The defense is very strong and six five-star prospects on Scout lead the way. He is a preview by position.
Defensive Line
Two five-star defensive tackles
will call the White Team home, including the nation's top defensive tackle
prospect, Montravius Adams. The #7-player in the country overall, he's got
a short list that includes Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida and Georgia.
Another five-star defensive tackle is Auburn commit Dee Liner. He's
been committed to Auburn since before his junior year, and he and Adams should
make for a stout 1-2 punch inside.
Two other four-star defensive tackles are on the roster, Michigan verbal
Henry Poggi and South Carolina commit Kelsey Griffin.
At defensive end, five-star Joey Bosa from Florida, and a commit to Ohio State,
leads a strong group.
Mississippi State commit Chris Jones, a new addition to the Scout 100, has seen
his stock skyrocket this season, and was stellar in the Alabama-Mississippi
All-Star Game
Auburn
verbal Carl Lawson is joined by uncommitted end Tim Williams from Louisiana
in rounding out the defensive ends.
Linebacker
The linebacker group is led by the premier 'backer in the country, Reuben Foster
out of Alabama. A one-time commit to both Alabama and Auburn, Foster is
back to being open, and he'll take a flurry of visits in January, while several
programs are trying to woo him.
Three other linebackers join Foster as uncommitted prospects.
Trey Johnson
from Georgia, Yannick Ngakoue out of Washington D.C. and Quinton Powell from
Florida, like Foster, are all Scout 300 backers, and like Foster, will use the
month of January to take trips before they make their decisions.
Matt Rolin,
who's committed to South Carolina and Michael McCray, who's verbaled to
Michigan, round out the linebackers.
Defensive Back
The secondary like the other two position groups is very strong. Both the cornerback and safety positions have a five-star leading the way.
Mississippi native Antonio Conner is the most highly touted safety in the game,
a five-star prospect ranked #2 nationally, who's coveted by the two in-state
programs as well as Alabama, Georgia and LSU.
Arizona prospect Priest Willis will likely play some safety in the game, but
he's a five-star cornerback and the top corner in the West. Willis' short
list includes Arizona State, LSU, Nebraska and UCLA.
Also playing safety is Max Redfield, another Scout 100 prospect who will
announce between USC, where he'd been a long time commit before opening it up, and Notre Dame
Louisiana athlete Kendell Beckwith, who's down to Alabama and LSU, much like
Landon Collins a year ago, will likely play safety in the game.
The other cornerbacks on the roster include three players from the South, Texas
A&M commit Noel Ellis from Louisiana, Miami commit Artie Burns, who's staying
home for college and Georgia verbal Shaquille Wiggins, another in-state prospect the Dawgs pulled in.
A
pair of Ohio prospects round out the corners, Ohio State verbal Cameron Burrows as
well as Gareon Conley, another future Buckeye.