Defensive Line

On Georgia Tech's first offensive play from scrimmage yesterday, Yellow Jackets wide receiver Dez White's legs were taken out from under him while blocking. The sophomore standout slowly hobbled off the field, but moments later White returned to make what might have been the game's biggest play.Terps defensive end Peter Timmins had just intercepted a lateral and scored a touchdown, giving the Terps an early lead and momentum against the No. 23-ranked team in the nation at Ravens stadium. On the ensuing kickoff, White went from one end zone to the other virtually untouched for a 100-yard touchdown.

From a distance, Navy freshman Jabaree Tuani appears to be the prototypical defensive end playing big-time college football, considering the havoc he has already caused for opposing backfields this season. It's only close up that one gets to see how small Tuani really is for someone at his position. Though Tuani, 6 feet 1, 242 pounds, has plenty of company in that category among his teammates, he is still a rarity in Annapolis: the first plebe to start for the Midshipmen on the defensive line since Bwerani Nettles did a decade ago. Shortly after coming into the season opener against Towson, Tuani sacked Tigers quarterback Sean Schaefer and eventually took over as a starter for his team's upset last month at then-No.

College basketball New Jersey standout guard Amayo commits to Towson New Towson coach Pat Skerry scored a recruiting coup when 6-foot-5, 210-pound combination guard Kelvin Amayo of Hillside, N.J., committed to the Tigers on Monday. Amayo, from NIA Prep in Newark, picked Towson from a group of suitors that included Providence, Seton Hall and the College of Charleston. He told sny.tv that Skerry said he would run the offense. Amayo said: "He just came in and did a great job recruiting me. Before he even got the job, he came to the NIA gym and said he needed me. He said I'm going to probably play 33 minutes [per game]

CARLISLE, Pa. - Spatially speaking, a little more than an arm's length separates defensive end and tackle, but the mind-sets between the positions couldn't be more starkly different, and Kenard Lang has spent the summer learning the difference. Lang, a lifelong defensive end, is not only being asked by new Washington Redskins coach Marty Schottenheimer to move into the starting lineup, but also make the arm's length move to right tackle. The conversion so far has been, to say the least, interesting.

HOUSTON -- Losing Anthony Pleasant was hard enough on the Ravens' defensive line.For the past two weeks, while Pleasant has been trying to overcome a sprained ankle he suffered in the season opener against Oakland, the Ravens have missed his presence and consistent play at right defensive end.Yesterday, the Ravens got thinner at that position when Rick Lyle, a third-year player who has been filling in for Pleasant, suffered a broken left leg early in...

One year after having the NFL's 10th-best run defense, the Ravens' defensive line returns intact and wiser. And just like last season, if the line plays well, so will the entire defense."

Marques Douglas headlines the depth chart of the Ravens' defensive line. The fourth-year veteran out of Howard University is currently holding down the right end spot until Michael McCrary recovers from knee surgery. But Douglas could have the opportunity to compete with rookie Tony Weaver at left end and may land at nose tackle if Kelly Gregg goes down for an extended period. The Ravens are in desperate need of depth at defensive line because they lost three starters along with their top two reserves.

They are undersized, largely unheralded and virtually unknown, except to their teammates. But certainly not unappreciated. While quarterback Aaron Polanco and fullback Kyle Eckel grab most of the headlines with their running exploits, Navy's defensive line quietly conducts the business of trying to disrupt opposing offenses while operating with some obvious disadvantages. Week after week, they must engage the hulking offensive tackles and guards who outweigh them from 30 to 60 pounds, attract a lot of attention from them and clear the paths for Navy's active linebackers to make the majority of the tackles.

Spencer Folau remembered that sinking feeling upon learning the news. After spending two collegiate seasons at Idaho as an effective force on the defensive line, Folau's job description had just undergone a drastic change.He would be switched to the offensive line, an area he had barely tested even as a high school player."It blew me away. I didn't expect it. I was pretty productive on the defensive line," Folau recalled. "We probably needed some help on the [offensive] line, and I think my coach saw a future for me on the offensive line.

After all the scrutiny on the offensive line this preseason, the uncertainty of which five linemen would start in the season opener, and the surprise when Ramon Harewood ran out of the tunnel with the starters on Monday night, the new-look Ravens offensive line got it done. Quarterback Joe Flacco threw for 299 yards against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Ravens averaged 5.3 yards per carry, and their point total in the 44-13 win was the NFL's second-highest in Week 1. Now the Ravens are preparing for a much different challenge - one of the league's quickest and deepest defensive lines.