Giorgio Newberry: Really happy for this kid. Very highly recruited 4 star out of high school, went from end to DT to TE back to end. Selfless player. He looked really solid yesterday. I'll be the first to say I didn't expect him to contribute at all this year, but if he plays as consistently as he did yesterday I not only think he will contribute, I think he'll start many games. Yesterday he perfectly executed a stunt play where he took out two blockers and created a lane for Walker to nail the QB. On a 3rd and long he also badly beat the guard as he was lined up at tackle and forced the QB to run out of the pocket for a short gain. Also hustled to chase down two different RB screens. We'll see if he can hold off a guy like Sweat who is more physically talented than him (and almost every other player in the country), but as of right now I don't see why you wouldn't start Newberry over Casher and Featherston. Jimbo raved about Featherston so maybe he has taken the next step, but Newberry showed more discipline that the younger guy showed last year. He also has more size and can make more of a difference on these stunt/pick plays that look like they will be a staple of our defense.
Lamarcus Brutus: Not so highly recruited out of high school, more of an afterthought from the same school as Jef Luc.... but man, he can tackle. If he squares up on you, you're going down. He's a much better tackler than the safety who started last year. His ceiling is still not close to what Derwin's ceiling is, but it's very obvious the coaches know it's unlikely that Brutus is going to do something stupid and give up a big play. Might take Derwin a few more games than expected to get on the field, but one thing is for sure.... we have some quality safety depth. Again, I'm the first to admit I didn't expect much from him until late last year. He appears to have turned himself into a solid college football player. Congrats to him for sticking with it.
Lamarcus Brutus: Not so highly recruited out of high school, more of an afterthought from the same school as Jef Luc.... but man, he can tackle. If he squares up on you, you're going down. He's a much better tackler than the safety who started last year. His ceiling is still not close to what Derwin's ceiling is, but it's very obvious the coaches know it's unlikely that Brutus is going to do something stupid and give up a big play. Might take Derwin a few more games than expected to get on the field, but one thing is for sure.... we have some quality safety depth. Again, I'm the first to admit I didn't expect much from him until late last year. He appears to have turned himself into a solid college football player. Congrats to him for sticking with it.
