As Guerry mentioned in one of his “Three Thoughts” threads, which, BTW, I really enjoy, spring football is almost upon us. Like every team in the country we have plenty of question marks though quite a few won’t be answered until the fall and the beginning of the 2019 season. But some questions I have for the spring:
1. Are there any changes to the roster? Is everyone back for the spring semester? Or have we suffered any attrition?
2. Has anyone changed positions? What about our QB’s, Ledford and Daniels? Where is Yegenio Booker lining up? Any others?
3. How does the team look and feel? Roster stats are notoriously optimistic. But, do the linemen appear to be in shape or are some of them 50# overweight like we’ve seen in some recent years? Do our skill position guys look quick? Watching some of the NFL combine, very few of even the top NFL-caliber recruits actually run sub-4.5 40’s. Yet, thousands of high school kids claim that speed. Forget the clock, what’s our “football speed?”
4. What’s the status of our injured players, redshirt players, and those who simply didn’t play much, if at all last year? I’m particularly thinking about Kubiet and Singletary who have been here a couple of years without seeing the field. Are they healthy? Can they be game-time contributors? Any others?
5. On the same note, is anyone missing the spring practices due to injuries (or other reasons, for that matter). How serious is the issue? When are they expected to return?
6. At wide receiver, everyone wants to see Mcleskey on the field. But we need some depth behind Mooney and McLeskey. What’s the status of kids like Jacob Robertson who has shown some flashes but missed a lot of time last season. What about Kevin LeDee? He’s shown a lot of potential in practice from what I’ve heard but has been sidelined with injuries since he got here. Along with Valien, who didn’t show much in brief appearances last season, I thought Sorrell Brown was our most “talked about” frosh wide receiver, only to sit out the year with injuries. Is he ready to contribute?
7. On the offensive line, we all are interested in how Christian Montano fits in to the lineup. All indications are he’ll be our starting center. Does an Ivy League all-star translate into a significant contributor at the AAC level? We’ll not learn that this spring, but might see some indications. Dublin, Tyler Johnson, Joey Claybrook, Keyshawn McLeod, and Cameron Jackel appear to be frontrunners for the other four positions, but what’s the story on Nik Hogan, Michael Remondet, and Stephen Lewerenz? They were prized recruits who redshirted. Can they challenge for playing time? Where are they lining up?
8. At tight end, Wallace started a number of games last year and appeared to be our best blocker at the position. Can he expand his pass-catching ability? On the other hand, Tyrick James seemed to be a better “down-field” receiver. Can the two of them give us the kind of performance at the position most of us have longed for?
9. I doubt many Wave fans are concerned about our running backs. Essentially, we return everyone from a very good group. My biggest question is how or if we will fit Cameron Carroll into the mix. He reportedly ran a 4.42 40 last year and at 230# is of NFL size. Can he translate those “measurable” into football success? Will we learn anything this spring?
10. Of course, everyone is interested in the QB position and most of us expect Justin McMillan to continue as the starter. I doubt we’ll learn much from spring practices but he clearly needs to avoid the “disastrous” play that plagued him in a couple of games last year. So, my focus would be on Howard. How does he look? What’s his arm like? How about his movement in the pocket and when he takes off to run. He’s likely to be our back-up next year which suggests he’ll likely start at least one game and maybe finish off one or two more. And, he’s clearly, at this point, the odds-on favorite to be our starter in 2020. I’d not forget him in analyzing practices.
11. Shifting to special teams, we’ll probably not learn much about the return game or coverage units during the spring, but kickers and punters should be on display. Has Glover gained any distance? That appears to be his main shortcoming. And is Neenan even participating? He’s never mentioned, yet he’s our only scholarship kicker, though I’d be surprised if Glover isn’t awarded one in the fall. Wright certainly had a good freshman season as a punter and appears headed to an all-conference (at least) career. I’d like to see him speed up a little but it’s hard to complain about his performance thus far.
12. On the defensive line, it appears that Sample, Jeffery Johnson, Williams, and Patrick Johnson are the likely starters with Alfred Thomas, Davon Wright, and Carlos Hatcher returning in back-up roles. I’m really interested in the status of Jamiran James. We need at least one more interior defender and until the freshmen arrive, he looks like the most logical choice. That still leaves Monjarres who had some great moments last year running 3rd string Joker. Could he move to linebacker? And, of course, we still have the aforementioned Kubiet and Singletary. Can they play?
13. Obviously Graham and Moody return at linebacker and are expected to contribute mightily. It will be interesting to see if Vault, Keisha Jones, and/or Quentin Brown can force their way into a rotation. And, of course, the JC transfer, Nik Anderson, may be the most intriguing of the lot. His recent 610# squat in the weight room suggests enormous strength. How does he look?
14. We lost some key players from last year but return a dozen lettermen. I doubt a lot will be learned in the spring but expect to see the coaches try a variety of combinations across the five backfield positions. Does anyone stand out?
15. Possibly most interesting will be how our new Offensive Coordinator and OLine Coach fit in. Most of us are looking forward to Will Hall's offense and are hopeful that the "young blood," Cody Kennedy, can continue the recent improvement in our line play. What's their demeaner during practice? How "hands on" are they? How much learning is going on? How are the players responding? I can remember watching film of some practices under CJ when some players seemed to be ignoring pointers from even our most respected assistant coaches like Lionel Washington. That can't be happening.
