Football Depth Chart

[Pancho]

they are like #12 preseason. be a huge W for the dogs

[Lance Harbor]

And KBJ and Trevion

In the Portal era, we can't be going by first names and initials preseason. Help us old timers understand.

[Hot Rock]

This is ridiculous, whether last year when Lebby first made the hire or this year. Most any G5 DC would take our SEC DC job given the 7 figures we are paying Hutzler. And there are probably some P4 DCs that would have taken it. Coordinating a defense and forming a gameplan and making in game calls is totally different than being a defensive position coach. Lebby would have been much better served to have gotten someone who had experience already having been a quality DC on some level. Hutzler was sold to us as some great recruiter but that certainly hasn't been the case for us. Of course I could recruit to Alabama.

I say any G5 DC that is any good would not jump at the chance. A coach that good most likely has better options than this dumpster fire of a roster having to compete in the SEC. The hire might even be worse if we fired the guy having to navigate last years schedule with that roster. Changing coaches as many times as we have the last few years has created an environment where we are desperate to have some continuity. Lebby made his choice based on real options and knowledge, your thoughts are not grounded in nearly as much knowledge as Lebby possesses. Why would I trust your opinion over his?

People keep ignoring how much better the defense played as the year progressed and the roster is better this year. Let it play out. Firing a DC with last years roster would be a huge mistake, but showing support with NIL and experienced analyst to help him will give a guy like you are talking about more thought of coming here. He would get paid. I will say this, if the defense does suck and they fire him at the end of the year, we better pony up with the NIL and salary or we won't get anyone better and maybe worse.

[Goldendawg]

I say any G5 DC that is any good would not jump at the chance. A coach that good most likely has better options than this dumpster fire of a roster having to compete in the SEC. The hire might even be worse if we fired the guy having to navigate last years schedule with that roster. Changing coaches as many times as we have the last few years has created an environment where we are desperate to have some continuity. Lebby made his choice based on real options and knowledge, your thoughts are not grounded in nearly as much knowledge as Lebby possesses. Why would I trust your opinion over his?

People keep ignoring how much better the defense played as the year progressed and the roster is better this year. Let it play out. Firing a DC with last years roster would be a huge mistake, but showing support with NIL and experienced analyst to help him will give a guy like you are talking about more thought of coming here. He would get paid. I will say this, if the defense does suck and they fire him at the end of the year, we better pony up with the NIL and salary or we won't get anyone better and maybe worse.

A "DC" who had never been a "DC" working for another of our long line of OTJ training assistant coaches hired to be our HC. We learn nothing from our history of past hiring practices. Name me the successful hires in these situations outside of Tyler, Mullen and maybe Bellard before he ran out of Tyler's recruits. 2-10 and 0-8 is pitiful even for us. We must have wins and competitive losses this year. Plenty of good seats still available even in West Sections 3,4, and 5 as I get e-mails very often. Ony winning will fix this mess and give the long suffering fanbase hope.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I say any G5 DC that is any good would not jump at the chance. A coach that good most likely has better options than this dumpster fire of a roster having to compete in the SEC. The hire might even be worse if we fired the guy having to navigate last years schedule with that roster. Changing coaches as many times as we have the last few years has created an environment where we are desperate to have some continuity. Lebby made his choice based on real options and knowledge, your thoughts are not grounded in nearly as much knowledge as Lebby possesses. Why would I trust your opinion over his?

People keep ignoring how much better the defense played as the year progressed and the roster is better this year. Let it play out. Firing a DC with last years roster would be a huge mistake, but showing support with NIL and experienced analyst to help him will give a guy like you are talking about more thought of coming here. He would get paid. I will say this, if the defense does suck and they fire him at the end of the year, we better pony up with the NIL and salary or we won't get anyone better and maybe worse.

