RE: CFN: 2009 Spring Preview - Ranking the Leagues
Well, the Greek is back. (Side note, the Greek and a few of his buddies were banned from posting on GMG) I am glad to see you are allowed to post on the SBC board. I do agree with you, a turn around is not totally
impossible, because the team is in far better shape now. I will not make any bold predictions this year so I will just sit back and watch. NT was in
terrible shape when Dodge took over. Dodge has a plan in place to rebuild NT from the ground up, which is what he and his staff are following. The 2009 team will have 2 years of experience in offense, with a large number of players in the system. The defense, returns a large number of players with one year of experience under DC Gary DeLoach's system. Now, NT has players with experience, good additions from the JUCO programs, and several key assistant coaching changes.
There are 8 offensive starters back and 9 defensive starters back, although being a former starter does not mean you keep your job. This
team will have very good depth at all positions. I would say the biggest
factor for 2009 will be Riley Dodge at QB. Riley is a great athlete, very fast and quick, and will have no problems running the offense. Second, the offense will use more TE sets, and has a very good group of WR's
including OU transfer Tyler Stradford. Over all, every position has depth
experience, size, and speed with the skill positions. The DL positions
looks to be shaping up better than expected, and could be a real improvement. DT Draylen Ross, 6-4, 300+, Tevinn Cantley, 6-4, 300+
Jesse DeSoto, 6-2, 300, and Shavod Atkinson, 6-2, 300 are the 2 deep.
The # 1 DE's will be Eddrick Gilmore, 6-6, 270 and Kyle Russo, 6-3, 250.
John Weber, 6-3, 265, Marquise Sykes, 6-3, 250 and Charlie Brown, 6-4, 270 will play in 09. All the LB's and secondary are back plus several new
players/transfers, and a couple of fast JUCO CB's were added.
I would say, all of this adds up. This team has improved. So, no more bold predictions from me, and like I said, I will just sit back and watch.
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