zoogs
New member
This is a great topic. I've been meaning to post something similar...I'm curious about our position-by-position trends for 2015, and I admit to being not nearly as knowledgeable about the team compared to some of you. Here's my thoughts:
QB wash (up?)
By many accounts, Tommy is a good athlete who has been a disaster at QB. Even I must admit his penchant for poor decisions in the passing game, and his tendency to miss easy short throws to open targets by a mile, has been very troubling.
Although, Tommy went off against USC in the bowl game, the only chance Beck had a chance to run his offense unfettered. And I still rate his leadership and competitiveness very highly.
Behind Tommy, we have no QBs with any meaningful experience. The competition for the job is nonetheless wide open, and the system on offense can be expected to undergo a big change with Riley and Langsdorf coming in. All of that points to growing pains in year 1.
RB down
We lose Ameer. It has to go down. Newby and Cross didn't impress too much, unfortunately. We have some promising young backs in Wilbon and Taylor, but whether they'll be closer to Rex/Helu/Ameer or Lucky/Heard/Green here remains to be seen. Also going to an offense that might feature the RB and the run game a lot less.
Even with Ameer, the run game ground to a halt at times, although that may have been due to injury in some games.
WR down?
Kenny Bell will be a big loss. I'm not sure we will have enough to replace him in year 1, even if in the long term, I expect the position to improve. I'm concerned about what we have coming back, though. We saw how fragile depth at this position has been.
Moore was not impressive, Westerkamp was too often not an impact player (although I really like him and his circus catches -- maybe it was just the offense?), and Turner has a lot of injury history on him. All eyes will be on return star DPE's progression in the offense, but even then, I don't think we're going to be the kind of offense where one or two dangerous receivers is enough.
The last several times we were supposed to be abundant at the position, it didn't come to frition. Now, it seems clear that Riley & co are going to have to restock this position very quickly for the future. It's also an unknown right now -- we don't know who the new WRs coach is yet.
TE up
This HAS to become a bigger part of the attack. Riley's history suggests it very strongly.
Cethan Carter, though, has been invisible to date. Maybe that's on the previous staff, or the quarterback, or maybe it's just a little much to hope for a total transformation right away. We have a nice TE commit in this class, but he'll just be a true freshman. Cotton also didn't impress too much.
So it should trend up, but I wonder how much.
OL up
DE down
We lose Randy Gregory, and Avery Moss's return is currently a question mark. DE depth was an issue and I'm not sure it's going to be a short turnaround. Natter (RSo) and the RFr trio of King/Wills/Stoltenberg form the depth backbone of this group, and right now that cannot inspire a great deal of confidence.
We also lose Kaz, which I think was best for both parties, but he has a solid record as DL coach in the Big Ten conference.
I'm a big believer in that it all starts in the trenches on both sides, and this is a serious concern for me.
DT steady
I'm not as familiar with the DT depth, but Valentine/Collins have both impressed me. I feel mostly good about this position, at least compared to DE. Can we hold onto the Davis twins? That could be huge, one way or another.
Same question marks with Kaz's departure and Hughes incoming. Should be noted that Banker and Hughes both have many, many years of DL teaching expertise as well as DCing. Let's hope it's good.
LB up?
Having #15 back on the field will mean a lot. LB coaching is widely expected to improve. LB play has been subpar and it's got to go up, right?
However, LB depth is *scary*. Look at all the recruiting effort devoted there currently for future classes. This is a situation that might get worse before it gets better. Optimistically, we'll have enough to cover the starting spots next year and maybe spend a lot of time in the sub packages. Also, Roach is gone now, right?
DB down
Coach Warren is returning (though is he as good a coach as he is a recruiter?). We lose Josh Mitchell, but there's some talent in the cupboard here, especially Nate Gerry. On the other hand, we also lose Bo -- whose match zone defense and signature crushing of passing attacks is likely not to be duplicated with regularity in the future.
