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This the second part of my interview with Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone. You can read the first part here.

Let's talk about the defense, starting up front. You lost a great player in the middle in Arthur Jones but you have both starting defensive ends back. How do you see that position this spring?

Doug Marrone: At the ends we have Mikhail Marinovich and Chandler Jones, and they have a lot of experience playing. Chandler Jones is a very talented player and Marinovich, he's a long kid with good speed, good leverage, a very quick kid. Torrey Ball came over from junior college last year and added some depth. Jarred Kimmel is not participating in the spring but he's played a lot and he'll come back in the fall. So those players have some experience.

On the inside, Andrew Lewis played a lot for us. Bud Tribbey stepped up and played well. It's hard to replace a player like Arthur Jones, though. Anthony Perkins played some and we have some junior college kids coming in and some freshmen who should add depth to the inside position. Ollie Haney played for us in short-yardage situations, and we'll see if he can play more in normal downs. So we have some players there and we have some coming in. But you don't want to be sitting here saying, we've got a kid coming in here, a kid coming in there and then you're banking on that. You go to that well too many times and it's hard to run a program that way.

At linebacker, you have two of your best playmakers back in Derrell Smith and Doug Hogue. You must feel pretty good about that spot.

DM: I do. Having Derrell Smith back in the middle and the year he had was very good for us. It's interesting because a year ago at this time when we started spring, he made the move from outside to inside and, really, he struggled early on in the spring. And really of all of sudden, for lack of a better term, the light goes off for him and he really excelled within the structure of the defense. He really had a solid year with some postseason honors, and we expect the same from him this year. Doug Hogue, he was the third or fourth team running back when we first got here. And he broke the tackles for loss in a game record held by Dwight Freeney, which is pretty darn good. And he's another big kid who can run.

So they've had a year in our system to develop, and that will help them. Ryan Gillum is at the other outside position, and we'll see what he can do. And we've got kids coming in and kids here now who'll come in and compete at those positions.

What about the secondary? You had a lot of young kids get experience there a year ago and now it seems like you have some pretty good depth there.

DM: Yeah, we do. Phillip Thomas as a freshman, he played quite a bit, and he can play safety or corner for us. Mike Holmes has been a solid player for us in the secondary along with Max Suter. Then, obviously, Shamarko Thomas had a great year for us back there. Da'Mon Merkerson played the other corner and Kevyn Scott is there at corner. So it's a good competition back there. I think the competition can really help them. We'll be able to have some versatility because there are about three or four players who can play the nickel position, too.

You talked earlier about the seven mid-year enrollees. How many do you think will have a chance to make an immediate impact

DM: The kids who came from high school, it's a little bit tougher for them. But they'll have the experience of going through spring and our six-week program as far as weight lifting and running. The junior college guys are physically ready; it's a matter of how they compete and how they handle it. Michael Hay can help us on the offensive line. Olando Fisher, whether its at linebacker, defensive back or on special teams, can help us right away. Then there are the two kids from Hofstra. I mentioned Aaron Weaver. Jose Cruz also came in and can help us at tight end.

Do you anticipate any position changes, like Mike Jones or Doug Hogue pulled off last year?

DM: Not right now. Right now, we're pretty much set as far as where guys are playing, whether it's the offensive line or the secondary or things like that. We just want to see them compete and then we're trying to play the best player. We might have three good corners and one is better than the starting safety, so you've got to make a decision to get the kid on the field somehow. It's no different than the offensive line. If your third or fourth best lineman is a backup right tackle, you've got to get him on the field somehow. We have to have some type of diversity to play those players, and that's what we'll look out when we start practice.

Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

It's been a tumultuous week at Syracuse already, to say the least.

Head coach Doug Marrone announced today that junior defensive end Jared Kimmel will undergo season-ending left knee surgery. Kimmel has played in all eight games for the Orange, recording 12 tackles and 1.5 sacks.

Syracuse will also be without running back Antwon Bailey, defensive end Torrey Ball and offensive lineman Andrew Tiller on Saturday at Pitt, as all three have been suspended for a violation of team rules. Bailey might be the biggest loss of the three, as he has been used in Wildcat packages and as a change of pace to Delone Carter.

There is some good news for the Orange, however. Starting center Jim McKenzie is expected to return this week after missing the last three games with an injury. He had been replaced by Ryan Bartholomew. McKenzie in an all-league caliber center when healthy.

McKenzie's return means Bartholomew can slide back to guard and allow the Ornage to replace Tiller in the lineup.

Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

My colleague Ted Miller out in the wild, wild west of the Pac-10 had a really fun post earlier this week. He looked back on that conference's 2006 recruiting class. Players who signed that year should be seniors or redshirt juniors now, so it's a perfect time to judge the class on actual results, not promise.

And so, I figure that's a good idea to steal and apply to the Big East. Pittsburgh had the 16th-best recruiting class in the nation that season, according to our Scouts Inc. experts, while Louisville ranked 21st. No other Big East team cracked the top 25.

Let's take a look back and see how things have turned out, shall we?

Cincinnati

Class: 22

ESPNU top 150 players: 0

Expected major contributors in 2009: 7 -- LB John Goebel, LB Robby Armstrong, CB Marcus Barnett, TE Ben Guidugli, DL Ricardo Matthews, RB Jacob Ramsey, S Aaron Webster

Misses: DT Oren Wilson

Verdict: Mark Dantonio's final full class contained some players who have already contributed, like Ramsey, Guidugli, Barnett and Webster, and some who should assume bigger roles this year, like Armstrong and Matthews. But overall, this lacked the quality of the deep '05 bunch that formed the core of last year's Orange Bowl squad. Receiver Jamar Howard, who was part of the '06 class but didn't qualify in 2006, is back this year after a stint in junior college.

