Was it? I can't imagine that being the case since the Combine was canceled as well. Would it be up to each player to host private workouts in order to get in front of scouts?

It's a huge bummer for him that the Combine was canceled, as he only has one chance to impress scouts now at Pro Day. But I think he's going to test really well both in the 40 and his agility for a guy that's 6-3, 245.

You have to remember, he basically stole the "Bullet" position from Brendan White because he was able to do everything that position needed while also playing a full time linebacker.

Only critique here really is the grade for the DBs because of your logic. The only truly "bad" games they played were Indiana and Bama.

Teams were always going to throw for a lot of yardage against us because they had to. It'd be more accurate if you only counted the yardage during the parts of the game when it wasn't completely out of hand. Clemson throwing for 400 sounds bad, but they were one of the top teams in the country playing their best football, and they lost by three scores. We were in damage control mode for most of the second half allowing them as many underneath catches they wanted.

Indiana and Bama were total failures and warrant those grades, but Bama especially was on the coaching flat out refusing to put our guys in a position to succeed.

Browning everyone knows is an athlete but Werner still isn't talked about enough in regards to his athleticism. He could cover almost anyone but speedy wideouts while also increasing his size to be an excellent run stopper.

This is for the upcoming year, not the previous year. There wasn't much experience on the field most of the year because of depth issues. Next year if they improve as one would expect this seems fair.

I would agree with that, but some would say Hafley was "green" because he'd never been a DC before even though he had coaching experience. There are hits and misses, but I trust our staff to make the right call.

This was covered pretty well in the Film Study today but what happened against Bama was us trying to fit last year's stellar defense to a group of guys who are not elite (yet). We asked players who were unproven or simply not as good to play as well as Okudah, Arnette, and Fuller. It was never going to happen.

They needed to adjust the defense all year and they decided to run with what worked last year. A scheme shift should really help if we have a full offseason to install it.

I don't think any coach "needs" to go. Mattison would be the most likely candidate but all of our defensive coaches have a ton of value. Bringing in someone who can adapt and adjust our scheme mid-game or mid-season would be most important to me.

"Best days are behind him"...isn't he like 26?

It's unfortunately a trend that I wasn't going to explicitly call out but is true based on the available data.

You'd think that but the first thing that Miller did when he came in during garbage time was make some pretty nice runs.

"Dual threat" is a weird phrase because it's pretty much thrown at any QB who tends to run the ball consistently. If a QB doesn't run much due to offensive system, or just not needing to, he's not labeled as such, but many of these kids can move really really well.

I wonder if this means we see one of the Big 4 from last year enter the transfer portal at some point, as we have such a stud class coming in behind them as well. I'd have to assume Gee Scott right now based entirely on playing time as Fleming and JSN were above him on the depth chart.

Mookie already left, and we'll have more elite talent coming in.

It would be much worse if we hadn't completely smoked them but having an entire defense back together with an extra year of development will make things much more difficult regardless.

The ACC may have taken notice but Clemson will still run the table in the ACC most likely because their athletes are that much better than everyone else. They are still almost a shoe-in for the playoffs. Only a team with top talent like OSU or Bama can exploit a defense to that degree.

If you think Venebles isn't smart enough to change things up, you're fooling yourself.

I don't know about Alabama, but Clemson returning Skalski and Turner is a boon for them. Skalski, is basically a better Borland and a true QB of their defense. Turner, if he improves, will be a solid safety.

After watching what Day did to them I'm not as worried but fielding the same exact defense with an added year of experience plus an influx of another great recruiting class is a formidable thought.

Clemson returning their entire defense is a terrifying thought. That D-line with another year of experience is going to be a nightmare.

I'm not worried about Nolan Turner because Olave can do whatever he wants with him, but the rest of the defense is going to be very, very good, if not the best in the country next year.

I'm not sure about the degree...but Jalin Marshall going early is a great example. Immensely talented but didn't have it all together. What is he doing now?

This is unbelievable. Actually unbelievable. Good for him for choosing to graduate!

Expectations matter to 18-22 year old kids. If they are told they are the greatest, it can get to some of them and they can't handle adversity. It's much easier to surprise people when nobody expects you to be great.

You seem to hate the SEC and ACC more than the average person. ACC ate it during bowl season so their true level of quality teams was exposed.

SEC has always been one of the top two conferences, and usual the top conference. It was a down year for them, but a down year for everyone as everyone was impacted in one way or another.

Why would a non-SEC group of Power 5 conferences go off on their own? It's not even the SEC that is at the top most of the time, it's just Alabama. Saban is the GOAT and until others beat him consistently he'll continue to be just that.

Good luck!!

If he tests well at the combine a team that realizes his real position could draft him higher than I think many of us expect, especially after seeing how players like Jordan Fuller come into the league and contribute.

Defense does win championships.

We did not have a defense. We did not win.

SEC had a down year in general, especially on the defensive side of the ball. This year was unique in almost every way.

Though I'd venture a guess that Bama runs the table through an all-SEC schedule almost every year anyways as they are so far above every other program in the conference.

We need our youngsters in the secondary to step up if we want any chance of a Natty next year. It was our weakness this year and will be weakness until proven otherwise. That, along with an apparently inability to adjust mid-game.

We are replacing a LOT of experience next year on the O-line and LBs as well. I like our chances to run the Big Ten but beyond that we have to see how this team gels before knowing anything.

There has been a trend downward across all sports, but semifinals out-performing the national championship is not a trend they want seen broken.

If the Super Bowl was beaten out by the previous round it would be huge news.

And one game of Cincinnati vs Iowa State wouldn't outperform a Bama vs OSU matchup, but when you put four of those games together they absolutely would.

Except a quarterfinal game wouldn't be pointless. Pointless games are playing The Citadel during the regular season. A quarterfinal would hopefully remove that gimme game from everyone's schedules.

It's not about "us"...it's about the NCAA realizing nobody wants to watch a game with Alabama in the natty again. This was the lowest-rated national championship in the CFP era, and was outranked by the semifinals.

They'll look at the decreasing TV revenue and realize they need to inject something new.