Tyler Murray, who was named to the Reese’s Senior Bowl Watch list, will be the anchor on defense again. #5 was everywhere last year and no reason not to expect the same from him again. Beyond Murray, the linebacker room is loaded with guys that can play: Luke Martin, Prince Bemah (who looked great as a True Freshman before suffering a knee injury, he did not play last season), Troy grad transfer Justin Whisenhunt, BJ Turner and former Gamecock Derek Boykins (who was not at the scrimmage I attended). No shortage of experience or talent here, and we’ll see Murray in the hybrid safety/linebacker spot often.

It’s after the linebacker room where you start to look for guys that are going to help take Co-Defensive Coordinators Marcus West and Brandon Cooper‘s defense to the next level. In year 1 the defense did a great job creating turnovers and getting to the quarterback. Was that the Alex Highsmith effect? Markees Watts was a great Robin to Batman (Highsmith) on the otherside, but can he be the guy? For Watts it’s hard to get a great read on him due to the injury that hampered him last season, so this is an opportunity for him to make a statement and show that he can be a high-level pass rusher on his own.

Let’s talk about the secondary, Charlotte lost Nafee Lyons and Ben DeLuca. Lyons is playing in the CFL with the Edmonton Elks and DeLuca is with the Las Angeles Chargers. With those departures, the staff added quiet a few transfers to build upon the returning talent. Geovante Howard (Purdue transfer) is the biggest addition in the secondary, they staff considers Geo a next-level prospect. Charlotte priortized Howard during his JUCO recruitment, but Purdue was able to come in late and lure him away. With the COVID season not counting against him, Charlotte will still manage to get 2 seasons of Howard’s production at the cornerback position. Charlotte also added Kansas State transfer Jon Alexander and ECU transfer Davondre Robinson. I expect all three of these transfer either start or be heavy rotation pieces this season. Charlotte also added JUCO DB JJ Jones, who has been started out his collegiate career at Southern Miss (current CB coach Eddie Hicks was at So Miss then), and Jones also spent a semester at Louisian Tech before winding back up at JUCO. With the 4-2-5 scheme, you need a plethora of DB options, and Charlotte has them, however a large share of the depth is young. The portal was leveraged heavy here, and looks to pay immediate dividends.