SB Nation - Justin Kershaw

Panthers Position Review – Defensive Tackle

Jaxon — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:59:09 -0000

In 2008 the Panthers carried four DT’s on their roster into the season opener against the Chargers, two starters (Kemo, Lewis) and two back-ups (Walker, Gibson). Though I expect both starters to remain the same this season both back-ups are no longer on the roster leaving a wide-open competition for those two back-up spots. The following post lists each DT on the roster and where they do or might fit into the Panthers plans.

Maake Kemoeatu – 6-5 345 8^th yr Utah – Starter at LDT

Kemo is one of the unsung players of the Panther defense whom I came to appreciate a lot more last season when he missed the last few games. You may recall the Panther defense got run all over in that stretch. The big guy is a pure run stopper (36 tackles, 31 solo) whos job is simply to occupy two or more blockers and clog up the middle running lanes. He remains a favorite of the Panthers staff and there is no doubt he will start at LDT come game one.

Damione Lewis 6-2 301 9^th yr; Miami (FL) - Starter at RDT

Though Lewis has performed better in a reserve role in his first season in Carolina (2007) I think he will remain the starter on the right side as long as his repaired shoulder holds up. Lewis is more of a pass rushing threat (3 sacks) from the DT spot than Kemo though he bested him in tackles (43) and solo tackles (33). Lewis was essentially an every down DT in 2008 but that could change in 2009 if one of the players listed below presents a better option either against the run or pass, but I’m not banking on I this year.

Corvey Irvin 6-3 302; Rookie 3^rd round pick; Georgia

I give Irvin the inside track on one of the back-up spots simply because the Panthers spent a 3^rd round draft pick on him. Irvin was known more as a run stopper in college, a ‘high-motor’ guy who could potentially develop into a pass rusher if he can combine his long arms with improved technique. Irvin was not highly recruited going into college yet he beat the odds to get to where he is today. I wouldn’t be surprised if that work ethic resulted in a starting assignment by the end of the 2009 season. He would have to completely bomb in TC to not make the roster. Roster Chance: 95%

Nick Hayden 6-4 292 02/04/1986 1 yr, Wisconsin

After spending most of his 2008 rookie season on the Panthers practice squad he finally got the call to replace the injured Damione Lewis and played in the final two games of the 2008 season. Though he didn’t do too much (3 tackles total) in those games he did enough to warrant continued execution of his contract. Whether that results in a roster spot come September though is anything but a sure thing. Roster chance: 60%

Marlon Favorite 6-1 317 UDFA Louisiana State

Favorite is the only remaining guy on this list I have heard of and he comes into Carolina with a lot to prove. He was a Top 100 recruit out of HS but never earned a starting job at LSU. Granted he played along some great LSU DT’s and he struggled with injuries but overall he has to be disappointed with how this has all played out. If Favorite can put all that out of his mind he could be a darkhorse to make the roster as the back-up to Kemo. Though shorter than ideal he is big, strong and plays the run very well. If the Panthers decide that the pass rush will come simply from the multiple DE sets then they may prefer to keep more run stoppers at DT to prevent a repeat of last years run defense collapse down the stretch. Roster Chance: 20%

Lorenzo Williams 6-0 310 1 yr Missouri

Williams is a 2^nd year player who has yet to play a down in the NFL. Williams spent most of the 2008 preseason with Baltimore before being waived at the end of August. Williams looks like another player who may compete for a back-up run stopper position but the odds are not in his favor. Good work in TC though could produce a practice squad placement as I’m sure the Panthers will want depth available at this position. Roster Chance: 10%

Justin Kershaw 6-4 271 UDFA Michigan State

Kershaw looks like an undersized DT looking to score a quick payday at TC for as long as he can ride the pony. I can’t think of a scenario where I guy like this makes the roster on his first shot. His best shot will be the practice squad at best. Roster Chance: 1%

Lonnie Harvey 6-3 342 UDFA Morgan State

Harvey is simply training camp meat, a huge body to beat on some of the o-linemen trying to make the roster. Roster Chance: Nil

UPDATE: I'll leave these guys for posterity, but both were waived on 6/26 to accommodate the signings of Mike Goodson and Tony Fiammetta.

Babatunde Oshinowo 6-1 305 1 yr Stanford

Though he only shows one season of NFL experience he has played in 2 games across two seasons for the Bears. Oshinowo has since bounced around a few training camps since the two year dance with the Bears. The Panthers signed him away from the Eagles PS shortly after the 2008 season ended. He’s a smart guy with a EE degree who could surprise anyone taking him lightly in camp. Still the odds are very low. Roster Chances: 5%

Patrick McDonald 6-2 265 1 yr Alberta

McDonald is a former CFL player that must be part of the Canadian intern program? He seems too small to play DT in the NFL and being from Alberta he just might prune up in the Carolina heat in August. Roster Chance: Nil >> Sun-dried Prune Chance: 80%

Update for McDonald: Hat Tip to MP for jogging my memory. McDonald was brought in to compete for the long snapping position though he is listed as a DT. You may recall that our 2008 long snapper Jason Kyle was listed as a LB.

