2015

[TheJackWePack5]

Still hoping the Cyclones finish the year with strong effort, but I can't help to look at next season.

IMO this is the make or break season for CPR (many have said this since Lazard signed). With our backloaded schedule, we have such a great opportunity to start strong.

We return many starters on both offense and defense, and return a decent amount of guys who suffered injury this year.

QB: I assume Sam will be our guy, but Lanning, Rohach, and DLC all should be given an opportunity.

RB: Nealy looked strong against TT, but Tyler Brown has potential, not to mention Syria, with Warren(highest ceiling of our RBs IMO) and Ozigbo.

WR: Loaded. Everyone but West returns, and we get back QB, PJ, and Medders.

TE: Boesen returns as primarily a blocking back, but the coaches are high on Alex Leslie and Schaffner. Quan West is a wild card.

OL: plenty of numbers. Return 4 guys who have started, but Center is the position of concern. Severs will be a RS sophomore, and I believe the coaches want him there, but Lalk has also played here, and may be the guy in 2015. I believe Shawn Curtis will take the tackle spot opposite of Campos, with Taiese, RS Fr. along with Dunning coming back from injury for depth.

DL: Returning several guys who got thrown into the fire this year. Hopefully they make strides in the off season. Taylor, Pierson, Trent, Garcia, Aka, Cousin, with Ayeni coming back from injury. Hoping to see a few JUCO signings in the middle.

LB: again, numbers are there. Meeks, Seeley, Knott, Mills have all played this year, with Harris coming off of his RS (hoping it clicks for him). Also, players and coaches are high on Northrup, who I think plays the Nickel next year.

DB: returning all starters, with several back ups who have played, and guys coming off RS. Hoping for a JUCO corner signing.

Sp. teams: Downing has been solid this year for a true fresh, and aside from TT game, so has Netten. Should be good here.

"Youth" won't be able to be an excuse next year. We return so many guys who have played a lot this year. Hopefully with another off-season the coaches can get these guys going. The potential is there.

 

[dualthreat]

How would this look?

X Quenton Bundrage, Dondre Daley
Y Jauan Wesley,
Z Allen Lazard, Tad Ecby
TE D'Vario Montgomery, etc.

Montgomery looked huge on Saturday. I think preseason he was listed at 220, but looked closer to 230+. Like Bibbs, he'd spend most of his time flexed out anyway.

 

[CyTwins]

Still hoping the Cyclones finish the year with strong effort, but I can't help to look at next season.

IMO this is the make or break season for CPR (many have said this since Lazard signed). With our backloaded schedule, we have such a great opportunity to start strong.

We return many starters on both offense and defense, and return a decent amount of guys who suffered injury this year.

QB: I assume Sam will be our guy, but Lanning, Rohach, and DLC all should be given an opportunity.

RB: Nealy looked strong against TT, but Tyler Brown has potential, not to mention Syria, with Warren(highest ceiling of our RBs IMO) and Ozigbo.

WR: Loaded. Everyone but West returns, and we get back QB, PJ, and Medders.

TE: Boesen returns as primarily a blocking back, but the coaches are high on Alex Leslie and Schaffner. Quan West is a wild card.

OL: plenty of numbers. Return 4 guys who have started, but Center is the position of concern. Severs will be a RS sophomore, and I believe the coaches want him there, but Lalk has also played here, and may be the guy in 2015. I believe Shawn Curtis will take the tackle spot opposite of Campos, with Taiese, RS Fr. along with Dunning coming back from injury for depth.

DL: Returning several guys who got thrown into the fire this year. Hopefully they make strides in the off season. Taylor, Pierson, Trent, Garcia, Aka, Cousin, with Ayeni coming back from injury. Hoping to see a few JUCO signings in the middle.

LB: again, numbers are there. Meeks, Seeley, Knott, Mills have all played this year, with Harris coming off of his RS (hoping it clicks for him). Also, players and coaches are high on Northrup, who I think plays the Nickel next year.

DB: returning all starters, with several back ups who have played, and guys coming off RS. Hoping for a JUCO corner signing.

