Looking at the defensive back/safety room. It appears it has been gutted as there are currently eight players from the 2021 roster who will not be on the 2022 squad. First, lets take a look at those.
Leanthony Williams - Graduated. Transfer from Clemson, ended the year with 8 tackles, nearly all on special teams.
Chancellor Bright - Transfer Portal. No tackles, very little playing time. Good size, but bounced from position to position.
Cory McCoy - Graduated. Finished the year with 68 tackles, four pass breakups and two interceptions.
Brandon Drayton - Graduated. Finished the year with 70 tackles, two pass breakups and 0 interceptions.
Jeremy Smith - Transfer Portal. No tackles, very little participation. Was actually moved to Linebacker at one point. Transferred to West Georgia.
Nazeeh Johnson - Graduated. Former walk on, finished the year with 67 tackles, 5 pass break ups and 2 interceptions. Never seemed to bounce back to his old self after the early season suspension and a couple different injuries.
Nequan Renalds - Transfer Portal. Similar path as Bright. Started here as a wide receiver and showed tremendous promise one spring. Never saw the field, moved to safety, played very little. Ended the season with 9 tackles.
Those 8 will be replaced by:
Andre Sam - Finished second on the team at McNeese State with 70 total tackles. He had 7 bass break ups, and one interception. Very comparable stats to Nazeeh Johnson.
Isaiah Norman - Played last season at Austin Peay. Norman finished the year with 28 total tackles. He also had 3 quarterback hurries, 2 bass break ups and 2 intereptions.
Jacobi Henderson - Three star defensive back who is already on campus and will participate in spring practice.
D'yoni Hill
AG McGhee
Also returning, at least as of now:
Steven Gilmore - Finished last season at Marshall with 52 tackles, 8 pass breakups and 3 interceptions.
MIcah Abraham - Last season at Marshall he actually ended the year with 14 pass breakups, one interception and 33 tackles.
EJ Jackson - Last year at Marshall he had 56 total tackles, and played a lot of important snaps early on in the year when Johnson and Drayton were out for various reasons.
It would seem like the starting defensive backfield would be
Gilmore and Abraham at corner
Norman at Nickel
Jackson and Sam at Safety
That is very similar to what we had out there this year.
The difference will be the depth.
Returner Daytione Smith saw some time late in the year and really improved. He is a long corner who showed good recovery speed. I have been a fan of his since the midway point last year.
Josh Bowers - Another player who saw a good bit of playing time in important moments last year. He ended the season with 18 tackles.
Kerion Martin also returns at safety.
It would appear the two deep, at this point would/could be:
Corner - Abraham, Smith
Corner - Gilmore, Bowers
Nickel - Norman, Bowers
Safety - Jackson, ?
Safety - Sam, ?
Marshall is still on two additional guys in Came Lockridge from Hawaii and Shamari Wingard from Elon, both are safeties.
This is a big spring for Daytione Smith and Jacobi Henderson.
Remember Chris Jackson was a DB who came in in the spring early as a freshman, and started for four seasons and is now in the NFL. Henderson fits that same mold.
Currently 8 guys leaving. Four to the portal.
The Portal guys totaled - 31 tackles, 1 pass breakup and no interceptions.
They are being replaced by two impact transfers, and an early enrollee three star in Henderson.
Depth could suffer, but just in number, not necessarily in production.
Leanthony Williams - Graduated. Transfer from Clemson, ended the year with 8 tackles, nearly all on special teams.
Chancellor Bright - Transfer Portal. No tackles, very little playing time. Good size, but bounced from position to position.
Cory McCoy - Graduated. Finished the year with 68 tackles, four pass breakups and two interceptions.
Brandon Drayton - Graduated. Finished the year with 70 tackles, two pass breakups and 0 interceptions.
Jeremy Smith - Transfer Portal. No tackles, very little participation. Was actually moved to Linebacker at one point. Transferred to West Georgia.
Nazeeh Johnson - Graduated. Former walk on, finished the year with 67 tackles, 5 pass break ups and 2 interceptions. Never seemed to bounce back to his old self after the early season suspension and a couple different injuries.
Nequan Renalds - Transfer Portal. Similar path as Bright. Started here as a wide receiver and showed tremendous promise one spring. Never saw the field, moved to safety, played very little. Ended the season with 9 tackles.
Those 8 will be replaced by:
Andre Sam - Finished second on the team at McNeese State with 70 total tackles. He had 7 bass break ups, and one interception. Very comparable stats to Nazeeh Johnson.
Isaiah Norman - Played last season at Austin Peay. Norman finished the year with 28 total tackles. He also had 3 quarterback hurries, 2 bass break ups and 2 intereptions.
Jacobi Henderson - Three star defensive back who is already on campus and will participate in spring practice.
D'yoni Hill
AG McGhee
Also returning, at least as of now:
Steven Gilmore - Finished last season at Marshall with 52 tackles, 8 pass breakups and 3 interceptions.
MIcah Abraham - Last season at Marshall he actually ended the year with 14 pass breakups, one interception and 33 tackles.
EJ Jackson - Last year at Marshall he had 56 total tackles, and played a lot of important snaps early on in the year when Johnson and Drayton were out for various reasons.
It would seem like the starting defensive backfield would be
Gilmore and Abraham at corner
Norman at Nickel
Jackson and Sam at Safety
That is very similar to what we had out there this year.
The difference will be the depth.
Returner Daytione Smith saw some time late in the year and really improved. He is a long corner who showed good recovery speed. I have been a fan of his since the midway point last year.
Josh Bowers - Another player who saw a good bit of playing time in important moments last year. He ended the season with 18 tackles.
Kerion Martin also returns at safety.
It would appear the two deep, at this point would/could be:
Corner - Abraham, Smith
Corner - Gilmore, Bowers
Nickel - Norman, Bowers
Safety - Jackson, ?
Safety - Sam, ?
Marshall is still on two additional guys in Came Lockridge from Hawaii and Shamari Wingard from Elon, both are safeties.
This is a big spring for Daytione Smith and Jacobi Henderson.
Remember Chris Jackson was a DB who came in in the spring early as a freshman, and started for four seasons and is now in the NFL. Henderson fits that same mold.
Currently 8 guys leaving. Four to the portal.
The Portal guys totaled - 31 tackles, 1 pass breakup and no interceptions.
They are being replaced by two impact transfers, and an early enrollee three star in Henderson.
Depth could suffer, but just in number, not necessarily in production.
