Other than Pugh, Nassib, and Shamarko we should be as good or better

[kcsu]

In addition to those three we have Dietab, Lemon, Sales, Sharpe and Chibane as players who played well for us and need to be replaced. Diet was such a force and leader but he was undersized and a tad slow. I would hope that between Davis Spruil Arch Lynch Coker and Washington we would be as good if not better. Funder Foster West Chris Hale Flemming and the newbies should put us on even ground at WR with the Funder having as much potential as anyone since Mike. If we land Singelton i think we are close on Sham if not we do have some young guys who played well and can step up although Sham will be tough to replace in the locker room and in run support. As to the others i think we are going to be fine if not better. The key for us is going to be simple. Can we replace the best LT and QB combo we have had in years. I actually feel better about our QB situation than i do about replacing Pugh as our great run to end the season coincided with his return to the team. If we have one glaring hole in this recruiting class it is that we whiffed on bringing in that Juco who had a chance to compete. I believe that LT is going to be our weak spot next year and i also believe it is why Charlie will get the nod at QB

 

[RF2044]

Singleton and Kelly would go a long way toward shoring up the safety position these next two years.

I'm less confident about the WR position. Lemon and Sales were productive as hell--very good players for us. I'm excited about Funderburk's potential, bu t hope he isn't a Morant in the sense that he's rated highly because he has all the right measureables. We need him to be a difference maker. West is a proven commodity, but it remains to be seen whether those two will be capable of replacing the production of their predecessors.

I'm really nervous about the LT position. Knapp will probably be a good one eventually, but he has big shoes to fill. BIG shoes.

And QB--wow, is that going to be a gap. I really, really hope that Loeb, Broyld, Hunt, or Kinder are up to the task.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

No matter what way you look at, we lose a ton, a ton. Best LT in years, senior QB who played great his last year and two very very good college receivers, who neither may have been the fastest but had tremendous feel at made plays when they needed to be made. Lemon had a great senior year and Sales had great feel on how to get open and make plays, those 4 on offense will be very difficult to replace. Shamarko will not be replaced either. Defense will be fine, offense has HUGE question marks on how we will replace that type of production. It wont be easy. Pugh will be the most difficult

 

[orangepassion]

. Defense will be fine, offense has HUGE question marks on how we will replace that type of production. It wont be easy. Pugh will be the most difficult

More than Nassib?

 

[kcsu]

No matter what way you look at, we lose a ton, a ton. Best LT in years, senior QB who played great his last year and two very very good college receivers, who neither may have been the fastest but had tremendous feel at made plays when they needed to be made. Lemon had a great senior year and Sales had great feel on how to get open and make plays, those 4 on offense will be very difficult to replace. Shamarko will not be replaced either. Defense will be fine, offense has HUGE question marks on how we will replace that type of production. It wont be easy. Pugh will be the most difficult

IB i agree which is why i think that Charlie gets the nod at QB. Having our best returning lineman man the RT spot is huge. We had Pugh and Nassib as a solid left side and next year we would have the same set up on the right side which has everyone coming back and will be our strength. With PTG, Smith, AAM, Morris, Mcfarland, Funder, West, Foster, Wales, Provo, Thompson, and the newbies all we have to do is keep them off Charlie and let him get the ball to our playmakers. We do not need his legs this year which is why i believe he gets the nod over Hunt unless Hunt wows them and they have confidence in Knapp. One other thought is that they move the RT back to LT if they like Hunt and place Knapp on the Right side but i dont see that.

 

[upperdeck]

it would be interesting to know how much nassib had to do to get the right play calls in place. was he checking into plays 25% - 50% or more ? the one thing we know is that none of our qbs have a great amount of game experience in reading the D.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

IB i agree which is why i think that Charlie gets the nod at QB. Having our best returning lineman man the RT spot is huge. We had Pugh and Nassib as a solid left side and next year we would have the same set up on the right side which has everyone coming back and will be our strength. With PTG, Smith, AAM, Morris, Mcfarland, Funder, West, Foster, Wales, Provo, Thompson, and the newbies all we have to do is keep them off Charlie and let him get the ball to our playmakers. We do not need his legs this year which is why i believe he gets the nod over Hunt unless Hunt wows them and they have confidence in Knapp. One other thought is that they move the RT back to LT if they like Hunt and place Knapp on the Right side but i dont see that.

I think Loeb starts.. like you said unless Hunt really comes on. WIll be interesting to see how effective a passer Charlie can be when the lights come on, he throws a nice ball but everything changes come gametime, probably not the easiest place to get your start but should be interesting

 

[Crusty]

It is a very tough call. Last year was a tale of two seasons. For the first four games we were 1-3 (sorry to bring that up) and in the last 9 games we were 7-2. Interestingly, we scored an average of 32.2 ppg in the last 9 games versus versus 27 for those first four games.

1. Clearly when the running game took off Ryan's stats went through the roof. So, point one is that it was not as much Ryan as it was the O Line. Please don't take this as a knock on Ryan but rather recognition of the all important contribution of the road graders.
2. We struggled all year in the red zone. We finished 7th (ahead of only Rutgirls) with a TD conversion rate of only 50% and a total conversion rate of 81.3%. Interestingly we had more zed zone attempts than anyone else in the BE. Perhaps, if we had been only a bit better we might have won the BE outright. So, point two is if we get better in the red zone we will score more points even if we don;t have as many opportunities.
3. The O Line might actually be better than it was last year. While we lost our best O lineman, we have much more depth of experienced players than we had at the beginning of last season. Shout out to Mackey who has to be one of the most improved player on the team. So, point three is we are deeper and more experienced on the O line.
4. Charlie has been running the O for three years and had the confidence of both Doug and Nate, which has to say something. Point four - Charlie will be good.
5. We have a good looking stable of receivers if all positions are considered. Funder, Parris, Sugar Bear, Cornelius and other newcomers look very promising. Taken as a whole, I don't think we will miss a beat. Point five - passing game wcould be the same or better.

Strange thing happen in every game and luck has a part to play in every season. Pugh misses four games and then has the bad luck to slip on the Rutgers FG block that cost us the game. So, even one of our best player's bad luck possibly cost us the BE title. But I digress.

The D improved even more than the O holding opponents to 7.7 ppg less during those last 9 games (29.5 vs 21.8). That would have tied us with Texas A&M for 26th in scoring defense had we averaged that all season.

I think it is an overlooked fact that the defense actually improved more during our winning stretch than did the offense .

If the defense plays like they did at the end of last season, we will win a lot of games. At that pace, we would have ranked 2nd in the ACC in scoring defense (notice how the only stat I use is scoring defense in deference to HCSS!)

Special teams will not suck. They improved at the end of the season and I think it will get lots of attention this spring and fall practice.

All in all, I think we will continue to move forward and will have a fun season in the ACC.
Go Orange!