Mixing it up on defense

One takeaway from yesterday's open practice is just how much rotation there will be on defense this year. While there is definitely a feature vs. bug discussion to be had, one thing that keeps floating around in my mind is how this will play out with personnel groupings.

It looks like Ramik is taking some time to get back into playing shape, but honestly, did we think/want him playing nearly every down as he did last season? And Floyd seems to be still banged up, but the coaches have been clear that Lorenzo Carter has earned playing time:

Carter will play whether Floyd is healthy or not.
“Either way, Lorenzo is going to play,” Richt said. “He’s had a really good camp. He’s like a lot of freshman. He’ll do something outstanding and he’ll have a brain lock.”

"Brain lock." That is concerning, especially considering we haven't put in Clemson's scout team yet. I hope we are just looking at this the way we would a regular practice scenario, installing the Clemson game plan/scout team to go against next weekend, but damn if it isn't hard to think we might need the extra time to get a very green defense ready for that first game.

All of this is to say that none of the news coming out of practice is making me feel any better about how we'll match up against a Clemson offense that is designed to feast on young DBs. Think how much they went at Brendan Langley last year.

The only upside of all these guys getting reps is that with Chad Morris' love of HUNH offense, 80+ plays isn't out of the question for our game. Those fresh legs could help late in the fourth quarter, even if they aren't quite sure what they are supposed to be doing.
TD

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