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May 5, 2008

Players on The Defense

Filed under: Football,Players — Chas @ 12:02 am

Yes, spring practice ended over two weeks ago, but there are still old stories to rehash and things I never got to. In part, because now that we are in the dead period it’s good to hold some things in reserve.

Thinks like player (puff) pieces.

You’ve probably read most of them. Sophomore safety Dom DeCicco had a piece and he discussed a little of the change on the defense under new DC Phil Bennett.

DeCicco said Bennett left much of the defense the same and just added some new wrinkles. Still, he said that Benett’s personality is different and that Bennett is stressing a more aggressive, playmaking approach and philosophy to the defense. The Panthers were second-to-last in the Big East in both interceptions and forced turnovers.DeCicco said he would like to see himself as a player who could help be part of a turnaround in those areas.

Which, of course, is consistent with everything that has been said about the change to the defense this year. A good deal of that also has to do with more speed at all positions on the defense. I’m going to break character and skip the stock Paul Rhodes bashing. He’s gone, that’s all that matters.

Speaking of more speed at all positions, that also includes the increased depth. At linebacker, redshirt freshman Greg Williams has settled in at linebacker after a couple changes in position.

“This might be the place I’ll be the rest of my football life,” Williams said. “I’m doing well. I might have found a home.”

A cousin of Arizona Cardinals tailback Edgerrin James of Immokalee and a nephew of former NFL back Albert Bentley of Immokalee, Williams started at that position this past season. He ran for 1,481 yards and 17 touchdowns as a Barron Collier senior in 2006 and for 3,077 yards in his career.

After redshirting this past fall, he was first moved to strong safety then to outside linebacker. Being moved constantly didn’t sit well with Williams until he talked to new defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Phil Bennett, the former coach at Southern Methodist.

“At first, I was down and upset because I didn’t want to play linebacker,” Williams said. “But I’ve grown to like it because I’m fast and I know what running backs like to do.”

Of course, there might be some temptation to move Williams back to safety because of depth issues. Williams, though, impressed throughout spring practices with his play at linebacker so that doesn’t seem too likely that they coaches would keep shifting him around when he is developing an affinity for the spot.





From what I saw, Williams appeared to have a natural LB talent/instinct – he’s not just one of those athlete plug-ins at LB that never work.

Comment by Dan35 05.06.08 @ 12:50 pm

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