Look I agree that we got better as the year went along. I thought schematically we were better and were able to cause some TOs and thought from an effort standpoint we were better. But I keep seeing this we got so much better as the year went along and I specifically remember writing this in my year end thoughts, "Don't let this game alter your opinion of the defense overall." I think we have too many people that are letting the Egg Bowl warp their outlook on the defense and try to turn the narrative that we played better as the year went on. After the not lining up fiasco against Florida, here's how many yds we gave up a game:

Texas: 325 passing/198 rushing- 523 total
UGA: 459 passing/146 rushing- 605 total
A&M: 217 passing/136 rushing-353 total
Arky: 314 passing/359 rushing-673 total
UMASS: 136 passing/199 rushing-335 total
Tenn: 212 passing/240 rushing-452 total
Mizzou: 268 passing/204 rushing-472 total
Ole Miss: 143 passing/254 rushing-397 total


Like at no point in the year would I say we "turned the corner" or "started improving". I mean we were able to force some TOs against some teams down the stretch and we basically sold out to defend the pass against OM but other than that, teams did what they wanted to us when they wanted to do it.

[DownwardDawg]

I don't think it will be easy either and Lebby better win because if he loses that game he is going to lose a ton of support. Similar to Croom losing to Maine.

I'm just not sure that he can recover from it. And probably won't.

If we lose to USM, which is highly possible, Lebby is done. He will never recover. TV home games will have to make sure the cameras don't show the stands. It'll be a ghost town.

[mparkerfd20]

We have without arguement the worst defensive staff in all of college football including JUCO returning so I just can't even make myself care.

[Coach34]

We have without arguement the worst defensive staff in all of college football including JUCO returning so I just can't even make myself care.

This is bullshit. And we do have an actual P4 defense talent wise this season. Its lower end P4- but P4 nonetheless

[Todd4State]

If we lose to USM, which is highly possible, Lebby is done. He will never recover. TV home games will have to make sure the cameras don't show the stands. It'll be a ghost town.

Yeah. You'll hear our fans say "I lost him when he lost to USM" if that happens. We're going to have to bring it and hopefully Hutzler has us lining up correctly this year.

[MoreCowbell]

I'll take a really wild guess at the depth chart

QB- Blake Shapen with Kamario Taylor as the back up.
RB1- Davon Booth
RB2- Fluff Bothwell
RB3- Xavier Gayten
H-Back/FB- Max Reese
WR- Ayden Williams
WR- SanFrisco Magee
Slot- Brenen Thompson- he seemed to appear a lot on highlight videos from MSU.
Slot- Cam Thompson
Slot- Anthony Evans
WR- Markus Allen
WR- Ricky Johnson
TE- Sam West
H-Back/WR- Seydou Traore
Secret redzone weapon- Emeka Iloh
C- Brennan Smith
G- Trevor Mayberry
G- Blake Steen
LT- Albert Reese
RT- Jimothy Lewis


DE- Trevion Williams if he is healthy, maybe Jaray Bledsoe
DT- Will Whitson
DT- Kai McClendon
DE- Jamil Burroughs- I have a really good feeling about him

MLB- Branden Jennings
OLB- Jalen Smith or Zakari Tillman
EDGE- Raishen Thomas or Malik Sylla- probably in that order
STAR- Isaac Smith

CB- Kelley Jones
CB- Dwight Lewis
S- Jahron Manning
S- Tony Mitchell
S- Stonka

K- Kyle Ferrie
P- Ethan Pulliam
KO- Marlon Hauck
LS- Ethan Myers

KR/PR- Cam Thompson
KR/PR- Brenen Thompson

Not even joking, I know who 5 players are and never heard of any others

[MoreCowbell]

Look I agree that we got better as the year went along. I thought schematically we were better and were able to cause some TOs and thought from an effort standpoint we were better. But I keep seeing this we got so much better as the year went along and I specifically remember writing this in my year end thoughts, "Don't let this game alter your opinion of the defense overall." I think we have too many people that are letting the Egg Bowl warp their outlook on the defense and try to turn the narrative that we played better as the year went on. After the not lining up fiasco against Florida, here's how many yds we gave up a game:

Texas: 325 passing/198 rushing- 523 total
UGA: 459 passing/146 rushing- 605 total
A&M: 217 passing/136 rushing-353 total
Arky: 314 passing/359 rushing-673 total
UMASS: 136 passing/199 rushing-335 total
Tenn: 212 passing/240 rushing-452 total
Mizzou: 268 passing/204 rushing-472 total
Ole Miss: 143 passing/254 rushing-397 total


Like at no point in the year would I say we "turned the corner" or "started improving". I mean we were able to force some TOs against some teams down the stretch and we basically sold out to defend the pass against OM but other than that, teams did what they wanted to us when they wanted to do it.

