Football Staff Releases Post-Spring Depth Chart

Photo by: Frank Fortune - Georgia Southern Athletics

5/17/2018 2:00:00 PM | Football

Defense Up Second In a Three-Part Series

STATESBORO - The Georgia Southern football staff has released its post-spring depth chart that will be used as the Eagles head into the summer before beginning practice on Aug. 3.Defensive coordinator Scot Sloan sat down with GSEagles.com to talk about how his group looks heading into the offseason. Keep in mind, more than 20 newcomers are expected to join the program this summer and this depth chart could look different by the time the Eagles take the field against South Carolina State on Sept. 1.

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DE		92	Raymond Johnson III (6-3, 240, So.)
		52	Quan Griffin (6-3, 270, So.)
	or	49	Traver Vliem (6-4, 255, r-So.)
NT		95	Ian Bush (6-0, 275, r-Sr.)
		96	Ty Phillips (6-3, 290, Jr.)
DE		91	Logan Hunt (6-2, 270, Sr.)
		99	Josh Johnson (6-5, 240, r-Fr.)
	or	41	Deshon Cooper (6-3, 250, r-Sr.)

Coach Sloan on the Defensive Line: I think coming out of spring practice, the defensive line guys showed steady improvement as we transition from a four-man front, which is a little bit more lateral movements and getting off the ball vertically, to a three-man front where it's more horizontal-type movement. It was a little bit of an adjustment, but I think they made a nice transition in learning the new scheme. They made some steady improvement and I'm excited to watch their continued growth when we get back at it in August.

MLB		11	Todd Bradley (6-0, 230, r-So.)
		32	Chris Harris Jr. (6-1, 245, So.)
	or	43	Tré Allen (6-1, 230, r-Fr.)
WLB		33	Tomarcio Reese (5-11, 230, Sr.)
		45	Rashad Byrd (6-0, 230, r-So.)

Coach Sloan on the Inside Linebackers: The inside backers have the most on their plates because they not only have to process the front moving, but also how the offense is blocking them. We went through some growing pains early on, but by the end of the spring, I thought those guys had shown as much improvement as any position group. They started playing downhill and with some confidence. I'm really excited about where they are now in comparison to where they were at the beginning of spring.

Anchor		26	Jay Bowdry (6-0, 200, r-Jr.)
		37	Lane Ecton (5-11, 195, r-Jr.)
Dog		47	Randy Wade Jr. (6-2, 250, r-So.)
		42	Alvin Ward Jr. (6-4, 230, r-So.)
	or	54	Benz Josue (6-0, 210, r-Fr.)
	or	93	Demetrice Lofton (6-5, 240, So.)

Coach Sloan on the Outside Linebackers: At the anchor spot, I thought Jay and Lane both had really good springs and we're comfortable with those guys. Benz has a skill set that we really like and bounced between both spots. He played at the dog, which lines up to the boundary and the anchor, which lines up to the field and we have to find a way to get him on the field. At the dog spot, Randy, Alvin and Demetrice all competed well and have similar skill sets. We have five or six guys at those two spots and I think it'll be an exciting pair of battles to watch. But those guys are either involved in the rush or the coverage and we feel like we've got the right guys at those spots.

CB	4	Monquavion Brinson (5-11, 180, Jr.)
	13	Christian Matthew (6-3, 185, r-Jr.)
CB	20	Kindle Vildor (5-11, 180, Jr.)
	40	Bryce Cross (5-11, 180, r-Fr.)

Coach Sloan on the Cornerbacks: The top three guys in the spring were Kindle, Monquavion and Christian. They all have a little bit different skill set, but each one brings some different attributes to the secondary. But all three were productive but they all have things they can improve on. They have to get used to playing a little bit more zone as opposed to man-to-man coverage and that's something they got better at as spring progressed. We knew going in there was going to be a learning curve but they got progressively better through the spring as they got more comfortable.

FS		22	Joshua Moon (6-0, 200, Sr.)
		2	RJ Murray (6-0, 205, r-Sr.)
		17	Martial Washington (6-3, 210, r-So.)
	or	27	Kenderick Duncan Jr. (6-3, 205, r-Fr.)
SS		24	Sean Freeman (6-0, 190, Sr.)
		30	Jessie Liptrot (6-0, 190, r-Jr.)
	or	31	Darrell Baker Jr. (6-1, 190, r-So.)

Coach Sloan on the Safeties: We went with a lot of different combinations on the depth chart at the two spots and even moved Josh Moon around at different positions. Both positions are different in terms of what they do within the defense, so it shows the versatility of Josh and what he brings to the defense. All of the guys back there competed well. Sean started down on the depth chart, but his play kept getting noticed more and more to the point we had to move him up the depth chart. That allowed us to move Josh to free safety after RJ went down so we could see how guys played with each other. Those guys are the quarterbacks of the defense, so they have to have good chemistry and play well together. I think all of the guys back there - Jessie, Darrell, RJ, Martial and Kenderick - showed us what they have and I'm looking forward to see how they progress over the summer and see who comes into camps ready to pick up where we left off as opposed to having to re-teach a lot of stuff.

Up Next: The Offense (Thurs., May 24)