Any word on Heflin and his plans for 2021?

[WinOneThisCentury]

He will be an important piece defensively if he stays. I hope he wants to stay for the true Kinnick experience with fans in the stands.

Losing Heflin, Nixon, and Gholston would be a tough thing to recover from. It's not like we are deep at DT...we have some young talent...but I don't think they are ready to anchor the DL at this point.

Another grad transfer would be a godsend.

 

[99topdawg]

He's twittered that he's gone. He's going to play in the Hula Bowl.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

Ouch.

 

[clim3]

DL makes me very nervous. Hope we have a couple jump up or get 1-2 from portal

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

Yeah...our linebackers won't look as good if no one is occupying people up front. Let's face it...Nixon had 33 tackles for loss...in eight games...he averaged 4 TFL a game. That's a crazy stat. Our DL played on the other side of the line of scrimmage the entire game.

I don't think people are realizing how bad this is going to hurt with those three gone...and really only Shannon with any experience and there was a drop off when he was in the game...he will improve I'm sure though. There is young talent...Logan Lee, Yaya Black, etc...but they need to make some serious leaps in size and development. Not saying they can't make an impact...but right now...there is a huge hole at DT.

 

[haydensly]

Scott Docherman had an article in The Athletic yesterday that said he was not returning. It also said that this will be the third year in a row that we lose three starters from the D-Line. So while it looks gloomy for next year, don't underestimate the ability of this staff to develop good players and get the most out of them. But that said, there probably isn't a top flight talent coming back like we've had in the past couple of years in Epenesa and Nixon.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

I'm wondering if we have a space eater on the OL right now that's sitting behind a pretty impressive list of returning starters that could play DT. Most of these guys were two way players in high school. Remember Linderbaum was a future all american at DT too. After watching him chase Goodson in the Wisconsin game on that 80 yard run...I can see why he would be a handful at DT.

You don't need someone to get sacks, you need someone to take up space and keep the linebackers clean. We will have some edge guys...Vanvalkenburg is back, Waggoner is back, Evans is back...and a few new guys can get pressure on the edge. I think you may also see Campbell on the edge in known passing downs. We need big DT types to hold the LOS and take up blockers.

 

[trj]

DL makes me very nervous. Hope we have a couple jump up or get 1-2 from portal

Yeah....a Iowa DL that might be a 'work in progress' going into the season scares me as well.

 

[SmokeTownHawk]

Looks like that might be a need in the grad transfer or transfer portal.

 

[clim3]

I think it’s a need for sure.

 

[Zstatman]

I'm sure come the Indiana game to start the season we'll be worried, the coaches will tell us to worry. But with 8 months to prepare I'm not so worried, at least right now. They'll be pumping iron, bulking up starting soon. Hopefully they'll have a spring session, then they'll be pumping iron, bulking up in the summer then fall camp. Kelvin Bell and Phil Parker will be on top of it. If I were the young guys on the team I'd e excited for the opportunity.