Connecticut

Class: 24

ESPNU top 150 players: 0

Expected major contributors in 2009: 11 -- WR Brad Kanuch, S Robert Vaughn, K Desi Cullen, OL Zach Hurd, LB Scott Lutrus, CB Robert McClain, LB Lawrence Wilson, DE Lindsey Witten, OL Mathieu Olivier, DT Alex Polito, DE Mike Cox

Misses: CB Jamie Nixon

Verdict: As usual, Randy Edsall's '06 class didn't draw much attention nationally. But he found a whole bunch of players who exceeded their star rankings and became key pieces for the Huskies. Lutrus is one of the best linebackers in the Big East, while Vaughn is a top safety and Witten has NFL potential. UConn could use a breakthrough from the oft-injured Kanuch.

Louisville

Class: 30

ESPNU top 150 players: 2

Expected major contributors in 2009: 7 -- DE Rodney Gnat, DT L.T. Walker, LB Brandon Heath, WR Josh Chichester, CB Johnny Patrick, WR Troy Pascley, OT Jeff Adams

Misses: DT Aundre Henderson, DT Kareem Crowell, QB Emmanuel Francis

Verdict: Bobby Petrino's final class at Louisville looked great on paper but was hit hard by attrition and misevaluations, which is part of the reason why the Cardinals have been so thin the past two years. Some problems were unforeseen; promising defensive end Peanut Whitehead had his career ended after just a season by a back injury. Henderson decided he didn't like football and quit. Running back Anthony Allen transferred. Several others were dismissed for disciplinary reasons or never panned out.

Pittsburgh

Class: 27

ESPNU top 150 players: 2

Expected major contributors in 2009: 9 -- TE Nate Byham, OT Jason Pinkston, CB Aaron Berry, OL John Malecki, CB Jovani Chappel, OL Joe Thomas, S Elijah Fields, DE Greg Romeus, CB Ricky Gary

Misses: QB Kevan Smith, CB Aaron Smith, DT Scott Corson

Verdict: Overall, this was a deep, solid class that will form the backbone of this year's team. Add in the fact that star left tackle Jeff Otah was part of this group as a junior college transfer, and it becomes all the more impressive. Byham, Pinkston, Berry and Romeus are All-Big East-caliber players with pro futures. Pitt hasn't seemed able to figure out what to do yet with once highly-rated prospect Dorin Dickerson. Running back Kevin Collier could contribute this year.

Rutgers

Class: 27

ESPNU top 150 players: 0

Expected major contributors in 2009: 9 -- RB Kordell Young, WR Tim Brown, LB Antonio Lowery, DT Blair Bines, LB Ryan D'Imperio, DB Zaire Kitchen, TE Shamar Graves, FB Jack Corcoran, DT Charlie Noonan

Misses: TE Jeff Minemeyer, LB Sorie Bayoh

Verdict: The best player from this class, Kenny Britt, was a first-round NFL draft pick in April. Combine that with a high number of contributors, and Greg Schiano had a pretty good batting average with this class.

South Florida

Class: 30

ESPNU top 150 players: 0

Expected major contributors in 2009: 11 -- WR Carlton Mitchell, OL Zach Hermann, S Nate Allen, DB Jerrell Young, OL Jeremiah Warren, LB Sabbath Joseph, DL Aaron Harris, DL Craig Marshall, K Delbert Alvarado, WR Ed Alcin, OL Kevin McCaskill

Misses: DT Leslie Stirrups, WR Jason Sherman, DE Joseph Jackson

Verdict: Surprisingly, some of the Bulls' highest-rated recruits in the 2006 class are the ones who didn't pan out, while the lesser-regarded names have gained regular playing time. The best player so far of this group is Allen, who should have an NFL future. This is a good class that just needs a little more star power.

Syracuse

Class: 22

ESPNU top 150 players: 1

Expected major contributors in 2009: 9 -- TE Andrew Robinson, RB Delone Carter, OL Jim McKenzie, OL Ryan Bartholomew, OL Tucker Baumbach, OL Jonathan Meldrum, DE Jared Kimmel, LB Derrell Smith, WR Mike Williams

Misses: WR Andrey Baskin, S Derek Hrinya

Verdict: Several players from the '06 batch will start this year, including nearly all of Syracuse's offensive line. But this class, like most of Greg Robinson's efforts, is short on all-conference caliber players. Baskin was the Orange's biggest recruit, but he failed to qualify and never made it to campus. Robinson was the starting quarterback two years ago before switching to tight end this spring.

West Virginia

Class: 16

ESPNU top 150 players: 0

Expected major contributors in 2009: 6 -- DT Chris Neild, WR Wes Lyons, LB Anthony Leonard, C Eric Jobe, S Franchot "Boogie" Allen, LB J.T. Thomas

Misses: S John Maddox, CB Robert Williams, OL Eric Rodemoyer, CB Greg Davis

Verdict: The Mountaineers had a small class in '06, and they could have handed out half the scholarships and gotten the same results. Only eight 2006 signees are on the current roster. Several from that class are expected to take a step up this year, including Neild, Lyons and Allen. Still, only getting six major contributors from any class is a hard pill to swallow.