I believe he will have to quit bellying up to the dinner table with the OL and shed a couple of pounds. (I'm saying this as I hammer a couple of cheeseburgers.)You are right, wlayton, he is slower than that prototypical 40 time we like our defensive ends to be at, but so was a guy a few years ago named David Pollack. Pollack made up for that with relentless energy on the field and he was pretty quick off the ball. If Tripp carries a portion to the field of what DP did, Tripp will be fine..... I hope.
We should be healthier at DE with the guys now, but we still have two to look at who redshirted last year and one in this year's class. The kid, Montez Robinson, who we got this year, could be the sleeper of the bunch. He combines size and speed that might allow him some playing time this year, even though CMR usually redshirts DE's.