What position are you most concerned about next year?

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I guess "concern" might not be the right word here cause I think they'll actually be decent, but defensive line is big to me. They HAVE to play well if this defense is to improve. If they don't, we might as well chalk up some more 42-17 games cause we won't be able to stop anyone even if our LBs and secondary improve. It starts up front. Good thing is, signs point to a much improve line for the whole season, as they definitely were a group that showed great improvement as the year went on IMO.

To actually answer the question, I'm probably most concerned about our safety play, and probably our secondary as a whole. I feel okay about our offense, obviously receiver is a concern, but I think another year with Gray and the line a year more experienced will help make that unit more sturdy.
 

Stan The Caddy said:
Did you watch the Illinois game? Hageman basically single-handedly destroyed their running game in the first half. Then he was double-teamed much of the rest of the game. He is starting to develop into a solid player. Safety is by far and away our greatest concern heading into next year. Think about it. We were so thin/bad that Christyn Lewis was a starting safety and he is gone. That says alot about the depth/talent at the safety position.
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Yes I did. I recognized his potential in my post and he will be a key to how well the DT's perform.

You are correct in saying that his is starting to develop into a solid player which may come to pass next Fall.

I would like us to get to the point where we have a real force at the DT spot, ala Jon Schlecht. Maybe #99 will get there. I can't say that about the other current DT's at this time. Without strong DT play our D will not develop and I agree with Monty519.
 

I'm not saying anything new here, but the middle of our defense (DT, MLB, S) is very questionable for next year. Do we have any DL candidates who might switch to MLB ala Lee Campbell or Tinsley?

This will sound very pessimistic, but I just can't expect any contribution from Beal at this point.
 

Whoa Boy..."What position are you most concerned about next year? "

Doggie Style or Missionary Position.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
Yes I did. I recognized his potential in my post and he will be a key to how well the DT's perform.

You are correct in saying that his is starting to develop into a solid player which may come to pass next Fall.

I would like us to get to the point where we have a real force at the DT spot, ala Jon Schlecht. Maybe #99 will get there. I can't say that about the other current DT's at this time. Without strong DT play our D will not develop and I agree with Monty519.
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Right Bayfield, so we agree that we have 1 solid DT for next year. We have zero at safety who made even a small contribution last year. So IMO having NOTHING coming back at safety is a much greater concern than DT where Hageman has played and improved over the course of last season. It is simple math, not a projection that Hageman is going to turn into N. Suh.
 


I'll admit that I didn't get to catch a lot of the late season games, but did we get anything out of Manuel? Boy, the kid sure looked the part. Sure is a good thing Brew burnt his redshirt
 

Stan The Caddy said:
Right Bayfield, so we agree that we have 1 solid DT for next year. We have zero at safety who made even a small contribution last year. So IMO having NOTHING coming back at safety is a much greater concern than DT where Hageman has played and improved over the course of last season. It is simple math, not a projection that Hageman is going to turn into N. Suh.
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I think with the people who are more concerned with DT than S, it's because they expect to get a little out of the JuCo kids we brought in. I expect Balthazar to have a good chance at starting at one of the S positions, and then the other will be manned by Manuel (who we saw a bit last year and a lot the year before), Thompson (looked ok in limited action last year), Levine (only played special teams to the best of my knowledge), or another one of the JuCo guys.

I think people concerned with DT don't see where the depth is even going to come from, while they can at least see where the S depth is going to come from (FR class and JuCo).
 

MLB will be an interesting position.

Matilus has the size to play next season as a RS FR, and I believe he was defensive scout team player of the year. I'd imagine you will see a bit of him.

Aaron Hill is good on passing downs, played a lot last season on passing downs.

Ryan Grant adds some depth, he's experienced and I don't think he's ever looked completely outmatched when he has played.

Beal is the HUGE question mark...if he can play, that'd help a ton. In spring ball, he reminded me a lot of Lee Campbell.

I also think Rallis could be moved inside on non-power running teams/situations.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
MLB will be an interesting position.

Matilus has the size to play next season as a RS FR, and I believe he was defensive scout team player of the year. I'd imagine you will see a bit of him.

Aaron Hill is good on passing downs, played a lot last season on passing downs.

Ryan Grant adds some depth, he's experienced and I don't think he's ever looked completely outmatched when he has played.

Beal is the HUGE question mark...if he can play, that'd help a ton. In spring ball, he reminded me a lot of Lee Campbell.

I also think Rallis could be moved inside on non-power running teams/situations.
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What do you think about Edwards, is he out of the picture at LB?
 




