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It's time to strap on your Buddy Bands for the annual Saved By The Bell themed season preview. With fall camp about half-way over it's time to once again go over what to be excited about...and what to be scared of in 2014.
I've done this the past couple of years with varying degrees of success. I try to avoid serious predictions, but I will pat myself on the back anyways as you read part of what I said last year:
When I tried to sit down and list the Pros and Cons going into 2014 as I saw them, I wound up finding more positive things than negative. Yea, my mind was blown. Not what I was expecting after the resounding thud at the Rustled Athletic Bowl which capped off last season. The all important caveat though is that some of negatives are so friggin huge they could easily derail this season on their own despite all of the other stuff. We've all discussed what those things are ad nauseam. It's gotten to the point where the board often looks like that time when Screech got pist at Zack.
That gif perfectly encapsulates what reading the boards has been like for the past 10 months. That's how I visualize every internet slap fight. Those slap fights start because it's hard for this fan base to accept that entering year 4, Al Golden has had the same amount of on-field success as the man he was brought in to replace. So where does it end? When does Golden start #trendingup, above and beyond, Randy's trajectory? If he doesn't, then next offseason the board will start to look like the time when Zack and Slater threw hands.
Keeping with the Shannon comparisons, entering his 4th and final year most fans felt pretty **** positive with how the season would go. I know I was optimistic. In 2010 UM was ranked in the pre-season polls for the 1st time in a while. The season ended up being a distaster and Randy was fired. Would the same thing happen to Al if we finish 7-5? No way. What is certain is that if UM stumbles out of the gate in the first 4 games, this fan base will go absolutely nuts. And when I say nuts, I mean more so than usual (if you can imagine). Hopefully it doesn't come to that. What we as a fan base need are wins. Wins that can play the role of Belding's wig that falls into our proverbial punch bowl.
The sooner this happens, the sooner we can all get together, enjoy watching our favorite team play games, and sing Friends Forever.
[video=youtube;9UreyTaVWm0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=[/video]
5 REASONS TO BE EXCITED
5. #NoMoreCloud
Let this be the official eulogy for the whole "cloud" thing. Did the latest NCAA's sanctions end up as bad as the Pell Grant sanctions? No. Not even close. Did the team play any better last season once we found that out? No. They actually played worse.
After conceding those two points, you can't NOT admit that it is eleventy-billion times more optimal to have this B.S. over with going into the season. The last time our players finished fall camp without the threat of program crushing sanctions looming over their heads; Stephen Morris, Brandon Linder, Seantrel Henderson, and Allen Hurns had never played a down. To go further; Jonathan Feliciano, Shane McDermott, and Clive Walford are the only people on the team that have experienced a season at Miami without #thecloud. For nearly every other player it's all they know.
Think about how much time was wasted the past few years in team meetings. Meetings that had to be held just to relay the proper talking points for players to use whenever a reporter asked them a question. A question about Shapiro, his ***** attorney, if they think the school should self-impose sanctions, or any other b.s. that takes time away from getting better as a team and preparing for your opponent. That's all over now.
Most important of all, no one can legitimately use this as an excuse for poor play going forward.
Fearless Prediction: If our QB situation doesn't sort itself out expect the season to get #cloudy again.
4. The 2014 Class
Josh Baumgard/PageQSports
People (myself included) got upset on signing day about this class mostly because of who we didn't get. There were local guys we lost out on like Cook, Lane, Valentine, and others. Getting them could have taken this class from great to amazing. That still sucks, but the fact remains though that this class is pretty **** good anyways.
Chad Thomas is the headliner and will be in the rotation at DE this year. He's also just one of several really good defensive line prospects like Anthony Moten & Michael Wyche on the interior. They're complemented by Trent Harris & Demetrius Jackson coming off the edge. At LB you have Darrion Owens and Juwon Young who are physical freaks that will be playing this year. Don't forget about Mike Smith either. Then there's Marques Gayot & Kiy Hester who are already providing healthy competition for what appears to be a deep position for us (in spite of Rayshawn Jenkins' injury). That's just off the top of my head and I haven't even begun to talk about the offensive recruits.
