ISU Football 2011

[hawkfan]

I was just going through Iowa's 2011 schedule kind of figuring out where we'd stand and I was wondering how ISU fans feel they will be this fall. Where do you feel ISU will be better than last year? Where do you feel they will be worse?

My general take (though I don't follow ISU football religiously, so I'm unsure how accurate this assessment is):

Units that will be better than last year:

RB, WR, LB

Units that will be about as good as last year:

OL

Units that will likely be worse than last year:

DB, QB, and DL

Is this about accurate? What are your thoughts?

 

[cycfan1]

I was just going through Iowa's 2011 schedule kind of figuring out where we'd stand and I was wondering how ISU fans feel they will be this fall. Where do you feel ISU will be better than last year? Where do you feel they will be worse?

My general take (though I don't follow ISU football religiously, so I'm unsure how accurate this assessment is):

Units that will be better than last year:

RB, WR, LB

Units that will be about as good as last year:

OL

Units that will likely be worse than last year:

DB, QB, and DL

Is this about accurate? What are your thoughts?

DL will be even if not better than last year. Not great, but didn't lose much here.

RB will be even, if not worse. ARob was a stud in our offense.

QB will hopefully be better. AA was a great leader and representative for our team. However, he was not built for Herman's offense. Hoping a whole year of snaps and practice will benefit Jantz, Tiller or Barnett.

 

[Tedcyclone]

I was just going through Iowa's 2011 schedule kind of figuring out where we'd stand and I was wondering how ISU fans feel they will be this fall. Where do you feel ISU will be better than last year? Where do you feel they will be worse?

My general take (though I don't follow ISU football religiously, so I'm unsure how accurate this assessment is):

Units that will be better than last year:

RB, WR, LB

Units that will be about as good as last year:

OL

Units that will likely be worse than last year:

DB, QB, and DL

Is this about accurate? What are your thoughts?

Dline will be better then last year... still have lat at end, still have the same d tackles, and we are adding about 3 more dends... if we find a good qb, we will be good. WR could be a lot better or worse, not sure with all the new bodies. safety may be the only position on the field that i will say is going to be worse.

 

[CyForPresident]

I was just going through Iowa's 2011 schedule kind of figuring out where we'd stand and I was wondering how ISU fans feel they will be this fall. Where do you feel ISU will be better than last year? Where do you feel they will be worse?

My general take (though I don't follow ISU football religiously, so I'm unsure how accurate this assessment is):

Units that will be better than last year:

RB, WR, LB

Units that will be about as good as last year:

OL

Units that will likely be worse than last year:

DB, QB, and DL

Is this about accurate? What are your thoughts?

Units better than last year:
DL, LB, P

Units about the same:
OL, DB, K

Units worse:
QB, WR, RB


Defense will be really good. Scoring will be hard.... that's what she said.

 

[cyclonedave25]

I was just going through Iowa's 2011 schedule kind of figuring out where we'd stand and I was wondering how ISU fans feel they will be this fall. Where do you feel ISU will be better than last year? Where do you feel they will be worse?

My general take (though I don't follow ISU football religiously, so I'm unsure how accurate this assessment is):

Units that will be better than last year:

RB, WR, LB

Units that will be about as good as last year:

OL

Units that will likely be worse than last year:

DB, QB, and DL

Is this about accurate? What are your thoughts?

I might switch QB and RB around.
Arob will be tough to replace, however, we do have some talent coming in, so that might be "even".
QB might be better. Arnaud was a good QB, he just couldn't turn the corner under Herman's offense. Him getting hurt didn't help either. However, we have some good QB prospects coming in, that fit Herman's offense. (pass first, run second, type of guys)

 

[Rhoadhoused]

I was just going through Iowa's 2011 schedule kind of figuring out where we'd stand and I was wondering how ISU fans feel they will be this fall. Where do you feel ISU will be better than last year? Where do you feel they will be worse?

