Muts Biggest Concerns For 2008

MeanGreen61 · April 2, 2008

Off the Muts board. Post by Pineapqlewiley one of their resident gurus.

I'm gonna summarize each position, and then tell you which unit I think is a big concern. You don't have to do that, just simply state what unit you are concerned about and why.

QB - We have Craddock & Dasher. This is kinda like 1a and 1b with Craddock slightly ahead right now. After that the talent will drop off considerably. true freshmen Sancho McDonald and Brent Burnette would have to play if Craddock and Dasher both went down. Burnette would likely get the nod since McDonald is highly unpolished.

RB - If you wanted to argue this a big concern I wouldn't disagree. We only have Phillip Tanner and D. Gee, and Gee is hardly a RB. He's more of a field stretcher IMO. Marquise Branton and Wesley Hale are still highly unproven, and it wouldn't be fair to expect good production from the incoming true freshmen. This is for sure a position of concern because Tanner has a tendency to fumble. He's gonna be the #1 RB on the depth chart so I hope he can handle the pressure well. I personally think we'll see Dasher, Tanner, and Gee all lined up in the back field running the WVU type options.

WR - Huge, HUGE concern. Tons of dropped balls and Kyles has a broken hand and Caldwell a hamstring problem. The loss of Anthony Jones only further complicates this units problems. I also personally think Caldwell is mega, mega overrated. The guy is very skinny and very slow. He isn't anywhere near the player I was hoping for, but maybe he just needs another year to develop. Incoming freshmen Malcom Beyah could be expected to contribute right away if things don't get any better at the position. D.D. Kyles (As I predicted) is going to play a huge role. He's built very well and is SOOOO fast. Eldred King could play a big role, and the incoming freshmen may be required to play as wekk. This unit has been a problem for quite some time (Ever since we lost Kerry Wright) and it's starting to frustrate me. I can understand a year, maybe two, of having poor production from a unit. But after several years you have got to get it fixed at all costs. Justin Watts, WR coach, is a great coach so I don't fault coaching for the problem. We just gotta get some athletes in here who can make some plays.

OL - Jimmy Ray Stephens is a very good OL coach. In his system every linemen is taught how to play every position, so shuffling the line around in times of injury isn't too much of a problem for this unit. Talent wise we'll be a little worse off with Dunbar gone, but if the red-shirt freshmen (Mike Williams & Colin Boss) can provide some depth and maybe even start then we'll be OK. Not special, but ok. It's absolutely imperative that Jake Padrick gets his stuff figured out and contributes at center. You always want to red-shirt all your bigmen, but I could see one of the true freshmen playing in the 2deep possibly. The OL is going to be insanely strong for 2009 and 2010. The cliche that "it all starts up front" has tons of merit, so things look promising for our OL unit and the offense as a whole. Look for this unit to be very strong by the end of the year.

TE - We're fine. Ingle is a huge field stretcher with great hands and GDD mans the position well and he'll only get better. I'm not sure what's up with McLeod but he was a HUGE recruit for us. He was #1 on our board for the TE position and we signed him. He's kind of a big deal ya know. With the fact that our WR unit is so depleted expect to see a lot of plays run to the TE and look for the QB to throw to the TE more often.

DL - Losing Walden & Jones is tough, but I think we'll be ok. Chu is going to be a big help right away and the addition of him has allowed some DT's to move outside and help the DE position. Don't be surprised if Kendall Dangerfield cracks the 2 deep and plays around 10 snaps per game (I expect Jenkins and Dwight smith to start at tackle). Also don't forget about Sa'Coby Carter who could challenge for a spot this year at DE. Don't forget about E. Perez either. This is going to be a very strong unit not only this year but in the years to come. It appears the coaching staff is intent on having strong offensive and defensive lines. Not just good starters either, our 2 deep DL arn't much of a drop off either. DL is also my favorite unit on the field because they can cause soooo much havoc on an offense (Sacks, QB pressure, forced fumbles, forcing QB to make a bad mistake or bad throwing result in an INT, etc). Having a strong DL is so nice, and we're gonna have one in 2008 and in years to come.

LB - I'll just go ahead and say this is my biggest worry, position wise, for 2008. I'm happy Diaz has taken over the coaching responsibilities here, but I'm very uneasy about the talent and lack of depth for this position. Danny Carmichael and Lonnie Clemons are the only two sure-fire players IMO. Harrington and Hickmon were for the most part a bust and I have heard that Landon Givers still has a ton of development to do. Jamari Lattimore is a relative unknown so he could be a wildcard. Cam Robinson honestly doesn't have much business being on the field except for special teams. I would have liked to see big stud JUCO added at LB. Gorby Loreus and Levonte David could contribute as true freshmen later in the season if they report to fall camp in great shape and work hard. Redshirt freshmen Antwan Davis could also be a wild card for this unit. Whatever the case may be though, this unit has to gel and not get out of position and tackle well.

My reasoning for being concerned about the LB unit is this. It was flat out awful last year and I'd much rather have a good defense than a good offense. You can blame some of last year on coaching (poor game plans) and some of it on a lack of bodies to finish the season out. The fact of the matter is though if you let teams run the ball down your throat you don't have a very good chance of winning too many ball games. Our last 3 games for 2007 is proof of that. We just got ripped apart on the ground and that is unacceptable if we plan to compete for Sun Belt titles. This isn't rocket science, the coaches know this. I guess we'll wait and see.

S/DB - I'm actually not worried about this unit at all. Suber is a guarantee, Glover & kellum will start at safety and Rod Isaac holds down the other CB position. Combine that with the incoming JC stud and Kevin Brown being an adequate safety back up and we should be ok in the secondary for 2008. We'll also be fine when we get into our nickel sets. I hope Suber can step up and be a play maker like B-Rob.

Finally, Special teams - No worries here. I have faith in Alan G. even though he is a freshmen. Punting will be fine with Defatta and our kick return team is going to be mega fast with Tanner & D.D. kyles returning kickoffs. Don't be surprised to see Malcolm Beyah get in on special teams too.

Sorry for the long rant, I always get carried away on here because none of my friends know a lick about football, much less MT football.