Safety is more of a concern than DT in my view. Hageman was playing really well by the end of last year, plus Jacques and Botticelli got significant minutes. Hahn played some in 2010 and I believe was injured last year, plus I heard some positives about Legania. I still think we need to add a JUCO DT, but we have 4 guys coming back that have played.

The fact that C Lewis was a starting safety for most of the year doesn't give me a good vibe about any of the returning safety prospects, with the exception of last year's true freshmen who were learning on the fly. We need some magic to happen back there imo...
 

nsmike said:
First before we count the JUCO commits we need to sign them. That should happen on Wednsday. After they're signed, we really won't know if we have an found any answers in the defensive backfield, until September. The same is true at running back, it's being addressed via a JUCO transfer, so once signed it appears at least to have been patched. I believe that in adding Fruchette and Harbison, plus development, the recievers seem to at least be servicable. Unanswered, is who will be the fourth defensive tackle?, to make the defensive line rotation work. I have Hageman, Legania, and Jacques penciled in. I'm not sure, that Bottecelli will be big enough by next fall, or that either of the recruits will be ready, so as things stand I think our biggest need is a DT.
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+1.... On offense we are woefully slow on the flanks other than DCT. Jones is not a given to back 100%. We need to keep Haribson, add Flowers or a combination there of. Unless we ink JC tackle ( I like Toby Johnson) I don't see any of the true freshmen adding depth as I believe they will all be RS.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
+1.... On offense we are woefully slow on the flanks other than DCT. Jones is not a given to back 100%. We need to keep Haribson, add Flowers or a combination there of. Unless we ink JC tackle ( I like Toby Johnson) I don't see any of the true freshmen adding depth as I believe they will all be RS.
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I don't think we'll be any slower next year than we were this past year. Losing McKnight is going to hurt us, so we won't have the go-to guy that McKnight was at times this season, but I actually expect our WR's do be quite a bit deeper next season.

The big questions are:
Can DCT pick up a big chunk of McKnight's productivity?
Will Harris improve next year and settle into a role?
Is Jones healthy?
 



ruppertflywheel said:
+1.... On offense we are woefully slow on the flanks other than DCT. Jones is not a given to back 100%. We need to keep Haribson, add Flowers or a combination there of. Unless we ink JC tackle ( I like Toby Johnson) I don't see any of the true freshmen adding depth as I believe they will all be RS.
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I hope that's the case, but I do sort of disagree with you.
I think Maxx Williams has a really good chance of playing a ton. Hinojosa has a chance to play quite a bit, and I'd expect to see a FR DB or two play as well.
 

Safety and Defensive tackle are biggest concerns

There are concerns at WR too, but Safety and Defensive Tackle we have to replace 4 starters. Never easy even if you find players with more talent.
Need to find a couple guy's that can play at Safety and both need to be leaders and good in run support. Never an easy spot to have to replace both.
Would be ideal if some guy's already here can step into these roles.
 

I think adding a JUCO DT would help. That's my biggest concern. I don't think wide receiver is as big of a problem as most people think. Right now we have Brandon Green, Ge'Shun Harris (he never really produced did he? was he hurt?), Vic Keise, Malcolm Moulton, Isaac Fruechte, Marcus Jones, Jamel Harbison, and Devin Crawford-Tufts. Getting a quality punter would obviously be huge, but I haven't heard that Kill's pursuing any punters.
 

Limegrover's system isn't pass happy or pass dependent enough to make WR a huge need. Green, DCT, and Moulton are a fine group, add in Harris/Keise/Freucte/Engel/Trucilla/possibly Harbison or another frosh that's plenty of guys that can catch. Jones is more valuable on special teams IMO, hopefully he can bounce back, i thought i heard it was just a simple ACL, no bad damage otherwise.

Hageman was a beast against Illinois, but he hasn't shown consistency to this point, if he continues to play like he did in that game for his final 2 years here he'll be a first round pick.

The TE issue is an interesting one. We return Rabe and Goodger, but it seems like Kill and Co are stacking them up/trying to accumulate more TE/Hbacks. We took Plsek and were still after Will Johnson, offered Brett Pierce a preferred walk on as a TE, etc.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I hope that's the case, but I do sort of disagree with you.
I think Maxx Williams has a really good chance of playing a ton. Hinojosa has a chance to play quite a bit, and I'd expect to see a FR DB or two play as well.
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Vapor lock Bob. I was refering to the freshmen Dt's
 


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