True, a good d-line can cover up defensive deficiencies elsewhere.
@hoosier-clarion there is nothing quite like having 2 or 3 or 4 Big Uglies chasing down their quarterback that will improve your linebacker's play into instance All-americans.
BEAT PURDUE
At media days, Maikail Kamara remarked that he is excited for his defensive duo DLs, Hosea Wheeler & Tyrique Tucker as they have both worked extremely hard in the off -season to be ready to dominant the defensive front, replacing CJ West & James Carpenter.
I get the love for Ratliff. His numbers popped off the page, so I certainly don't want to sell him short. With that being said, Tucker is in year 2 of this system and he played like a man child out there last season. This feels like a year he steps into a leadership type role. Wheeler was just a beast on an awful team.
As we know, it's the big guys in the middle that are absolutely necessary for a defense to be dominant like that. Add guys like Kamara, Tucker, Ponds, Fisher, Hardy...etc. around him and I think he will be a stud for us. We just need a solid rotation of that DL to keep legs fresh and they will be hard to do anything against.