11-25-2017, 07:00 PM
Lets start by saying we didn't live up to expectations this year. Coaches, players and everyone involved didn't do a good enough job. That being said, we had more injuries than we ever had in one season that changed the way the season unfolded. Lets break it down.
Offense:
QB: We found a QB in Steven Williams (although im not happy about him missing meetings that resulted in him not starting the last 2 games). Larussa never really got going but should be a decent backup in the future. SW is going to be a good player for us, it was rough early but he has already started to adjust nicely to the FBS game and limit the turnovers. I think he has the ability to take us to bowl games and conference championships. Grade: C
RB: Tough way for Ray to go out, the O-Line never was able to consistently get him holes to run through and he was hurt pretty much the whole year. Glad to see he got to 4,000 career yds in his last game. Jeremy Cox was having a nice year while ray was out, until he broke his collar bone. We all know what he can do and should be our best RB next year. I really like what I saw from Sinclair in the last few games, should be a solid #2 back next year. Overall played decent when there were holes, not so much when there was nothing. Grade: C+
OL: Really didnt do what we hoped this year. Run game was pretty much non-existent at times and pass protection was average at best. Really hurt that Chad Hendrix was out pretty much all year. Nick Clark is going to be good as a senior as well as Issac Weaver. Although Weaver made some really dumb penalties at crucial times this year. We lose one starter in Darius Garcia but we should be able to replace him. Grade: D+
WR/TE: Probably the most disappointing group we had. Didnt see receivers fighting for the ball and way to many dropped passes in a lot of games. Again the injury to Duhart was killer and we never recovered. Having him for another year will be good and the whole group should be better next year. Fulgrahm never really stepped up and I think it was a disappointing year for him, hopefully he bounces back next year. Tough career for Melvin Vaughn, in flashes you could see how good of a player he could be but was never really healthy long enough to make a big impact for the team Grade D-
Defense:
DL: Probably the best group on the team, certainly the most talented group. Ximines, Rotimi and Appouh played great and are going to be tough next year. Only knock on this group is they need to tackle better when they get home and dont let QBs escape. Biggest loss is Rotimi but I think we can replace him with the depth we have. Grade A-
LB: One of our biggest question marks at the beginning of the season and still not sure what to make of it. Jordan Young and Marvin Branch are good players but we dont have much experience or depth. Sometimes they played good and other times it seemed like they were not on the field. Grade: C-
DB: Tackling, Tackling, Tackling. I was not really impressed with the DBs this year. Poor tackling from this group but I really feel that they were not put in very many good situations for success. We lose some talent here with Rob Thompson, Andre Bernhard, Brandon Addison and Justice Davila. Grade C-
Coaches:
I feel like the coaches should shoulder much of the blame. Rich nagy needs to go, we couldnt get off the field on 3rd down to save our lives and the tackling was terrible. Defensive schemes were not good and it showed. Offenses were able to shred us up the middle and beat us deep. Nagy is not good enough for FBS and his time should be up. Brian Scott really disappointed me with the play calling this year, especially when he has had good offenses in the past. Bobby Wilder, while I think he has been good for the program I am afraid we have hit the ceiling with him. How many more blowouts are we going to watch in games that matter. Its tough to watch our coaches constantly get out coached and then sugar coat it after. Grade: F
All that being said, I will be upping my donation and getting better season tickets for next season. We have some of the best fans that really do care about this program, its tough right now after a loss but I would rather be a part of a school and fan base that cares about the team even when they dont go to a bowl vs a fan base that burns the tickets during a bowl season. ROLL NARCHS!!!!!
Offense:
QB: We found a QB in Steven Williams (although im not happy about him missing meetings that resulted in him not starting the last 2 games). Larussa never really got going but should be a decent backup in the future. SW is going to be a good player for us, it was rough early but he has already started to adjust nicely to the FBS game and limit the turnovers. I think he has the ability to take us to bowl games and conference championships. Grade: C
RB: Tough way for Ray to go out, the O-Line never was able to consistently get him holes to run through and he was hurt pretty much the whole year. Glad to see he got to 4,000 career yds in his last game. Jeremy Cox was having a nice year while ray was out, until he broke his collar bone. We all know what he can do and should be our best RB next year. I really like what I saw from Sinclair in the last few games, should be a solid #2 back next year. Overall played decent when there were holes, not so much when there was nothing. Grade: C+
OL: Really didnt do what we hoped this year. Run game was pretty much non-existent at times and pass protection was average at best. Really hurt that Chad Hendrix was out pretty much all year. Nick Clark is going to be good as a senior as well as Issac Weaver. Although Weaver made some really dumb penalties at crucial times this year. We lose one starter in Darius Garcia but we should be able to replace him. Grade: D+
WR/TE: Probably the most disappointing group we had. Didnt see receivers fighting for the ball and way to many dropped passes in a lot of games. Again the injury to Duhart was killer and we never recovered. Having him for another year will be good and the whole group should be better next year. Fulgrahm never really stepped up and I think it was a disappointing year for him, hopefully he bounces back next year. Tough career for Melvin Vaughn, in flashes you could see how good of a player he could be but was never really healthy long enough to make a big impact for the team Grade D-
Defense:
DL: Probably the best group on the team, certainly the most talented group. Ximines, Rotimi and Appouh played great and are going to be tough next year. Only knock on this group is they need to tackle better when they get home and dont let QBs escape. Biggest loss is Rotimi but I think we can replace him with the depth we have. Grade A-
LB: One of our biggest question marks at the beginning of the season and still not sure what to make of it. Jordan Young and Marvin Branch are good players but we dont have much experience or depth. Sometimes they played good and other times it seemed like they were not on the field. Grade: C-
DB: Tackling, Tackling, Tackling. I was not really impressed with the DBs this year. Poor tackling from this group but I really feel that they were not put in very many good situations for success. We lose some talent here with Rob Thompson, Andre Bernhard, Brandon Addison and Justice Davila. Grade C-
Coaches:
I feel like the coaches should shoulder much of the blame. Rich nagy needs to go, we couldnt get off the field on 3rd down to save our lives and the tackling was terrible. Defensive schemes were not good and it showed. Offenses were able to shred us up the middle and beat us deep. Nagy is not good enough for FBS and his time should be up. Brian Scott really disappointed me with the play calling this year, especially when he has had good offenses in the past. Bobby Wilder, while I think he has been good for the program I am afraid we have hit the ceiling with him. How many more blowouts are we going to watch in games that matter. Its tough to watch our coaches constantly get out coached and then sugar coat it after. Grade: F
All that being said, I will be upping my donation and getting better season tickets for next season. We have some of the best fans that really do care about this program, its tough right now after a loss but I would rather be a part of a school and fan base that cares about the team even when they dont go to a bowl vs a fan base that burns the tickets during a bowl season. ROLL NARCHS!!!!!