Despite knowing there could be three senior defensive linemen on the Falcon football team this season, the players in place aren’t dwelling on it. According to redshirt junior Nick Torresso, the only problem with losing the three is on the line’s depth, not its probable success. ‘[They] would help as far as having a better rotation, but as far as having success, I think we’re fine with that,’ Torresso said. ‘We work just as hard if not harder.’ The players that are gone – Orlando Barrow, Jacob Hardwick and Michael Ream, all would-be seniors dismissed from the program in the past calendar year – could be anchoring a defensive line that is now finding its depth challenged with no seniors. Barrow and Hardwick were both dismissed from the team by former coach Gregg Brandon last summer after being charged in connection with a home invasion. Ream was dismissed by current coach Dave Clawson April 10 for an undisclosed violation of team rules. But now the team is faced with the daunting task of finding young stars in the making and a somewhat lack of leadership. Redshirt sophomore Kevin Alvarado said having those elder statesmen would have been beneficial to the season. ‘It would help give us some leadership,’ Alvarado said. ‘But young guys just have to step their game up.’ For the Spring Game last Saturday, the team rolled out redshirt juniors Angelo Magnone, Darius Smith and Torresso and redshirt sophomore Kevin Alvarado as starters with other youngsters like redshirt sophomores Andrew Johnson and Mickey Wagner among others seeing significant playing time. Among those four starters, there is just one career start coming from Torresso who started at left tackle against Miami last season. Johnson also had a start last season, taking Ream’s place at nose tackle for the Ohio game. With the lack of starting experience, there is a wide open race for many of the defensive line starting spots, something Alvarado said is good for the team. ‘[The battles are] going pretty well,’ Alvarado said. ‘Everybody wants a starting spot.’ And some of the players possibly battling for those spots aren’t even in Bowling Green yet. In his first recruiting class, Clawson brought six defensive linemen aboard, some of which may find regular playing time even though Clawson would prefer to redshirt them. ‘That’s a position that we’re probably going to have to play some freshmen,’ Clawson said. ‘I don’t know if we have enough depth to redshirt all the freshmen we have coming in.’ One of the leading candidates among the freshmen to get playing time if needed is Jordan Roussos, a defensive end recruit from Pittsburgh. Roussos was selected to USA Football’s 2009 national team in April and will compete in the Junior World Championships this summer.