1. We have a fairly soft schedule. A trip to Tallahassee is obviously daunting and I'm sure their eager to drive the spear at midfield against us. God only knows what a trip to Lexington will be in November of next year. Otherwise fairly forgiving with a trip to NC State looking like a potential challenge.
It will be interesting to see the timing of ACC games next year; if we get Clemson at home in our third game like we did two years ago instead of later in October--with them working in a completely new QB--that would be to our benefit.
2. Personnel-wise, I think a complete wildcard. There are opportunities all over the defense and the interior line for newcomers to emerge and this is where I get into a history lesson: we will be a team fairly light on contributing seniors and redshirt juniors...which is a byproduct of the events between the Russell Athletic Bowl that served as Charlie Strong's last game and Petrino's hiring. Isaiah Ford just announced he was going hardship, George Rushing played a significant role in the game Wisconsin played the other day, Poona Ford will be a multi-year starter at DT for Texas, any chance we had at Daniel Cage was lost and he is a potential returnee off injury at ND. That class as it turns out was filled largely with transfers and Standberry, Mickey Crum, Trumaine Washington and not alot of other contributors remaining.
I expect significant churn most obviously on the interior offensive line, McNeil back to guard and a casting call at the other. We're going to have a true freshman starting at the tackle opposite Christian (at least that's my hope). Center will be very interesting.
I am fearful of what we return at DE. Major, major question marks to me and if we look strictly at structural failures of the 2016 squad, the complete inability to pressure the QB even with a fifth and sixth man added to pressure packages is one that I think saddled the defense as early as the Syracuse game. A ton of pressure is going to be put on the performances of Hearns, Greenard and Young...and I'm just not sold on Hearns' returning gunshot or not. McCrae gave us nothing. Having Drew Bailey back is significant, Chris Williams and Johnny Richardson back as well. I think GG Robinson has a significant opportunity to break into the rotation but I think we play 4-2-5 rather than 3-4 as our base next year to get more speed on the field, and we'll have veteran safeties all over the place (Cannon, Chucky Williams, Dee Smith and Khane Pass who got a baptism by fire the last two games) to go with incoming safeties like PJ Blue, CJ Avery and hopefully Trasean Smith and a healthier Iakopo. I think cornerback just might be a strength.
2017's fate I fully believe rests on the ability to get to the quarterback defensively, and to protect the quarterback offensively. The defensive inability was a headscratcher virtually from Clemson on; the offensive inability emerged in mid-October and most visibly against UVA. I might add...we need to be significantly more consistent at wide receiver. Drops were indemic, and it wasn't just James Quick. I think Jamari Staples was largely a bust in 2016 when we needed him to come up big...and we didn't get remotely what we needed from Fields defensively and he was clearly not effective even prior to his injury against NC State. I think we are going to have to construct a defensive package that gets more safeties onto the field in a more aggressive manner. We were riddled when we zone blitzed after the FSU game.
It will be interesting to see the timing of ACC games next year; if we get Clemson at home in our third game like we did two years ago instead of later in October--with them working in a completely new QB--that would be to our benefit.
2. Personnel-wise, I think a complete wildcard. There are opportunities all over the defense and the interior line for newcomers to emerge and this is where I get into a history lesson: we will be a team fairly light on contributing seniors and redshirt juniors...which is a byproduct of the events between the Russell Athletic Bowl that served as Charlie Strong's last game and Petrino's hiring. Isaiah Ford just announced he was going hardship, George Rushing played a significant role in the game Wisconsin played the other day, Poona Ford will be a multi-year starter at DT for Texas, any chance we had at Daniel Cage was lost and he is a potential returnee off injury at ND. That class as it turns out was filled largely with transfers and Standberry, Mickey Crum, Trumaine Washington and not alot of other contributors remaining.
I expect significant churn most obviously on the interior offensive line, McNeil back to guard and a casting call at the other. We're going to have a true freshman starting at the tackle opposite Christian (at least that's my hope). Center will be very interesting.
I am fearful of what we return at DE. Major, major question marks to me and if we look strictly at structural failures of the 2016 squad, the complete inability to pressure the QB even with a fifth and sixth man added to pressure packages is one that I think saddled the defense as early as the Syracuse game. A ton of pressure is going to be put on the performances of Hearns, Greenard and Young...and I'm just not sold on Hearns' returning gunshot or not. McCrae gave us nothing. Having Drew Bailey back is significant, Chris Williams and Johnny Richardson back as well. I think GG Robinson has a significant opportunity to break into the rotation but I think we play 4-2-5 rather than 3-4 as our base next year to get more speed on the field, and we'll have veteran safeties all over the place (Cannon, Chucky Williams, Dee Smith and Khane Pass who got a baptism by fire the last two games) to go with incoming safeties like PJ Blue, CJ Avery and hopefully Trasean Smith and a healthier Iakopo. I think cornerback just might be a strength.
2017's fate I fully believe rests on the ability to get to the quarterback defensively, and to protect the quarterback offensively. The defensive inability was a headscratcher virtually from Clemson on; the offensive inability emerged in mid-October and most visibly against UVA. I might add...we need to be significantly more consistent at wide receiver. Drops were indemic, and it wasn't just James Quick. I think Jamari Staples was largely a bust in 2016 when we needed him to come up big...and we didn't get remotely what we needed from Fields defensively and he was clearly not effective even prior to his injury against NC State. I think we are going to have to construct a defensive package that gets more safeties onto the field in a more aggressive manner. We were riddled when we zone blitzed after the FSU game.