Hard to judge him though, DII talent in SEC gives no DC a chance

[MoreCowbell]

Leach left us at 9-4. If that's not the answer then we're Alabama.

Could not tell you how one game played out that year. Was always hard football to watch.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Hard to judge him though, DII talent in SEC gives no DC a chance

And you're not wrong. Because we had multiple guys last year that had no business playing in the SEC, much less starting. And we definitely got better, as C34 said we know have P4 athletes. They may be on the lower end but they are actual P4 athletes. I'm very excited for a guy like Jalen Smith. I think he's going to be a leader on this defense. I also think Jamil Burroughs is going to end up being a huge hit for us from a signing perspective. He cost us almost nothing and I think we're going to get great production from him. Those are the types of guys you have to hit on to work your way back.

[Hot Rock]

A "DC" who had never been a "DC" working for another of our long line of OTJ training assistant coaches hired to be our HC. We learn nothing from our history of past hiring practices. Name me the successful hires in these situations outside of Tyler, Mullen and maybe Bellard before he ran out of Tyler's recruits. 2-10 and 0-8 is pitiful even for us. We must have wins and competitive losses this year. Plenty of good seats still available even in West Sections 3,4, and 5 as I get e-mails very often. Ony winning will fix this mess and give the long suffering fanbase hope.

Like I said, Lebby knows way more about the situation than either of us. I am not the one with the knowledge or expertise and guess what, neither are you. Hutzler was retained, I hope he does well and if that defense is not improved, I won't have to worry about wanting him getting fired, it will be done as Lebby will have to fire him if he can't put a better product on the field. I think he will but I am not the one paying his bill. He already knows.

[Goldendawg]

Like I said, Lebby knows way more about the situation than either of us. I am not the one with the knowledge or expertise and guess what, neither are you. Hutzler was retained, I hope he does well and if that defense is not improved, I won't have to worry about wanting him getting fired, it will be done as Lebby will have to fire him if he can't put a better product on the field. I think he will but I am not the one paying his bill. He already knows.

Agree with needed improvement in 2025 especially on defense, but we as fans still pay a part of the bills even if it is in Season tickets and all that come$ with being there. BTW, I know a little from watching our history after 58 years as season ticket holding family, 8 to 12 usually and being in on The Bulldog Club since Day !. Heck as a teenager, I told my Dad we would not win another game after beating Tech and there we went "Tech and 10"!******

[maroonmania]

Hard to judge him though, DII talent in SEC gives no DC a chance

Yea, our lack of talent was obvious. But lack of talent doesn't cause you not to be able to line up correctly or continue to play 5 men in the box when you are getting run over like what happened in the Arizona St. game. We were poorly coached on defense along with having very little talent. I will admit that the obvious defensive coaching blunders weren't as prevalent toward the end of the year, so hopefully there were some lessons learned. But we just didn't need a guy that was trying to learn how to be a DC. At least he has a year of experience now I guess.

[BuckyIsAB****]

Could not tell you how one game played out that year. Was always hard football to watch.

And that is why Moorhead failed and why Leach couldve go 94-0 and y?all would have said the same thing. There is a tiny part of me that thinks we are getting what we deserve a little bit

[bulldawg28]

And that is why Moorhead failed and why Leach couldve go 94-0 and y?all would have said the same thing. There is a tiny part of me that thinks we are getting what we deserve a little bit

Let it go. Leach is gone so is Will