Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

Got my first chance to see this year's team up close and personal today at Kent. Some things I took away from the game:

1, PJ Pope looked almost back to normal. He had some explosiveness and he was able to make cuts. With all due respect to Lane, our offense is missing something when PJ is not in the gameplan.

2. Our punting formation looks even worse in person. When the opposition makes penetration to that second wedge, Fry is literally kicking right into it.

3. I liked the look of our potential depth across the offensive line. We seem to have some big, athletic bodies waiting to fill in for graduation losses in the next few years.

4. We need to recruit some recievers. Sharon and Sanders are both big, athletic targets...but what happens next year? I see a lot of 5' 9" and 5' 10" players. I think Partridge can be an effective receiver in the mode of Magner, but I don't see the tall, speedy targets that will replace Steve and Charles. This why the Luke Alexander loss was so big for us.

5. Just lining up under center enabled Anthony Turner to get some experience the last couple of weeks, but it could have been so much more! Brandon had him handing off, running a QB draw or throwing a short out most of the day. I can only remember a handful of times where he allowed him to throw down field. I realize he was just trying to get a win, but Turner needs to get experience running this offense...not some dummied-down version. I can remember when Omar replaced Josh in some blow outs. Omar threw a 75 yard TD in one of those games. Why not let AT have the keys to this offense?

6. Kent State may be one of the worst football teams I can ever remember.

To add to your #4 point, and I hate to jump ahead to next year but I have also thought about this several times myself....but with losing Sanders and Sharon after this year, I can only hope we can go out and snag a couple JUCO All-America wide receivers in the off-season. It might be hard pressed to do so, but if a certain QB who wears #4 (ahem, Omar Jacobs) comes back next season, I think we could pull in a few JUCO stars to come to BG to catch some passes, like a David Bautista type.

Hammb and I discussed the recruiting of receivers the other night on IM. Partridge is very good already, but is he a true #1? Parks is again very solid, but not exactly a #1. And the future will tell us what Davis and Magner and possibly Derek Brighton can add to the offense, but with Omar potentially coming back and our ability to throw the ball in upwards of 40-50 times a game, it's amazing that we can't pull in a solid *** or God help us a **** guy that is off the radar screen.

No doubt, if Omar comes back, you'd think we could or should be able to land a stud WR to come here. But being that if Omar did come back next year, it would only be for one more season, that is why I think our best shot at this time would be a JUCO AA or two.