Which players are standing out?
Which newcomers look like they will avoid a RS?
Which position groups look the best?
Which position groups look the worst?
How do the new coaches look?
Any players injured?
So far do you feel better or worse about this upcoming season?

New Coaches all around. New strength and conditioning. We'll be much bigger all around. Our S&C coach, Zac Woodfin, was the assistant S&C coach for Green Bay last season. He's a Blazer and he's also very good at his job.

UAB still has a QB1a and QB1b for right now. They've changed 2x this week as far as starter and backup.
Jordan Howard will start at RB.
Nelson, Staples, and Humphrey will be the 3 starting wr's.
Kennard Backman will see a greater role at TE in the passing game.

We have a very established skill position group already. The only question is really at QB. We have very speedy depth at WR.

We're getting away from the pro sets and going back to the spread. If anyone saw So Ala play 2 years ago we'll look a bit like that. JSU under Coach Clark averaged 240 yards rushing per game last year and only 202 yards passing last year.

JSU played 3 different QB's last season so we expect that position to remain in flux. JSU's starting RB ran for 1500 yards. The 2nd guy in had roughly 1000. 3rd stringer had 600 or so.

Defense will be improved but has a long way to go even on fundamentals. Clark is a defensive minded coach. We'll be better than the 118th we were last season minimally. Nowhere to go but up.

As a fanbase we're getting excited to see what Clark can do. We want to expect a bowl game, but we're trying to temper expectations. Clark went 11-4 at JSU in his first season so he can turn a program around quickly.

We had to bring in a lot of JUCO's. We only had 6 offensive lineman in the spring. I think we have 15 now. We also brought in a ton of Safety and CB help from the JUCO level.

As far as injuries go. I think we have everyone back now. We were so decimated by injuries by the end of last season that we ended our season with our 3rd string RB at Strong Safety last year. USM in turn put up 62 points on us.

Year 2 of rebuilding and we have a chance to be strongish. We needed improvement on OL, QB, and WR and it appears they are all better. Holtz says the defense is very fast and they will need to carry us early until the offense can gel. The cool thing is that it is evident that the future is much brighter than the present.... a lot of young talent on the team. We could play 7 to 8 true freshmen. I'm excited.

(08-08-2014 10:05 AM)BleedsGreen33 Wrote:  Which players are standing out?
Which newcomers look like they will avoid a RS?
Which position groups look the best?
Which position groups look the worst?
How do the new coaches look?
Any players injured?
So far do you feel better or worse about this upcoming season?

We can't really answer any of your questions. We have a decrease in media coverage this year. And the coverage we do get isn't very specific right now. Our camp is basically on lock down. One of our top QBs did get banged up the other day, but again, they were not very specific to how banged up he was. Got a feeling things will be like this until the first game. We may get some more details after our first scrimmage next week. Should have a depth chart after that too.

Keeping in mind that it's all talk at this point and nothing can be proven when you are practicing against your own team, the word out of UTEP is that there will be a vast improvement on the defensive side of the ball. With the offense expected to be pretty good, a much improved defense would give the Miners a shot at a decent record in the 2nd year for coach Kugler.

The O-line suffered a loss just prior to fall practice as Kyle Brown, starting sr tackle, was discovered to have a blood clot. He will assist the coaching staff this year. Still there are enough starters back along with more depth to expect improvement on an offense that looked fairly good when healthy in the first half of last year.

Only time will tell if improvement is really in the offing.

On the facilities side of things, the new video board, biggest in C-USA, has been installed and is ready to go. Now we just need a good FB team to make it worthwhile.

At USM, we should be better. Got several good players back that were out last year. We were probably the youngest team in the country, starting 9 true freshman total at some time last year. So experience should count for some improvement as well.

Early indication in camp is that the defense should be at least decent. Biggest question is at Linebacker, they were horrible last year. We got Alan Howze back after missing the last 8 games last year. He has moved from Mike to Will because JUCO transfer Brian Anderson has impressed at the Mike. We will most likely start True Freshman Picasso Nelson Jr at Corner. Coaches are really high on him. D-Line should be at least average. Secondary is the best unit. Expect them to be pretty good.

