The Athletic’s preseason preview of the Boilers dropped today for those of you who subscribe. Very thorough position by position analysis. Their key - not unexpectedly - is the interior OL with RB being next.
Athletic Preview
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D-Line/pass rush is way more critical than the RB position. If opposing QB’s have a lot of time to pass, it could be a long season. If the RB’s are mediocre we’ve still got lots of options on offense and a top notch offensive mind calling the plays.
Astute observation by The Athletic. Probably the least observed 3 players on most teams are the C & 2 OG's. Including ours. It's no wonder that fans' evaluation of this year's passing offense will break down as 90% our strong-armed quality QB + our premier rec. corps.....8% our experienced OT's...……...and 2% our 3 mystery interior linemen. Ask Brohm & our OC if 2% represents their importance to our passing game. Don't expect a nod.
They did say that the "low" expectation for the team would be scrambling to make a bowl game, which is a big step up from where we were for most of the last decade.
IF Sindelar can stay healthy he has the tools to make this a special season with the receiving Corp he is working with.
Yup. And Sindelar's health may, to a degree, depend on the pass-protection skills of our new interior line.
Not a subscriber. Did it list the 2 deeps at each position? Curious about our offense?
They could be of the mindset that DL will be far better than RB.. Neal should be back, Watts is good, Barnes is explosive off the edge, then when you talk about Faucheux, Hunter and particularly Karlaftis ... the thing recruiting grades are grading, or one of the things, is likelihood to have an early impact..
Never know with recruiting .. Selwyn Lymon actually got to campus and then set the single game record for receiving yards against Notre Dame, including a TD where Zbikowski hit him as hard as he could and Lymon just looked at zbikowski fall off of him and then left ND defenders in his dust.. before becoming “Selwyn Lymon”
That said, karlaftis looks more like Kerrigan now than Kerrigan at 18.. and Ryan Kerrigan is awesome, so I’m excited not apprehensive
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I get depth concern, but I'm with you. You'd think there's a pretty good chance Neal will get double-teamed, the assumption is George has a pretty good shot at getting double teamed, and you have a potential/projected first rounder in Bailey ready to shoot those created gaps. if ANY of the other talent steps up, we should have a pretty darned good line.
I think .. and I’m not football expert, if Neal is getting doubled then doubling george would just take up too much blocking .. I think that we get there a lot this year without blitzing IF Neal is healthy and neither he, nor George or watts go down. I think Barnes is going to show burst off the edge and I think hunter (along with rice) are the sleepers of the class..
If you look at Higgins, he was a 5.4 RR as a SSDE.. this idea that he was gonna have burst off the weakside is a little ehhh. If you have weakside burst at 6’4” 245, you’re not getting no 5.4 RR.. he was a last minute plan.. Isaac Zico and others have taught me not to be surprised if he is more impressive as a senior, but it’s time for some plan A guys to come in.
Right wrong or indifferent, I've bought into the hype on George. I am expecting a "Rondale Moore of DE's" freshman year (which is also kinda bad, because it guarantees he's not here 4 years). All of the stories I've read on him (like outrunning senior O linemen when he was a SOPHOMORE at the Army game) points to that unique combination of size, speed, physical traits and skills to be something special.
I think at the very least we will have GOOD playmaking at DE, which is way better than the non playmaking leading to coverage breakdowns and a five and six man pass rush
With Neal back, which I am assuming, then the defense has to be better. And IF Sindelar plays well, the offense should be as good if not better.
Odds to win Big 10 Championship Game (12/7/19)
Michigan Wolverines 3/2
Ohio State Buckeyes 8/5
Nebraska Cornhuskers 8/1
Wisconsin Badgers 12/1
Michigan State Spartans 20/1
Iowa Hawkeyes 16/1
Purdue Boilermakers 25/1
Indiana Hoosiers 100/1
Maryland Terrapins 500/1
Illinois Fighting Illini 300/1
Rutgers Scarlet Knights 1000/1
I copied this from VegasInsider. What I'm confused about is not regarding Purdue, but the rest of the conference. Northwestern, Penn State and Minnesota not on the list. Has to be some kind of mistake.
Also Rondale is 80/1 to win the Heisman.
Michigan Wolverines 3/2
Ohio State Buckeyes 8/5
Nebraska Cornhuskers 8/1
Wisconsin Badgers 12/1
Michigan State Spartans 20/1
Iowa Hawkeyes 16/1
Purdue Boilermakers 25/1
Indiana Hoosiers 100/1
Maryland Terrapins 500/1
Illinois Fighting Illini 300/1
Rutgers Scarlet Knights 1000/1
I copied this from VegasInsider. What I'm confused about is not regarding Purdue, but the rest of the conference. Northwestern, Penn State and Minnesota not on the list. Has to be some kind of mistake.
Also Rondale is 80/1 to win the Heisman.
There are certain things that people just like to jock. Nebraska is one of them .. reminds me of people who seem to latch on to any signs of life in the 49ers in the last 20 years as though them having a slightly better season may mean that bill Walsh has come back to life and is hiding out somewhere rewriting the playbook.
I think they have a lot better chance against us this year than next