Sp. teams: Downing has been solid this year for a true fresh, and aside from TT game, so has Netten. Should be good here.

"Youth" won't be able to be an excuse next year. We return so many guys who have played a lot this year. Hopefully with another off-season the coaches can get these guys going. The potential is there.

The staff is pretty high on Dagel, I would be shocked if he wasn't our LT next year

 

[TheJackWePack5]

The staff is pretty high on Dagel, I would be shocked if he wasn't our LT next year

I stand corrected. Somehow forgot he got hurt. Curtis was a 4 star guy though so at least either way there will be good depth.

 

[erikbj]

Still hoping the Cyclones finish the year with strong effort, but I can't help to look at next season.

IMO this is the make or break season for CPR (many have said this since Lazard signed). With our backloaded schedule, we have such a great opportunity to start strong.

We return many starters on both offense and defense, and return a decent amount of guys who suffered injury this year.

QB: I assume Sam will be our guy, but Lanning, Rohach, and DLC all should be given an opportunity.

RB: Nealy looked strong against TT, but Tyler Brown has potential, not to mention Syria, with Warren(highest ceiling of our RBs IMO) and Ozigbo.

WR: Loaded. Everyone but West returns, and we get back QB, PJ, and Medders.

TE: Boesen returns as primarily a blocking back, but the coaches are high on Alex Leslie and Schaffner. Quan West is a wild card.

OL: plenty of numbers. Return 4 guys who have started, but Center is the position of concern. Severs will be a RS sophomore, and I believe the coaches want him there, but Lalk has also played here, and may be the guy in 2015. I believe Shawn Curtis will take the tackle spot opposite of Campos, with Taiese, RS Fr. along with Dunning coming back from injury for depth.

DL: Returning several guys who got thrown into the fire this year. Hopefully they make strides in the off season. Taylor, Pierson, Trent, Garcia, Aka, Cousin, with Ayeni coming back from injury. Hoping to see a few JUCO signings in the middle.

LB: again, numbers are there. Meeks, Seeley, Knott, Mills have all played this year, with Harris coming off of his RS (hoping it clicks for him). Also, players and coaches are high on Northrup, who I think plays the Nickel next year.

DB: returning all starters, with several back ups who have played, and guys coming off RS. Hoping for a JUCO corner signing.

Sp. teams: Downing has been solid this year for a true fresh, and aside from TT game, so has Netten. Should be good here.

"Youth" won't be able to be an excuse next year. We return so many guys who have played a lot this year. Hopefully with another off-season the coaches can get these guys going. The potential is there.

Stop with the glass is 1/2 full commentary

Sounds good in your email, i am just concerned with who is coaching these kids and putting them into place to succeed.

 

[Fitzy]

[video=youtube;yiJ9fy1qSFI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiJ9fy1qSFI[/video]

 

[TheJackWePack5]

The sad thing is, with TCU, Texas and WVU finding strides this year (and even Kansas sadly enough) the Big 12 will be so good that it may not matter who our coach is, our ceiling may only be a few conference victories.

 

[Thomasrickj]

The sad thing is, with TCU, Texas and WVU finding strides this year (and even Kansas sadly enough) the Big 12 will be so good that it may not matter who our coach is, our ceiling may only be a few conference victories.

That's a few more conference victories than this year, at least!

 

[cyborg]

A lot of returning starters is good if you are one of the best teams in the league. If you are at the bottom of the league, do not expect miracles for the next year.

 

[CloneIce]

LB position needs drastic improvement for us to have an even mediocre defense. Need JCs, the returners to get way faster/bigger/better in the offseason, or the redshirts to all be studs.

 

[dualthreat]

A lot of returning starters is good if you are one of the best teams in the league. If you are at the bottom of the league, do not expect miracles for the next year.

TCU doesn't recruit THAT well. And they've had about as much attrition as any team in the country.
Coaching, yah, blah blah

 

[WhatchaGonnaDo]

In all seriousness, next year (with Paul) will be heavily experienced. Something that might look like a bad thing because our talent is awful as a baseline. The coaching staff has an opportunity to prove that they are competent enough to teach these young guys up and have a bowl season next year.

