Pre-Spring Depth Chart

[OrangeBlood]

Now that the class is signed, I wanted to break down the depth chart. Mostly, to see depth and where are biggest weaknesses are.

Have been sort of away from the board. Lurking mostly. The end of the year bothered me. We were so noncompetitive against teams that are not more talented. I get injuries but it was horrible no matter what. My confidence in Shafer is deeply shaken. He is a good man but I just don't see how he turns around this offense and saves his job. I hope he does but it will be a battle, especially with little returning on defense. The recruiting class and schedule release energized me so I decided to do this depth chart.

Please comment and let me know your opinion on where guys slide and end up. I did my best to make sense of it.

QB:
Hunt
Long
Wilson
(Dungey)

RB:
Morris
McFarlene
(Strickland)
(Federicks)
(Perkins)

WR:
Ishmael
Broyld
Estime
Phillips
Custis
Lewis
Cornelius
Funderbunk
Encoiy
Avant

TE:
Parris
Dunkelberger
Provo
Batten

LT:
Ward
Lasker
McGloster
(Conway)

LG:
Palmer
Hayes
(Bryne)

C:
Trudo
Emerich
(Duering)

RG:
Robinson
Roberts
(Clausman)

RT:
Foy
Moore
Burton
(Adams)

SDE:
Johnson
Slayton
(Pickard)
(Carter)

NT:
Williams
(Clark)
Samuels
Sloan

DT:
Raymon
Coleman
(Cross)
(Guidice)

WDE:
Thompson
Simmons
(Ealey)
(Sheppard)

SLB:
Bennett
Thomas
Vigille
(Henderson)

MLB:
Franklin
Arciniegia
Moskal

WLB:
Hodges
Perry
(Cullen)

CB:
Whigham
Winfield
Doewels
Cordy
(Ellison)
(Whitner)

SS:
(Blair)
Williams
Scissum

FS:
Morgan
Hudson
(Federick)
(Dawson)

P:
Dixon
(Hofrichter)

K:
Murphy
(Hofrichter)
Notron

LS:
Keller

Impressions:
We are SCARY thin in the secondary. No proven player back there. Whigham has been up and down in his career. Will really have to step it up. Hopefully Winfield better adjusts to corner. I always thought Morgan would be better at safety. Blair if he makes it, starts at safety due to his physical ability.

Linebackers are young but I think will be solid players. Franklin is a stud. Battle between Thomas and Bennett will be a good one.

I really like the starting DL. Big and physical. Should be able to stop the run. Thompson is a stud. Raymon and Williams playing next to each other will be hard to push around. Very little proven depth on DL. Pray for no injuries. Freshman will have opportunity to play.

OL is solid. We have a lot of good guards. Hope Trudo can transition to center, those 3 in the middle is a nice group. Foy is solid. Hoping Ward can step in at LT. Not much depth at OT, if not Ward then who? serious concern. Maybe Palmer at RT, Foy to LT then Hayes to LG.

Dunkelberger will be the pass catcher, Parris the blocker. Nice combo here. Provo can be used like an H-back. Not much depth.

WRs are athletic and I like their potential. A lot of bodies again. Will be tough battle to play. Ishmael and Broyld should be the guys. Curious to see how they use Phillips and Estime.

Really like Morris and McFarlene finally getting their shot at RB. Good, athletic pair. Freshman will get carries.

QB is the big question. Long v. Hunt.I think Hunt pulls it out. Experience wins out. Wouldn't be surprised to see both play.

Let me know what I messed up!

 

[texascpa]

Deurig will be a Center.

 

[OrangeBlood]

Deurig will be a Center.

Will make edits.

 

[CUSU]

You forgot cole murphy, starting place kicker. I think Scissum and Rodney Williams start at safety (blair rotates in here). Morgan stays at corner unless the young guys have really improved. Maybe someone else moves to safety.

 

[ottodaorange]

Dawson is also a safety that had delayed enrollment due to medical condition.

 

[Full_Rebar]

Yikes. The secondary looks thin. Any WR's switching over for Spring, or at least pulling some double-duty?

 

[SUalldway]

Now that the class is signed, I wanted to break down the depth chart. Mostly, to see depth and where are biggest weaknesses are.

Have been sort of away from the board. Lurking mostly. The end of the year bothered me. We were so noncompetitive against teams that are not more talented. I get injuries but it was horrible no matter what. My confidence in Shafer is deeply shaken. He is a good man but I just don't see how he turns around this offense and saves his job. I hope he does but it will be a battle, especially with little returning on defense. The recruiting class and schedule release energized me so I decided to do this depth chart.

Please comment and let me know your opinion on where guys slide and end up. I did my best to make sense of it.

