So is freshman Matt Jones expected to step into Johnston's shoes?

Gosh I hope not, Clay is the "qb" of the defense... no way a frosh is gonna know how to set the D

BellCountyBear said:

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So is freshman Matt Jones expected to step into Johnston's shoes?

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It will be Terrell Bernard, but we'll probably need one of those younger guys to get ready fast for depth purposes. I would imagine this also means Pitre will play the rest of the season, rather than being limited to four games to try to get his redshirt year back.

Gruvin said:

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Gosh I hope not, Clay is the "qb" of the defense... no way a frosh is gonna know how to set the D

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Clay's replacement doesn't and wouldn't take over the symbolic QB of the defense position.

I feel bad for Clay and am sure his loss will hurt but the great thing is we have depth and players experienced with our defense. TB and Jordan were splitting reps and Jordan has been having some really strong performances. Running with Jordan and TB will not be as big a setback for the defense as some think. Not taking anything away from Clay at all. Losing any of the three starting DL would be a much tougher loss to handle as our depth and experience behind them is not as great. Part of the reason Clay looked so good this year was how everyone else was playing.

kevinwood said:

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Clay has been All-American level, with 58 total tackles this year, and the closest to him is 30 tackles by Bernard and 28 by Jordan Williams. God bless him, and may his journey of healing over the next year go well.

His replacement, unless the staff re-positions one of our safeties which I doubt, or re-positions our backup SLB Pitre, is:

Matt Jones, 2nd team MLB. Matt's athletic ability very nearly matches Clay's, including his 40 time.

And Matt was an absolute beast as a senior at a 6A TX high school last year.

In case you need an introduction to his "beastness" and body slams, which below is on full display, here it is:


https://247sports.com/Video/Matt-Jones-senior-highlights-8882033/


Stunningly, Matt had 27 tackles for a loss as a Senior, so the talent is there!

He apparently was expected to redshirt as he's only played 2 games this year, with 2 more to give, and word was he had a great Fall camp and really impressed the coaches.

While I believe Matt Jones has the talent and toughness to be All-Conference, he's just a Freshman, and one only needs to look at the improvement from Johnston since his Sophomore year to see how experience and increased strength training is so important for the Middle Linebacker spot.

So, the question is, can Matt be coached up in time to prevent a big drop off for the position. He doesn't have to fill the role of QB on defense, as one of the other LB's can do that -- he just needs to fill the role as MLB.

I think even as a Freshman he can do pretty well, but we'll need to have patience for him to better learn the position and our defense over the next few games. What other good options do we have, anyone know?

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Just copying this one over here. No reason to have two threads about the same thing...all it takes is a quick scan to see if someone already posted something about the topic.

BearlySober said:

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kevinwood said:

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Clay has been All-American level, with 58 total tackles this year, and the closest to him is 30 tackles by Bernard and 28 by Jordan Williams. God bless him, and may his journey of healing over the next year go well.

His replacement, unless the staff re-positions one of our safeties which I doubt, or re-positions our backup SLB Pitre, is:

Matt Jones, 2nd team MLB. Matt's athletic ability very nearly matches Clay's, including his 40 time.

And Matt was an absolute beast as a senior at a 6A TX high school last year.

In case you need an introduction to his "beastness" and body slams, which below is on full display, here it is:


https://247sports.com/Video/Matt-Jones-senior-highlights-8882033/


Stunningly, Matt had 27 tackles for a loss as a Senior, so the talent is there!

He apparently was expected to redshirt as he's only played 2 games this year, with 2 more to give, and word was he had a great Fall camp and really impressed the coaches.

While I believe Matt Jones has the talent and toughness to be All-Conference, he's just a Freshman, and one only needs to look at the improvement from Johnston since his Sophomore year to see how experience and increased strength training is so important for the Middle Linebacker spot.

So, the question is, can Matt be coached up in time to prevent a big drop off for the position. He doesn't have to fill the role of QB on defense, as one of the other LB's can do that -- he just needs to fill the role as MLB.

I think even as a Freshman he can do pretty well, but we'll need to have patience for him to better learn the position and our defense over the next few games. What other good options do we have, anyone know?

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Just copying this one over here. No reason to have two threads about the same thing...all it takes is a quick scan to see if someone already posted something about the topic.

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I am pretty sure TB moved to Clay's spot after the injury yesterday...someone can correct me if wrong...I don't think Matt got any snaps yesterday. I assume he might get more of look in practice as a backup. He is going to be very good but right now we have some depth and experience which is fortunate. I hope we can RS him still but they may not be an option heard good things about him early on.

clubhi said:

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Gruvin said:

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Gosh I hope not, Clay is the "qb" of the defense... no way a frosh is gonna know how to set the D

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Clay's replacement doesn't and wouldn't take over the symbolic QB of the defense position.

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No, but whoever does needs to step up fast.