Joseph Yearby is one of the best RB's in the nation that nobody (even some Miami fans) seems to acknowledge as such. His 2 biggest faults are basically not being named Sony Michel or Dalvin Cook. Other than that he's an absolute beast. Braxton Berrios is Tweeder from Varsity Blues reincarnated. He'll be in the mix in the return game early on and his role could grow dependent upon how quickly he masters special teams. Kc McDermott and Trevor Darling were the 2 best OL prospects in the state and anyone who says otherwise is a damned liar. Then there's James Coley's hand-picked QB prospect, and son of that one chick from the movie Friday (which is just awesome), Brad Kaaya.
I don't just say "hand-picked" since Coley recruited him. Back when Jedd Fisch was still our OC, Morgan Mahalak was the guy he wanted at QB. As soon as Coley took over, Morgan started receiving less and lesser phone calls from 305 area codes. Coley said to himself, "I want that one". So he went after the under-appreciated (at the time) and eventual state champion QB Brad Kaaya. He's only been in Coral Gables for a few months but he's already made some solid plays in practice. We're halfway into camp and people are already beginning to talk about giving him the keys. I think that's a bit much, but talent wise the future looks bright.
Fearless Prediction: 4 years from now we'll look back on this class with a big smile.
3. Denzel Perryman
Al Diaz / Miami Herald
Perryman has been making plays at UM since he arrived on campus. He got into every game as a freshman and by the end of 2011 he had 5 starts. Since then he's been one of the few bright spots on our defense the past 2 years. Whether it was providing big hits like the one above:
...or like the time he folded up some guy for USF like an accordion:
...or by forcing a fumble on UiF's opening drive en route to a 13 tackle performance:
...or a game changing pick-6 like he did against BC:
****, his own teammates aren't safe from his hits:
The obvious fact is that The President has easily been our best player on that side of the ball ever since Sean Spence graduated. So it was a big deal when he said he would be back for the 2014 season. God knows we need him.
Go with him if you want to live.
Fearless Prediction: Pain
2. Stacy Coley
Matt Freed / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Hey, remember when Stacy Coley dropped 2 easy touchdowns in his UM debut? Yea, I don't care either. After that performance Stacy took coach Golden's advice and just relaxed, bro. So much so that he was basically our entire offense after Duke's injury last season. Here are his FRESHMAN highlights.
[video=youtube;veREL5g-wWc]www.youtube.com/watch?v=veREL5g-wWc[/video]
Unbelievable. All those plays and the guy who made that video left out one of his best:
I guess it was a tad repetitious. I mean he only scored 1.4 million TD's last year via WR screen. His best performance was against Pitt in the regular season finale, where he pretty much beat them by himself. Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing him in the 2nd half of that game. He probably stayed in the locker room because he wore himself out weaving his way throughout the entire defense for 30 minutes. At the :17 mark of that video it shows his 3rd touchdown that day via an end around. So beautiful to watch.
Take a second to think about a 4-Wide set with Coley, Dorsett, Waters and Lewis. Sprinkle in Rashawn Scott here, then add Braxton Berrios and Tyre Brady over there. Now all we need is to figure out who's going to throw it to them.
Fearless Prediction: Coley will score a bunch of TD's again.
1. Duke Johnson
Al Diaz / Miami Herald
This is probably the last season you'll get to see Duke Johnson wearing a UM uniform. Still holding out hope that he'll stay? Why do you think we have 3 to 4 RB's currently committed for the 2015 class? It's not because the coaches think we have too many. There's a reason we are loading up. And it may take more than one of them to fill his shoes. He's been just about our entire offense for the past 2 seasons and will get ALL OF THE YARDS this season as well.