QB:
Hunt
Long
Wilson
(Dungey)

RB:
Morris
McFarlene
(Strickland)
(Federicks)
(Perkins)

WR:
Ishmael
Broyld
Estime
Phillips
Custis
Lewis
Cornelius
Funderbunk
Encoiy
Avant

TE:
Parris
Dunkelberger
Moore
Provo
Batten

LT:
Ward
Lasker
(Conway)

LG:
Palmer
Hayes
(Bryne)

C:
Trudo
Emerich
(Duering)

RG:
Robinson
Roberts
(Clausman)

RT:
Foy
McGloster
Burton
(Adams)

SDE:
Johnson
Slayton
(Pickard)
(Carter)

NT:
Williams
(Clark)
Samuels
Sloan

DT:
Raymon
Coleman
(Cross)
(Guidice)

WDE:
Thompson
Simmons
(Ealey)
(Sheppard)

SLB:
Bennett
Thomas
Vigille
(Henderson)

MLB:
Franklin
Arciniegia
Moskal

WLB:
Hodges
Perry
(Cullen)

CB:
Whigham
Winfield
Doewels
Cordy
(Ellison)
(Whitner)

SS:
(Blair)
Williams
Scissum

FS:
Morgan
Hudson
(Federick)

P:
Dixon
(Hofrichter)

K:
Murphy
(Hofrichter)
Notron

LS:
Keller

Impressions:
We are SCARY thin in the secondary. No proven player back there. Whigham has been up and down in his career. Will really have to step it up. Hopefully Winfield better adjusts to corner. I always thought Morgan would be better at safety. Blair if he makes it, starts at safety due to his physical ability.

Linebackers are young but I think will be solid players. Franklin is a stud. Battle between Thomas and Bennett will be a good one.

I really like the starting DL. Big and physical. Should be able to stop the run. Thompson is a stud. Raymon and Williams playing next to each other will be hard to push around. Very little proven depth on DL. Pray for no injuries. Freshman will have opportunity to play.

OL is solid. We have a lot of good guards. Hope Trudo can transition to center, those 3 in the middle is a nice group. Foy is solid. Hoping Ward can step in at LT. Not much depth at OT, if not Ward then who? serious concern. Maybe Palmer at RT, Foy to LT then Hayes to LG.

Dunkelberger will be the pass catcher, Parris/Moore the blockers. Nice combo here. Provo can be used like an H-back.

WRs are athletic and I like their potential. A lot of bodies again. Will be tough battle to play. Ishmael and Broyld should be the guys. Curious to see how they use Phillips and Estime.

Really like Morris and McFarlene finally getting their shot at RB. Good, athletic pair. Freshman will get carries.

QB is the big question. Long v. Hunt.I think Hunt pulls it out. Experience wins out. Wouldn't be surprised to see both play.

Let me know what I messed up!

THis is spot on! Great analysis from top to bottom. Really hope Blair qualifies!

 

[Rautins07]

Hunt at QB, not even close for anyone else. He has the size and is a pretty good runner. I thought AJ would be a better runner than he was, maybe did not want to take off to quickly and though he played admirably I do not see anyone close to Hunt. Dungey needs to RS, I think Wilson will actually fit Lester's system better than Long.

 

[Rautins07]

Also think Dowels,Hudson and Cordy are going to surprise, just a feeling.

 

[will6786]

what about Donnie Foster at center ?

 

[cvilleorange]

Best case scenario on Oline in my eyes:
LT: Ward goes out and wins the job. This would make things so much easier. Agree with most that if not, Foy or Palmer will be here
LG: Palmer
C: Trudo
RG: Robinson
RT: Foy

I'm hoping we see the aggression out of this group that we saw in 2013. Hopefully stop trying to do this outside zone crap and run downhill. We just don't have the speed on this team to do it. Incredibly thin at tackle. I would think that Omari would move to a tackle spot if someone went down. Fortunately, we have a little bit of depth on the interior. I thought Hayes looked effective in run blocking in his limited action last year. Emerich needs to get stronger but I think he can provide reasonably good depth. Hope Aaron Roberts can play.

Was really disappointed to see Lasker regress last year. I thought he looked competent in 2013 in his limited action. McGloster is a wildcard and is clearly far ahead of Burton based on what transpired with the injuries last year. Joe Adam has his work cut out for him.

 

[cusefan88]

Best case scenario on Oline in my eyes:
LT: Ward goes out and wins the job. This would make things so much easier. Agree with most that if not, Foy or Palmer will be here
LG: Palmer
C: Trudo
RG: Robinson
RT: Foy

I'm hoping we see the aggression out of this group that we saw in 2013. Hopefully stop trying to do this outside zone crap and run downhill. We just don't have the speed on this team to do it. Incredibly thin at tackle. I would think that Omari would move to a tackle spot if someone went down. Fortunately, we have a little bit of depth on the interior. I thought Hayes looked effective in run blocking in his limited action last year. Emerich needs to get stronger but I think he can provide reasonably good depth. Hope Aaron Roberts can play.

