- November 24th, 2008, 9:30 am
#212041
Everybody wants to point our how much talent we are losing in this year's class, and it's a ton, but at the same time, we have a lot of good players returning. Here's how I think things will play out next year:
QB - Spencer Landis. Barring Tyler Brennan making an exceptional leap during spring ball, Spencer is our QB. Spencer would've started at any other Big South school the past two years. He's very mobile and has a good arm. His arm isn't as strong as Brock's, but he can do other things Brock couldn't. As for Tyler, the kid is going to be very good. He ran the scout team offense this year in one week better than some of the team's did during the game. Now it's a question of him learning our offense more and more. Spencer will take the job next year, and then Tyler will likely be the starter in 2010.
RB - This is a tough one. Obviously Danny Broggin will take the staring role into spring ball followed by T-Bone. Holloway looks to be very good though and could possibly beat them out in the spring or during training camp of next year. We've also got some other running backs coming in next year. While we don't have anyone proven coming back, we do have a ton of talent back there.
WR - Your two starting WRs are likely going to be Mike Brown and Jimmy Eden in my opinion. Eden is ready to play right now. He's going to be very good. It looks like things are very close to clicking for Chris Summers to make the leap into a productive player. I think he'll be the 3rd WR. At the 4th and 5th positions I think you'll see BJ Hayes and Pat Kelly. Kelly is right out of the Jonathan Crawford mold and I think he's going to be a great pickup for us.
OL - We return a lot of talent here. Josh Weaver, Alex Stadler, Brian Mosier, and Justin Vargas are all coming back. All of them have started games and played significant minutes. The only question mark right now is at center and that could very well be taken care of very soon. Can the young guys who are all really talented but unproven step up and provide depth is the biggest question mark.
TE - We've got Will Quarles and Tommy Shaver back. Both of them are very athletic, can block, and can catch. I think we're more than set at this position.
DL - This is probably our deepest position going into next year. We only lose three players out of eight that played. We return Trey Jacobs, Asa Chapman, Daryl Robertson, Terry Adams, and Tim Smith. Add to these guys the two freshmen we redshirted and our DL will be very talented and experienced next year.
OLB - We lose Ian Childress which is a big loss, but we return Wes Cheek, Pat Bannon, and Jamal Giddens. Wes was great this year after switching to LB halfway through the year. Given an entire year to learn the position even better, big things will be expected out of him. Pat Bannon is just good, plain and simple. Giddens is extremely talented and will be a difference maker. He's freakishly athletic and the words Vince Jr have been said about him. Mike Connolly is also back and has shown improvement as the year went on.
ILB - We lose Hursky which is huge. However, over the past two years he's missed a couple games which has led to a couple other guys getting valuable experience. We return Chad Brown, Kyle O'Donnell, and Doncel Bolt, all of which got significant time this year.
DB - This is going to be our most significant loss. We've got some talent who has shown flashes at times waiting in the wings, but a lot of them are unproven. Chris Rocco is the only starter who is returning. Donny Manns will likely start at one CB spot with one of the Brandons starting at the other (Saunders or Robinson). Al Bailey is now back to being healthy after hurting his knee in spring ball so he will definitely be in the mix somewhere. Add to all of them Larry Claiborne who showed what he can do when Greiser was hurt, and it's safe to say being cautiously optimistic about this group isn't out of the question.
K - We return all of our kickers. And they're all really good.
--Fumble (1961-2009), RIP