With the early optimism of basketball spinning into disappointing realism and the baseball season starting this weekend, spring football is also almost upon us. Coach Fritz has stated that practices will be open to the public so I hope some of the posters on this board get a chance to “have a look” and report back. Guerry does a great job reporting on these practices but his two eyes can’t see everything. Additional views and perspectives are greatly appreciated. Of course, 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 2020 season. But some questions I have for the spring:
1. With graduations and transfer so far, we’ve lost 22 players from last year’s team. Are there any other changes to the roster? Is everyone back for the spring semester? Or have we suffered any more attrition?
2. What’s the status of our injured players, particularly our defensive linemen Monjarres, Hatcher and Thomas, as well as Sorrell Brown on offense who hasn’t played for two years but whose potential continues to excite. Are Kubiet and/or Singletary healthy? Any chance of them seeing the field? Any others with injury issues?
3. Has anyone changed positions? What about our QB’s? When talking about QB’s, Coach Fritz seems to only mention Howard, Pratt, and Ibieta. What about Daniels? Is he still lining up at QB or, like Ledford, moved to another position? Where is Yegenio Booker lining up? Also, what’s the story on Caleb Thomas? Offense or defense? Any experimental position changes?
4. 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? In 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?”
5. At wide receiver, we’ve lost Mooney and McLeskey, but added the Watts twins and Mylek Jones. How do they look? Toles and Robertson got some needed experience last year and the two freshmen, Jhaquan Jackson and Tyrek Presley might be ready to play, Jackson as a sophomore and Presley as a redshirt freshman. Which brings us back to Sorrell Brown. Is he ready to contribute?
6. On the offensive line, we’ve improved marginally each of the last couple of years but still get “schooled” by the better teams. And we must cut back on the unforced penalties. Claybrook, Dublin, Haynesworth, Knutson, and Jackel return with the most experience and appear to be frontrunners for starting positions. The lineman with next most playing time is Timothy Shafter who is a walk on. But we normally need about 8 offensive linemen to navigate the season. What’s the story on Nik Hogan, Michael Remondet, and Stephen Lewerenz? They were prized recruits who redshirted as freshmen and barely saw the field in “garbage time” as redshirt freshmen. Can they challenge for playing time? And, on that subject, what about the returning redshirt freshmen, Fort, Oldner, Orgeron, and Caleb Thomas (if on offense)? With another five true freshmen expected in August, that’s a lot of untried players vying for playing time. Someone has to step up. Any hints in the spring on who that might be would be helpful.
7. I doubt many Wave fans are concerned about our running backs. We lose Bradwell and Dauphine, but return Huderson, Carroll, Spears, Amare Jones, and Booker. I doubt we’ll learn much in the spring other than how we plan to use the wingback position that Jones and Booker seemed to occupy much of last season. I just hope everyone remains healthy because five running backs is not a lot.
8. Of course, everyone is interested in the QB position and Howard comes in as the favorite to start in the fall. How does he look? Is he in shape? How’s his throwing? Does he look quick in the pocket and when he takes off? I know that’s hard to determine with no tackling, but any insights? And this will be our first chance to see Pratt. How comfortable does he look? What’s his thrown ball look like? How about accuracy? This is a position that lack of depth might require signing a grad transfer who can compete for the starting job.
9. Shifting to special teams, we should be fine punting, kicking and returning, but the big question in my mind is the snapper. Who is practicing at long snapper? We have some walk-ons but no scholarship guys with any experience. Remembering the horror show put on at this position for several years prior to Fritz’s arrival, this is a concern; though I have faith coach will solve it.
10. On the defensive line, we return all four starters: Sample, Jeffery Johnson, Williams, and Patrick Johnson. If healthy, we also return veterans in Wright, Thomas, Monjarres, and Hatcher. Eric Hicks, Armani Dixon, and Darius Hodges also return as redshirt freshmen. Do any of them look to move up in the depth chart? Also, as I understand it, Noah Taliancich, the true freshman, is in school and should participate in spring drills. How does he look? We need to get more pressure on the QB from this group in 2020.
11. At linebacker, we return Moody, Nick Anderson, and Dorian Williams. Moody was inconsistent last year but shows flashes of brilliance. Anderson had a great bowl game and looks to be ready to contribute significantly. Williams played mostly on special teams with relatively few appearances on defense, so he’s an unknown, so his progress in the spring is worth monitoring. The addition of Kevin Henry is really big at this position of need and I’m really interested in how he looks and moves. The same for Jesus Machado who I think was the “steal” of this class and could be an early contributor. The spring may give a clue to how much and how soon.
12. In the defensive backfield, we lost some key players from last year and return only seven lettermen, including Chris Joyce, who must sit out the first four games. With grad transfer, Kyle Meyers, not available until the summer, this is the time for our redshirt freshmen to really step up. The departure of Harper, Barge, and Bryant at Nickle leaves only K.J. Vault at that position. Who else is practicing there? I doubt a lot will be learned in the spring but I expect to see the coaches try a variety of combinations across the five backfield positions. Does anyone stand out? Is this a position where another grad transfer is needed?