After suffering a major injury last season Duke is back running, cutting, and weighing in at just shy of 210 lbs. He's also less than 1,000 total yards away from breaking Santana Moss' UM record for career all-purpose yards. Santana Moss is my all-time favorite Hurricane and I'm not even mad that his record is about to be broken (a lot of feels though). Duke probably would have already broken it, if not for his injury last year...along with the nagging ones he had as a freshman. Once again Duke is on all the watch lists for just about every conceivable offensive award. Here's to hoping he stays healthy all year.
Fearless Prediction: Duke will shatter Santana Moss' all-time yards record before turning pro early.
4 REASONS TO BE SCARED
4. The Louisville Game
USA Today Sports
This isn't the toughest game on the schedule. It's not the best team on the schedule either. But no matter the result, it will be compared the bowl game that took place just 9 months earlier. If we lose everyone will naturally go crazy no matter what the score is. But if we get worked over again...the torches and pitchforks will be out. There needs to be at least some progress made from the 4 TD loss we suffered to end 2013. This team needs to get 2014 started by putting it's best foot forward and it won't be easy.
LOL at anyone who thinks this game won't be that hard since Charlie Strong and Teddy Bridgewater are gone. Bobby "Olive Garden" Petrino doesn't need a guy like Bridgewater at QB for his offense to light up the scoreboard. Before he got famous for crashing his motorcycle and porking some chick, he was pretty much the hottest offensive coach in the college game. The mere thought of him calling plays against our defense should make you wet yourself. If it doesn't then your name is Calvin and you starred in the movie Waiting. When Golden was planting deep roots in Miami that tunneled all the way to Penn State, a lot of fans wanted Olive Garden to be the next guy.
He comin.
Silver Lining: It's only 1 game?
3. Linebacker Situation
I just got done telling you about how awesome Perryman is. However, after him things get a bit more unclear at this spot. In case you didn't know, the rest of the linebackers on the team have 10 starts between them...all of which belong to Thurston Armbrister. Raphael Kirby has played a fair amount, though not that much when the game was still in doubt. The rest are Jermaine Grace (who while undersized is fast and great in coverage), former walk-on Nantambu-Akil Fentress, and 3 true freshmen. Because of this Walter Tucker has been thrown over to the LB group and is now playing both ways. And just today, WR/TE recruit David Njoku was moved over to play SAM. A big reason why we are in this situation is because 4 linebackers have been kicked off the team in the past 2 off-seasons. All 4 were underclassmen.
Now some, but not all, seem to think that with the now departed Gaines and Cornelius we will suddenly become better automatically. The line of thought being that Kirby and Grace are 10x the athletes of what was here last year. Except it doesn't work like that. You never see teams get better by simply losing "bad" starting players to graduation. They get better by having the younger guys making plays; and either pushing the upperclassmen to up their game, or moving them over to the sidelines all together. As an example, a few years ago we didn't just become better at linebacker because Spencer Adkins, Glenn Cooke, and Romeo Davis, all graduated.
We got better because Colin McCarthy, Darryl Sharpton, and Sean Spence started eating into their snaps, and in some cases, had already taken starting jobs from them. So if Gaines and Cornelius were so bad, why were they still playing ahead of guys like Kirby so much? Were the coaches playing the seniors just because? Were they intentionally playing inferior players? I doubt it. None of those other guys were ready yet and they did nothing with the little playing time they got that would suggest they were going to be better. The fact that they couldn't supplant those now departed players makes it hard for me to believe that we are THAT much better off. To me, anyone who says we'll be better at this spot simply from addition by subtraction is operating on blind faith alone.
Silver Lining: Denzel Perryman is still really, really good.
2. QB Situation
@ChristyChrinos / Sun-Sentinel
Really no idea what's going on here. The injury to Ryan Williams has pretty much ruled him out the first 2 or 3 games. Kevin Olsen has been surrounded with suspension rumors, little public confidence from coaches, and he was paired up with walk-on QB Isaac Hoza at the opening of camp. All of that leads everyone to believe that Kevin doesn't seem long for this world. Malik Rosier has always seemed to be pegged as a likely redshirt candidate. That leaves us with really a 2 man battle for the season opener between the twice-transferred Jake Heaps and true freshman Brad Kaaya. After 1 scrimmage it's still not completely decided yet.
