'19 VA DT Ben Smiley

#1

Ron Swanson

Offense Wins Championships.
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#1
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DT
6-5
265
CLASS OF 19
CHESAPEAKE, VA
(INDIAN RIVER)

Ben Smiley, Indian River, Defensive Tackle

Rivals.com

Ben Smiley - Hudl

Vols offered in January.
 
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#2
#2
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#8
#8
We’re either gonna need a current DT or two come a long way by 2019 or land some studs if we don’t want the front 7 to drop off next season.

Gooden will still be here. Lawless and Emerson will both have a year in our S&C program. Middleton will be coming in as a JUCO.

Linebackers will be better. And secondary should be more improved as well. Both should help offset any significant drop offs.
 
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#11
#11
Gooden will still be here. Lawless and Emerson will both have a year in our S&C program. Middleton will be coming in as a JUCO.

Linebackers will be better. And secondary should be more improved as well. Both should help offset any significant drop offs.

True.

Hard to say where all of those guys project to play, though. Emerson and Middleton might be DEs, right? We need someone who can be a stud in the middle of the DL for us.


Either way I’m hoping we find a way to sneak Middleton in this year and he can have time to adjust before we have to rely on him. I do like the DT we have committed from Alabama as well. I just think we need to be aggressive bringing in DL help. We’ll have plenty of guys coming back next year, but very few who figure to be getting a lot of experience this year.
 
#12
#12
True.

Hard to say where all of those guys project to play, though. Emerson and Middleton might be DEs, right? We need someone who can be a stud in the middle of the DL for us.


Either way I’m hoping we find a way to sneak Middleton in this year and he can have time to adjust before we have to rely on him. I do like the DT we have committed from Alabama as well. I just think we need to be aggressive bringing in DL help. We’ll have plenty of guys coming back next year, but very few who figure to be getting a lot of experience this year.

I think Emerson is over 300 lbs now and may end up a nose tackle. Kingston Harris and Brant Lawless could also end up there.
 
#16
#16
The S&C staff has a plan for each player. They'll work toward good weight/bad weight ratio and keep him at DE. Our depth issues may force him inside a la Malik Jackson. We'll see, I just hope he gets moved back to the defense.
 
#17
#17

If you look at Alabama and Georgia rosters from last year, the NTs were in the 300-310 lb range. One of the 3-4 ends was around 300 (more like a second DT in a 4-3) and the other was in the 270-280 range. Then the Jack LB (or a second end when they want a 4 man front) is about 240-260 lbs. I'm guessing our front will be in those same ranges for versatility purposes switching from 3-4 to 4-2 in nickel without having to sub any linemen. I think we have a few guys coming in who will fit in that NT other DT range and hopefully some of them will have the other attributes necessary to be a true nose. I think Emerson, Lawless, and Gooden could probably be NT's and depending on how Harris comes in size and strength wise he may get a look there too. But judging from the spring game. We had 4 man fronts quite a lot.
 
#21
#21
If you look at Alabama and Georgia rosters from last year, the NTs were in the 300-310 lb range. One of the 3-4 ends was around 300 (more like a second DT in a 4-3) and the other was in the 270-280 range. Then the Jack LB (or a second end when they want a 4 man front) is about 240-260 lbs. I'm guessing our front will be in those same ranges for versatility purposes switching from 3-4 to 4-2 in nickel without having to sub any linemen. I think we have a few guys coming in who will fit in that NT other DT range and hopefully some of them will have the other attributes necessary to be a true nose. I think Emerson, Lawless, and Gooden could probably be NT's and depending on how Harris comes in size and strength wise he may get a look there too. But judging from the spring game. We had 4 man fronts quite a lot.

I’m not really counting on Harris to be more than a camp body for a couple years at least. Truth is though that we just don’t know what we have in a lot of those guys (or many of our second string DEs) yet. Emerson may have the frame to play DT, but will Bennett, Butler, or Mincey be good enough at DE for him to slide inside full time? I’m not sure we can assume that yet.

As for us playing 4-2-5 in the O&W game, it’s hard to tell whether that’s necessarily something our coaches want to do, or something they’re doing to adapt to the current personnel.
 
#22
#22
I’m not really counting on Harris to be more than a camp body for a couple years at least. Truth is though that we just don’t know what we have in a lot of those guys (or many of our second string DEs) yet. Emerson may have the frame to play DT, but will Bennett, Butler, or Mincey be good enough at DE for him to slide inside full time? I’m not sure we can assume that yet.

As for us playing 4-2-5 in the O&W game, it’s hard to tell whether that’s necessarily something our coaches want to do, or something they’re doing to adapt to the current personnel.

Bama ran 4 2 5 quite a bit under Pruitt. His recent history has guys that can easily switch between fronts to counter the no huddle teams started using to prevent bama from subbing. Go look at their depth chart last year and you can see the body types fit both fronts. Jack drops down into a smallish end and the 300 lb. End moves inside as a dt. Neither bama or Georgia uses the huge nose body types anymore cause the don't fit in the 4 man front. The biggest one on either team last year was 315 and he was a backup.
 
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#23
#23
Bama ran 4 2 5 quite a bit under Pruitt. His recent history has guys that can easily switch between fronts to counter the no huddle teams started using to prevent bama from subbing. Go look at their depth chart last year and you can see the body types fit both fronts. Jack drops down into a smallish end and the 300 lb. End moves inside as a dt. Neither bama or Georgia uses the huge nose body types anymore cause the don't fit in the 4 man front. The biggest one on either team last year was 315 and he was a backup.

I'm not sure we're on the same page here. It's not so much that I'm worried about not having guys who fit the physical profile of what Pruitt likes to do up front. It's the talent level that worries me.

Looking at the heights and weights of the guys we'll have on campus next year and saying they fit the physical profile isn't necessarily the same as having guys who can perform at a high level for us. Having 3-4 guys who fit the physical profile to a T doesn't mean a thing if only one of them can play at a high level.
 

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