Dogs shuffle defensive line

With junior defensive tackle Terrence Reese out for at least a week with a sprained ankle, The Citadel football shuffled its defensive line in practice Thursday morning.

Senior Kevin McCaskill, who had been playing end in the Bulldogs' new 3-4 look, moved inside to nose guard with the first team in place of Reese, who hurt his ankle Wednesday. Sophomore Lincoln Kling, who had been running with the second team at defensive end, moved up to first team alongside junior Dewitt Jones.

McCaskill, 6-2 and 255 pounds, played tackle in the 4-3 alignment last year, starting all 11 games with 55 tackles, five for loss. Kling played in three games, recording seven tackles and a sack in the blowout win over Webber. He also forced a fumble at VMI.

"We have a lot of flexibilty with the three-man front," said defensive line coach Eric Westerfield. "A lot of the techniques are very similar. And we have some veteran guys, like Kevin, that we can move inside to the nose position along with (redshirt freshman) Quintin Turner.

"That allows a young guy like Lincoln Kling to step up and get more reps, and allows us to look at some freshmen and guys like (senior) Charles Major."

Westerfield said he is not too worried about the time Reese will miss.

"You always want to keep working and never believe that you've arrived and totally understand everything," he said. "But Terrence is an extremely hard worker and and loves the game of football. He's going to be prepared, and it's important that we don't rush him back. We've got time."

The Bulldogs will start full-pad workouts today.