagine they'll go with just Evans and Tru as a 1-2 punch next year. Harbaugh likes his Gerhart/Gore/Higdon downhill guys. Seems like a three man competition between Samuels, Turner, and Charbonnet. My hope is that Charbonnet is an impact guy immediately.

SLOT - OUT: Perry / IN: Martin

Martin will be fine. Does McCurry still play or do they try to get one of the true freshmen on the field? I'm still confused as to why McCurry was out there vs OSU.

RT - OUT: JBB / IN: Stueber

We saw what that looked like last week. But, shouldn't be too much of a downgrade if Stueber is better in pass protection.

3TECH - OUT: Marshall / IN: Chris Hinton

Best guess. Kemp and Dwumfour return and will probably rotate as they did this year. Depends on how good Hinton is right off the bat

NOSE - OUT: Mone / IN: Jeter? Mazi Smith?

Solomon HAS to stay healthy next year and have a huge season. The depth here is not great.

ANCHOR - OUT: Gary / IN: Paye (with hopefully either Harrison or Karlaftis taking Paye's snaps)

I actually liked what Paye brought to the table. He'll be okay as a pass rusher (and Gary was never a terror in this regard). If they can land one of the big-time DE recruits, that would be huge.

DE - OUT: Chase / IN: Uche + Hutchinson

Chase will be sorely missed, but Uche is ready to break out and Hutchinson can probably plug in on obvious running downs.

ILB - OUT: Bush / IN: Ross + Gil (instead of one)

Hard to envision McGrone or Anthony pushing out essentially co-starters this year. Not saying it's the right call, but just hard to imagine.

CB - OUT: Errrrybody / IN: Thomas + ?

Honestly, after Ambry there's about 6-7 guys that slide in here.

S - OUT: Kinnel / IN: Daxton Hill

Hawkins might start at the beginning of the year, but I expect to see a lot of Daxton Hill as the season goes on.

When I look it over, the big concern is CB. I think Paye, Hutchinson, Uche, hopefully Harrison and Karlaftis won't be Chase/Gary levels, but are probably an A- unit together. But, Zordich is going to really have to earn his money if both Hill and Long leave for the NFL.