Taking it at a perspective of what we're losing from this year's team:

QB:Sam returns
RB: Wimberly gone, but I always though Nealy was the better of the two anyway. Wimberly too fragile, Nealy runs mad.
OL: We lose Farniok and Gannon. Farniok has been the anchor for multiple years. He'll be hard to replace. We've seen how poorly the team plays when he's been injured. Other guys have gotten starts when Gannon was MIA and Farniok was injured. The other three starting spots return.
WR: The only guy on the depth chart who doesn't return is Jarvis, a guy who's been systematically injured. Wesley looked good in his time playing when Jarvis was out.

DLINE: Only lose Morrissey, a pretty undersized guy relatively. A team leader, though. Next guy in is Peirson, who has blossomed some the last few games.
LB: Losing Brackens, Ferch, Miller. All have shown sparks of solid play, but have been widely inconsistent.
Secondary: Everyone of note returns

Coaching staff gets a stable of experienced, returning players. It's crunch time for Rhoads and co. Next year is almost definitely his last chance.

 

[dmclone]

I wonder if we've ever thought about bringing in consultants like Arkansas did this year? Seems like a good idea but i don't know how common it is in CFB.

http://arkansasnews.com/sports/four-downs-arkansas-wary-ole-miss-takeaways

 

[AdamJGray]

The sad thing is, with TCU, Texas and WVU finding strides this year (and even Kansas sadly enough) the Big 12 will be so good that it may not matter who our coach is, our ceiling may only be a few conference victories.

I don't see Texas or WVU as teams that are finding their strides.

WVU loses Tricket, Alford, White, and their top 2 OL. They are a 7 win team that is losing their star players next year. To me, I think they will struggle like Okie State did this year.

Texas will be a 3-5 year rebuilding job for Strong with all the guys he kicked off and taking time to rebuild the program like he wants IMO.

 

[CloneinWDSM]

Agree with OP. That's why I think Rhoads gets one more year.

If he can't get to a bowl game next year with what should be his best offensive team, he should be let go.

 

[cycloneworld]

Good summary OP. I have some hope for next year but the defense obviously needs to make huge strides.

If, and its a big IF, we can actually win some close games and hold some leads, we will have a decent chance at a bowl game next year.

Even with this disaster of a season, if we hold late leads against K-State and Tech and don't crap the bed in the last 30 seconds against Texas, that's 5 potential wins this season. And that doesn't count our bad losses to NDSU and Kansas.

So the potential to have a rebound season is there. If it happens, I'll be a happy fan and happy for the coaches and players. If it doesn't, I'll be ready to move on and give someone else the reigns of the program.

 

[Dandy]

The sad thing is, with TCU, Texas and WVU finding strides this year (and even Kansas sadly enough) the Big 12 will be so good that it may not matter who our coach is, our ceiling may only be a few conference victories.

What about non-con victories? We do host UNI next year. Three FCS losses in a row? It's a real possibility.

 

[SouthJerseyCy]

How would this look?

X Quenton Bundrage, Dondre Daley
Y Jauan Wesley,
Z Allen Lazard, Tad Ecby
TE D'Vario Montgomery, etc.

Montgomery looked huge on Saturday. I think preseason he was listed at 220, but looked closer to 230+. Like Bibbs, he'd spend most of his time flexed out anyway.

I've been saying this for a while. Would love to see DM bulk up a bit and play TE after Bibbs graduates. Probably his best shot at making it to the next level also.

 

[Stewski]

I've been saying this for a while. Would love to see DM bulk up a bit and play TE after Bibbs graduates. Probably his best shot at making it to the next level also.

Yea but he wanna get that WR paycheck ya dig

 

[Luth4Cy]

I've been saying this for a while. Would love to see DM bulk up a bit and play TE after Bibbs graduates. Probably his best shot at making it to the next level also.

I doubt they'll move any of the receivers to tight end, but unless if one of the true tight ends looks like an all-conference guy we'll see a lot more four wide receiver sets.