When I was filling this out, I fully became aware of how much Stonum's suspensions hurts. I think having Roundtree able to stay in the slot would be invaluable. Instead, he is forced outside to take Stonum's place. The starting trio of Hemmingway, Roundtree, and Odoms sounds great, but when you start looking at what happens if one of those guys goes down it gets scary in a hurry. QB is obvious. FB is pretty easy to fugure out too. TB is a spot that I think we will see a lot of guys. Shaw is the defacto starter as he has been the guy that has gotten the "if the season started tomorrow" nod from Hoke and Borges on a few different occasions. Fitz is the number two because he is most often mentioned right after Shaw. You will see Smith, Hopkins, Cox, Rawls, and Hayes all get in some action I suspect. The backups at the receiver positions are mostly guesses but likely to be fairly accurate. You will probably also see Odoms a little on the outside and Dileo and Gallon will get some slot time.
Next up we look at the OL and TE spots:
The starting line is set and was given by Coach Hoke at his presser the other day. The TEs are pretty much a given as well considering the other options. Watson and Miller probably are not going to see the field much any time soon. Again, making this scares the bajesus out of me as far as an injury on the offensive line. We know Khoury can fill in for Molk and either Guard spot because we've seen him do it. Lewan brought up Schofield as being at both Tackle spots and doing well. He filled in for Barnum when he was nicked up recently so I stuck him there as well. Elliott Mealer can fill in as well but after that we start talking Freshman and walk-ons pretty quickly. Yikes.
On to the Defense, starting with the DL:
This is a little more murky than what we've done so far. I think it's safe to assume that Roh, RVB, and Martin will be starting, but where will RVB line up? He's been moving back and forth between the 3-tech and 5-tech. Is Brink really gonna start? If so, RVB will almost have to be at the three. Who is Martin's backup at the nose? I put Washington there, but I think he is mostly playing at the three as well. Is BWC going to get it? This unit sure could use his help. Black is going to get some time at the rush spot and I think he's going to turn it on this season.
Next up, the 'Backers:
Again, some guessing here. Demens and Cam seem to have their spots locked down but the Willie 'backer is still up for grabs. Mike Jones is the most mentioned there so I gave him the nod. Jake Ryan is getting a lot of mentions at the SAM spot and I think we may see him play early. Hawthorne has been a little banged up but I think will get on the field as well. Losing Demens is a scary prospect here.
And finally, we come to the Secondary. This unit must step up for the defense to improve. It couldn't be a whole lot worse than last year:
The starters are probably right, except for maybe Floyd. Courtney Avery is pushing him hard for the starting CB spot opposite Woolfolk. The second string Safeties are probably what you'll see with maybe a little Josh Furman in there as well. Kovacs will be solid and dependable but man do I wish Marvin Robinson would take that spot. His athleticism makes me drool, but his decision making is just too much of a liability.
So, there you go. We'll see how close this may be in a day or two when the official is released. Of course, you should expect the actual two deep to have a ton of ORs listed. I expect almost every position to be an OR.
Let me know what you agree/disagree with.
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