State Of The Squad By Positin - D Ts

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

This is a thin position. We lack size, numbers and talent. Here is the roster:

Isaac Thomas 5-11 290 SR Played in 11 games last year

Joe Miller 6-3 275 SR Played in 12 games last year

Jonathan Stewart 6-2 260 JR Played in 7 games last year

Draylon Ross 6-3 280 JR Played in 1 game last year

Jesse DeSoto 6-2 275 SO Played in 3 games last year

Daniel Calderon 6-3 240 SO

Jordan Scoggins 6-1 274 FR

Tevinn Cantly 6-4 292 FR

Isaac Thomas, while he hasn't been a bust, has never come close to living up to predictions. Much of that must be attributed to his seldom being healthy. On the other hand, Joe Miller has been terribly underrated. He had the second most solo tackles last year behind Chapman. He wasn't even the starter but he had only one tackle less than Montey Stevenson and twenty more than Thomas. Not only that, Joseph Miller turned out to be a true leader, keeping a majority of the team together. He looks and plays heavier than his 275 listing. Jonathan Stewart has been a disappointment also. He had one solo tackle last year in 7 games. Draylon Ross may have left the team and I don't think that he'll be missed. He only appeared in one game last year without a tackle. It's hard to consider him as a disappointmet because I didn't think that he should've been signed in the first place. Jesse DeSoto burned his redshirt last year by appearing in three games. He had two solo tackles and an assist in limited playing time. I believe that he is a comer and should see a good bit of playing time this year. Daniel Calderon is an underweight walkon who will be pressed to make the 105 this year. Another bright spot should be redshirt Jordan Scoggins. Converted from tight end, Scoggins is strong and quick but maybe a little small to be a tackle; I look at him as a DE. However, since we are much deeper at defensive end he will likely remain at tackle. My original thought was to redshirt Cantly but since se are so thin, I believe that he may very well get some playing time this year. He does have nice size and decent high school stats for his limited experience.

The first four of Thomas, Miller, DeSoto and Scoggins should give a good account of themselves but two of those are seniors and we'll need some experience for 2009. That's the reason that I think that Cantly plays and may also push Troy Franklin to move to DT instead of the offensive line.

[Charlie NT 73]

The interior DL depth does concern me also. The are 2 SR's, and 2 FR that will have

the majority of the playing time. A injury here or there to any of the interior DL guys

will really create a weak point in the defense. But not all is bleak. I am sure the

coaching staff has considered the options at NG/DT, so the spring training program

will be very important to developing options on personell at NG/DT. I believe

both Desoto and Scoggins will have growing pains in 2008, but they need

to be on the field to gain experience.

Man, losing recruit DT Tim McGee to Minnesota was tough. If North Texas

had landed McGee, the DL worries would be over.

Recruitng, Coach Dodge is building the North Texas football

program piece by piece. The 2007 class focus was offense, 6 WR's and a QB.

The 2008 class focus was defense, DB's, DE's plus some OL guys, 2 RB's and PK.

The 2009 class, I believe will focus on linemen again, both DL and OL.

Good OL and DL players need two years to develop anyway.

So all the North Texas fans will have to wait for these new guys to develop.

The wait will be well worth it!

[good_ken]

Hopefully the upgraded secondary and upgraded D-ends will take some pressure off the D-Tackles (in being in more one-on-one situations).

Either Gilmore or Horton should routinely draw a double team. And that should take some pressure off the nose tackle.

And hopefull the new secondary players (in Deloach's system) will be able to cover for a moment or two longer...giving the front 4 more time to get to the quarterback.

[forevereagle]

Also, a strong LB core will help keep them propped up until we get more depth at this position. Let's hope that Deloach, as the LB coach, can help the situation here.