There's A Game On Saturday? 'MSU' Edition

Oops Pow Surprise — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 05:34:40 -0000

Welcome to this week's "M.S.U." edition of TAGOS! No, "M.S.U." doesn't stand for Michigan State. I mean, okay, it does, but not here. Today, it stands for "Making Shit Up," which is what we'll be doing for the next several hundred words. Let's get to know the SPARTAAANS! the best way we know how--without doing any research.

QB Brian Hoyer (Sr.): Hoyer is the emotional leader of the Spartan offense, and it's easy to see why. Armed with a quick arm and a quicker smile, Hoyer can break up the tension in a huddle or a film session with ease. Hoyer likes Miller Lite, NASCAR, and his bulldog Fart. The rascal rightie even tattoed "MADE IN THE USA" on the dog's stomach with arrows pointing to its unneutered scrotum, despite animal cruelty laws specifically prohibiting the practice. Ever the prankster, Hoyer "proposed" to his girlfriend of five years, only he handed her a box without a ring, just a "YOUR [sic] FIRED" note crumpled on the inside.

TB Javon Ringer (Sr.): Ringer is arguably the hardest worker in college football, running the ball over 40 times a game in a strategy that cannot possibly fail. Ringer, a 4.0 Economics major, embraces this gameplan. Amid growing worries about the state of the US economy and the concurrent skyrocketing taxes on the wealthy under likely President Obama, Ringer longs to live in Canada, and a healthy, safe senior season would make that impossible, as he would likely be drafted within the first four rounds of next season's draft. If Dantonio wears Ringer out and the diminutive tailback can't crack 4.60 in the 40-yard-dash at the NFL combine, he's all but assured to be shipped off to Saskatchewan, just in time to avoid the 2009 American Credit Wars. No, seriously, there will be actual violent wars. It'll be Wells Fargo tellers with guns and bombs going off in every Citigroup building known to man.*

WR Mark Dell (So.): Dell was the violent dictator responsible for over a million of deaths in Southeast Asia during the late 1970s. He escaped to Thailand after Vietnam's invasion and subsequent collapse of the Khmer Sparty Green party. Dell faked his own death in 1998 after two decades of shadow rule, again escaped (this time to East Lansing), and worked his way into the starting lineup within two years. Despite being a septegenarian former despot, Dell is lightning-fast and will not hesitate to murder an opposing defensive back on the field if he feels the coverage is too tight.

LT Rocco Cironi (Jr.): Uh... his name's Rocco... hell, I don't know, just pick some dude from the Sopranos and that's him. Except that AJ twat.

RG Roland Martin (Sr.): Poor Roland. He remembers all of them, of course, he's no animal. But he thinks about you all the time. He remembers the sweat clinging to your bodies in that motel room in Ypsilanti, the Kid Rock on the radio that you both said you hated but wouldn't turn off, and that feeling that you were both living the first day of the rest of forever. But football doesn't take time off, and neither could he, and while he says he wants you, you can't help but think that what he really wants is 2006 all over again. Time changes everyone, though; he's a starting lineman, and you have mauve armrests. So you both run, he on the field, you (more metaphorically, of course) from yourself. Both from the truth. He wouldn't even know what to say to you if he saw you on the street some day. Would you?

The doubts will always poison this, sadly, because that's what doubts do. He wonders if you'd love him if he wasn't an athlete, young and carefree. You wonder if he'd even want you if he didn't have such an intense fetish for quadriplegia.

DT Justin Kershaw (Sr.): Justin Kershaw is the team's foremost authority on the Pokemon franchise and is proud to tell anyone who will (or won't, really) listen about his acquisitions. Dantonio, understandably, would prefer his mammoth guard to engage in activities not usually eschewed by people by the time their 15th birthday rolls around, but as the coach admits, "[a]t least he'll never, ever get an STD, ever."

MLB Adam Decker (Jr.): Decker was the dominant force in the Alabama State Senate from 1993 to 1998, passing comprehensive health care reform for the uninsured and calling for tougher budget control on lotteries and other gambling measures. He was defeated, however, by Republican Mitch Connor after a News 9 investigation showed Decker had been receiving money from the controversial Gay Nazi Muslim Elitist Federation Against America. Decker was exiled to Minnesota, where he suffers to this day.

P Aaron Bates (So.): Is the team's best cross-stitcher. Once shit a squirrel; damned thing's still alive and running around the locker room.

K Brett Swenson (Jr.): Is sorry, Aaron, ate his chocolate squirrel.

And there you have it. Based on that eclectic mix of personalities, I'm just certain Iowa will win by 10 or whatever.

*Somehow nobody will be injured. If American banks can't make money, what makes you think they're at all capable of killing?