Corey Vereen
Vereen arrived as an early enrollee last December when he came in as a pass rushing linebacker. Corey quickly added 25 pounds and was moved to defensive end. He immediately saw time in the rotation last season and had one of the biggest plays of the year against Georgia when he sacked Aaron Murray on a third down to force a punt – a punt that would end up being blocked by Jalen Reeves-Maybin.
Some have forgotten that Vereen suffered a knee injury in fall camp last season that slowed his development and kept him off of the field for over a month. Despite that injury, he was still able to play in nine games while tallying 13 tackles and a sack.
Prediction:
Vereen was slowed by an injury in fall camp and sort of hit the ‘freshman wall’ towards the end of last season. This spring he was consistently supplying pressure on quarterbacks and looks much stronger than he was a year ago. He will also be aided by a couple new moves added to his repertoire thanks to time spent with Coach Stripling.
I think I may be expecting the biggest jump in production from anyone on defense to come from Corey Vereen. His skill set and drive are what you look for – all he lacked last year was knowledge of the position and scheme. He is an extremely hard worker and is very smart in the way he plays the game. Another year of learning the system and understanding how to watch film and breakdown his opponents will put the sophomore ahead of the curve.
