Originally Posted by
Todd4State
Most improved- The offense
Most worried- Punter
QB- I think we will have a legit QB competition and I think Abraham will push Rogers in a positive way and Rogers ends up winning the job. But it's also going to be close enough where Abraham winning wouldn't shock me. I think Chance Lovertich is going to be a darkhorse in the QB race too. We need to cut down on our INT's especially in the red zone. I think Rogers takes care of the ball pretty well and Leach won't put up with Abraham turning it over a lot. So, I think we will improve there. We also need to develop our deep passing game a little more and I think we start to see that finally happen now that actually have some legit looking receivers for the first time since Fred Ross graduated.
RB- The running game improved in part because Marks and Johnson started to make plays and make adjustments late in the year. Late in the year we saw Marks starting to juke people and things like that. I think we see an improvement here as well.
WR- We have Walley, Heath, Tulu who emerged late, and then we have two consistent receivers that are reliable in Austin Williams and Javonta Payton. That in and of itself is a really solid core. And then we have Spivey and Cumbest who are former TE's who can be used in the red zone. But what will separate this group potentially are the three wild cards- Makai Polk, Caleb Ducking, and Rufus Harvey. Polk and Ducking will give us more length than we had last year. Harvey is another potential slot guy who had hamstring issues. And of course once the season starts Teddy Knox will play but we'll see how much of an adjustment he needs to make- hopefully it will be more like Walley than Tulu but there's no way to know at this point. Anyway lots of potential weapons to go along with the known ones.
OL- I think this group will improve a lot because they are now mostly juniors who have been in this system for a year. Cross is a NFL guy and he's the youngest. I think Cole Smith will improve his snapping- it has to or else he will sit. I think Dollar Bill and Kam Jones will improve as well. We'll see who emerges from the JUCO/transfer group out of Scott Lashley, Nick Jones, Reed Buys, and Carson Williams. I am also eager to see Albert Reese play this spring. I think he has the potential to win the RT spot. If he wasn't from Canada he would have easily been at least a 4 star recruit.
DL- We have built some depth here. I like moving Jordan Davis to DE. We added Randy Charlton as a transfer. We have Pickering, Crumedy, and Young at NT and Crumedy may start at DE. Then we have Jevon Banks, Aaron Odom, and Jack Harris all at DE in the mix as well. We also have Armondous Cooley at NT too. It's not Simmons and Sweat good but there are a lot of veteran four star guys in that group which should be solid.
LB- Brule is really good, Wheat needs to lose some weight but made plays, and Nate Watson made a ton of tackles when Errol Thompson was out at Mike LB. We have to find some depth and DeShawn Page will help with that but the other two spots- not sure. I want to see how Demonte Russell looks- he looked pretty healthy in the brawl against Tulsa LOL. Assuming he wins a spot we'll see what Arnett does at the remaining spot as Page can play any of the three spots. The starting group is pretty good though even with the loss of Errol Thompson
CB- Depth is a concern and has been a topic all offseason but Forbes and Emerson are legit future NFL guys which is a very good thing. We'll see what we get out of Decamarion Richardson, Esias Furdger, Jay Jimison, Jaylon Reed, and Cameron Threatt. Really need one guy out of that group to emerge since Jalen Green will probably be the third CB.
SS/FS/DOG- This group was decimated with injuries and because MSU fans are notoriously believe it when I see it people I think this group will surprise a lot of people. Jalen Green, Collin Duncan, and CJ Morgan will all compete at FS. Fred Peters will start. Then the other spot will be between Londyn Craft, Shawn Preston, Janari Dean, and JP Purvis. Dylan Lawrence will be in the mix too. I'd like to see Morgan moved to DOG or SS where he doesn't have to cover as much ground so I'm interested to see if that happens or not.
K/P/KO/LS- Getting Brandon Ruiz back is huge for field goals and KO's. Punter- neither Tucker Day nor Reed Bowman stood out and I could see them losing the job to a freshman potentially. I think Paul Blackwell is coming back and he is a really good LS. If I'm wrong it may be Hayes Hammond getting a look.
KR/PR- I think the return game will be better. Tulu is legit. I'd like to see Knox return punts over Austin Williams because Austin is not a threat to return anything. I'd like to maybe see Harvey get a shot at returning kicks as well.