Rightupinthere wrote:
Folks, get back on target with this thread. Please. For the sake of our guests.
Back on target, but it's already been elaborated on at the beginning of the thread. The true answer to the OP's question is that even we don't really know what to look for.
Defensively our safeties are playmakers and have been starting for awhile now. I think we're all very comfortable with Brown & Mahone in the defensive backfield. Beyond them, however, it's nothing but question marks. We're replacing 2 four year starting QBs, and most of our starting front 7 is gone as well. We've got some guys that have played a lot of snaps, but few that are really proven.
Offensively we return a 2+ year starter at QB. He's been solid throughout his career, but never shown much real playmaking ability. He hasn't shown the ability to diagnose a defense and get the ball downfield, most of our passing game has consisted of routes under 15 yards. He did show some ability to run with the ball last year, but he's not a major threat, more like he'll catch the defense off guard.
We lost our leading rusher, our #1 WR, and our #3 WR. The leading rusher wasn't a true tailback, he was former QB slash type player, but we will definitely miss the versatility he brought to our offense. However, we do still have 2 very capable tailbacks in Bullock & Geter. Bullock has always produced, but received a mysteriously small amount of playing time in the previous regime's reign of terror. Geter has been electric when on the field, but has shown a propensity for fumbling and credit card fraud. Let's hope both of those are behind him. At the WR spot Barnes is a capable playmaker, but like Geter, we counted on him to step up last year and he got hurt, missed time, and lost some effectiveness. If this offense is going to do anything they NEED a healthy Barnes & Geter.
We do return a pretty good group of OL guys. That could be enough to keep our offense effective.
We're trotting out a Freshman for our kicking duties, so who knows what that'll bring.
On top of the talent losses we're replacing a coaching staff that had lost all sense of discipline with the team. We have high hopes that the new staff will whip these guys into shape, and hopefully we'll start to see the returns on that investment sooner rather than later, but honestly we don't know. The team is full of questionmarks. I hope for the best, but until we start to see them on the field, we really don't know what to look for.
