(08-11-2012 06:19 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  

(08-10-2012 10:35 PM)emu steve Wrote:  

(08-10-2012 01:21 PM)emu79 Wrote:  Athlon has the us unit rated against the rest of the MAC:

QB-9th
RB-4th
WR-12th
OL-7th
DL-9th
LB-8th
DB-7th

12th for WR?

Let me see the MAC is a 13 team conference with I-AA move up UMass plus some weak sisters like Akron, etc.

That said, we have more potential than a number of MAC teams at WR.

Looks like they're going strictly by raw numbers. Also, there is no way in hell Alex Gillett is only the 9th best QB in the MAC. Anyone who watches college football can see how valuable Gillett is to this team with his leadership, running ability, and toughness in the clutch. He's going to have his best season this year and he is our offensive MVP. As he goes, EMU goes. If he plays poorly, we have no chance.

Agreed. Gillett is much better than 9th. Even with the same passing ability as last year, he would rank higher. This year a better receiver crew (untested, but likely to be true) will make his improved arm -- the result of serious off-season effort -- a bigger threat.
EMU is also way under-ranked for RBs. I've said here and would say again that I would take EMU's RBs over both MSU and UM's (now that Touissant seems to be out of the picture).

Ask 12 MAC analysts to rank EMU by position and I would guess you would get 12 different opinions.

(08-12-2012 01:47 PM)emu79 Wrote:  Ask 12 MAC analysts to rank EMU by position and I would guess you would get 12 different opinions.

No probably 14 different opinions...

(08-12-2012 11:39 AM)michman83 Wrote:  

(08-11-2012 06:19 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  

(08-10-2012 10:35 PM)emu steve Wrote:  

(08-10-2012 01:21 PM)emu79 Wrote:  Athlon has the us unit rated against the rest of the MAC:

QB-9th
RB-4th
WR-12th
OL-7th
DL-9th
LB-8th
DB-7th

12th for WR?

Let me see the MAC is a 13 team conference with I-AA move up UMass plus some weak sisters like Akron, etc.

That said, we have more potential than a number of MAC teams at WR.

Looks like they're going strictly by raw numbers. Also, there is no way in hell Alex Gillett is only the 9th best QB in the MAC. Anyone who watches college football can see how valuable Gillett is to this team with his leadership, running ability, and toughness in the clutch. He's going to have his best season this year and he is our offensive MVP. As he goes, EMU goes. If he plays poorly, we have no chance.

Agreed. Gillett is much better than 9th. Even with the same passing ability as last year, he would rank higher. This year a better receiver crew (untested, but likely to be true) will make his improved arm -- the result of serious off-season effort -- a bigger threat.
EMU is also way under-ranked for RBs. I've said here and would say again that I would take EMU's RBs over both MSU and UM's (now that Touissant seems to be out of the picture).

Including UMass, going by: Points Responsible For, Total Offense, and Passing Efficiency, Gillett would rank about #8 or 9 out of the 10 returning starting QB's. So I could see where they would come up with that ranking.

I am not sure if everyone has heard Coach short interview about how things are going.. It's funnying listening to him because it not something he likes to do.. I am sure he much rather be doing something else.. http://www.emueagles.com/custompages/foo...081012.mp3

I am wondering how this will play if he leave for a bigger program and he would be expected to do more interviews..

(08-13-2012 09:14 AM)NUPudge Wrote:  I am not sure if everyone has heard Coach short interview about how things are going.. It's funnying listening to him because it not something he likes to do.. I am sure he much rather be doing something else.. http://www.emueagles.com/custompages/foo...081012.mp3

I am wondering how this will play if he leave for a bigger program and he would be expected to do more interviews..

I listened to that interview.

I think we should get Coach English invited to Meet the Press or "Morning Joe' to get some tough questions and get badgered for answers...

First question: "Coach English what do you think of Paul Ryan's budget plan?" Ooops!!!

Second question: "Coach English which player or players have been the biggest surprise along the defensive line?"