I guess time will tell, but I'm sure there will be games where we think back to the days of the QB Graveyard and say, "Alas."
QB wash (up?)
By many accounts, Tommy is a good athlete who has been a disaster at QB. Even I must admit his penchant for poor decisions in the passing game, and his tendency to miss easy short throws to open targets by a mile, has been very troubling.
Although, Tommy went off against USC in the bowl game, the only chance Beck had a chance to run his offense unfettered. And I still rate his leadership and competitiveness very highly.
Behind Tommy, we have no QBs with any meaningful experience. The competition for the job is nonetheless wide open, and the system on offense can be expected to undergo a big change with Riley and Langsdorf coming in. All of that points to growing pains in year 1.
RB down
We lose Ameer. It has to go down. Newby and Cross didn't impress too much, unfortunately. We have some promising young backs in Wilbon and Taylor, but whether they'll be closer to Rex/Helu/Ameer or Lucky/Heard/Green here remains to be seen. Also going to an offense that might feature the RB and the run game a lot less.
Even with Ameer, the run game ground to a halt at times, although that may have been due to injury in some games.
WR down?
Kenny Bell will be a big loss. I'm not sure we will have enough to replace him in year 1, even if in the long term, I expect the position to improve. I'm concerned about what we have coming back, though. We saw how fragile depth at this position has been.
Moore was not impressive, Westerkamp was too often not an impact player (although I really like him and his circus catches -- maybe it was just the offense?), and Turner has a lot of injury history on him. All eyes will be on return star DPE's progression in the offense, but even then, I don't think we're going to be the kind of offense where one or two dangerous receivers is enough.
The last several times we were supposed to be abundant at the position, it didn't come to frition. Now, it seems clear that Riley & co are going to have to restock this position very quickly for the future. It's also an unknown right now -- we don't know who the new WRs coach is yet.
TE up
This HAS to become a bigger part of the attack. Riley's history suggests it very strongly.
Cethan Carter, though, has been invisible to date. Maybe that's on the previous staff, or the quarterback, or maybe it's just a little much to hope for a total transformation right away. We have a nice TE commit in this class, but he'll just be a true freshman. Cotton also didn't impress too much.
So it should trend up, but I wonder how much.
OL up
DE down
We lose Randy Gregory, and Avery Moss's return is currently a question mark. DE depth was an issue and I'm not sure it's going to be a short turnaround. Natter (RSo) and the RFr trio of King/Wills/Stoltenberg form the depth backbone of this group, and right now that cannot inspire a great deal of confidence.
We also lose Kaz, which I think was best for both parties, but he has a solid record as DL coach in the Big Ten conference.
I'm a big believer in that it all starts in the trenches on both sides, and this is a serious concern for me.
DT steady
I'm not as familiar with the DT depth, but Valentine/Collins have both impressed me. I feel mostly good about this position, at least compared to DE. Can we hold onto the Davis twins? That could be huge, one way or another.
Same question marks with Kaz's departure and Hughes incoming. Should be noted that Banker and Hughes both have many, many years of DL teaching expertise as well as DCing. Let's hope it's good.
LB up?
Having #15 back on the field will mean a lot. LB coaching is widely expected to improve. LB play has been subpar and it's got to go up, right?
However, LB depth is *scary*. Look at all the recruiting effort devoted there currently for future classes. This is a situation that might get worse before it gets better. Optimistically, we'll have enough to cover the starting spots next year and maybe spend a lot of time in the sub packages. Also, Roach is gone now, right?
DB down
Coach Warren is returning (though is he as good a coach as he is a recruiter?). We lose Josh Mitchell, but there's some talent in the cupboard here, especially Nate Gerry. On the other hand, we also lose Bo -- whose match zone defense and signature crushing of passing attacks is likely not to be duplicated with regularity in the future.
I guess time will tell, but I'm sure there will be games where we think back to the days of the QB Graveyard and say, "Alas."
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