Heaps was all everything coming out of high school and never seemed to live up to that billing. Keep in mind though he wasn't exactly throwing the ball to Stacy Coley at Kansas. He wasn't handing the ball off to Duke Johnson at BYU either. Still...you don't see many decent QB's make 3 stops in college. He finished near the bottom in pass efficiency last year as well. He's played a lot of games in those 3 stops so experience is a big plus for him. Here's a fancy stat about Heaps from Manny Navarro:
It's things like that make me want to err on the side of experience. Another reason I'm hesitant to jump aboard the Kaaya train is that the last time I heard stuff like this was with Kevin "Baby Jesus" Olsen being our savior. Before that it was Jacory Harris, who came after Robert Marve, who followed Kyle Wright...you get the picture. Don't get me wrong, I want this to be true so god**** bad. It's just that "QB saviors" for UM fans are like Lucy holding a football and my Charlie Brown *** isn't going to bother himself getting a good running head start this time. I want to wait until a few games are played before I start buying it. It's great that Kaaya hasn't looked completely awful while wearing shorts and our defense not being allowed to touch him. This is camp.
Michael Seay / StateOfTheU.com
I don't know about any of you, but giving the reigns to a true freshman, with 2 big road games in the 1st month of the season, isn't very enticing to me. I'd prefer that Kaaya sit and be groomed for next year, while Heaps & Williams figure it out the rest of the way. QB controversies are awful and thankfully nothing of that sort appears to be brewing here. After that there's almost nothing worse than a young player being given the keys too early, just to have the Sandman come over and yank you off the field. I know that DMoney and Pete are steadfast in their belief that Kaaya is the goods. I just feel QB is too different (and important) than any other position. Putting too much on Kaaya's plate early on should be avoided. But Kaaya apparently keeps on looking as good or better than everyone else...
Silver Lining: To use a real lame football cliche, Heaps or Williams could end up being perfect "game managers"...or Brad Kaaya could end up being that dude.
1. The Defense
We were absolutely awful in 2013. We were also pathetic in 2012. Over the offseason I've seen several people at various points claim that we'll be better since Highsmith and Rodgers are gone (more of the same from what I talked about with the LB's). This line of thinking has grown to the point that it's become popular to bash them and leave a lot of blame at their feet. While their play left a lot to be desired at times, I ask you to look at this:
Yea it's only 1 play, but it's the single play I think of when I think of our defense. Not because it happened fairly recently, but because it's one of the sloppiest defensive plays I've ever seen. I mean that's a lot of missed tackles. I've stared at this gif so many times that I can see it when my eyes are closed. You know which guys aren't in that gif? 3 of the biggest whipping boys from last year's defense; Kacy Rodgers, AJ Highsmith, and Jimmy Gaines. Our problems on defense are so much greater than any 2 or 3 players. Look at this:
Didler
Now look at this:
What all those squiggly lines say is that our 2013 defense finished 11th or worse out of 14 ACC teams in all but 3 categories. The only exceptions were Opponent RedZone TD% (4th), Opponent RedZone TD's (9th), and Turnovers Forced (6th). As the graph, and JT (CaneGrad05) from Sebastian's Pub showed in this terrific post, things haven't been trending up on that side of the ball.
Gaines, Rodgers, and Highsmith didn't do that on their own. Should the more athletic Grace, Kirby, Carter, and a healthier Deon Bush be better? I hope so. Any immediate help that we see however has to come from the defensive line. That is of course assuming they can do what the DL's of the past 3 years couldn't; get pressure, get TFL's, and get off the field after 3rd down. Finishing better than dead friggin last in sacks would be nice too. We'll see...
Silver Lining: Once you set so many school records for being awful, it's really hard to get any worse.
The season opener is just 2 weeks away people. It's almost here. We're going to learn a lot about this year's team quickly. I just pooped a little.
There's no time!! There's never any time!!!!
