Date: 8/25
Position: Defensive line
Position Coach: Harland Bower

Returning Letterwinners (Key stats): Charles Coleman III (8 games played, 3-1—4 TT, 1 TFL); Gi'Narious Johnson (12 GP, 4-9—13 TT, 1½ TFL, 1½ sacks); Jeremiah Littles (12 GP, 6-8—14 TT, 4½ TFL); Maurice Strong Jr. (12 GP, 7-8—15 TT, 1½ TFL, ½ sack, 1 FF)

Letterwinners lost (Key stats): Jordon Beaton (10 GP, 7-5—12 TT, 3 TFL); Sean Brown (12 GP, 11-17—28 TT, 3 TFL, ½ sack, 1 blk); Rocel McWilliams (12 GP, 26-13—39 TT, 8 TFL, 4½ sacks, 1 FF); Tyree Turner (1 GP, no statistics recorded); Jeffery Whatley (12 GP, 26-13—39 TT, 14½ TFL, 4½ sacks, 1 FR)

Returning Redshirts/Squad Members (Yr., Hometown, Previous school): Markes Johnson (Jr., Mobile, Ala., Birmingham-Southern); Jamall Hickbottom (So., Mobile [Ala.] Williamson HS); Brock Higdon (R-Fr., Pelham [Ala.] HS); Wy'Kevious Thomas (R-Fr., Riverdale [Ga.] HS);

Newcomers (Yr., Hometown, Previous school): Zeke Chapman (Jr., Lake, Miss., Pearl River [Miss.] CC); Jamie Sheriff (Jr., Terry, Miss., Mississippi Gulf Coast CC); Terry Perry (So., Birmingham, Ala., Lindsey Wilson [Ky.]); Carlos Johnson (Fr., Spanish Fort [Ala.] HS); Zyon Walker (Fr., Memphis [Tenn.] Whitehaven HS)

Miscellaneous Notes
-Four of five letterwinners lost at the position were all-Sun Belt Conference performers during their Jaguar careers; Turner (second-team) and Beaton (honorable mention) were recognized in 2018 while Whatley (second-team) and Brown (honorable mention) were honored last fall.
-Turner departed South ranked among the top 10 all-time in both tackles for loss (sixth, 22) and sacks (tie-seventh, nine).
-Whatley ended last year second in the Sun Belt with 1.21 stops behind the line per contest; his 14½ total rank third on the program's season record list.
-McWilliams shared team-high honors in sacks with Whatley.
-Over the last two seasons, Littles has been credited with 7½ tackles for loss while making 30 total stops.
-After appearing in just two contests as a true freshman in 2018, Strong's 15 tackles a year ago were the most among the group returning this fall.
-Coleman saw action in eight games last season after sitting out the previous campaign as a redshirt.
-Both Higdon and Thomas played as true freshmen during the '18 campaign, appearing in two and four contests, respectively.
-Sheriff was a second-team all-Mississippi Association of Community & Junior Colleges selection last year after posting 12 tackles for loss — including eight sacks — while helping Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C. win the National Junior College Athletic Association championship.
-Chapman made 35 total tackles last fall at the junior-college level, with six of those behind the line of scrimmage.
-The freshman duo of Johnson and Walker both earned all-state and all-region accolades in their final season at the prep level a year ago.

Harland Bower
-On his approach to putting together the unit this fall: "It's been a holistic approach to consistency in our preparation.  All I ask those guys to do is show up every day and work hard, I think if you do that and stay consistent all the other stuff will take care of itself.  Our approach has been to bring a hard-hat mentality and come to work every day."
-On how he perceives the depth of the group: "I think we've got some really good depth.  You can say they are young, but we've got we've got guys who have been in this program and have been in that D-Line room; what we don't have are any established names who people know.  When you look at the room you assume that it is young, but we've got guys who know how we do things.  We don't have anyone who has established themselves yet, but I think time will help that."
-On what the unit needs to do well in the fall: "It is as simple as just showing up every day and doing our job to the best of our ability.  We have to be great at the point of attack, we have to be stout up front and as every defensive coach would say we have to stop the run — that starts with us.  We have to earn the right to rush the passer on third down, and we have some talent in the room that can do that."

Gi'Narious Johnson
-On what he learned his first year in the program: "I learned so much having two guys who started in front of me in Jordon and Sean, they would come and talk to me about the things I needed to work on; I always took that to heart and would do those things.  Just watching those guys motivates me every day when I come out here because I know I have big shoes to fill."
-On the strength of his game: "What I do best is use my pad-level technique to overcome double teams.  But there are a lot of things I need to work on like my pass rush, and I can still get better taking on double teams.  I want the other guys to know they can look at me and see you're never too good or perfect."
-On the strength of the team's defensive line: "I really believe it's the bond we have with each other.  When you're out there on the field you know that you are not by yourself, you know you can count on the guys next to you so you have to fight hard and play for them."

Jeremiah Littles
-On his expectations for the defensive line coming into the year: "We have high expectations even though we lost a lot of seniors.  We want to come out and be able to play as a group, it doesn't matter who is on the field — whether it's the ones or twos — we want to play the same.  We want to dominate and lead the team, we are the core of the defense.  Although we have a lot of young guys, we can bring a lot of energy and play hard and maintain that mentality we always have."
-On what the unit does well: "It's about our effort and always playing hard.  We all are close and are able to learn from each other, and that combination is something we can take into the season."
-On what he has worked on the most to improve his game: "First it was important to get healthy so now it is about the point of attack and being able to knock guys back and be dominant.  I've been working on playing off blocks to be able to make more plays."

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