2010 position rankings
- Thread starter sogocat
- Start date
Don't worry about Austen. He puts in more work than any other player, and he's had to face a number of injuries.
The RB position will be dripping with talent. Like IOWASTATE said, the secondary should have talent with Sims, Givens, Johnson and A. Young the likely starters with guys like O'Connell, Reeves and Benton all providing solid play. Losing Ash is the major blow there.
The D-line is the biggest concern.
The RB position will be dripping with talent. Like IOWASTATE said, the secondary should have talent with Sims, Givens, Johnson and A. Young the likely starters with guys like O'Connell, Reeves and Benton all providing solid play. Losing Ash is the major blow there.
The D-line is the biggest concern.
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how can we not worry about austen? He needs to be a complete Stud for us to be good. And his sophomore year he did very well, but he needs to improve on that.
We all know its not Just arnaud, but he misses wide open receivers a lot. That really really needs to be corrected-- but im not sure if one offseason is enough.
Not weaknessess, but concerns: From most to least
DL
P
TE
QB
WR
LB
DB
K
OL
RB
We all know its not Just arnaud, but he misses wide open receivers a lot. That really really needs to be corrected-- but im not sure if one offseason is enough.
Not weaknessess, but concerns: From most to least
DL
P
TE
QB
WR
LB
DB
K
OL
RB
Here's how I'd rank the units from strongest to weakest:
WR...while we haven't seen game-breaking ability out of any of these guys, we do have alot of kids that are solid contributors. Darks was finally getting back his stride. Johnson is solid. We lost our best WR, but we have enough guys coming back, and our receivers aren't asked to do any tremendous. Just catch the 5-7 passes and make an occaisional play. They all can do that
QB...AA isn't an all-american, but he's experienced and confident. Plus, everyone knows he's the leader which instills confidence in a team. Tiller is a competant back-up, but he isn't accurate enough of a passer to be a serious contender to replace AA.
RB...Alexander showed that he's capable of being a 1,000 yard rusher. Yeah, our schedule was WEAK last year against the run, but the offense is set up to get backs like Alexander 70 yards on a bad day because you can't focus enough on him when we're running option. Not having depth is biggest issue here. I think Johnson is by far the best recruit coming in this year and will be #2 by year's end.
K...we're as good here as we have been in a long time. We need a kicker because we still struggle to score inside the 20's and will with this type of offense
now it starts getting a little hairy...
OL...yes, we have alot of talent back, but we lost our best. We saw what happened when Steph wasn't in. He makes the calls and was a solid leader. I'm a little more nervous about our OL than I though I would be heading into 2010.
S...Sims was probably our 2nd best defender last year and seriously gave us at least one win. I'm a little worried about our other spot, but Simms is too good to rate the S positions down any further regardless of who is there.
TE...we were 50/50 on who was the better fit last year. Now we have one and even if he can't get it done, we've got enough depth at WR to offset it.
CB...not good here. Almost slipped into the next category. LJ is a good athlete, but he isn't a great cover corner, and he misses too many tackles going for the knock-out shot (however not quite as many missed as Banks had). The other spot is going to be either manned by a nickel LB or someone new. Not a situation we need in a conference of talented wide receivers.
now it's almost scary what we're going to be seeing here
DL...We lose our best two defensive lineman from a line that was ok against the run but couldn't pressure Jared Lorenzen after a stopp at BK. We get parker back who at best is an average Big-12 DL when healthy (will he be healthy?). The rest are still new but with at least some experience so it isn't a complete blackhole. We're going to struggle more against the pass and the run this year...partly because of the next unit
LB...seriously, those of you predicting we're going to be better at LB next year are either pipe-dreaming or pipe-smoking. We lost our best defensive player. The heart, soul, and brains of our defense for basically three years. We also lose our multi-year starting outside backers too. We replace them with a Juco underperformer and two sophomores whose primary experience is running down in a lane to make tackels on kick-off coverage. Do these guys appear to be decent athletes? Yes, when running down hells-bells covering a punt or kick. How 'athletic' do they look reading guards, taking on fb's, and dropping into zones? That's right, we don't have any idea. If these guys can just move into the serviceable category, we have a legit shot of getting to 6 wins. However, they, when coupled with the new DL, could also lead us to a 3-4 win season too.
WR...while we haven't seen game-breaking ability out of any of these guys, we do have alot of kids that are solid contributors. Darks was finally getting back his stride. Johnson is solid. We lost our best WR, but we have enough guys coming back, and our receivers aren't asked to do any tremendous. Just catch the 5-7 passes and make an occaisional play. They all can do that
QB...AA isn't an all-american, but he's experienced and confident. Plus, everyone knows he's the leader which instills confidence in a team. Tiller is a competant back-up, but he isn't accurate enough of a passer to be a serious contender to replace AA.
RB...Alexander showed that he's capable of being a 1,000 yard rusher. Yeah, our schedule was WEAK last year against the run, but the offense is set up to get backs like Alexander 70 yards on a bad day because you can't focus enough on him when we're running option. Not having depth is biggest issue here. I think Johnson is by far the best recruit coming in this year and will be #2 by year's end.
K...we're as good here as we have been in a long time. We need a kicker because we still struggle to score inside the 20's and will with this type of offense
now it starts getting a little hairy...
OL...yes, we have alot of talent back, but we lost our best. We saw what happened when Steph wasn't in. He makes the calls and was a solid leader. I'm a little more nervous about our OL than I though I would be heading into 2010.
S...Sims was probably our 2nd best defender last year and seriously gave us at least one win. I'm a little worried about our other spot, but Simms is too good to rate the S positions down any further regardless of who is there.
TE...we were 50/50 on who was the better fit last year. Now we have one and even if he can't get it done, we've got enough depth at WR to offset it.
CB...not good here. Almost slipped into the next category. LJ is a good athlete, but he isn't a great cover corner, and he misses too many tackles going for the knock-out shot (however not quite as many missed as Banks had). The other spot is going to be either manned by a nickel LB or someone new. Not a situation we need in a conference of talented wide receivers.
now it's almost scary what we're going to be seeing here
DL...We lose our best two defensive lineman from a line that was ok against the run but couldn't pressure Jared Lorenzen after a stopp at BK. We get parker back who at best is an average Big-12 DL when healthy (will he be healthy?). The rest are still new but with at least some experience so it isn't a complete blackhole. We're going to struggle more against the pass and the run this year...partly because of the next unit
LB...seriously, those of you predicting we're going to be better at LB next year are either pipe-dreaming or pipe-smoking. We lost our best defensive player. The heart, soul, and brains of our defense for basically three years. We also lose our multi-year starting outside backers too. We replace them with a Juco underperformer and two sophomores whose primary experience is running down in a lane to make tackels on kick-off coverage. Do these guys appear to be decent athletes? Yes, when running down hells-bells covering a punt or kick. How 'athletic' do they look reading guards, taking on fb's, and dropping into zones? That's right, we don't have any idea. If these guys can just move into the serviceable category, we have a legit shot of getting to 6 wins. However, they, when coupled with the new DL, could also lead us to a 3-4 win season too.
I think our LB's will be better next year. Losing Smith is the biggest blow, but this is college football. Speed and talent is more important... and these three are more athletic than the last three. Now, if theres an injury.. thats when the concern starts.