Anyhow, between watching a lot of baseball and all but forgetting basketball, I’m looking forward to spring football. I hope some of the locals get a chance to see some of the practices to augment Guerry’s always excellent reporting.
Roll Wave!!!
1. Are there any changes to the roster? Is everyone back for the spring semester? Or have we suffered any attrition?
2. Has anyone changed positions? What about our QB’s, Ledford and Daniels? Where is Yegenio Booker lining up? Any others?
3. How does the team look and feel? Roster stats are notoriously optimistic. But, do the linemen appear to be in shape or are some of them 50# overweight like we’ve seen in some recent years? Do our skill position guys look quick? Watching some of the NFL combine, very few of even the top NFL-caliber recruits actually run sub-4.5 40’s. Yet, thousands of high school kids claim that speed. Forget the clock, what’s our “football speed?”
4. What’s the status of our injured players, redshirt players, and those who simply didn’t play much, if at all last year? I’m particularly thinking about Kubiet and Singletary who have been here a couple of years without seeing the field. Are they healthy? Can they be game-time contributors? Any others?
5. On the same note, is anyone missing the spring practices due to injuries (or other reasons, for that matter). How serious is the issue? When are they expected to return?
6. At wide receiver, everyone wants to see Mcleskey on the field. But we need some depth behind Mooney and McLeskey. What’s the status of kids like Jacob Robertson who has shown some flashes but missed a lot of time last season. What about Kevin LeDee? He’s shown a lot of potential in practice from what I’ve heard but has been sidelined with injuries since he got here. Along with Valien, who didn’t show much in brief appearances last season, I thought Sorrell Brown was our most “talked about” frosh wide receiver, only to sit out the year with injuries. Is he ready to contribute?
7. On the offensive line, we all are interested in how Christian Montano fits in to the lineup. All indications are he’ll be our starting center. Does an Ivy League all-star translate into a significant contributor at the AAC level? We’ll not learn that this spring, but might see some indications. Dublin, Tyler Johnson, Joey Claybrook, Keyshawn McLeod, and Cameron Jackel appear to be frontrunners for the other four positions, but what’s the story on Nik Hogan, Michael Remondet, and Stephen Lewerenz? They were prized recruits who redshirted. Can they challenge for playing time? Where are they lining up?
8. At tight end, Wallace started a number of games last year and appeared to be our best blocker at the position. Can he expand his pass-catching ability? On the other hand, Tyrick James seemed to be a better “down-field” receiver. Can the two of them give us the kind of performance at the position most of us have longed for?
9. I doubt many Wave fans are concerned about our running backs. Essentially, we return everyone from a very good group. My biggest question is how or if we will fit Cameron Carroll into the mix. He reportedly ran a 4.42 40 last year and at 230# is of NFL size. Can he translate those “measurable” into football success? Will we learn anything this spring?
10. Of course, everyone is interested in the QB position and most of us expect Justin McMillan to continue as the starter. I doubt we’ll learn much from spring practices but he clearly needs to avoid the “disastrous” play that plagued him in a couple of games last year. So, my focus would be on Howard. How does he look? What’s his arm like? How about his movement in the pocket and when he takes off to run. He’s likely to be our back-up next year which suggests he’ll likely start at least one game and maybe finish off one or two more. And, he’s clearly, at this point, the odds-on favorite to be our starter in 2020. I’d not forget him in analyzing practices.
11. Shifting to special teams, we’ll probably not learn much about the return game or coverage units during the spring, but kickers and punters should be on display. Has Glover gained any distance? That appears to be his main shortcoming. And is Neenan even participating? He’s never mentioned, yet he’s our only scholarship kicker, though I’d be surprised if Glover isn’t awarded one in the fall. Wright certainly had a good freshman season as a punter and appears headed to an all-conference (at least) career. I’d like to see him speed up a little but it’s hard to complain about his performance thus far.
12. On the defensive line, it appears that Sample, Jeffery Johnson, Williams, and Patrick Johnson are the likely starters with Alfred Thomas, Davon Wright, and Carlos Hatcher returning in back-up roles. I’m really interested in the status of Jamiran James. We need at least one more interior defender and until the freshmen arrive, he looks like the most logical choice. That still leaves Monjarres who had some great moments last year running 3rd string Joker. Could he move to linebacker? And, of course, we still have the aforementioned Kubiet and Singletary. Can they play?
13. Obviously Graham and Moody return at linebacker and are expected to contribute mightily. It will be interesting to see if Vault, Keisha Jones, and/or Quentin Brown can force their way into a rotation. And, of course, the JC transfer, Nik Anderson, may be the most intriguing of the lot. His recent 610# squat in the weight room suggests enormous strength. How does he look?
14. We lost some key players from last year but return a dozen lettermen. I doubt a lot will be learned in the spring but expect to see the coaches try a variety of combinations across the five backfield positions. Does anyone stand out?
15. Possibly most interesting will be how our new Offensive Coordinator and OLine Coach fit in. Most of us are looking forward to Will Hall's offense and are hopeful that the "young blood," Cody Kennedy, can continue the recent improvement in our line play. What's their demeaner during practice? How "hands on" are they? How much learning is going on? How are the players responding? I can remember watching film of some practices under CJ when some players seemed to be ignoring pointers from even our most respected assistant coaches like Lionel Washington. That can't be happening.
Anyhow, between watching a lot of baseball and all but forgetting basketball, I’m looking forward to spring football. I hope some of the locals get a chance to see some of the practices to augment Guerry’s always excellent reporting.
Roll Wave!!!