My general take (though I don't follow ISU football religiously, so I'm unsure how accurate this assessment is):

Units that will be better than last year:

RB, WR, LB

Units that will be about as good as last year:

OL

Units that will likely be worse than last year:

DB, QB, and DL

Is this about accurate? What are your thoughts?

My opinion:

QB: Probably worse, all though I hold out hope that whoever wins the QB battle will be able to throw accurately and our offense will take a big step forward.

WR: Better. Couldn't be much worse than last year. I look for some of the jitterbug type WRs to contribute a lot this year (Gary, West) and for Reynolds and Darks to improve. Aaronn Horne could be a big factor, especially if Jantz wins the QB battle.

RB: Worse at the top, but deeper. Losing Arob will be huge, but Woody, Johnson, Nealy, Standard, Hollis makes for a solid core.

TE: Much, much worse because of the loss of Franklin. Not that other guys can't step up, but he was out best player last year.

Oline: About the same I'd say, maybe improve a little or I could see losing Lamaak making the line take a step back.

Dline: Worse depthwise, but talent wise getting Nelson back and with Irving hopefully playing as a freshman (6'7" 250) along with the players we do have improving gives me a little hope. Can't be much worse than last year minus the Texas game.

LB & CB: We lost nobody from these units so I would expect them to be better.

Safety: A lot worse .We lose our top 3 safetys so this will be a huge question mark.

Our whole team will be deeper, however. We will finally have a full 85 man roster to use for the first time in 4 or 5 years.

Hope that helps!

 

[hawkfan]

One question I have....I had heard that ISU brought in a Juco QB....is that the case? Typically, if you have to bring in a Juco QB, the coaches aren't very comfortable with where the QB situation sits....that isn't to say it doesn't ever work....(I think Cam Newton worked out pretty well at Auburn), but it is usually only done when the coaches aren't happy with the QB's currently on the roster.

That was my logic for placing QB in the "worse" category.

On RB: Arob is a big loss, no doubt, but I was really impressed with Shontrelle Johnson in the Iowa game last year (especially on KO return) and think he'll be a very viable option for ISU. Further, RB is probably the position where it is easiest to come in and make an impact right away and ISU brought in some good RB prospects. So that was more of a "unit ranking" than "starter rating".

 

[cyclonedave25]

One question I have....I had heard that ISU brought in a Juco QB....is that the case? Typically, if you have to bring in a Juco QB, the coaches aren't very comfortable with where the QB situation sits....that isn't to say it doesn't ever work....(I think Cam Newton worked out pretty well at Auburn), but it is usually only done when the coaches aren't happy with the QB's currently on the roster.

That was my logic for placing QB in the "worse" category.

Yes, Steele Jantz, a JUCO all-american QB. It would be nice if he turned out like Cam Newton! Besides, Jantz only cost us $90,000.

 

[Rhoadhoused]

One question I have....I had heard that ISU brought in a Juco QB....is that the case? Typically, if you have to bring in a Juco QB, the coaches aren't very comfortable with where the QB situation sits....that isn't to say it doesn't ever work....(I think Cam Newton worked out pretty well at Auburn), but it is usually only done when the coaches aren't happy with the QB's currently on the roster.

That was my logic for placing QB in the "worse" category.

On RB: Arob is a big loss, no doubt, but I was really impressed with Shontrelle Johnson in the Iowa game last year (especially on KO return) and think he'll be a very viable option for ISU. Further, RB is probably the position where it is easiest to come in and make an impact right away and ISU brought in some good RB prospects. So that was more of a "unit ranking" than "starter rating".

Everything you say is a fair argument. The only thing I would say is that bringing Jantz in was because we thought he was a good player who could compete for a starting spot. Whoever starts this year (Jantz, Tiller, Capello, Barnett, ect) will be better because of the competition. There is really no downside to bringing him in. Competition brings success.

I will say I hope that we do decide the competition relatively early though, so the team can develop and identity before the season starts and have some chemistry.

