I hope you're right but at the moment I'm looking at who we've lost and it's looking to me like we're missing the heart of or Defense (our two graduated DT's and Walker our LB) and the heart of our Offense (our C, QB and TE).,,That's a Lot of consistent production to try to make up...
Throw in a schedule that looks tougher this Fall and we appear to have our work cut out for us...
I'm not saying they can't do it, I'm just saying they're going to have a more difficult path this time around...
We should be better offensively, and might be a touch better on defense if the two new DT are good. One thing to note is Cignetti and our GM Matt Wilson are phenomenal talent appraisers- both in the portal and in traditional high school recruiting.
Offensively:
LT: Carter Smith--should continue to make improvement steps
LG: Evans was hurt last year--no clue when he is back, so maybe it is Benson or Bray Lynch
C: Katic had a great year and an awesome dude that was somewhat limited athletically. Coogan is an upgrade on talent level and definitely looks like he will fill a leadership spot
G: Lynch or Benson
RT: Benson or Michalski (who potentially could play guard).
On paper, this could be a really, really good OL. We also have some depth, with a couple of the true freshmen from last year being internally well regarded.
QB. Mendoza is really good. Tough to be better than Rourke though, but Mendoza is going to be able to move around bit. Can't afford an injury there though
RB: Losing Ellison hurts the most, but we have some really good guys coming in along with some depth. We should be far more dynamic in the running game.
WR: The group has the potential to be excellent--there is a bit more overall speed on the field, and we struggled a bit at times against teams playing man and pressuring us last year. We might see a freshman like Bond play some serious minutes.
TE: Horton was awesome last year--most technically proficient blocking TE I have seen in college.
If Mendoza can play like he did last year (or better), or offense will be better and we have some real home run threats in the backfield now
Defensively:
DT: The huge question mark. West and Carpenter were awesome. They also played a ton of snaps. Wheeler played more snaps than Carpenter last year, which is saying something, and he can play the NT or 3T, and he's damn good. Ratcliffe is the traditional 3T, and he's great on film. Tucker provides some really good depth. Burris is the question mark. Every staff that has coached Burris in college says he has NFL talent with an NFL body, but it just hasn't translated yet. Still, he stuck around, and we need him to play a significant role. Losing West is a big loss--almost irreplaceable. Still, this is very much a quality interior DL. We might be down a notch, but we should see some growth. Monette and Harrison are just guys at this point. I don't see them doing much. Good opportunity for young guys to maybe contribute
DE: Kamara back--GIGANTIC. A great young man who has a huge goal in front of him--first round draft pick. I wouldn't bet against him. The SDE is likely going to be Landino for one more year until he slides inside. The young guys like Ndukwae and collins must step up--not a ton of depth. All eyes on Caden Curry following this spring as to whether he sticks around. He'd be ideal in this system
LB: FIsher is awesome. Staff loves Rojan Hardy but impossible to replace Walker's energy, speed and athleticism. Jones is a plugger--not a lot of depth, but we signed two fantastic HS lb in Farmer and Nelson, and both can run. Probably a little drop off that decreases as the year goes on.
Rover position--Farrell was great here and amazing at safety--I would guess that he will stick to safety unless one of the new guys from the portal is not a better fit for the rover position. Maybe Boyd will have progressed.
S: Farrell and Louis Moore would be a fantastic pairing. Boykin here is well, and he could slot in to safety if healthy and kick moore or farrell down to the rover to ensure best 11.
CB: Really nice upgrade with Gandy and Knighten playing at one of the corners. Sharpe is back and now we are a really solid 4 deep with the bell cow ponds. Johnson had a decent year last year--he played his best football, but we had to play a lot of off coverage with him because he lacked some speed.
My guess is that the staff, if they had anyone, it will be a DE and LB. That may change if there are injuries during spring.
Cig's comments from yesterday were illuminating--he talked about it being a good day, and most importantly, he talked about how our Strength coach had reported all winter that the players were dialed in with the weight room and running program.
We might not go 11-1 again, but we have a chance to be a better team than last year. Fingers crossed--should be a fun season to watch. Really hard to bet against Cignetti.