Anyhow, while I’ll be focusing on baseball and all but forgetting basketball, I’m looking forward to spring football. Like I mentioned earlier, 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. With graduations and transfer so far, we’ve lost 22 players from last year’s team. Are there any other changes to the roster? Is everyone back for the spring semester? Or have we suffered any more attrition?
2. What’s the status of our injured players, particularly our defensive linemen Monjarres, Hatcher and Thomas, as well as Sorrell Brown on offense who hasn’t played for two years but whose potential continues to excite. Are Kubiet and/or Singletary healthy? Any chance of them seeing the field? Any others with injury issues?
3. Has anyone changed positions? What about our QB’s? When talking about QB’s, Coach Fritz seems to only mention Howard, Pratt, and Ibieta. What about Daniels? Is he still lining up at QB or, like Ledford, moved to another position? Where is Yegenio Booker lining up? Also, what’s the story on Caleb Thomas? Offense or defense? Any experimental position changes?
4. 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? In 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?”
5. At wide receiver, we’ve lost Mooney and McLeskey, but added the Watts twins and Mylek Jones. How do they look? Toles and Robertson got some needed experience last year and the two freshmen, Jhaquan Jackson and Tyrek Presley might be ready to play, Jackson as a sophomore and Presley as a redshirt freshman. Which brings us back to Sorrell Brown. Is he ready to contribute?
6. On the offensive line, we’ve improved marginally each of the last couple of years but still get “schooled” by the better teams. And we must cut back on the unforced penalties. Claybrook, Dublin, Haynesworth, Knutson, and Jackel return with the most experience and appear to be frontrunners for starting positions. The lineman with next most playing time is Timothy Shafter who is a walk on. But we normally need about 8 offensive linemen to navigate the season. What’s the story on Nik Hogan, Michael Remondet, and Stephen Lewerenz? They were prized recruits who redshirted as freshmen and barely saw the field in “garbage time” as redshirt freshmen. Can they challenge for playing time? And, on that subject, what about the returning redshirt freshmen, Fort, Oldner, Orgeron, and Caleb Thomas (if on offense)? With another five true freshmen expected in August, that’s a lot of untried players vying for playing time. Someone has to step up. Any hints in the spring on who that might be would be helpful.
7. I doubt many Wave fans are concerned about our running backs. We lose Bradwell and Dauphine, but return Huderson, Carroll, Spears, Amare Jones, and Booker. I doubt we’ll learn much in the spring other than how we plan to use the wingback position that Jones and Booker seemed to occupy much of last season. I just hope everyone remains healthy because five running backs is not a lot.
8. Of course, everyone is interested in the QB position and Howard comes in as the favorite to start in the fall. How does he look? Is he in shape? How’s his throwing? Does he look quick in the pocket and when he takes off? I know that’s hard to determine with no tackling, but any insights? And this will be our first chance to see Pratt. How comfortable does he look? What’s his thrown ball look like? How about accuracy? This is a position that lack of depth might require signing a grad transfer who can compete for the starting job.
9. Shifting to special teams, we should be fine punting, kicking and returning, but the big question in my mind is the snapper. Who is practicing at long snapper? We have some walk-ons but no scholarship guys with any experience. Remembering the horror show put on at this position for several years prior to Fritz’s arrival, this is a concern; though I have faith coach will solve it.
10. On the defensive line, we return all four starters: Sample, Jeffery Johnson, Williams, and Patrick Johnson. If healthy, we also return veterans in Wright, Thomas, Monjarres, and Hatcher. Eric Hicks, Armani Dixon, and Darius Hodges also return as redshirt freshmen. Do any of them look to move up in the depth chart? Also, as I understand it, Noah Taliancich, the true freshman, is in school and should participate in spring drills. How does he look? We need to get more pressure on the QB from this group in 2020.
11. At linebacker, we return Moody, Nick Anderson, and Dorian Williams. Moody was inconsistent last year but shows flashes of brilliance. Anderson had a great bowl game and looks to be ready to contribute significantly. Williams played mostly on special teams with relatively few appearances on defense, so he’s an unknown, so his progress in the spring is worth monitoring. The addition of Kevin Henry is really big at this position of need and I’m really interested in how he looks and moves. The same for Jesus Machado who I think was the “steal” of this class and could be an early contributor. The spring may give a clue to how much and how soon.
12. In the defensive backfield, we lost some key players from last year and return only seven lettermen, including Chris Joyce, who must sit out the first four games. With grad transfer, Kyle Meyers, not available until the summer, this is the time for our redshirt freshmen to really step up. The departure of Harper, Barge, and Bryant at Nickle leaves only K.J. Vault at that position. Who else is practicing there? I doubt a lot will be learned in the spring but I expect to see the coaches try a variety of combinations across the five backfield positions. Does anyone stand out? Is this a position where another grad transfer is needed?
Anyhow, while I’ll be focusing on baseball and all but forgetting basketball, I’m looking forward to spring football. Like I mentioned earlier, I hope some of the locals get a chance to see some of the practices to augment Guerry’s always excellent reporting.
Roll Wave!!!