Pessimistic-

Malik Dear's injury really worries me. Pre-injury, I thought he was ready for a breakout season in the Percy Harvin role. Although he's improved his conditioning x100 since he got on campus, there has always been a debate on his body type in relation to his position. I've always said he was fine where he was and could use his strength and physicality on the outside as a strength. However, he couldn't afford any loss of lateral quickness or weight gain. He has to return from injury as he was before, physically. That's possible. If there is any weight gain during recovery, loss of speed, or agility, this injury could be career altering for him in the slot. Get well young man.

Positive-

Keith Mixon will now get the lion share of the reps. I think we saw the typical progression of a freshman slot last year. We saw flashes of elite playmaking ability and also moments of uncertainty which probably came from not being 100% on his reads. Inside guys have some route complexity based on reading coverages pre and post snap. In a lot of ways, it's easier to disguise what's going on inside coverage wise. Last year he had 20 catches, 25 rushing attempts, and 12 kick returns. That's translated to 610 all-purpose yards and 2 TDs. I think we see a huge jump in those production numbers based on 2 main factors: (1) comfort (2) opportunity. I think we see a doubling in all-purpose yards at a minimum and a tripling in TDs at a minimum.