Third question: "What do you see in the defensive backfield with graduation losses but with a lot of new talent back there?"

Fourth question: "Fans believe that the RB spot is the deepest on the team. Will any of the younger players surprise us this season and how do you get everyone enough touches?"

Fifth question: With Nick Olds out, who do you expect to be your #1 possession receiver? Any surprises among the newcomers including Jones and the frosh?

I won't copy and paste the Blue Ribbon report, since I think it's against the rules to post pay site articles here, but you aren't missing much. I'll list some things I found to be interesting though:

-English says Bronson Hill runs a 10.3 100 meter dash. I think it's going to be hard to keep him off the field. You have to find some plays for that kind of speed.

-Coach also expects one of the freshman WRs to step right in, and this was BEFORE Olds got hurt. I know we've been speculating about it, but it seems to be very realistic now. He also said Jay Jones turned some heads in the spring.

-He's well aware of Marcell Rose's struggles at CB with giving up big plays and says Rose "has to be better this year".

-Expect the d-line starters to be Mulumba-Henderson-Maughmer-Price. Not sure what happened to Kashama. Coach is very high on Henderson, saying he moves very well for someone around 300 pounds. As Steve mentioned, English loves the freshman DL, singling out Pipkins as a "Stud".


Basically everything else covered in the article is stuff we have read elsewhere and been discussing for months now. Nothing really "groundbreaking" for a paying site.

(08-13-2012 10:06 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  I won't copy and paste the Blue Ribbon report, since I think it's against the rules to post pay site articles here, but you aren't missing much.

I'm not sure where the pay site is.

All I know is what is in the printed book which probably was done in June, I'd guess.

At that time, English knew his spring ball surprises (+ or -) as well as his gut feeling on newcomers who had NOT yet set foot on campus as a student athlete.

(08-13-2012 10:19 AM)emu steve Wrote:  

(08-13-2012 10:06 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  I won't copy and paste the Blue Ribbon report, since I think it's against the rules to post pay site articles here, but you aren't missing much.

I'm not sure where the pay site is.

All I know is what is in the printed book which probably was done in June, I'd guess.

At that time, English knew his spring ball surprises (+ or -) as well as his gut feeling on newcomers who had NOT yet set foot on campus as a student athlete.

I found it. It is available for those with ESPN Insiders accounts (quite good and not expensive - couple bucks a month).

It is the same as what is in the printed copy.

I'm the proud owner of the accounts for all FBS teams in printed form in a spiral bound book. Think it was about 25 bucks.

(08-13-2012 09:49 AM)emu steve Wrote:  

(08-13-2012 09:14 AM)NUPudge Wrote:  I am not sure if everyone has heard Coach short interview about how things are going.. It's funnying listening to him because it not something he likes to do.. I am sure he much rather be doing something else.. http://www.emueagles.com/custompages/foo...081012.mp3

I am wondering how this will play if he leave for a bigger program and he would be expected to do more interviews..

I listened to that interview.

I think we should get Coach English invited to Meet the Press or "Morning Joe' to get some tough questions and get badgered for answers...

First question: "Coach English what do you think of Paul Ryan's budget plan?" Ooops!!!

Second question: "Coach English which player or players have been the biggest surprise along the defensive line?"

Third question: "What do you see in the defensive backfield with graduation losses but with a lot of new talent back there?"

Fourth question: "Fans believe that the RB spot is the deepest on the team. Will any of the younger players surprise us this season and how do you get everyone enough touches?"

Fifth question: With Nick Olds out, who do you expect to be your #1 possession receiver? Any surprises among the newcomers including Jones and the frosh?

You will get the answer to these questions when I get the answers from my wife on the question of what will it take to make her happy

Sorry no details but word is the receiving group is doing excellent, Gillett has targets!

I am FULLY expecting the receivers to turn heads this year. D.Reed now has a year in the system, Shelby and Scott each have bee here for a while, any of the new guys could step into and do well.

I can stress enough though..... Bronson Hill