Spring Newcomers Edition: Defensive players to watch for in 2013

What will these guys do in 2013?

I don't know and by listing them here I am not advocating that they will have big years but they are guys that intrigue me. I am interested in seeing if they continue to be solid or will they have all conference or even better seasons.

I started this post about 3 different times but it kept becoming something different than what I wanted it or thought it should be.

In this series I am forcing myself to list five returning guys (offense here /defense), three new guys (offense/defense) and a little lagniappe. I will list a couple guys that seem to be established already but I want to mainly focus on guys we have not heard much about or guys that did not have good years last year.

There are so many more guy that intrigue that I want to discuss but here we go:

1. Well let's get the obvious out of the way (sound like you heard this before at #1?) - Chris Davenport. This off-season many fans said it would be (or could be) game changing if this staff could go out and get an experienced QB and some experience on either the OL or DL. Well we got Nick Montana (if he can hold off a surging Powell and determined Tanner Lee), we bring back Zach Morgan on the OL (if he can stay healthy and hungry) and we went out and signed what could potentially be the best offensive line class this program has ever seen. Then we get news that this big monster of a human being in Davenport. This guy is a former 5 star recruit that was ranked as a national top 25 football player in 2009. When you see him in person standing next to anyone you thought was a big man on the team already you realize the size difference immediately. He missed some time this Spring with a lower leg/ankle injury but he did practice in the final Saturday scrimmage some. He comes in after being converted to the OL in college and now heads back to the DL. He says he wants to prove that he was not a bust and still has NFL aspirations if given the opportunity. If someone of his size can come in and just give Julius Warmsley type effort he would be all conference with ease and totally dominate. The question is simple - does he really want to be great? Is he really upset about the doubters and not being given a chance before or is it all just things you say because that is what you think people want to hear? Hell, he can very well mean everything he says about wanting to be great and wanting to prove people wrong but there is a big difference in talking about it and being willing to make the sacrifices needed in order to be great. Coach Sumrall is the best DL coach I have seen here in the last 15 years (and we better enjoy him while we have him folks, meet him and go talk with him every chance you get) and if he can't get the best out of Davenport then it falls on Davenport just not wanting it for himself. Personally, in the little I did see when he practiced I think he has some real talent to go with his size (not just big for nothing) but does he want to be the best and be buried upside down? Only time will tell but this could be a game changing player for us. He should be un-blockable.

Boy oh boy the next two will be difficult to narrow down. Now I have to pick two rookies out of a stable of great young talent. I have to leave people out when I am very high on so many of them. This is gonna sting because I can only name two, unless of course I cheat again.

2. Here we go - I have to go with Ade Aruna at one of these slots because we have to get better on the edge and getting to the QB. I think we have really talented young secondary but they don't stand a chance if we can't get a better pass rush up front. Aruna is raw and has only played about a year or two of football but  IF he can come in and provide some added quality depth to the DE spot we are in business. Personally I think our DT's are in pretty damn good shape but DE and LB is where we have been missing the most action. I think Aaron Bryant (who wasted a year at TE) is going to be a solid player at DE and if Royce LaFrance stays on task he will be an all CUSA defender when all is said and done. That said - this is the DL and you are only as good as your depth allows you to be. DTs/DEs at all levels rotate in and out a ton of times during a game. We are building that depth at DT but at DE we still need more. We need more guys with the size and ability to play the run and the pass. Aruna has a great frame to add bulk but his best assets are likely going to be his long arms. You want your DEs to have long arms not to knock down passes but to be able to keep the OL away from their body. If they can get this Aruna kid that has a high motor and great athletic ability to use his long arms to stick, diagnose, throw away and get after the ball we are in business. This young man might have the highest NFL potential of any recruit we signed this class. I will say this - even if Aruna comes in and is a flat out stud it will mean nothing if Bryant, LaFrance and at least two others don't step up to the plate this year so we can have a solid rotation. Beckwith was a monster pass rusher in HS, he is now a SR - can he step up to the plate in his final year and provide this team what it needs to head to the post-season?