One thing is certain, the best QB on our team will always be the backup on CF

 

[JUKEBOX]

Units better than last year:
DL, LB, P, WR

Units about the same:
OL, K, QB-(This is a big question mark.), RB-(ARob is a huge loss but position has a lot of depth and talent)

Units worse:
DB-(Sims is a big loss, but I wouldn't be surprised if this stayed the same.)



Last year was a young team, and I expect them to be better than last year.

 

[Carr50010]

I was just going through Iowa's 2011 schedule kind of figuring out where we'd stand and I was wondering how ISU fans feel they will be this fall. Where do you feel ISU will be better than last year? Where do you feel they will be worse?

My general take (though I don't follow ISU football religiously, so I'm unsure how accurate this assessment is):

Units that will be better than last year:

RB, WR, LB

Units that will be about as good as last year:



OL

Units that will likely be worse than last year:

DB, QB, and DL

Is this about accurate? What are your thoughts?

The QB position is a huge question mark.
It may improve, it may be worse.
I do know that if we do not see improvement,
we will not get to a bowl game like I would like to see,

The D-line may improve, I expect things out of the defensive ends,

With Simms gone, I do not see improvement in the saftey's.

All the other area's should remain about the same, or see slight improvement,

 

[hawkfan]

Another way of looking at this....if you were to rank the units on the team (insert unit joke here), how would you rank them from strongest to weakest? My not-too-informed opinion of ISU's team would be:

1. CB
2. OL
3. WR
4. RB
5. LB (Complete lack of depth weighs this unit down)

(DROP OFF)

6. QB
7. DL
8. TE
9. S (more of an unknown than anything)

 

[Frak]

To me, it ALL depends on the QB. I personally think that Jantz starts from Day 1. He is supposedly a quick learner, is accurate and can run too. We'll see.

QB: I think that it will be better. AA had some really good games, but when he was dinged (half the season), he was a shell of his former self. This is the big question mark.

RB: Equal. I loved ARob. Shontrelle did seem to hit the hole faster. They'll definitely be deeper, but lose some of the knowledge of the system and pass protection that ARob showed.

WR: Better. I think that they will be faster and more elusive overall. They'll need Lenz to step up and make big catches. IMO Jarvis West will make a big impact.

TE: Worse. They'll miss Colin Franklin making the big catch. I don't think that the JUCO Brun can just step in and replicate that. They should be stronger at the point of attach with Hammerschmidt.

OL: Even. I think that KO will move inside and be a force. Counting on improvement from Burris and either Farniok or Tautolo to step up at Center.

DE: Better. Nelson with a year in practice will be a big upgrade over Parker. Lat is back, Neal is back. They'll need a 4th DE to step up, but I believe that the pass rush from this spot will be a lot better and the run D will be equal if not better.

DT/NG: The same. Rump and McDonough are back. Laing played a lot of snaps. They'll need one more guy to join the rotation. They lose Bailey Johnson, but he was hurt half the year anyway. They should be bigger and stronger.

LB: Better. All three starters return and have a year under their belts with a couple of redshirts joining them, so they won't be forced to play every snap like they did last year. My one concern is who comes in at SAM in the nickel.

CB: Better. LJ and Reeves are both back. Thomas has gotten good reports while redshirting and I think that he'll make a nice backup.

S: Worse...although not as much worse as people think at first glance. My opinion is that Benton gets one of the spots here. He's played a ton of ball for ISU and has Safety skills. I think that it makes sense to get him on the field full time at a position where they've lost their top 3 guys. The other spot would go to Washington, Brooks or Givens (who redshirted out of JUCO).

K/P: Better. Both are back. They'll be better.

Coverage: Better. ISU took a big step back last year losing some major ST contributors to graduation (Zitek, Schmidgall) and starting spots (Knott, Klein, Reeves). They have a bunch of athletic redshirts (Morgan, Bennett, Mattison, Young, Givens, Gary) that should fill that void a little better. I don't think that coverage will be as much of an issue.

Returns: Better. Lots of guys coming in (Horne, Lampkin, Nealy, Ecby, Bundrage, Richardson) and coming off RS (Young, West) with PR/KR experience.