[video=youtube;bflYjF90t7c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bflYjF90t7c[/video]
I've done this the past couple of years with varying degrees of success. I try to avoid serious predictions, but I will pat myself on the back anyways as you read part of what I said last year:
me said:
When I tried to sit down and list the Pros and Cons going into 2014 as I saw them, I wound up finding more positive things than negative. Yea, my mind was blown. Not what I was expecting after the resounding thud at the Rustled Athletic Bowl which capped off last season. The all important caveat though is that some of negatives are so friggin huge they could easily derail this season on their own despite all of the other stuff. We've all discussed what those things are ad nauseam. It's gotten to the point where the board often looks like that time when Screech got pist at Zack.
That gif perfectly encapsulates what reading the boards has been like for the past 10 months. That's how I visualize every internet slap fight. Those slap fights start because it's hard for this fan base to accept that entering year 4, Al Golden has had the same amount of on-field success as the man he was brought in to replace. So where does it end? When does Golden start #trendingup, above and beyond, Randy's trajectory? If he doesn't, then next offseason the board will start to look like the time when Zack and Slater threw hands.
Keeping with the Shannon comparisons, entering his 4th and final year most fans felt pretty **** positive with how the season would go. I know I was optimistic. In 2010 UM was ranked in the pre-season polls for the 1st time in a while. The season ended up being a distaster and Randy was fired. Would the same thing happen to Al if we finish 7-5? No way. What is certain is that if UM stumbles out of the gate in the first 4 games, this fan base will go absolutely nuts. And when I say nuts, I mean more so than usual (if you can imagine). Hopefully it doesn't come to that. What we as a fan base need are wins. Wins that can play the role of Belding's wig that falls into our proverbial punch bowl.
The sooner this happens, the sooner we can all get together, enjoy watching our favorite team play games, and sing Friends Forever.
[video=youtube;9UreyTaVWm0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=[/video]
5 REASONS TO BE EXCITED
5. #NoMoreCloud
Let this be the official eulogy for the whole "cloud" thing. Did the latest NCAA's sanctions end up as bad as the Pell Grant sanctions? No. Not even close. Did the team play any better last season once we found that out? No. They actually played worse.
After conceding those two points, you can't NOT admit that it is eleventy-billion times more optimal to have this B.S. over with going into the season. The last time our players finished fall camp without the threat of program crushing sanctions looming over their heads; Stephen Morris, Brandon Linder, Seantrel Henderson, and Allen Hurns had never played a down. To go further; Jonathan Feliciano, Shane McDermott, and Clive Walford are the only people on the team that have experienced a season at Miami without #thecloud. For nearly every other player it's all they know.
Think about how much time was wasted the past few years in team meetings. Meetings that had to be held just to relay the proper talking points for players to use whenever a reporter asked them a question. A question about Shapiro, his ***** attorney, if they think the school should self-impose sanctions, or any other b.s. that takes time away from getting better as a team and preparing for your opponent. That's all over now.
Most important of all, no one can legitimately use this as an excuse for poor play going forward.
Fearless Prediction: If our QB situation doesn't sort itself out expect the season to get #cloudy again.
4. The 2014 Class
Josh Baumgard/PageQSports
People (myself included) got upset on signing day about this class mostly because of who we didn't get. There were local guys we lost out on like Cook, Lane, Valentine, and others. Getting them could have taken this class from great to amazing. That still sucks, but the fact remains though that this class is pretty **** good anyways.
Chad Thomas is the headliner and will be in the rotation at DE this year. He's also just one of several really good defensive line prospects like Anthony Moten & Michael Wyche on the interior. They're complemented by Trent Harris & Demetrius Jackson coming off the edge. At LB you have Darrion Owens and Juwon Young who are physical freaks that will be playing this year. Don't forget about Mike Smith either. Then there's Marques Gayot & Kiy Hester who are already providing healthy competition for what appears to be a deep position for us (in spite of Rayshawn Jenkins' injury). That's just off the top of my head and I haven't even begun to talk about the offensive recruits.
