Georgia State will need to improve in a lot of areas in order to turn around last year's 3-8 season. This series will identify five players that could be candidates to have a breakout season for Georgia State and give them a push in a certain area. The players highlighted must have started fewer than 6 games for the Panthers, but also were on the team last season. The fifth and final player highlighted in this series is nose guard Terrance Woodard.
Position: Defensive Line
Class: Junior
2011 Review: Woodard appeared in 9 games last season and finished with 21 tackles on the year, a respectable mark for an interior defensive lineman. His best game came against South Carolina State (this year's home opener) where he recorded 5 tackles. He also recorded four tackles and forced a fumble in a win over Campbell. Woodward did not play in two games because of injury.
Spring 2012: Woodard was one of a number of guys that were suspended during Spring camp for a violation of team rules. While he was with the team, he was productive and one of the team's best interior defensive linemen.
2012 Depth Chart: Georgia State has a lot of new faces along the defensive line. Redshirt freshman David Huey switched from guard to defensive tackle and immediately was plugged in to the starting lineup. The Panthers also received two transfers from FBS schools in Nermin Delic and Theo Agnew, but their eligibility status remains in question. True Freshman Joe Lockley is also a beast on the inside and should compete for playing time right away.
2012 Outlook: Ultimately, Woodard's playing time will depend on the status and health of Agnew and Delic. If those two are not eligible or are injured, then Woodward will see the majority of snaps at nose guard. But even if the other players are in the mix, Woodard is the biggest guy on the entire defensive line and has shown he is worthy of seeing the field, even if it's only in a rotational role.
Worst Case Scenario: Delic and Agnew are ruled ineligible and Woodard is either consistently hurt or simply ineffective, causing GSU's run defense to be gashed.
Best Case Scenario: Woodard, Agnew, Delic, and Kelly form a much improved defensive line that stops the run and is able to consistently get pressure on the quarterback. A true breakout season from Woodard would be 30 tackles or more with 2-3 sacks.
Prediction: No one knows what the NCAA will decide to do. While it certainly looks more promising for Delic than it does for Agnew, Woodard needs to approach this season assuming neither will be available. That would put a tremendous amount of pressure on him to anchor a smaller defensive line and be the disruptive force he was against SCSU and Campbell last season. I would expect Woodard's numbers to increase only slightly in total tackles.