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Earlier this week I posited a humble question on the twitters, and phrased it thusly:
Interesting point brought up on @OBNUG. Is this year's #8 on the Bronco roster *gasp* BETTER than last year's?
— Drew Roberts (@mybrainissmart) October 27, 2014
In laymen's terms, could it be possible that the current bearer of the ocho—Kamalei Correa—is better than our dear departed Demarcus Lawrence? Clearly, KC (nor his Sunshine Band) have accomplished Lawrence's feats...yet. But a quick look at an apples-to-apples comparison (that is, a sophomore-to-sophomore comparison) shows that Kamalei isn't far off D-law's statlines from 2012...and he still has at least 5 more games remaining this season.
D-Law as a soph: 47 tackles, 13.5 TFL, 9.5 sacks, 4 FF Kamalei as soph (7 games): 34 tackles, 9.5 TFL, 5.5 sacks, 2 FF
— Drew Roberts (@mybrainissmart) October 27, 2014
Food for thought with Halloween candy chaser! Both players clearly played (and are playing) at high levels and "better" is a wildly subjective term given that one player may excel at an aspect of the game the other didn't. However, one thing is clear...they aren't nearly as far apart as one would imagine...and probably few of us did imagine that #8 could be replaced by even a reasonable facsimile so quickly.
Whaddya think?
Will Correa's sophomore numbers match or surpass Demarcus Lawrence's? What aspect of each players' game would you take and merge into a giant, unstoppable mecha defensive end? Do we have a scholarship available for a mecha defensive end? Let's talk. Then eat candy.