Here's my optimistic view of State's football season.
I normally am not extremely optimistice, but a few things have come to my attention lately which gives me a glimmer of hope next season.
1) The new coaching staff. With new coaching staffs come new sChemes. There's no doubt that our players fit better into our new system due to the fact that Mullen is going to put them in "positions to be successful." He's not forcing anyone into anything that our players can't do, cough cough CR00M. All the players seem to be buying into the system, and showing lots of confidence which is a great sign. The fact is, some teams are not great, but they can run the system well. I'm sure I will get laughed at for saying this but let's look at Texas Tech. Notice how they never have successful QBs or WRs in the NFL. (exclude Crabtree and Welker-they have had numerous high yardage seasons for WRs that didn't go to the NFL) Alot of their players are not highly touted recruits, but Mike Leach is an offensive genious and knows how to adapt his system to the players he gets. Crabtree was a 3 star out of college by the way. I think Mullen's system is great, and will continue to improve. The spring game had some flashes of greatness in the spring game.
2) Strength and conditioning. When Urban Myer comes out and says Mullen "hit a homerun" hiring our new S&C coach, you know it's a great move. Our players will be faster and stronger and I could definately tell a difference in the 4 practices I attended in overall team speed and the size of guys. One of my good friends is a kicker, and this guy got really big really fast doing the spring workouts with the new strenght and conditioning program. I'm very impressed with this.
3) Our offensive line. That's right, I think this may be a bright spot on this team. We have all 5 starters back and a few deep that have been in the program a while. That's alot of experience up front. I know they didn't look good last year, but we were in the I-formation facing 9 men in the box against AD, everyone knows what's going to happen-Isolation up the middle. Not hard to stop when you know it's comming. Putting these guys in the shotgun, spreading them out, and new blocking techniques could make this group pretty good. There are three guys I noticed in spring practice. Saulesbury, Tobias Smith, and Mark Melichar. Melichar really reminds me of some of Jackie's old big linemen.
4) Our backfield. Do I need to say anything. AD, Ducre, Elliot, Stallworth (if he can come back), Conner, Perkins....that's an impressive group.
5) SWAGGER! At spring practices, there was a swagger abou t us. Especially in Charles Mitchell. This guy is all over the field yelling getting everyone fired up. He will become a leader this year. Swagger is one thing we have been missing since the late 90's and we carry our self with some swagger finally it seems.
6) Front Seven. We have potentially a great D-line with a solid linebacking core. Great freshmen coming in on the DL and the one I'm excited about is Cox. DL 6'4" 240lbs and 4.6 speed. Can you say freak?
7) JUCOs. Our JUCOs are going to be immediate help which I don't hear alot of people talking about. McPhee is great, White has a motor, Berry will take the load off McRae, Langston-we need this guy back, and our K and P. All of our JUCOs should be starting and contributing.
8) Special Teams. Cost us numerous games over the past 5yrs and I think those days are over. No more holding our breaths during extra points.
9) Tyson Lee in the spread. I know everyone wants to see TR, but maybe Lee can thrive in the spread. If you noticed, all of our big plays from Tyson came out of shotgun. He is quick and elusive and throws well on the run. Tyson also will be able to see a little better being a little further back from the O-line. He may still not be able to throw deep down the field, but he should be able to get it to our WRs in space on quick passes, not to mention he will probably being running some options out of the shotgun if spring practices and the scrimmage was any indication
10) Widerecievers. By far our biggest question mark, but Berry, Wilder, Robinson, and Davis all looked great in the spring game. We'll have to see if that carries over. If it does, maybe this won't be a question mark for us. There's no question about athletic ability at this position, and the incomming freshmen shoud help too. McRae is proven, no need to elaborate on him.
Well guys I know it's long but that's my optimistic viewpoint of the upcoming season. Even if we do play well, our schedule is just too tough. We could be a pretty good team and go 5-7 or 4-8. I look for tremendous improvement and for us to compete in every game. 40-70 more ypg would be a huge step up. 6-6 is the best I see us doing. Well there ya have it. What do ya'll think?