Joseph Yearby is one of the best RB's in the nation that nobody (even some Miami fans) seems to acknowledge as such. His 2 biggest faults are basically not being named Sony Michel or Dalvin Cook. Other than that he's an absolute beast. Braxton Berrios is Tweeder from Varsity Blues reincarnated. He'll be in the mix in the return game early on and his role could grow dependent upon how quickly he masters special teams. Kc McDermott and Trevor Darling were the 2 best OL prospects in the state and anyone who says otherwise is a damned liar. Then there's James Coley's hand-picked QB prospect, and son of that one chick from the movie Friday (which is just awesome), Brad Kaaya.
I don't just say "hand-picked" since Coley recruited him. Back when Jedd Fisch was still our OC, Morgan Mahalak was the guy he wanted at QB. As soon as Coley took over, Morgan started receiving less and lesser phone calls from 305 area codes. Coley said to himself, "I want that one". So he went after the under-appreciated (at the time) and eventual state champion QB Brad Kaaya. He's only been in Coral Gables for a few months but he's already made some solid plays in practice. We're halfway into camp and people are already beginning to talk about giving him the keys. I think that's a bit much, but talent wise the future looks bright.
Fearless Prediction: 4 years from now we'll look back on this class with a big smile.
3. Denzel Perryman
Al Diaz / Miami Herald
Perryman has been making plays at UM since he arrived on campus. He got into every game as a freshman and by the end of 2011 he had 5 starts. Since then he's been one of the few bright spots on our defense the past 2 years. Whether it was providing big hits like the one above:
...or like the time he folded up some guy for USF like an accordion:
...or by forcing a fumble on UiF's opening drive en route to a 13 tackle performance:
...or a game changing pick-6 like he did against BC:
****, his own teammates aren't safe from his hits:
The obvious fact is that The President has easily been our best player on that side of the ball ever since Sean Spence graduated. So it was a big deal when he said he would be back for the 2014 season. God knows we need him.
Go with him if you want to live.
Fearless Prediction: Pain
2. Stacy Coley
Matt Freed / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Hey, remember when Stacy Coley dropped 2 easy touchdowns in his UM debut? Yea, I don't care either. After that performance Stacy took coach Golden's advice and just relaxed, bro. So much so that he was basically our entire offense after Duke's injury last season. Here are his FRESHMAN highlights.
[video=youtube;veREL5g-wWc]www.youtube.com/watch?v=veREL5g-wWc[/video]
Unbelievable. All those plays and the guy who made that video left out one of his best:
I guess it was a tad repetitious. I mean he only scored 1.4 million TD's last year via WR screen. His best performance was against Pitt in the regular season finale, where he pretty much beat them by himself. Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing him in the 2nd half of that game. He probably stayed in the locker room because he wore himself out weaving his way throughout the entire defense for 30 minutes. At the :17 mark of that video it shows his 3rd touchdown that day via an end around. So beautiful to watch.
Take a second to think about a 4-Wide set with Coley, Dorsett, Waters and Lewis. Sprinkle in Rashawn Scott here, then add Braxton Berrios and Tyre Brady over there. Now all we need is to figure out who's going to throw it to them.
Fearless Prediction: Coley will score a bunch of TD's again.
1. Duke Johnson
Al Diaz / Miami Herald
This is probably the last season you'll get to see Duke Johnson wearing a UM uniform. Still holding out hope that he'll stay? Why do you think we have 3 to 4 RB's currently committed for the 2015 class? It's not because the coaches think we have too many. There's a reason we are loading up. And it may take more than one of them to fill his shoes. He's been just about our entire offense for the past 2 seasons and will get ALL OF THE YARDS this season as well.
After suffering a major injury last season Duke is back running, cutting, and weighing in at just shy of 210 lbs. He's also less than 1,000 total yards away from breaking Santana Moss' UM record for career all-purpose yards. Santana Moss is my all-time favorite Hurricane and I'm not even mad that his record is about to be broken (a lot of feels though). Duke probably would have already broken it, if not for his injury last year...along with the nagging ones he had as a freshman. Once again Duke is on all the watch lists for just about every conceivable offensive award. Here's to hoping he stays healthy all year.
