Defensive line depletion

[1987alum]

This is not an excuse for the poor play of our front seven. But our shortcomings reminded me that, during the offseason, many of us wondered aloud about our depth, particularly on the defensive line. Three names come to mind ....

1) Mitch Crossley: Notoriously inconsistent, but a starter nonetheless, who would have been a senior this year.

2) Matt Leninger: I would argue that he was the best DT on the roster, no offense to Thaler. His personal problems took him off the roster.

3) Lance Laktiewicz (I'm sure that I've misspelled this): This was a recruit who I had very high hopes for, arguably one of the better DTs we've recruited in recent years. A heart condition ended his career before it started.

If those three were healthy and playing, would our record be any better? I doubt it. But our depth and quality of depth has obviously been cut significantly.

[Falconboy]

This is not an excuse for the poor play of our front seven. But our shortcomings reminded me that, during the offseason, many of us wondered aloud about our depth, particularly on the defensive line. Three names come to mind ....

1) Mitch Crossley: Notoriously inconsistent, but a starter nonetheless, who would have been a senior this year.

2) Matt Leninger: I would argue that he was the best DT on the roster, no offense to Thaler. His personal problems took him off the roster.

3) Lance Laktiewicz (I'm sure that I've misspelled this): This was a recruit who I had very high hopes for, arguably one of the better DTs we've recruited in recent years. A heart condition ended his career before it started.

If those three were healthy and playing, would our record be any better? I doubt it. But our depth and quality of depth has obviously been cut significantly.

Excellent points. The loss of Leiniger is probably the most hurtfull for our team cuz he was big guy roughly 6'4 and 285 to 290 and was decently athletic too. Falcon Freak mentioned something about him coming back next year assuming he's got his act in order. That would be great, but is this conmfirmed by anyone?

BTW here's a intresting story on Monte Cooley.
http://bgsufalcons.collegesports.com/sp ... 05aaa.html Weird. If you think about it Cooley should probably be a DE as well. How small was before when he recruited to play DE and now boom he's a DT? I guessing because of lack of depth. But we gotta stop with the "midget" lineman.