Surprised to see White ahead of Shontrelle.
It would be nice to see all of those guys get 5-10 carries on Thursday.
It would be nice to see all of those guys get 5-10 carries on Thursday.
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Maybe. All 3 starting LBs are as green as can be. No starts at all in the Big 12. And we cannot afford ANY injuries at all at LB... none. It's not a surprise to anyone, which makes it even worse IMO because the coaches knew we had NO depth there at all and did NOTHING about it. As I said... Wally has to work another miracle again this year... I feel for him.
Maybe the strategy of the coaching staff is to lull the opponent to sleep when they see we have high school sized DEs and 2nd string LBs?
So......have either of you actually seen the referenced 198 lb linebacker play???
As far as "a gazillion wr's and RB's"...I'm not even sure we have enough quality of either--most especially running back.
IMO Bailey was getting the most penetration of all our DL the last few games last year. He was looking good, and Mcdonough hasn't really played before, not surprised.
I think the DE position is a little better than it has been, but I agree on the LBers. I know that the recruiting classes for 2007 and 2008 lost some prospects, but I will never understand why the team needs 15 WRs and a dozen RBs and at best 4 servicable LBers. The other few guys that are listed at LBer are either walkons that will never contribute or the size of safeties. A few of the undersized guys might get to LBer size in a couple years, but it is crazy how thin the Cyclones are at that position.
So......have either of you actually seen the referenced 198 lb linebacker play???
As far as "a gazillion wr's and RB's"...I'm not even sure we have enough quality of either--most especially running back.
Lanky and unimpressive, Spring game. I am pretty sure he weighed the same thing as a true-freshmen, he has 3 years one campus now, and gained all of nothing...... Maybe he will play better than I anticipate, but IMO, he is undersized and not the answer, hopefully Lattimer is still an option if injury hits......
So......have either of you actually seen the referenced 198 lb linebacker play???
As far as "a gazillion wr's and RB's"...I'm not even sure we have enough quality of either--most especially running back.
If our WR and RB depth is no good, then we can only blame our scouting because we have a ton of bodies and schollies there. We had 7 scholarship RBs before Beau decided to leave. That's seven schollies for a one back spot. Do we even have 7 schollies handed out at LB right now, for 3 spots? Knott, Klein, Tau'fou, Hamlin, George, and Morgan... makes only 6. In the last week we decided to hand out schollies to Morton and Kaufman.
But going into this fall camp... we had 7 scholarship RBs and 6 scholarship LBs once Woody got a schollie. WRs is 11 by my count. SJ, Darks, Jake Williams, Money Reynolds, Lenz, Jennert, Young, Gary, Range, Jarvis West, and Blanton.
We start 3 WRs and 3 LBs... yet we handed out 11 schollies to WRs and 6 to LBs. Sounds fair to me? I don't want to hear anyone complaining if one of our rookie starting LBs goes down.
Alvin Bowen was like 6'1" and 210... and built like a brick you-know-what house.
Do I need to provide pictures of our 6'3" 198 lb 2nd string LB for you to compare with?
Jeremiah George is actually physically ready IMO at only 208 lbs, but he's 4 inches shorter and also built like a monster.
I would point out that you give scholarships where you can recruit the quality athletes when you can recruit the quality athletes. In other words, we have had a good selling point for wide receivers, we haven't for linebackers. Then there is the fact that four scholarship linebackers graduated last year--and one of the commits meant to replace them backed out at the last moment.
Then there is the fact that your logic is lacking in that while we start three receivers, Herman often uses four and even five receiver sets--while much of the time the team goes with only two linebackers.
Let's count the scholly linebackers. 1. Tau'fo'ou, 2. Lattimer, (now fulltime DE) 3. Klein 4. Knott 5. Hamlin 6. George 7. Mattison 8. C.J. Morgan 9. Morton
Now, frankly, I figured that we were all smart enough to realize that the defense was still ramping up talent. I would suggest that if you really want to manufacture something to whine and complain about, look elsewhere. Rome wasn't built in a day.
QFT. I'm expecting a big year for Bailey this season. He was playing very well once they moved him to NG.
As far as the LB situaion goes, there's a couple things that we need to consider. First, I think we all know that we'll more than likely have a 5th DB out there most of the time, relegating Tau'fo'ou to the bench. We did this last year and we're going to have to do it again this year as a way to hide our LB situation and minimalize its lack of depth.
Also, we all know that a good DL can make everyone else on the defense better. I might be in the minority on this one, but I fully expect our DL to improve by leaps and bounds this year. Rump and Bailey have proven they can play in live game action and Jake by every indication has really come into his own. If Parker is healthy, I think we'll see an upgrade in the pass rush, and Neal, Maggit, and Lattimer should be serviceable. All in all, if the front four can get a push, it's going to take a ton of pressure off the inexperienced LBs.
Other than that, I don't think there were too many surprises or things we didn't see coming. The starting OL should be fine, and I think the 2's have some potential as well.
The WRs should have a fine year and I think there are plenty of play makers out wide.
I also wouldn't read too much into the RB listing. Woody is a safe #2 and White has been in the program an extra year. I think we'll see SJ on the field some time this year, but it might take a few games for him to earn some carries.
Also, we all know that a good DL can make everyone else on the defense better. I might be in the minority on this one, but I fully expect our DL to improve by leaps and bounds this year. Rump and Bailey have proven they can play in live game action and Jake by every indication has really come into his own. If Parker is healthy, I think we'll see an upgrade in the pass rush, and Neal, Maggit, and Lattimer should be serviceable. All in all, if the front four can get a push, it's going to take a ton of pressure off the inexperienced LBs.
Other than that, I don't think there were too many surprises or things we didn't see coming. The starting OL should be fine, and I think the 2's have some potential as well.
The WRs should have a fine year and I think there are plenty of play makers out wide.
I also wouldn't read too much into the RB listing. Woody is a safe #2 and White has been in the program an extra year. I think we'll see SJ on the field some time this year, but it might take a few games for him to earn some carries.
Your logic on this whole deal is terrible. Do you really think CPR who was a defensive coach is telling Wally to go fly a kite and purposely not getting what they feel they need? Ace Bowen was undersized any way you cut it. Jesse Smith was too slow but he got it done. I don't have a ton of faith in Hamlin but if he is a smart player, perhaps he overcomes the size thing. Sure 198 lbs. isn't ideal.
I will apoligize somewhat... I totally forgot about Mattison and I do remember now that we lost out on Cqulin Hubert on signing day to TT. However, Jesse Smith, Josh Raven, Fred Garrin, and Derec Schmidgall all were graduating and we all knew it. I think this coaching staff would be the first ones to admit that should have gotten some more LBs, but like someone mentioned... maybe there was nobody good enough to get? We really could have used one good JUCO LB and one more freshmen LB IMO.
Luckily, we're off to a solid start on this year's class with Boyd, Miller, and I think Jared Brackens could eventually be a LB for us since he was already 6'1" and 198 lbs as a junior in high school last year.