3. I can go a number a ways here and it is killing me so I will cheat just a little. I want to go with Richard Allen or Parry Nickerson at CB because this day in age you need 3-4-5 very solid corners. I could go LB here and talk about Nico Marley being a LB/Nickle hybrid or I could talk about how last year it was obvious how much we missed Trent Mackey back there and how Eric Thomas is the type of juggernaut MLB we have needed for a long time - someone who will literally just go blow up shit! I can talk about this cat named Quinlan Carroll who ended up sneaking in under the radar in this class but I have seen him in person at practices about 3 times this Spring and each time before I realized it was him I said to anyone next to me "who the hell is that kid?" I can talk about the need for speed and play making from the safety position and name one of the guys like Leonard Davis or someone else to step and provide quality depth. We know we need DL depth, LBs that can fill and cover and good health at safety but I have to head back where the heart is and that is with Richard Allen and Parry Nickerson. I have to cheat here because I watched the final Spring practices and we have a grand total of 4 corners on the active roster. True Sophs in Doss and Batiste. An undersized (but maybe the best overall true corner skills) Derrick Strozier and a 5th year comeback player that missed a year of football in Jordan Sullen. Batiste is the only one of the bunch that has been a corner through and through. Doss played as much or more at WR in HS, Strozier was moved to RB/WR last year only to be moved back due to injuries and Sullen missed a year and then played 75% of Spring at safety. There is nothing but space and opportunity for a young corner so that is why I will go with Nickerson and Allen here.

I am cheating twice really because part of the reason I selected both of them is due to the fact that they both are dual threats. Not only do I anticipate both of them to be outstanding corners for us, I expect them to be equally outstanding as special teams returners. We have not really had an exciting and electric return man (or someone with the potential) since 2002 really. We have has a lot of fast and quick guys the last 10-15 years but nobody that had the potential of a Lynaris Elpheage. Nobody that when they touched the ball you immediately stood up from your seat because you thought something exciting was going to happen. I think CJ recognized this when he broke down the team when he was hired and immediately wanted to address that. While CJ was with the Saints they seemed to always have that someone that had that potential and even if they don't always make big returns the potential is enough to scare teams into changing their game plans. I think we have three in this class in Sherman Badie, Richard Allen and Parry Nickerson but I think Nickerson and Allen have the edge because there is a ton of evidence of it from their high schools days. Nickerson has the size, speed and ball skills to be an elite cover man and I would not be surprised if he comes in and challenges immediately for starting time. Allen is smaller then any of the other corners (except Strozier) but he has elite speed, quickness and reaction time. Allen's ability to diagnose and react is what squashes all the size talk according to a coach a spoke with. Both of these guys have the potential to make immediate and big impacts in two phases of the game so in the end it was clear cut that they deserved to be mentioned here. Like I said in my breakdown of the 2013 class I have Richard Allen scoring at least 3 TDs this year and taking the over 10.5 for his career. That is a large number for a CB/Returner but he has that type of talent. I could honestly thrown Nickerson into the same category. Hell, if the both of them hit the over 10.5 combined for a career it would be one hell of an accomplishment for guys not playing in the offensive side of the ball. Call me crazy but I have super high expectations for these two. I am sure it has to do with the fact that I saw them up close and personal at the Tulane camps this summer and the fact that I have had coaches look like kids at a free candy buffet when they talk about the fact that we landed both of these guys.

The last thing I have on this series is a little lagniappe but I am not sure when it will be posted. I might stall that post until May because I expect that once the summer hits - I will be able to provide you with some very exciting information regarding several things. I wanted badly to enter some info at #2 or #3 but it will have to wait until the lagniappe edition. I know we need to win in order to get everyone back on board and buying in but as I have said - this roster will be very different by August then it was in January and not just from the 2013 signing class. Outside of football roster stuff I also suspect that we will see further proof of what has been hinted at by some fans on forums and recently by Tulane President Scott Cowen's Game Changer Tulane Talk entry.

What's old is new again....