Offensively, we should be vastly improved. We started 6 true freshman on O at the end of the year. We have a lot of talent at WR and have at least 8 of them that can play. Nick Mullens should only continue to improve at QB after coming on last year as a True Frosh. Biggest questions are O-Line and RB. O-Line was beyond bad last year, but we have a new line coach and have moved some guys around and added a few guys (as well as gotten rid of some). Running backs are decent but we only have 4. A true junior, true sophomore, and 2 true freshman. 3 of them should be ready to go. The other is Tez Parks. He's a True Freshman from Georgia. Has all the talent in the world and breakaway speed. He played QB last year in high school and word is he's very raw. I don't expect him to play much early because of that. But if he gets the hang of playing Running Back, watch out.

I think we will be bowl eligible. I realize this is very optimistic for a team that's coming off 1-11. But you have to put last year into context. We were coming off a winless season in 2012. Players had no confidence. Strength and Conditioning in 2012 was a complete joke. The strength didn't even come to work half the time. Then we had new coaches and schemes. Rookie head coach. Even with all that, we thought we would be decent. Then the injury bug hit. We lost 3 QBs from 2012 to 2013. 2 transferred and one gave up football because of injury. Our best DB missed last year due to academics, he'll be back. We lost our best corner, and 3 WRs for the season due to injury before we even played a game. Our starting Right Tackle got hurt the first game and missed the rest of the year. We played most of the year without 5 of our top 6 players on defense. All told we had 12 players by my count miss at least half the season. At least 8 of those were starters.

To summarize this extremely long rant, we'll be a lot better, some of that because we've improved, some because we shouldn't have sucked that bad last year.

Well, looks like we are set on making our all cusa rb stew butler quit or transfer by making him 4th string. So theres that. Elsewhere looks good.

Three of Charlotte's true freshmen are doing really well and may be contributors in the fall rather than redshirted.

Injuries are really the other big story. We've had several injuries (although only 1 season ending injury that I know of). We still don't have a lot of depth, especially on defense, so losses to injury there will really hurt us.

(08-12-2014 02:24 AM)Eaglefan9 Wrote:  At USM, we should be better. Got several good players back that were out last year. We were probably the youngest team in the country, starting 9 true freshman total at some time last year. So experience should count for some improvement as well.

Early indication in camp is that the defense should be at least decent. Biggest question is at Linebacker, they were horrible last year. We got Alan Howze back after missing the last 8 games last year. He has moved from Mike to Will because JUCO transfer Brian Anderson has impressed at the Mike. We will most likely start True Freshman Picasso Nelson Jr at Corner. Coaches are really high on him. D-Line should be at least average. Secondary is the best unit. Expect them to be pretty good.

Offensively, we should be vastly improved. We started 6 true freshman on O at the end of the year. We have a lot of talent at WR and have at least 8 of them that can play. Nick Mullens should only continue to improve at QB after coming on last year as a True Frosh. Biggest questions are O-Line and RB. O-Line was beyond bad last year, but we have a new line coach and have moved some guys around and added a few guys (as well as gotten rid of some). Running backs are decent but we only have 4. A true junior, true sophomore, and 2 true freshman. 3 of them should be ready to go. The other is Tez Parks. He's a True Freshman from Georgia. Has all the talent in the world and breakaway speed. He played QB last year in high school and word is he's very raw. I don't expect him to play much early because of that. But if he gets the hang of playing Running Back, watch out.

I think we will be bowl eligible. I realize this is very optimistic for a team that's coming off 1-11. But you have to put last year into context. We were coming off a winless season in 2012. Players had no confidence. Strength and Conditioning in 2012 was a complete joke. The strength didn't even come to work half the time. Then we had new coaches and schemes. Rookie head coach. Even with all that, we thought we would be decent. Then the injury bug hit. We lost 3 QBs from 2012 to 2013. 2 transferred and one gave up football because of injury. Our best DB missed last year due to academics, he'll be back. We lost our best corner, and 3 WRs for the season due to injury before we even played a game. Our starting Right Tackle got hurt the first game and missed the rest of the year. We played most of the year without 5 of our top 6 players on defense. All told we had 12 players by my count miss at least half the season. At least 8 of those were starters.

To summarize this extremely long rant, we'll be a lot better, some of that because we've improved, some because we shouldn't have sucked that bad last year.

Not sure where you got your info from, but it looks solid and hopefully it'll come to fruition.

Shuler Brentley is our story. His dad is a QB coach now for one of the SEC schools. As amazing as TH is, he is that much better.

