You sound almost as young as we do. Matt Jones is our only starter returning on offense. The good news is that most of the players have had some experience before, as HDN throws in a lot of people during a game. DeCori Birmingham and DeArrius Howard will run the TB, but watch out for freshman Peyton Hillis. This guy is 6'2'', 220, and just smashes lineman to death. Last year at Conway HS he averaged 11 yds a carry and set a state record with 47 rushing TDs in a season, and Bob Stoops wanted him really bad...he'll start at fullback by the time you guys play us. He's already projected to field punts for us.

WRs have good depth this year. Steven Harris will start on one end and Carlos Ousley on the other, but keep your eyes on three receivers who will be good this year and in 2 yrs. will be unreal: Chris Baker, who has 4.26 speed on grass, and who knows how good on turf, Anthony Brown, a 6-6 JC transfer, and Marcus Monk, a 6-6 freshman who will also play hoops for us. Monk's vertical leap is so good, plus he's got great hands, so the thoughts of many are that he'll come in on a lot of 3rd down plays and just catch lobs from Matt Jones all day long. OL is all new, but all of them have experience which is better than nothing. The key OL will probably be Zac Tubbs, the 358 lb mammoth from Cullman, AL, who took over Shawn Andrews's spot in the bowl game vs. Missouri. Jones is expected to pass a lot this year, so protecting the pass will be essential for this team.

Defensively, the line is strong. Tracy Rocker's done a helluva job with these guys. All of them return, and the DL is bigger than I've ever seen with good speed. They'll be the anchor of the team, trying to stop the run. LBs are in pretty good shape. It's the secondary that is the key concern. We lost everybody there from last year, and soph. Michael Coe has to lead a young freshman group on the field, so I expect a lot of teams to throw deep on us looking for the strike on our very green secondary. The bright spot on the secondary is speed; the group has explosive speed which will be needed this year.

This is Matt's senior year. Watch next year though, as Alex Mortensen, son of ESPN's Chris Mortensen, takes over. He's extremely smart and studies teams, defenses, and playbooks non-stop. This guy learned our playbook in 8 days, faster than anyone we've ever had. They're working on his speed and agility, but he already has a great arm with really good accuracy. He's the future of UA football.

WPS