href="http://gavarsity.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?pr_key=49211">John Knox are two of the best defensive prospects in the South. Both athletes shined at the Athens NIKE Camp this past weekend and picked up offers from the University of Georgia on Monday. A number of colleges had already offered the defensive duo including Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State.

"Justin has started at defensive end for us the last two years," said Pennington. "He's got tremendous hands, great hand strength, and very long arms. He's the strongest guy on our team. He benches 360 pounds and power cleans 320 pounds. He has excellent feet, speed, and agility for a defensive end. In fact, we're working him this spring at inside linebacker. We hope to get him to the ball a little bit more often than he was able to up on the line."

"John is also a two year starter," said Pennington. "Actually, John and Justin have played three years in two, because we've played thirty games. John has started at safety for us the last two years and also filled in nicely at the wide receiver spot in a number of games. He's a gifted athlete with great hands, great vision, excellent speed, and he also returns punts as well as kickoffs for us. He's a versatile athlete."

Defensively, with so many holes to feel, coach Pennington has considered moving standout defensive end Justin Houston to inside linebacker.

"We've got to replace three linebackers," Pennington said. "There's a case where some of our younger players are going to have to step in. A lot of it may depend on where we play Houston. If we can find someone to fill the void at linebacker, that would really strengthen our defensive front with Tyson and Houston up there. If we can do that, with Knox taking up the middle at the safety position, we should be sound in the middle of our defense. We're fortunate that a lot of our players did get to see some playing time, but now the burden is on their shoulder as being the starter. I think we've got some athleticism on defense and that makes good coaches out of all of us."

Offensively, the Blue devils will have to replace Class AAAA Player of the Year, quarterback David Cone. Sophomores Luke Connell and Aaron Cone (David's younger brother) will be competing for the starting job.

"David started this thing three years ago as a sophomore," said Pennington. "We're looking at two sophomores trying to fill that spot again. Right now, it's wide open. I feel real good about Luke and Aaron."

Statesboro loves to run the football out of their traditional power wishbone formation. The Blue Devils will be without running backs