Starter leaving, their possible replacements, 2006

Tailback - Kejuan Jones and Donta Hickson gone; Jacob Gutierrez and Allen Patrick step in to back-up AD. Jones has a great career, Hickson was decent coming in during blowouts. Patrick showed great speed and wiggle in 2005 when he played, and Gutierrez proved to be QII. We're as good or better here in 2006.

Fullback - J.D. Runnells gone; Dane Zaslaw or Matt Clapp take over. Maybe some fall off here. Depends on the pass game really. AD ran fine without Runnells in the game in 2004.

Tight end - Bubba Moses and Willie Roberts gone; Joe Jon Finley and Aaron Cummings step up. Moses was rarely a factor in the pass game and Roberts...why was he on scholarship again? I think this position gets better in 2006

Offensive line - Davin Joseph, Kelvin Chaisson, Chris Bush, and Chris Chester gone; George Robinson, Branndon Braxton, Sherrone Moore, Jon Cooper, and J.D. Quinn move in. Call me less than impressed with the OL in 2005. Bush and Chester were really never better than back-ups forced to start. Senior Chaisson was the biggest disappointment. The young crew can't do worse than the 2005 crew did. I think four of the five coming up had enough of a taste of playing in 2005 to make their spring and fall practices produce a tight line in 2006.

Defensive Tackle - Dusty Dvoracek and Remi Ayodele gone; DeMarcus Granger, Cory Bennett, and Brian Simmons in. Dvoracek will be tough to replace, Remi not so much. If DeMarcus Granger is as advertised, we do well here in 2006. Surely Bennet and Simmons can give us as much as Ayodele did (or didn't).

Linebacker - Clint Ingram gone; Ryan Reynolds or Demarrio Pleasant in. Pleasant looked geat when he filed in against UCLA. He led the team with 10 tackles that day, including two for losses and a sack. He and Reynolds will put up a good fight in the spring and fall. Either way, we'll be as good here in 2006 and in 2005. Curtis Lofton in the mix, perhaps? Or, does he continue to back up Latimer in the middle? You can throw in that Brent Venables is the best coach on the staff. He always has his guys ready to go - starters and back-ups. Thank you, Brent!

Cornerback - Chijioke Onyenegecha and Eric Bassey (and Jowahn Poteat) gone; Brian Jackson, Marcus Walker, D.J. Wolfe, and Reggie Smith in. With a healthy Walker, one corner spot is easily covered. Jackson and Smith supposedly have the ability to push Wolfe. Either way, Wolfe will be a better player having a full year at CB under his belt and having to fight to keep his job. Even if he loses out to Jackson or Smith, OU is deeper here than in 2005. I'd say the 2006 corner will be a better two-deep set than anything ever thrown together in 2005.

Overall - Hey, guys, we don't lose too much. With an average at best OL and secondary, we still managed an 8-4 record (with the referees handing one of those losses to us against a highly overrated Tech team).

We play Washington and Alabama-Birmingham at home next year, and Oregon on the road. While Washington is not a gimme, they're no 2005 UCLA either. The UAB game is one of those that will be challenging for a half or so. Oregon is the key. They couldn't beat us on neutral ground in the bowl game, and their QB Kellen Clemens is gone. Call me less than impressed with the pair of QBs they threw out in the bowl game. AD's Heisman run begins in earnest with this game.

 

You left out DE and Safety?
I think we're stronger at DE (no injuries, please!) We can only hope that we're stronger at safety.

Last year going in, everyone pretty much thought the barometer was going to be the ucla game. This year nothing should be taken for granted. The first game will be the barometer. We'll see how much fight and focus this team comes out with right away.
I don't care what they looked like in SD, Oregon is still pretty scary, esp, on the road.

 

Agree with you about Oregon. I just think they lose some of their edge by not being able to take us down at a neutral site during a down year. I like Bomar, AD, and the young WRs against them next year.

Both of the Ducks starting corners were seniors and will be gone next year. Bomar and the WRs did pretty well against them in the bowl. Surely, they can do as well against the replacements.

 

I'm just not so sure about any of those guys right now. Our offensive like started playing better the last 2 or 3 games when Cooper got hurt. If the offensive line is down early in the year and not protecting or run blocking well then we may end up with a year much like this one.

 

I don't think so, Nick. I think the early line problems for us this year can be traced to a couple of guys leaving in August who were supposed to either start or provide depth - Millington and the kid from NEO. They hadn't played before.