 

[pujolsman]

It's real hard to predict this stuff. I would say almost every unit may be much improved. Remember that Wally won't have to completely rebuild a defense from nothing like he has the past two seasons.

 

[Yes13]

QB- Hopefully atleast the same.

RB-I think better. I love Arob but on a lot of his runs he would just barely get caught before he broke off a huge run. I think Shontrelle has that speed to break off those long runs. Woody should be improved.

WR-Better. Jarvis West is apparently impressing. Chris Young also sounds impressive.

Oline- Same maybe a lil worse, the loss of Lamaak and Alex hurts, but Burris and Hicks should be improved, and Farniok sounds impressive.

Dline- Better. Losing Bailey Johnson hurts, but having Maggitt possibly starting helps a lot. I thought Maggitt was way better than Parker last year. Then add Nelson, and hopefully a more consistant Lattimer.

LB-Better. Knott and Klein improving. CJ Morgan and Mattison sound like a step up from Morton.

CB- Same maybe a lil worse. LJ, Benton, and Reeves all improved. Losing David Sims hurts a lot, but I think we improve our athleticism at the other spot.

 

[Istate]

We weren't really a young team last year first off. Here's where I see things going.

Unit that will be much better:
P...hard to say because he was good last year but another year of strength and experience will be real nice here

Unit that will be better:
LB...You get the two main guys back and hopefully a healthy MLB. Plus you have a couple of guys that got good snaps last year to provide depth

Units that I expect similar production:
OL...we lose the best, but we do return enough guys with experience that they should be serviceable (which was what we got last year). If the juco center pans out, they could even make a slight improvement

K...another example of I'm not sure if this is good or bad. We won't be worse in my projection which means probably similar production

Units that will be worse:
DL...Lost too much experience to think it won't hurt. We have no depth and little in terms of game-changing talent. Really could be close to moving into much worse category but didn't

WR/TE...Unless the redshirts are way more talented than we've been lead to believe, the unit is going to be worse. We lost our best athlete to transfer. We lost our clutch guy to graduation. We don't return a ton. Not very good.

DB...Simms was the defense last year. He was so solid in run support that he covered a lot of weaknesses or misses in the DT/LB area. We also lose too much game experience at the other safety spot to expect improvement. We'll put a better athlete there, but that doesn't mean better production. DB saves this from being much worse.

RB...Arob was so important to this team. He was a leader on and off the field. He made big play after big play. His wheel routes were our offense the last coupe of years. We have some nice looking youth here, but none of them are the combo that Arob was. SJ is going to be fun to watch. I don't think he's barry Sanders, but I think that's the type of back he'll remind people of. He'll have a bunch of zero yard runs or losses when trying to make something happen then make someone miss and be gone. Unfortunately, I don't think we have the offensive talent to make up for the losses or short gains right now.

QB...You don't start as many games as AA did unless you do something right. Was he a great thrower? Nope. Was he a great runner? Nope. Heck was he a good decision maker? Not really. However, he was a leader with a ton of snaps under his belt. You weren't going to surprise AA. Tiller is an athlete but not a thrower. Jantz is an unknown with questionable arm strength. Even if Jantz wins the job, I think it will take time for him to adapt to the speed of the game and ability to read defenses.

Units that will be much worse:
NONE

All in all, I think we should be damn happy with 4-8 next year with 5-7 being possible if we can beat an adjusting to a new system UCONN.

 

[Rhoadhoused]

We weren't really a young team last year first off. Here's where I see things going.

Unit that will be much better:
P...hard to say because he was good last year but another year of strength and experience will be real nice here

Unit that will be better:
LB...You get the two main guys back and hopefully a healthy MLB. Plus you have a couple of guys that got good snaps last year to provide depth

Units that I expect similar production:
OL...we lose the best, but we do return enough guys with experience that they should be serviceable (which was what we got last year). If the juco center pans out, they could even make a slight improvement

K...another example of I'm not sure if this is good or bad. We won't be worse in my projection which means probably similar production

Units that will be worse:
DL...Lost too much experience to think it won't hurt. We have no depth and little in terms of game-changing talent. Really could be close to moving into much worse category but didn't

WR/TE...Unless the redshirts are way more talented than we've been lead to believe, the unit is going to be worse. We lost our best athlete to transfer. We lost our clutch guy to graduation. We don't return a ton. Not very good.