Was really disappointed to see Lasker regress last year. I thought he looked competent in 2013 in his limited action. McGloster is a wildcard and is clearly far ahead of Burton based on what transpired with the injuries last year. Joe Adam has his work cut out for him.

Def agree on the OL. Trudo moving to C makes sense if Emerich isn't up to the task. I think with a cohesive offensive plan right now through the spring and summer things should improve.

 

[OrangeBlood]

what about Donnie Foster at center ?

Is he a scholarship player? Trying to avoid walkons. There is just so many and they usually don't contribute.

 

[Franz69]

Dawson is supposed to enroll in June. Certainly not counting on much from him, but it is one more guy in the secondary.

 

[tep624]

We continue to be scary thin at Tackle on the 2 deep. Once significant injury again this year (Foy redux) and we're going to be in trouble.

 

[JHarris44]

Does AJ Long = Joe Fields and move to DB? Maybe not this year but next...especially if we land the Penn St transfer? I'm not on this board all of the time but that has been brought up before, right? Fields works for SU and can maybe put it in AJ's ear that he'd have a shot at the NFL, like he did, rather than be a college QB.

As a related aside, I liked what I saw from Winfield last year all things considered. And fully agree on the awfulness of the end of the season, talent levels, and comments on HCSS. This year's schedule certainly sets up better so hoping for the best, but unsure what to expect.

 

[OrangeBlood]

Dawson is supposed to enroll in June. Certainly not counting on much from him, but it is one more guy in the secondary.

Dawson is also a safety that had delayed enrollment due to medical condition.

Corner or Safety?

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

I feel bad for AJ. In a perfect world he wouldn't have seen the field until 2016. He was rushed on to the field because Wilson and Kimble were not ready. I also think Long was instructed not to run when he was playing because all other QBs were hurt. I won't give up on Long until I see him in 18 months from now.

 

[CU44SE]

I feel bad for AJ. In a perfect world he wouldn't have seen the field until 2016. He was rushed on to the field because Wilson and Kimble were not ready. I also think Long was instructed not to run when he was playing because all other QBs were hurt. I won't give up on Long until I see him in 18 months from now.

Agreed, he wasn't supposed to play last year and had moments where he played extremely well and moments when he didn't. Idk about his running, but I feel like when I followed his recruitment I remember him being more of a runner and more athletic then he played last year. Didn't see much of that from him this year, but as you bring up maybe that was due to injuries and the coaches wanting him to play it safe.

 

[Crusty]

Agreed, he wasn't supposed to play last year and had moments where he played extremely well and moments when he didn't. Idk about his running, but I feel like when I followed his recruitment I remember him being more of a runner and more athletic then he played last year. Didn't see much of that from him this year, but as you bring up maybe that was due to injuries and the coaches wanting him to play it safe.

Last year he looked like a HS kid out there - this year will be different. How much? We can only hope. One of the things he can do well is throw accurately while on the run, which I think Lester will utilize in his offense. He has a lot of work to do, but I wouldn't count him out just yet.

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

Last year he looked like a HS kid out there - this year will be different. How much? We can only hope. One of the things he can do well is throw accurately while on the run, which I think Lester will utilize in his offense. He has a lot of work to do, but I wouldn't count him out just yet.

I agree, but hopefully Hunt steps up and we don't see AJ this year.

 

[kcsu]

we wont

 

[bothsocksup]

we wont

Im thinking we see tremendous strides from aj long

 

[ImperialOrange]

Does AJ Long = Joe Fields and move to DB? Maybe not this year but next...especially if we land the Penn St transfer? I'm not on this board all of the time but that has been brought up before, right? Fields works for SU and can maybe put it in AJ's ear that he'd have a shot at the NFL, like he did, rather than be a college QB.

As a related aside, I liked what I saw from Winfield last year all things considered. And fully agree on the awfulness of the end of the season, talent levels, and comments on HCSS. This year's schedule certainly sets up better so hoping for the best, but unsure what to expect.

I don't think so. We havent seen the last of AJ as our starting qb and it may be sooner than later depending on who puts in the offseason work. AJ will be living in the IPF, presume Hunt will as well, so will be interesting to see which players end up on the same page like Long and West were last year.

 

[TheCusian]

I don't think so. We havent seen the last of AJ as our starting qb and it may be sooner than later depending on who puts in the offseason work. AJ will be living in the IPF, presume Hunt will as well, so will be interesting to see which players end up on the same page like Long and West were last year.

I think Hunt will be #1 and AJ the clear #2. Then it's Dungey or AJ in 2016. Unless we land a McNabb 2.0.