Depth Chart

Yeah but he dropped a lot of them too, including some passes in very key situations. Could never understand how he got more snaps than Hamilton last year.

I understand why. We had an incompetent staff last year. That is the only explaination there is.
 
I'm sorry, but I am still a little surprised about Free Safety. Smith was our leading tackler last year, wasn't he? I know that our pass coverage did suffer, but is O'Connell really that big of an upgrade? Is their an insider out there, that has any insight?
 
two things i see:

houston jones is 3rd
darius darks is 3rd (injury) ?

I think most of our receivers, if uninjured, will see the field every game. The spread will require a lot of recievers to play so I am not too worried about the depth chart right now.
 
Found that strange but IMO it has to be a good thing. Any time a multiple year starter (who is a senior) losses his job to another guy, I have to take it as a positive. If anything it gives us depth at the safety position which we have been lacking the last couple years

I would like to see Sims and Bell in there at the same time honestly.
 
I would like to see Sims and Bell in there at the same time honestly.

Me too. I was hoping Sims, Smith and Bell would all split time at the two positions. Bell made some huge plays in Chizik's first year. Not sure why he didn't play as much last year. Bell went from 54 tackles in 2007 (third on the team) to only 13 tackles in 2008 (twenty-third on the team). Not sure I've ever seen a bigger drop off.
 
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I like thta the backup holder is Redshirt Junior Mike Brandtner. Not to be confused with Redshirt Senior Punter Mike Brandtner. Are those guys related, or does Mike get an extra year of eligbility to hold on kicks? :jimlad:
 
In my opinion, our front seven is the scariest for me on this team. And five of the seven are seniors. I have been trying to figure out for the past couple of hours if that's a good thing or a bad thing...
 
Just realized this. We have 8 Seniors that are going to be starters this year on defense, including both DE's, our NT, and our entire starting LB corps..... dont know whether to be horrified for the youth we'll see next year, or to be happy because this hasnt been a good defense.
 
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Just realized this. We have 8 Seniors that are going to be starters this year on defense, including both DE's, our NT, and our entire starting LB corps..... dont know whether to be horrified for the youth we'll see next year, or to be happy because this hasnt been a good defense.

I'm struggling with the same thing. My biggest hope is that some of these young guys step up this year and take some PT away from the seniors, just so we can have some experience coming back next year.
 
I'm sorry, but I am still a little surprised about Free Safety. Smith was our leading tackler last year, wasn't he? I know that our pass coverage did suffer, but is O'Connell really that big of an upgrade? Is their an insider out there, that has any insight?

I don't know the specific situation, but based on Smith's level of play the past two years, it is certainly possible he could be beaten out for the starting spot. Good in run support but sub-par in coverage in my opinion. I think just about every starting safety we had in the 6 years before he took over the spot could beat him out, except for Caleb Berg. So I guess it is possible that he did get beat out, though he is probably dinged up mostly.
 
Chizik sure didn't do much for defensive recruiting. Seven of our 11 defensive starters are left over from Mac. Of the 29 players listed on the defensive depth chart 15 are Mac's recruits, 8 are from Chizik and 6 from Rhoads.
 
Just realized this. We have 8 Seniors that are going to be starters this year on defense, including both DE's, our NT, and our entire starting LB corps..... dont know whether to be horrified for the youth we'll see next year, or to be happy because this hasnt been a good defense.

IMO, this has been our greatest weakness over the last 3-4 years and it still has not been addressed.
 
I am no fan of GC, but if I look at the 2/3 deeps on the depth chart: Lyle, Laing, Maggitt, Johnon, Reump, Black, Banks, Benton, LJ & Bell are all GC's. You can give AJ as well as a split between him in CPR.

Like I said, not a huge fan, but that's a pretty big part of our D
 
The depth chart was for a standard 4-3. Maybe for NDS we will play this way but I think what is on Cyclone Report with the 4-2-5 is more accurate what will be on the field. Only Garrin & Smith start at LB's in this one.

College Player Database - Depth Chart

I expect we will not see a 4-2-5 extensively used until conference play against some of the spread-like offenses. We should definitely play a 4-3 against Iowa and its rushing attack and go to nickel on obvious passing downs.
 
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We basically ran a 4-2-5 the last year of MAC and year one of GC with Banks being the LB. Converted Safety at 210lbs wasn't a typical LB. Worked then, I see it working this year too. But out the best 11