FIU Football: Panthers hope to rebound and return to bowl game in 2021

Experienced secondary leads the way for the FIU defense

Butch Davis is known as a very good defensive coach, dating back to his time coaching Miami, and he will be tasked with fixing one of the countries worst run defenses this season.

On the defensive line, Davon Strickland will lead the way inside and Kevin Oliver is going to be the leading guy on the edge for the FIU defense. Strickland led the team in sacks last season and I think he should be in line for a big 2021. Tevin Jones should start opposite of Oliver on the edge and I think Rashad Colson will be the other guy on the interior starting next to Strickland. This is the unit that needs to improve for this run defense to make a turnaround.

The linebacking crew will be led by a trio of seniors that is hoping to help lead the defensive turnaround. Jamal Gates, Daniel Jackson, and Josh Powell are going to need to be much improved this season, as the top tacklers on the team last season were all DB’s. Having defensive backs lead your defense in tackling can be a sign that your run defense and your linebackers struggled and that was exactly the case for FIU.

The secondary is the most experienced unit on the defense and they were one of the top passing defenses in the country, although it was just a five-game sample. Rishard Dames and Josh Turner are going to be back on the outside at corner and Dorian Hall and Richard Dames are going to be leading the safety group. This secondary did a very good job at preventing big plays and was a good unit overall last season. If the run defense can improve, this could be one of the best defenses in the conference.