Offense by position:
QB: Rudock over Morris, straightforward. Rudock should be poised for a Griese-like role. Morris should be better but still a worry if forced in there.
RB: Fluid situation. Start Smith as the primary back, Isaac as the 3rd down guy. Johnson, Isaac and Green will get their chances over the season. Green’s the most likely to be a star, IMO.
FB: Kerridge, with Houma as a reliable backup.
TE: Butt’s the primary TE. 2nd TE will be used often, and depends on the play. Battle Royale for who gets those snaps – your guess is as good as mine, but I like Hill most.
WR: Darboh and Chesson start off, but Harris passes Chesson by the end of the year. Perry and eventually Canteen help a bit in obvious passing downs.
OL: Glasgow, Kalis, and Cole locked in. Magnuson and Braden still work through their issues. OL should be good but elite defenses are still going to give them problems. Will be in trouble if injuries strike.
Wildcard: Peppers at QB and WR, game-changing play against MSU
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Defense by position:
DL: Glasgow, Henry, Wormley are starters. Hurst, Godin, Charlton all rotate and all play well.
DE/RLB: Ojemudia looks better, backed by RJS and then later in the year Marshall.
LB: Bolden, Morgan, Ross all play very well. Gedeon is the backup, functionally across all positions and no other backer plays a significant role.
DB: Lewis and Wilson are locked in at CB and FS, respectively. Peppers, Hill, Lyons, and Stribling fill in around them. All of them play regularly. May take a few games to sort out the optimal role for Peppers.
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Special teams:
Punting is very good. Kicking costs us a game.
Peppers and Harris returns kicks. Peppers makes highlights.
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Heros and Goats
Heros: Peppers, Rudock, and Harris get a lot of pub because they are new faces. Morgan and Kerridge get the grit-love. But the guys who make the all-conference team are: Butt, Kalis, Henry, Lewis, Wilson, and ONeill.
Goats: Braden, the kicker, Morris, the RB that fumbles that one time and gets no more carries ever, Ojemudia against good teams, Lyons, Peppers after he makes some mental errors.
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Final record:
10-3
@Utah – W ( Trusting our coaching staff with this much time to prepare.)
OrSU – W
UNLV – W
BYU – L (due to missed FG)
@Maryland – W
NWU – W
MSU – W (by at least 10)
@Minn – W (barely)
Rutgers – W
@Indiana – W
@PSU – L (guessing by this point there is a damaging injury somewhere)
OhSU – L
Bowl – W in whatever they call the Citrus Bowl
.