Fearless Prediction: Duke will shatter Santana Moss' all-time yards record before turning pro early.
4 REASONS TO BE SCARED
4. The Louisville Game
USA Today Sports
This isn't the toughest game on the schedule. It's not the best team on the schedule either. But no matter the result, it will be compared the bowl game that took place just 9 months earlier. If we lose everyone will naturally go crazy no matter what the score is. But if we get worked over again...the torches and pitchforks will be out. There needs to be at least some progress made from the 4 TD loss we suffered to end 2013. This team needs to get 2014 started by putting it's best foot forward and it won't be easy.
LOL at anyone who thinks this game won't be that hard since Charlie Strong and Teddy Bridgewater are gone. Bobby "Olive Garden" Petrino doesn't need a guy like Bridgewater at QB for his offense to light up the scoreboard. Before he got famous for crashing his motorcycle and porking some chick, he was pretty much the hottest offensive coach in the college game. The mere thought of him calling plays against our defense should make you wet yourself. If it doesn't then your name is Calvin and you starred in the movie Waiting. When Golden was planting deep roots in Miami that tunneled all the way to Penn State, a lot of fans wanted Olive Garden to be the next guy.
He comin.
Silver Lining: It's only 1 game?
3. Linebacker Situation
I just got done telling you about how awesome Perryman is. However, after him things get a bit more unclear at this spot. In case you didn't know, the rest of the linebackers on the team have 10 starts between them...all of which belong to Thurston Armbrister. Raphael Kirby has played a fair amount, though not that much when the game was still in doubt. The rest are Jermaine Grace (who while undersized is fast and great in coverage), former walk-on Nantambu-Akil Fentress, and 3 true freshmen. Because of this Walter Tucker has been thrown over to the LB group and is now playing both ways. And just today, WR/TE recruit David Njoku was moved over to play SAM. A big reason why we are in this situation is because 4 linebackers have been kicked off the team in the past 2 off-seasons. All 4 were underclassmen.
Now some, but not all, seem to think that with the now departed Gaines and Cornelius we will suddenly become better automatically. The line of thought being that Kirby and Grace are 10x the athletes of what was here last year. Except it doesn't work like that. You never see teams get better by simply losing "bad" starting players to graduation. They get better by having the younger guys making plays; and either pushing the upperclassmen to up their game, or moving them over to the sidelines all together. As an example, a few years ago we didn't just become better at linebacker because Spencer Adkins, Glenn Cooke, and Romeo Davis, all graduated.
We got better because Colin McCarthy, Darryl Sharpton, and Sean Spence started eating into their snaps, and in some cases, had already taken starting jobs from them. So if Gaines and Cornelius were so bad, why were they still playing ahead of guys like Kirby so much? Were the coaches playing the seniors just because? Were they intentionally playing inferior players? I doubt it. None of those other guys were ready yet and they did nothing with the little playing time they got that would suggest they were going to be better. The fact that they couldn't supplant those now departed players makes it hard for me to believe that we are THAT much better off. To me, anyone who says we'll be better at this spot simply from addition by subtraction is operating on blind faith alone.
Silver Lining: Denzel Perryman is still really, really good.
2. QB Situation
@ChristyChrinos / Sun-Sentinel
Really no idea what's going on here. The injury to Ryan Williams has pretty much ruled him out the first 2 or 3 games. Kevin Olsen has been surrounded with suspension rumors, little public confidence from coaches, and he was paired up with walk-on QB Isaac Hoza at the opening of camp. All of that leads everyone to believe that Kevin doesn't seem long for this world. Malik Rosier has always seemed to be pegged as a likely redshirt candidate. That leaves us with really a 2 man battle for the season opener between the twice-transferred Jake Heaps and true freshman Brad Kaaya. After 1 scrimmage it's still not completely decided yet.
