Best position battles

[msstate7]

What positions do you think will offer the best battles for starting positions this summer/fall?

[TheRef]

What positions do you think will offer the best battles for starting positions this summer/fall?

2B/SS, DH, OF

[HereComesTheSpiral]

2B/SS, DH, OF

I think he means football.

[thf24]

The only ones I see as not being clear cut are safety and and maybe weak side DE. And even there I think it'll most likely be Cox/Hughes and Brown.

I think Redmond could push Love if the coaches want to look at having a little more size on the outside, but Mullen's tendency to favor seniors should keep Love where he is.

[EdDawg]

RT but I'm trying to stay optimistic. I think we will be fine if someone can beat out Robinson, if not it may be a long season.

TE will be another big battle, Johnson has the experience but Artimas Samuel looked very talented and made some nice grabs toward the end of the season last year. Adding Hutcherson will put another dog in the fight(no pun intended.) If Robinson were to win the RT position we could see Hutcherson line up as an attached TE to help against the pass rush.

Other position battles that will be fun to keep up with are going to be receiver and cornerback since we have a good bit of talent at these two positions now.

[AROB44]

I haven't given up on the Walley kid at TE. Am I totally delusional?

[trob115]

Walley looked great in the spring. We are deep at TE which is a good thing. We have a lot of options and good combination of skills there.

[smootness]

I haven't given up on the Walley kid at TE. Am I totally delusional?

No, I think he has a future, just may not see much time this year with Johnson and Hill seniors and Samuel, possibly Hutcherson ahead of him.

But I've heard good things, I think he's going to be a player for us.

I think there will be some guys step up at a couple of positions that we're not expecting. For instance, LB is fairly settled, but Richie Brown will be almost a co-starter, and we all know Geoff Collins loves Dez Harris. I would bet both of those guys see a lot of time.

Nick James should be battling at the DT spot along with all the other guys and obviously has the talent to ultimately take a starting job.

And I think someone steps up on the OL and takes a starting job, possibly at G. If Malone shifts to RT, I think one of the young kids could jump up and challenge Beckwith.

[FISHDAWG]

I'm big on A Samuel .... M Johnson seemed a little off last season, could be the play calling but when he did get thrown to he made a lot of drops ... flash back to the year before that and he was one of my hero's because he just didn't drop the ball much and caught a lot of "clutch" passes ....not sure if it was a Russell vs Dak thing or what... go figure

[blacklistedbully]

I think there just might be a battle at RB. Yes, JRob is the apparent heir, and I love the guy. But we've got Shump with experience under his belt, and a wildcard with Griffin, who may be truly healthy for the first time since he got here.

IMO, good chance we get an epic battle at RB.

[hailmari]

Walley is a legit pass-catcher- good size target and runs well. If he's healthy, he'll play. But I'm a huge Artimas fan, I'd utilize the crap out of that guy if I were Mullen.

I expect a lot more two TE sets. Got to.

[NCDawg]

RT but I'm trying to stay optimistic. I think we will be fine if someone can beat out Robinson, if not it may be a long season.

TE will be another big battle, Johnson has the experience but Artimas Samuel looked very talented and made some nice grabs toward the end of the season last year. Adding Hutcherson will put another dog in the fight(no pun intended.) If Robinson were to win the RT position we could see Hutcherson line up as an attached TE to help against the pass rush.

Other position battles that will be fun to keep up with are going to be receiver and cornerback since we have a good bit of talent at these two positions now.

I agree with your first paragraph. Also, I'm not too confident with the rest of the OL-maybe ok at LT and Center, but not great.

[smootness]

I agree with your first paragraph. Also, I'm not too confident with the rest of the OL-maybe ok at LT and Center, but not great.

I'm confident with most of the OL, at least as long as we stay healthy.

We know what we have at LT - a 4-year starter who turned a corner late last year and became a good player.
We know what we have at C - a very good one; just not much depth, can't afford Day to go down.
We know what we have at G - at the very least, we'll have Clayborn and Beckwith, which is how we ended last year, and that's good enough for me. There's a chance Malone could move back to G and that would give us good talent and depth at G.

It all comes down to RT. If we can solidify that spot with someone, our OL will be just fine. If not, we'll have to slide some guys around; we should be able to find something suitable but it wouldn't be as solid obviously.

[preachermatt83]

there will be an all out battle for the #2 RB spot behind JROB. Shump is tough but my gosh a healthy Griffin is an NFL caliber back. He had one amazing spring. He reminds me of Vick Ballard only a little bigger and a little faster.

[Coach34]

Damien Robinson will not beat out Malone at RT

our starting OL will be very solid

[RiverCityDawg]

For the starting job - Kicker, Right Tackle & Safety. For backup there are several, but WR and RB battles will be fun.

I hope Malone runs away with the RT job (and not by default), but all we've really seen from him is one average year as a right guard.

[Coach34]

I hope Malone runs away with the RT job (and not by default), but all we've really seen from him is one average year as a right guard.

When he was a RS Freshman

[CadaverDawg]

I would imagine that kicker could be a battle.

[blacklistedbully]

If the new kid from Michigan can't easily beat out the incumbents from last year, I'll be very concerned. IMO, we need this one to be a runaway winner for the new guy, because if it's close, it might mean he sucks too.

[HoopsDawg]

Damien Robinson will not beat out Malone at RT

our starting OL will be very solid

I guess if you keep saying it, maybe it will come true.

[Coach34]

I guess if you keep saying it, maybe it will come true.

We have 3 veteran starters returning
Plus, we have a guy returning from injury that was one of our top linemen last year before getting hurt.
We have a future draft pick taking over for a draft pick at LG

not worried about our OL as long as it is healthy...plus, we have 3 games to begin the season that will allow us to get some back-ups experience

[msstate7]

Flowers, Thomas, desper, and carter -- do we feel good about any of these guys?

[CadaverDawg]

Flowers, Thomas, desper, and carter -- do we feel good about any of these guys?

Great question. We REALLY need that class to be improving or the next few years could be rough on the line. Time for us to start getting some elite linemen to open lanes for all these dual threat QB's and stud RB's we're getting.

[Coach34]

Flowers looked good this Spring. Hev likes the progress Thomas is making

[mic]

Flowers, Thomas, desper, and carter -- do we feel good about any of these guys?

Flowers will be very good

[Reason2succeed]

There will be battles for PT all over the field. It is almost easier to say which positions are locked down for PT already. Those are QB: Dak plays all the time except for in blow outs and short spurts to keep Williams and any other QBs ready and sharp. LB is about settled. Collins knows who his first and second team are. Jameon and Bear are a lock but the rest of the WRs are battling it out for PT. Everywhere is a fluid battle week in and week out of who should play how much. I love it!