Does anyone happen to know how many verbals we had at this time last year? I know this class is going to be pretty good looking on paper compared to classes in the past and only time will tell, but its always good to say that you recruit well.

Also am i the only one on this board to think that next season we will have just as good, if not, a better record in terms of losses. I can see us losing to UMD, but you have to think we can beat ISU and LATECH, not to mention either BGUS or Toledo here in dekalb. I mean people like NIU85Alum keep calling next year a rebuilding year, but i happen to think it is a start of reloads for NIU. Thoughts?

We have to talk about something we suck at basketball.

I agree. I don't think next year is a rebuilding year at all. Granted, we lose some big cogs from the program, but I believe we'll have guys step up and the schedule sets up very favorably for us with the BG and Toledo games in DeKalb. And, if this year taught us nothing else, we need to beat BG and UT. Those are the big games, NOT Maryland or Iowa State.

Is that La Tech game for certain ? I take it also that it's a home game, correct? So we have
at home:

La Tech
BGSU
Toledo
CMU
Akron (?)

and on the road
@ Maryland
@ Iowa St
@ WMU
@ Ball St
@ EMU
@ Cent Fla

Looking at the schedule, I think 7-4 is a worst case scenario (if we stay healthy) If we take care of our house, then 9-2 or better is possible.

Not so fast. Offense should not be a problem with runners just waiting to fill in for Turner and only other big loss Ghilani. On the other side there are key holes to fill. You already saw the dropoff when Duffy went out. Still need help on the inside of defensive line and we lose cover guy Drew. Not sure how these and other defensive holes will be filled. And oh yeah, Azar is gone.

Add to that that WMU, CMU and BSU should be better. And if we
do play Central Florida on the road I expect them to be much improved with O'leary. I know they have a QB that was the
highest rated QB recruited in Florida last year.

GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't believe the MAC schedule is finalized, so I'm not sure who we play and where. Also, I don't know if La Tech is for sure yet.

I suspect our offense will not take a step back. Turner was a special talent, but we have a lot of RBs, and our system has shown that we can to some degree plug in RBs. The OL will be a year older, stronger and more experienced - Haldi should get more time to pass. Sheldon is back and that will help stretch defenses, but replacing PJ will be important - do the TE's take a larger role?

The D may not be as good - remember how good they were when everyone was healthy. We'll need to find good rotations at DE and DT. Drew was an excellent cover guy, so how we replace him will also be key.

Azar's replacement may be the biggest question mark heading into the season - most likely it'll be the true frosh commit we have.

Willy - I'm pretty sure that this is the most commits we've had this early - 19 commits from what I've been told. I've been told that there are not many visits left to be taken on campus - the class is basically taken care of, assuming that someone doesn't fall in our laps late or someone doesn't defect.

In all honesty i expect our team to be better defensively this year. Lee and Atkinson got another year under their belts, West and Moore are good DE's, and our DT's have a decent rotation. Our Safties will be fine with boogie and smith, the corners are going to have a competition so that should breed the best 2. Personally i think 9-2 is a decent goal to have....

Someone who posted that CMU will have a good team? Based on what?

In order for the safeties to be fine, Boogie needs to learn some discipline. He might be a great athlete but his style of play left the rest of the defense hung out to dry on many occasions. I hope he gets it together in a hurry.

Willy, slow down and comprehend what you are reading. I said
WMU, CMU and BSU should be better. CMU based on they were
a young team and now there is new coach to possibly bring out
the best in those young CMU players.
GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was pretty happy with how Smith played filling in for Grant. Young CBs will need to step up. Lee and Atkinson will be two of the best LBs in the MAC next year, but I'm a little concerned about MLB - no one there is close to Duffy. We may see some changes there. DE - Moore is as good as there is in the MAC, but we'll need West to step up (he didn't make a BIG contribution last year when injuries hurt us, but has potential) and get a couple others to step into a rotation. DT is my main concern - C. Johnson will hopefully get eligible, McIntyre will get healthy and we'll have Pittman and Wilson. I'd still like to find a stud among our recent recruits.

IMO, our D last year was set up to be fantastic, but injuries in the middle of the season really hurt.

One thing's for sure; we have a lot more question marks going into this season, than we did last year.

I knew we'd be good in 2003, it was just a question of how good. Next year is the great unknown.

I tend to side with the optimists, despite the questions on defense and special teams, but we'll definitely need to see some players step-up if we're going to compete for the division championship.

Toledo is certain to be awfully tough to beat next year....

I think depth at DE is a concern. We lose Frank and Reynolds, and Moore, although very good, has not been too healthy the past year or so (knees scoped, ankle injuries). My biggest concern is a big drop off in our defense as a whole.

Drew's loss is big. Hansbro and Rob Lee should keep improving, but will never be at Drew's level (at least for next year). With shaky depth at DE, our ability to pressure opposing QB's will be compromised. If we are not pressuring the QB, opposing offenses will have a field day on our defensive seconday.

It will be interesting to see if the new defensive coordinator employees a less aggressive strategy. Time will tell.

At DE wasn't Charnize Carey(03' recruit) supposed to be quite special. I recall joe saying something about how he could come in and play this past season but the goal was to redshirt all he could. And Sykes is going to be a fine DE. So with Holman, west, Moore, Sykes, and carey i think we are in decent shape. We shall see how the kids pan out.

At DB i have heard that the coaches really like the kids we had from florida.

Its going to be an exciting spring game, i wonder if many fans will show up. I remember last year like 100 maybe showed up.

I also want to know about Seren Woodfork-Bey (Sp?). Will this kid challege for a position on the offensive line next season ? I saw him down on the sidelines, he's huge. If his footwork is good, he could be a special player based on his frame.