DB...Simms was the defense last year. He was so solid in run support that he covered a lot of weaknesses or misses in the DT/LB area. We also lose too much game experience at the other safety spot to expect improvement. We'll put a better athlete there, but that doesn't mean better production. DB saves this from being much worse.

RB...Arob was so important to this team. He was a leader on and off the field. He made big play after big play. His wheel routes were our offense the last coupe of years. We have some nice looking youth here, but none of them are the combo that Arob was. SJ is going to be fun to watch. I don't think he's barry Sanders, but I think that's the type of back he'll remind people of. He'll have a bunch of zero yard runs or losses when trying to make something happen then make someone miss and be gone. Unfortunately, I don't think we have the offensive talent to make up for the losses or short gains right now.

QB...You don't start as many games as AA did unless you do something right. Was he a great thrower? Nope. Was he a great runner? Nope. Heck was he a good decision maker? Not really. However, he was a leader with a ton of snaps under his belt. You weren't going to surprise AA. Tiller is an athlete but not a thrower. Jantz is an unknown with questionable arm strength. Even if Jantz wins the job, I think it will take time for him to adapt to the speed of the game and ability to read defenses.

Units that will be much worse:
NONE

All in all, I think we should be damn happy with 4-8 next year with 5-7 being possible if we can beat an adjusting to a new system UCONN.

We lost nothing with Johnson leaving.
Sedrick Johnson Stats, Splits, News, Photos - Iowa State Cyclones - NCAA College Football - ESPN

I think your final prediction is completely pessimistic.

I think the Dline will be better with Nelson joining, and the current players improving. It couldn't be much worse than last year minus Texas. QB and WR were also not that great last year, even though I am a big Arnaud fan. I think our QB this year will fit the system better.

 

[IcSyU]

We lost nothing with Johnson leaving.
Sedrick Johnson Stats, Splits, News, Photos - Iowa State Cyclones - NCAA College Football - ESPN

I think your final prediction is completely pessimistic.

I think the Dline will be better with Nelson joining, and the current players improving. It couldn't be much worse than last year minus Texas. QB and WR were also not that great last year, even though I am a big Arnaud fan. I think our QB this year will fit the system better.

I actually agree with the final prediction. Iowa through Texas isn't exactly a cakewalk. Kansas should be a win. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will destroy us like normal. We haven't beaten K-State in forever and have to go to Manhattan. UNI and Kansas should both be wins, but other than that, every other team we play against either has our number over the past few years, or we're on the road where we haven't won with any sort of consistency.

 

[Al_4_State]

If our DTs progress this offseason like they progressed in the past one, our defense will be stout. If our QB play is solid and our receivers improve, our offense will be competent.

These things happen and this team could win 6-7 games.

If these things don't happen, this team could win 2-4 games.

My prediction is that they'll exceed the expectations of many, myself included.

 

[CloneFan4]

I really think y'all are in for a pleasant surprise this fall. A lot of people are thinking we will take a step back or stay at 5-6 wins. When people write Rhoads and the boys off we shock the world. I really think this is the year we take that big step forward.

As for positional overviews:

Better:
QB: Not so much the new QB, but the improvement from the O-Line, running game, and WR Core lead me to believe that Steele will have success next year.

RB: I think carries will be distributed evenly between SJ, Duck, and Woody. This can only keep our RBs fresh throughout the game and throughout the season. You have to remember Hollis almost beat out SJ.

Worse:
S: A Huge hole is the safety position. With three players graduating at the position I'm very nervous that we will continue to be beat through the air. We need someone to step up as AJ and Jake did for us last year.