Linebackers in 2008?

[bamar]

it is my expectation, that we will see 4 down linemen on defense this year, with the shortage of experience at linebacker. i think washington will remain a def tackle. he gained a lot of experience last year, and he played at about 285 lbs i believe. no reason not to expect him to gain another 5 or 8 pounds this off season. he would be a real good one with possibly cody as well. cody has a lot of experience, from jr college.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

it is my expectation, that we will see 4 down linemen on defense this year, with the shortage of experience at linebacker. i think washington will remain a def tackle. he gained a lot of experience last year, and he played at about 285 lbs i believe. no reason not to expect him to gain another 5 or 8 pounds this off season. he would be a real good one with possibly cody as well. cody has a lot of experience, from jr college.

I don't know about Washington staying at DT with all the beef we've got available to play at DT. Even gaining ten pounds he's still 295 lbs. That's still relatively small for the type of defense Saban usually runs. It would be different if Washington was explosive coming off the ball where being undersized wouldn't matter much. But I don't believe he is. There's a good possiblity he gets a try at DE. Now if Kerry Murphy doesn't qualify and A. McCollough doesn't progress from last season we might see him stay.

 

[TexasTideFan]

it is my expectation, that we will see 4 down linemen on defense this year, with the shortage of experience at linebacker. i think washington will remain a def tackle. he gained a lot of experience last year, and he played at about 285 lbs i believe. no reason not to expect him to gain another 5 or 8 pounds this off season. he would be a real good one with possibly cody as well. cody has a lot of experience, from jr college.

I bet Zo moves outside. As Bamabuzzard pointed out, there are a number of players on the depth chart that have the size to play on the interior.

 

[rgw]

I think we're still using the same 3-4 defense but we are going to shift into more 4-3 looks. The point of the Jack is that he is a DE with pass coverage responsibilities occasionally.

DE/LB: Fanney / Upshaw / Watkins
DT: Washington / Motley
NT: Cody / McCullough
DE: Deaderick / Davis / Greenwood


That is a pretty traditional looking 4-man front in terms of personnel. A speed rusher (Jack), an athletic tackle, a gap-stuffing tackle, and a big run stopping end. With McClain at ILB, we should see a pretty solid run defense next season.