These guys coming back have been through the workouts, haven't quit, and have been on the field (except Sherrone Moore). Either way. I doubt any of them flip out the week before Game One the way the two flakes did last year.

 

You never know about that. I doubt anyone though Akim was leaving a week before the game going into fall practice.

Still I'm scared about the 2 positions last year that were our weaknesses. Offensive line and defensive back. We lose veterans in both spots and were considered unexperienced at both spots this year yet we have less experience there next year.

 

Demarrio Pleasant didn't impress me this year. He tackled as well as Everage, which is even more problematic because Pleasant is an LB.

I agree the OL was disappointing in '05, but why are the backups from this year better than the disappointing starters from this year? Were they backups in '05 due to injury? Is continuity important enough to trump talent, meaning a unit that plays together in spring and fall might be better than a talented group cobbled together?

Who is coming in at safety? This seemed to be a weak point in 2005, and Smith is moving (which may be good).

I think we'll miss Runnells a lot in our I-formation sets, but our QB/WR spots should be much better. I assume Johnson and Igesias weren't getting many first team reps last year, so they may come on strong. Are there any (potential) studs waiting in the wings who were buried on the 2-deep last year?

 

On the OL, we had seniors who had been here four or five years and couldn't block well. Consider, Akin Millington was going into the season starting over Chris Messner before he flipped out. All I'm saying is that the 2005 OL didn't set the bar very high and AD still ran for 1,000+ and we still went 8-4.

The kids and back-ups of 2005, I'm betting, will be hungrier than the seniors who stood around for three or four years watching other people play and win titles. Basically, I think the kids that played this year will have a better work ethic than the departing seniors who couldn't seen to block when the year began.

 

How can you tell? How do you know if those guys just aren't good enough? There's a reason they weren't starting all of this year. We'll see if they are better next year. I hope they are but it's impossible to say if they are hungrier or not.

 

Joe Jon Finley and Aaron Cummings step up.

I was very disappointed in Joe Jons hands this year overall. He did have some good plays but seemed like he had at least as many or more dropped passes(many at key times).

Just to be clear, I am a huge fan of a tight end that can block but more so can catch. It just seems to make a HUGE difference in an offense if they have that TE threat across the middle.

 

Nick,

All I'm saying is it won't be difficult for them to be an improvement over what we had in 2005. The 2005 seniors, for whatever reason, didn't play like they had the fire in their bellies. I think guys like J.D. Quinn and Jon Cooper showed more than Messner, Bush, Chaisson, and Rayl.

 

QB = + hopefully
RB = - unless gundy miraculously teaches someone to pass block (doubt gute will be back)
WR = +
TE = - unless joe jon learns to block
OT = - there are a ton of factors that could change this, too numerous to call
OG/OC = ~ about the same

DE = + wilson was our asst of the year last year. incredible production in a bad situation
DT = ~ can someone step up to replace dusty?
LB = + if we revert to read and react / - if we continue with the attacking DL
CB = ~ hopefully better
S = + i'm going to go out on a limb and say these guy have it click in the spring

 

Is there some sort of rumor about Gutierrez leaving?

 

its more based on his projected timeframe of recovery from his ACL. the rule for our torn ACLs has tended to be around 11 months to return to decent enough form to play...

 

I think it has to do with his injury

 

We are stacked at WR, and maybe with some spring practice, Thompson will get better.

 

Who backs up Bomar? Rhett's a tough kid and can take a hit, but as seen in the A&M game when he got his leg hurt, one play can send a kid out.

 

Juco QB Joey Halzle from Golden West CC in Cali

 

Halzle will back up Bomar, and if his clippings are correct, he'll be good enough to not screw up a lot.

I think our pass blocking will suffer tremendously. You can't underestimate how good KJ and JD were at slicing blitzers in half... Losing Bubba will hur our I running game. maybe we'll try some of USC's stuff with the 3 WR I formations... However, if AD picks up the blocking schemes, we could be pretty deadly with the formations we use. That would mean AD is not automatically a running down...

As for the defense, the more I read from Venables, the more I think we're going back to a nickle-based scheme next year. Especially after the Oregon game, he sounded like he wanted the corners out there to cover passing downs, but Chet was so good he felt secure in leaving the extra LB out there. Unless Pleasant or Reynolds step it up tremendously, that won't be the case. Maybe we return to our intercepting ways next year? That would help a lot with the young offense...

 

Does anyone know Birdine's status for next year?