Oh, hey, whaddya know? Aqib Talib is gone. I know, his departure to the NFL has gone relatively unnoticed, as he wasn't that good anyways, wasn't even taken in the NFL Draft, and has been completley out of the news thus far in his NFL career, both on the field and off of it. Oh, you're saying that you knew he was gone? To what team? The Bucs? For real?

Heh.

After that heavy helping of sarcasm, with the droplets sopping off the paragraph, it's time to get down to the real question hiden inside that mess of jokes: how will we replace Aqib? Of all of the holes left to fill, cornerback is generally accepted at being "filled", with two returning starters at the position, as both Chris Harris and Kendrick Harper started some games. Depth is an issue (the two reserves are a redshirt freshman and a true freshman), making the nickel package a little dicey, but the starting duo should be more than capable of manning down the fort. As large of a man-crush I have on Chris Harris, he isn't even the best all-around CB on this team; that title would have to go to last season's JUCO transfer, Kendrick Harper. The future looks bright as well, as everyone on the two-deep save Harper is a freshman or sophomore, and even more youngsters in Greg Brown and incoming recruits Dexter Linton and Tyler Patmon.

With all of that said, here is a look at the three year depth chart:

--- Italics denote projected redshirt year

--- Bold denotes EMPTY spot on depth chart

Just to make things clear, when I say that a spot is "EMPTY" on the depth chart, that doesn't mean the coaching staff has no answer for said spot. They have obviously looked at our team and as it will progress over time, and know what to recruit. Also, in nearly every position preview I have left off a couple of walk-on types who would be boring to go over, but who could easily fill in as the sixth CB, for example.

As far as the actual depth chart goes, it shows just how much youth we have at the position. After Harper's graduation following this season, we will have the same CB core (save incoming recruits and potential early NFL defections/transfers) for two entire years, from top-to-bottom. That is pretty impressive. A bunch of talent, as well, as Harris, Barfield and Powell all have chances to be really special, particularly the first two. Not to mention Greg Brown, who was more highly recruited coming out of HS than Corrigan was.

Player-by-player previews after the jump...

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