Realistically I think we go 4-8
1) The new coaching staff. With new coaching staffs come new sChemes. There's no doubt that our players fit better into our new system due to the fact that Mullen is going to put them in "positions to be successful." He's not forcing anyone into anything that our players can't do, cough cough CR00M. All the players seem to be buying into the system, and showing lots of confidence which is a great sign. The fact is, some teams are not great, but they can run the system well. I'm sure I will get laughed at for saying this but let's look at Texas Tech. Notice how they never have successful QBs or WRs in the NFL. (exclude Crabtree and Welker-they have had numerous high yardage seasons for WRs that didn't go to the NFL) Alot of their players are not highly touted recruits, but Mike Leach is an offensive genious and knows how to adapt his system to the players he gets. Crabtree was a 3 star out of college by the way. I think Mullen's system is great, and will continue to improve. The spring game had some flashes of greatness in the spring game.
2) Strength and conditioning. When Urban Myer comes out and says Mullen "hit a homerun" hiring our new S&C coach, you know it's a great move. Our players will be faster and stronger and I could definately tell a difference in the 4 practices I attended in overall team speed and the size of guys. One of my good friends is a kicker, and this guy got really big really fast doing the spring workouts with the new strenght and conditioning program. I'm very impressed with this.
3) Our offensive line. That's right, I think this may be a bright spot on this team. We have all 5 starters back and a few deep that have been in the program a while. That's alot of experience up front. I know they didn't look good last year, but we were in the I-formation facing 9 men in the box against AD, everyone knows what's going to happen-Isolation up the middle. Not hard to stop when you know it's comming. Putting these guys in the shotgun, spreading them out, and new blocking techniques could make this group pretty good. There are three guys I noticed in spring practice. Saulesbury, Tobias Smith, and Mark Melichar. Melichar really reminds me of some of Jackie's old big linemen.
4) Our backfield. Do I need to say anything. AD, Ducre, Elliot, Stallworth (if he can come back), Conner, Perkins....that's an impressive group.
5) SWAGGER! At spring practices, there was a swagger abou t us. Especially in Charles Mitchell. This guy is all over the field yelling getting everyone fired up. He will become a leader this year. Swagger is one thing we have been missing since the late 90's and we carry our self with some swagger finally it seems.
6) Front Seven. We have potentially a great D-line with a solid linebacking core. Great freshmen coming in on the DL and the one I'm excited about is Cox. DL 6'4" 240lbs and 4.6 speed. Can you say freak?
7) JUCOs. Our JUCOs are going to be immediate help which I don't hear alot of people talking about. McPhee is great, White has a motor, Berry will take the load off McRae, Langston-we need this guy back, and our K and P. All of our JUCOs should be starting and contributing.
8) Special Teams. Cost us numerous games over the past 5yrs and I think those days are over. No more holding our breaths during extra points.
9) Tyson Lee in the spread. I know everyone wants to see TR, but maybe Lee can thrive in the spread. If you noticed, all of our big plays from Tyson came out of shotgun. He is quick and elusive and throws well on the run. Tyson also will be able to see a little better being a little further back from the O-line. He may still not be able to throw deep down the field, but he should be able to get it to our WRs in space on quick passes, not to mention he will probably being running some options out of the shotgun if spring practices and the scrimmage was any indication
10) Widerecievers. By far our biggest question mark, but Berry, Wilder, Robinson, and Davis all looked great in the spring game. We'll have to see if that carries over. If it does, maybe this won't be a question mark for us. There's no question about athletic ability at this position, and the incomming freshmen shoud help too. McRae is proven, no need to elaborate on him.
Well guys I know it's long but that's my optimistic viewpoint of the upcoming season. Even if we do play well, our schedule is just too tough. We could be a pretty good team and go 5-7 or 4-8. I look for tremendous improvement and for us to compete in every game. 40-70 more ypg would be a huge step up. 6-6 is the best I see us doing. Well there ya have it. What do ya'll think?
Realistically I think we go 4-8
