Talking about players in their last year of eligibility. No tomorrow. Also talking about performance and leadership. I am not seeing the list above in the same light as say a Dungey/ Strickland/Custis/Slayton. or a Nassib/Pugh/Lemon/Shamarko even a guy like Dan Vaughn. A kid like Ryan Guthrie was solid as well in 2018 I do like Barron and Shrader in these type of roles. Darton as well. The list above is 1/2 transfers, 1/2 guys that barely play or are hurt all the time
Between transfers/ covid etc it's impossible to even tell who is in their actual last year anymore. I mean you can list all the guys with 3-4 years into the program you want, the list above isn't in the same stratosphere is the leadership from 2012/2018, IMO. Being somewhere for 4 years doesn't make you a leader. Like saying someone who has been at their job for 15 years is good at it?
We will see.
Not sure we’re seeing the same team tbh. To my eyes this team has what you’re saying we don’t have. You named 4 or 5 senior guys from those two years that you label as leaders.
GS is a 3 year QB, team leader, as tough as they come and as good of a senior leader as you could want. Like Dungey, staying healthy will be the key.
Marlowe Wax, captain, proven dog, teammates all look up to him, nfl potential.
Justin Barron, Isaiah Johnson, Caleb Okechukwu, seniors, leaders of respective position groups, possible nfl potential, dogs.
Could add in Darton, as you mentioned, since we saw he could be an iron man and still hold down the dline for us, definite dog.
On offense though not a senior, we got a guy who’s as good as we’re ever going to have here at receiver in OG. Potential All American, high draft ceiling, dog.
Alford, clearly has worked on his game between the bowl game and week 1 and to be named captain speaks to the jump we’ll likely see from him, at the end of the day it’s his teammates see him as a leader…also dog.
Throw in a guy like Bleich who is experienced and when healthy could help anchor an oline, which should be better all around. He’s a senior and solid.
Anyways I count just as many guys on this team, that you count on those teams and that’s without even mentioning guys like Stefan Thompson, Jason Simmons, Terry Locket etc. We have experienced players and depth all over field and if LQA proves to be RB1 material (strong possibility) and the Oline takes a step forward this year (good possibility), I think our ceiling is 9-10 win team and ACC conference champ discussion.
I really think we’re going to surprise a lot of people this year, but like you said, we will see. Just a few more days until Week 1.
