Thanks,
I think the trio of Brown,Johnson and Brayton will do an adeqate job replacing Peppers.
What are the Fla. colleges rated talent wise compared to previous years?
Who are some of the guys to keep an eye on?
This may be a topic for a different thread but here's my take on Miami and Florida State.
FSU and Miami are just starting to see their good recruiting classes pay off. This year will be a big year for alot of sophomores and juniors on those teams. There is more talent on these two teams than there has been in 5 years.
Miami is stacked at the skill positions. They have a talented group of receivers in senior Leonard Hankerson and juniors Travis Benjamin, Aldarious Johnson, and LaRon Byrd. Johnson played at Northwestern highschool in Miami with QB Jacory Harris when they were the #1 team in the nation and he should be the #1 or 2 target this year. Benjamin is an absolute speed demon.
They have several freshman running backs (Eduardo Clements and Storm Johnson) that are very good coming in to help Graig Cooper and Mike James.
On defense watch out for junior DT Marcus Forston. He was also on that Northwestern team with Harris and Johnson and was one of the top players in the nation coming out of college. Junior LB Sean Spence, another former Northwestern player, is a great player and will most likely have a great year as well. Watch out for senior DT Allen Bailey, he had a good year last year. He has played both DE and DT and is only listed at 280 right now. We'll see what it is this year. CB Brandon Harris has alot of potential.
Florida State has a couple of highly recruited sophomore receivers in Willie Haulstead and Rodney Smith that will both be counted on heavily. Juniors Bert Reed and Taiwan Easterling will be the top two targets. Ponder should have alot of weapons to use this year. There are five freshman receivers coming in this year and most of them are top notch recruits like Christian Green and Kenny Shaw.
Junior RB Jermaine Thomas is in a big year because he hasn't solidified his starting position and there are guys like sophomores Lonnie Pryor and Chris Thompson pushing for playing time.
The offensive line is finally coming of age. At one point they were the youngest offensive line in the FBS. Now the line is solidified with junior LT Andrew Datko, senior LG Rodney Hudson, senior C Ryan McMahon, junior RG David Spurlock, and junior RT Zebrie Sanders. Hudson and McMahon are 3 year starters, while Datko and Sanders have two years starting under their belts. Spurlock came into the lineup as the RG in week 6 of his freshman year (2008) due to injury and hasn't given up the job since.
The FSU defense has a ton of talent. It will be interesting to see what former East Carolina DC Greg Hudson (now FSU LB Coach) and former Arizona DC Mark Stoops (now FSU DC) do with this defense.
Junior LB Nigel Bradham can play inside or outside, he has the size and speed to do whatever he wants. He is likely a future first rounder. Sophomore LB Vince Williams and Freshman LB Christian Jones will be counted on heavily to contribute. Jones is supposed to be a great football player.
On the defensive line, sophomore DT Jacobbi McDaniel was the #1 DT coming out of high school and should have a big year as he is the top guy at the position now due to junior DT Moses McCray's recent season ending ACL tear in preseason practice. Sophomore Everette Dawkins and redshirt freshman DeMonte McCalister should get the majority of the rest of the PT at the position. Sophomore DE Brandon Jenkins is going to be a great player IMO. He showed some flashes last year as a true freshman against the pass and run. Senior DE Markus White is kind of a wild card. If he has a big year he could shoot up draft boards. He broke junior college records before having having two just above mediocre seasons at FSU. I think he had like 24 sacks in one season in junior college.
The Seminole secondary is going to be scary for opposing teams late in the season when they get some experience against the likes of Oklahoma, BYU, Miami, and Florida. The group is comprised of mostly freshman and sophomores, but they are all talented. Both sophomore CB Greg Reid and freshman CB Lamarcus Joyner were the top recruits at their position in 2009 and 2010 respectively. They are also both excellent return guys and Jimbo Fisher has already talked a little about using them on offense a little bit. Reid should have a breakout year at corner this year. Redshirt freshman backup CB Xavier Rhodes is getting rave reviews by the coaches. Both of the starting safeties, junior SS Nick Moody and FS Terrance Parks, are 220+ pounds. Sophomore S Jajuan Harley will find his way onto the field somehow, either by nickel back or by winning one of the safety spots. The whole secondary has limited experience but huge potential.
I don't know enough about Florida to speak at length about them but I know they have had highly rated classes for the past 3-5 years.