Heaps was all everything coming out of high school and never seemed to live up to that billing. Keep in mind though he wasn't exactly throwing the ball to Stacy Coley at Kansas. He wasn't handing the ball off to Duke Johnson at BYU either. Still...you don't see many decent QB's make 3 stops in college. He finished near the bottom in pass efficiency last year as well. He's played a lot of games in those 3 stops so experience is a big plus for him. Here's a fancy stat about Heaps from Manny Navarro:
Manny said:
It's things like that make me want to err on the side of experience. Another reason I'm hesitant to jump aboard the Kaaya train is that the last time I heard stuff like this was with Kevin "Baby Jesus" Olsen being our savior. Before that it was Jacory Harris, who came after Robert Marve, who followed Kyle Wright...you get the picture. Don't get me wrong, I want this to be true so god**** bad. It's just that "QB saviors" for UM fans are like Lucy holding a football and my Charlie Brown *** isn't going to bother himself getting a good running head start this time. I want to wait until a few games are played before I start buying it. It's great that Kaaya hasn't looked completely awful while wearing shorts and our defense not being allowed to touch him. This is camp.
Michael Seay / StateOfTheU.com
I don't know about any of you, but giving the reigns to a true freshman, with 2 big road games in the 1st month of the season, isn't very enticing to me. I'd prefer that Kaaya sit and be groomed for next year, while Heaps & Williams figure it out the rest of the way. QB controversies are awful and thankfully nothing of that sort appears to be brewing here. After that there's almost nothing worse than a young player being given the keys too early, just to have the Sandman come over and yank you off the field. I know that DMoney and Pete are steadfast in their belief that Kaaya is the goods. I just feel QB is too different (and important) than any other position. Putting too much on Kaaya's plate early on should be avoided. But Kaaya apparently keeps on looking as good or better than everyone else...
Silver Lining: To use a real lame football cliche, Heaps or Williams could end up being perfect "game managers"...or Brad Kaaya could end up being that dude.
1. The Defense
We were absolutely awful in 2013. We were also pathetic in 2012. Over the offseason I've seen several people at various points claim that we'll be better since Highsmith and Rodgers are gone (more of the same from what I talked about with the LB's). This line of thinking has grown to the point that it's become popular to bash them and leave a lot of blame at their feet. While their play left a lot to be desired at times, I ask you to look at this:
Yea it's only 1 play, but it's the single play I think of when I think of our defense. Not because it happened fairly recently, but because it's one of the sloppiest defensive plays I've ever seen. I mean that's a lot of missed tackles. I've stared at this gif so many times that I can see it when my eyes are closed. You know which guys aren't in that gif? 3 of the biggest whipping boys from last year's defense; Kacy Rodgers, AJ Highsmith, and Jimmy Gaines. Our problems on defense are so much greater than any 2 or 3 players. Look at this:
Didler
Now look at this:
What all those squiggly lines say is that our 2013 defense finished 11th or worse out of 14 ACC teams in all but 3 categories. The only exceptions were Opponent RedZone TD% (4th), Opponent RedZone TD's (9th), and Turnovers Forced (6th). As the graph, and JT (CaneGrad05) from Sebastian's Pub showed in this terrific post, things haven't been trending up on that side of the ball.
Gaines, Rodgers, and Highsmith didn't do that on their own. Should the more athletic Grace, Kirby, Carter, and a healthier Deon Bush be better? I hope so. Any immediate help that we see however has to come from the defensive line. That is of course assuming they can do what the DL's of the past 3 years couldn't; get pressure, get TFL's, and get off the field after 3rd down. Finishing better than dead friggin last in sacks would be nice too. We'll see...
Silver Lining: Once you set so many school records for being awful, it's really hard to get any worse.
The season opener is just 2 weeks away people. It's almost here. We're going to learn a lot about this year's team quickly. I just pooped a little.
There's no time!! There's never any time!!!!
[video=youtube;bflYjF90t7c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bflYjF90t7c[/video]
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