Washington as a WR is going to be fun to watch. All of our WR freshman class, as long as they stay hungry they will put points up on most teams.

So it sounds like all of us will be bowl eligible at this point, haha......

WKU has had 2 starting OL banged up which has lead to very inconsitenet play on the offense....Those 2 guys returned yesterday to practice, hopefully that helps team moving forward...

Brohm likes team attitude so far and is saying our Defense may not be as good as last season as far as star power, but we have really good depth and is expecting a few Jucos to step up to help in secondary and LB group...

Special Teams has really struggled so far, hopefully we get that corrected....

Young guys are looking good on offense and our team speeds overall seems to be the best it has been...Really counting on 2 JUCO WR's also to help out offense....

Hope springs eternal in fall camp.

(08-12-2014 10:06 AM)MUsince96 Wrote:  Hope springs eternal in fall camp.

As well it should!

(08-12-2014 09:51 AM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  ...expecting a few Jucos to step up to help in secondary and LB group...

Speaking of JUCO linebackers, does this mean that the Hilltoppers never took any disciplinary action against their drunken cop fighter?
Just curious.

"MTSU kicker Canon Rooker (sports hernia) and defensive end Todney Evans (torn shoulder labrum) have been lost to season-ending injuries, and possible starting cornerback Chris Sharpe will be sidelined as much as six weeks with a fractured leg."

http://www.dnj.com/story/sports/2014/08/.../13917527/

(08-12-2014 11:20 AM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  

(08-12-2014 09:51 AM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  ...expecting a few Jucos to step up to help in secondary and LB group...

Speaking of JUCO linebackers, does this mean that the Hilltoppers never took any disciplinary action against their drunken cop fighter?
Just curious.

My guess would be it was handled internally, the kid is the son of our Defensive Coordinator and if anyone has not watched our DC you are in for a treat....I sure he got a talking to by Dad and that was enough punishment....

(08-12-2014 02:29 AM)goherd24herdfans Wrote:  Well, looks like we are set on making our all cusa rb stew butler quit or transfer by making him 4th string. So theres that. Elsewhere looks good.

If you can't block and pick up a blitz you aren't going to play RB for Doc, its just that simple. I like Butler but he is blitz blind. Its the reason Devon Johnson was moved from TE to RB.

(08-12-2014 11:23 AM)Blueraidersig Wrote:  "MTSU kicker Canon Rooker (sports hernia) and defensive end Todney Evans (torn shoulder labrum) have been lost to season-ending injuries, and possible starting cornerback Chris Sharpe will be sidelined as much as six weeks with a fractured leg."

http://www.dnj.com/story/sports/2014/08/.../13917527/

That's tough. Hope we can avoid any news like that. SMH

(08-12-2014 09:36 AM)lovinodu Wrote:  Shuler Bentley is our story.....As amazing as TH is, he is that much better.

What? Based on what? Isn't Taylor the active FBS leader in yards and completions? While I'm optimistic about Shuler .... this is a bold statement. I think you've just been disowned by 50% of the ODU fan base.

All kidding aside, ODU offense looking good and just like every other CUSA team with a ****** defense, our defense is also looking better.

If you're interested go to odubleedblue.com and you'll find out more than you'd ever want to know about our team. Its a fan site (not mine) and well done.

(08-12-2014 01:43 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  

(08-12-2014 02:29 AM)goherd24herdfans Wrote:  Well, looks like we are set on making our all cusa rb stew butler quit or transfer by making him 4th string. So theres that. Elsewhere looks good.

If you can't block and pick up a blitz you aren't going to play RB for Doc, its just that simple. I like Butler but he is blitz blind. Its the reason Devon Johnson was moved from TE to RB.

I call bull ****. Doc just doesnt like the kid. Hebplays favorites to a big extent.

I rewatched the entire season and never once, did cato get sacked because of butler. He stayed in and out his body into a blitzer every single time. However, you can go back to the utsa game and see tali allow 3 sacks.

Thats a bogus story being fed to the media and propagated out on the internet. Butler is a world class back that would start at every school in the nation, except maybe 15. He is most definitely not 4th string as an all cusa rb. He fumbles at a rate lower than tali, or watson. He averages 8.79 ypc, highest of any rb in marshall history. Doc has him in the doghouse and im not sure anyone knows why.