SMU by Position - 2015

[SMU21TCU10]

I will admit that I have barely followed SMU football since the end of the 13 season. I'm curious how we look this year at all positions. Does it look like our defense will be stout? Is our offense going to be deep outside of QB?

A breakdown by position would be great!

[Charleston Pony]

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/smu ... pectus.pdf

[JasonB]

Up until this year, we had lesser recruited players graduating and higher recruited players replacing them. This is the first year that isn't necessarily the case.

QB - Replace GG with either Burcham or Davis. Either way, with the loss of the experience of Gilbert this is probably a downgrade, especially at the start of the season.

RB - Pope, Line, Grecham, and Nlemchi is a pretty solid group. Should see improved performance, especially with how well Pope ran towards the end of the year.

WR: My guess would be Thompson, Gaines on the outside and Joseph and Lancaster on the inside. We saw significant improvements from Holman and JJ in their senior year, and we could see that from DT and DJ this season. Gaines and Lancaster may have more upside than the players they replace, but historically young receivers don't consistently perform well in this offense, so you would have to consider this a downgrade.

OL: Briggs, Myers, Lasecki, McCarty, Weeks. Briggs, Lasecki and Weeks should improve with more experience, the latter two significantly. LG will suffer compared to last year with inexperience, and McCarty's skill should be a break even with the experience of Hughes. As a whole we should see a better OL as well as better depth as the talented youth get a bit older.

DL: The starters, Wood, Wright, and Barnes all return and should be better with experience. The backups, Minor, Nabushosi and Hollie should be much better with experience. Noth of the ends will push for starting spots and if they are good enough might push Barnes out to OLB, especially on passing downs to create a virtual 4 man front. This unit should be significantly better than last year, even though there are no changes in personnel.

LB: Sanders, Nqosu, Tuiasosopo, Yenga. Yenga moves inside if the JUCO or Horton aren't ready and Seals shows everyone that he can play to his potential after a horrible last year. Ngosu was very good at Rice and probably an even swap for Rambo. Sanders played through an ankle injury and really bad turf toe last year, he should be significantly better. As for the other spots, Yenga ended the season as a starter and was solid. If Seals shows up and Yenga moves inside, the unit could actually be significantly better than last year with improvements at both OLB and the Pope spot. If Seals doesn't show up, Yenga isn't in his best position and the Pope replacement is a downgrade. The depth is rail thin after transfers and movement within the team. I would consider this group upgraded significantly if Seals shows up. If he doesn't, then the group is a downgrade or even to a group that underperformed last year.

CB: Ho Richardson, JR Richardson, Montes. Time for the kids to step up and start playing. Lots of potential here and lots of depth. The young players behind the starters also looked really good in the spring. Ho Richardson and JR looked like they took a major step forward. Going into the Fall though, you would have to consider JR a step down from Acker and HR a step down from Parks since he couldn't pass him last year. Montes was a very solid nickel corner last year and should improve. Overall you have to consider the unit a downgrade but there is a lot of potential here.

S: Four players in the mix: Greenbauer, Randolph, Justice, and Richardson. Randolph and Richardson have shown flashes and really looked good in the spring. Justice took a massive step forward in the spring. Getting Greenbauer back really helps out and should see the unit as a whole take a step forward from the way they played last season.

K: Probably worse after the graduation of Hover.
P: Could it get worse?

Overall I think improvements at RB, OL, DL, and S can be expected. I think we can expect worse performance at QB, WR, CB, and LB. That is why I have us beating UNT, Memphis, Tulsa, USF, and UCONN to finish 5-7.

That said, IF Seals plays to his potential the LB could be improved. IF the corners continue to look good, we could see a much better secondary and a pretty good defense. But the real key is at QB. If the QB is able to make the offense move consistently and the defense is solid, TCU, ECU, Cincy, UCF, and Houston are all winnable games and it could be a very good season.

Of course, if the young corners get roasted against Baylor and lose confidence, we have any injuries at LB, and QB doesn't pan out, this could be an awful season.

So I will keep things at 5-7 unless I see something really special in Fall practice.

[SMU89]

12-0

[StallionsModelT]

So many unknowns with this team. If June would simply adapt to the modern game and allow Matt Davis to use his God given talents as opposed to trying to make him the next Colt Brennan then we might actually be able to sneak up on some folks this year.

[East Coast Mustang]

Biggest keys to success will be the performance of the OL and DBs, in my opinion.

If OL can allow us to run the ball, setup the pass, and take pressure off of either Burcham and Davis, that will help immensely. We have plenty of talent at RB, but that doesn't matter if we can't block for them.

I expect the front seven to be pretty good with five returning starters, including the entire DL which will hopefully be improved. DBs are a weak link- inexperieced, but I think the Richardson triplets are all very talented and have a lot of potential.

[JasonB]

Biggest keys to success will be the performance of the OL and DBs, in my opinion.

If OL can allow us to run the ball, setup the pass, and take pressure off of either Burcham and Davis, that will help immensely. We have plenty of talent at RB, but that doesn't matter if we can't block for them.

I expect the front seven to be pretty good with five returning starters, including the entire DL which will hopefully be improved. DBs are a weak link- inexperieced, but I think the Richardson triplets are all very talented and have a lot of potential.

LB looked really thin in the spring. Maybe things will be better in the fall, ,but I would really be worried there if Seals doesn't play well and we have any injuries t all.

As to the post about modernizing the offense, I do think that the zone read put in for GG will really help us if Burcham struggles and we have to move to Davis. That will prevent a repeat of the first year under June.

[East Coast Mustang]

Biggest keys to success will be the performance of the OL and DBs, in my opinion.

If OL can allow us to run the ball, setup the pass, and take pressure off of either Burcham and Davis, that will help immensely. We have plenty of talent at RB, but that doesn't matter if we can't block for them.

I expect the front seven to be pretty good with five returning starters, including the entire DL which will hopefully be improved. DBs are a weak link- inexperieced, but I think the Richardson triplets are all very talented and have a lot of potential.

LB looked really thin in the spring. Maybe things will be better in the fall, ,but I would really be worried there if Seals doesn't play well and we have any injuries t all.

As to the post about modernizing the offense, I do think that the zone read put in for GG will really help us if Burcham struggles and we have to move to Davis. That will prevent a repeat of the first year under June.

Nwosu should help out at LB, assuming he's healthy- he was a real player for Rice. And I suppose Pope could move back there in a pinch if there's injury concerns. Having a versatile guy like Yenga that can play inside or outside is nice too. Would like to see Horton step up this year as well.

[JasonB]

Thats true. Nwosu wasn't there in the spring. But that second string in spring was really slow, especially in the middle but I think the JUCO was out that day as well.

[East Coast Mustang]

Who was the second string? Carroll? Horton?

[ponyswim]

Horton is supposed to have good speed, so likely Bordano.
Not sure how quick Carroll is.

[JasonB]

Bordano and someone were playing second string. Maybe Carroll or that former walk on? Horton was one of the first string players and didn't stand out but he is still young.

[ponyswim]

Jackson Mitchell maybe.

[dirtysouthpony]

Bordano and someone were playing second string. Maybe Carroll or that former walk on? Horton was one of the first string players and didn't stand out but he is still young.

I think Jordan Miller is the walk on that you are referring to. He had a great year on special teams last year. He should be a major contributor to the linebacker rotation.

[SMU2007]

I will admit that I have barely followed SMU football since the end of the 13 season. I'm curious how we look this year at all positions. Does it look like our defense will be stout? Is our offense going to be deep outside of QB?

A breakdown by position would be great!

Suggestion: Continue to barely follow until we have a new coach.