(10-17-2020 03:06 PM)TXHuskieJA26 Wrote: (10-17-2020 12:14 PM)thxjoenovak Wrote: (10-17-2020 10:51 AM)TXHuskieJA26 Wrote: I think the offense will be a lot better than this is giving credit for.
The line has 4 spots locked in and the other wil be a good competitions between guys with some serious size.
Bowers in year 2 with this system and with these teammates will be an improvement, and watching tape on Neville he seems like an upgrade at backup QB.
The RB group wil be fine with Collins, Gregory and Ducker. Not to mention the high praise of the explosive ability of Waylee so far in camp.
WR should turn out to be a major stength. Tucker and Richie are good. McCray should easily take over for Robinson considering he is also a big and strong possession receiver but with one major difference; the kid catches everything!! Toure should take a big step after getting some field time last year and if Love doesn't do te same then he could very well give up his spot to Trayvon Rudolph who has been so good in camp that he was given a scholarship after less then 8 months as a walk on.
Crawford will be his usual self at tight end and the guys behind him have great size to help in the run game and be nice red zone targets.
I think they have a chance to be a much more explosive offense than we have seen in rece t years.
Agree on the “O”.
The “D” with the loss of Heflin, Lorbeck etc will be tough to watch this year.
Tip: Take the “over”.
The defense will definitely have some experience issues, especially at DE and in the secondary. Not sure that they will be all that bad though.
I loved some of the flashes Mattox showed as a true freshman at DE. I really don't see any of the young/inexperienced being a downgrade from Lorbeck. We have basically had zero pass rush since Corcoran and Smith left. So its kind of an only can get better situation at DE to me, and some young guys might step up and surprise us. Inside there are 3-4 guys next to Kramer that have played, they just weren't THE guy. So we will see what they can do with more of an opportunity.
LB there isn't much to say. The top 6 all have significant playing/starting experience. If they stay healthy they will be a very good group, simple as that.
The secondary is interesting. Thomas started a good portion of last year at CB after switching from S. It seems likely he will be much improved in a 2nd season at CB with a lot of lessons learned last year. After him there is virtually no playing experience, however let's not forget that Aitken won the starting job last year out of camp before being injured after 1 game. March is a 3 star who was highly regarded as a recruit 2 years ago. So there is some talent there to work with at least.
Safety I feel pretty good about for 2 reasons. First, Xavior Williams is GOOD. There are a lot of experts who believe he is a draftable player, UDFA at worst. Who plays opposite him is a total mystery but the fact that the transfer Appolon and true freshman Jackson have already been moved to LB lends me to believe there is someone there that they believe in. Most likely candidates seem like Henderson or early enrollee Brown.
My hope is that the defense can at least be opportunistic and force some turnovers.
Thanks TXHuskieJA26 (and others) for your thoughts on the offense, the defense and outlook for this shortened season.
The preview was less than optimistic, but I agree we have a chance to be better than Dave Drury’s prediction.
Offense: I agree that the O has a chance to be a much more explosive offense and better than he is saying.
I am very optimistic about Bowers this year. I am hoping the O-line comes together and keeps him upright and not taking a lot of hits. Coaches; please no designed QB runs for Bowers! Neville does look like an upgrade at backup QB. I’m very optimistic about Fletcher being the QB of the future, but not this year or maybe not next year.
I see RB group with Collins, Gregory and Ducker as being much more explosive, both running (if the O-line gels and opens holes) and catching passes out of the backfield. If Ducker and Fletcher play up to expectations, I am very optimistic about our future offfensive backfield!
The WR group has a solid foundation with Tucker and Richie, and I am excited to see what McCray can do in the mix. I am hoping for a big year from Crawford. With Crawford at TE, the WRs and our RBs I see our O forcing defenses to defend the whole field.
Defense: Getting Pugh and Deveaux back (if they can stay healthy) along with Cole and the others the LBs should be very good and by far the strength of the D.
After that the lack of experience makes it tough to predict how our D will do. I think Hammock kas done a great job with recruiting, but we just don’t know how our inexperienced guys will do. Kramer will be the leader on the D line and I hope the inexperienced guys step up.
The secondary is also a big question mark. Thomas should be solid at one CB spot. With Aitken coming back after his injury last year we hopefully have 2 sold CBs. I thought we would see Appolon at one safety position and perhaps Xavior Williams or maybe Jackson (the true FR) at the other safety spot. However, with both being moved to LB good point about the safety positions – there are players we don’t know much about and the coaches see as starters. It sure looks like Xavior Williams will be one safety and let’s hope he lives up to the hype.
I am concerned about the lack of a pass rush and lack of experience in the defensive backfield leading to giving up big passing yards and points. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more blitzes to help with the pass rush and protect our defensive backfield.
Oh yea, here is another article by Dave Drury about NIU story lines:
https://www.hustlebelt.com/2020/10/17/21...is-huskies