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Depth Chart coming out of Spring Practice

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Depth Chart coming out of Spring Practice

Postby DC-Pony » Fri Jun 10, 2022 9:59 am

Anyone who had a chance to watch spring practices care to share your thoughts on what the depth chart looks like at this juncture?

We’re a fairly veteran team so I don’t think there will be a load of new faces on the first team. I’m most curious about linebackers and defensive secondary. O-line is always interesting, but I’ve grown more accustomed to the O-line 2-deep being more important and players moving across the line during the year, so those moving parts make speculation on the O-line depth chart that much more speculative and less worth while.
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Re: Depth Chart coming out of Spring Practice

Postby BUS » Fri Jun 10, 2022 11:27 am

I bet Jason B could help you out on that. He on the ball.
Last edited by BUS on Fri Jun 10, 2022 11:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Depth Chart coming out of Spring Practice

Postby BUS » Fri Jun 10, 2022 11:28 am

BUS wrote:I bet Jason B could help you out on that. He on the ball.
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Re: Depth Chart coming out of Spring Practice

Postby Charleston Pony » Fri Jun 10, 2022 11:29 am

Going to have several transfers on the depth chart who weren't here for spring ball, including several likely starters
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Re: Depth Chart coming out of Spring Practice

Postby JasonB » Fri Jun 10, 2022 7:44 pm

BUS wrote:I bet Jason B could help you out on that. He on the ball.


Thanks Bus, but I wasn't able to get into Spring practice. That said, I'll put out my relatively uneducated thoughts anyway :). BTW, after talking with a bunch of people, I'll go ahead and lay it out that all of the concern about OC and DC last year was absolutely warranted. We know about the DC, we could all see that. But the OC was absolutely preventing us from throwing deep. Good luck, TCU.

QB - TM is 1A, PS is 1B. TM will start the season, but him trying to be a perfectionist on the deep ball is going to cost him at some point. Jennings will be 3rd string.

RB - Added Wheaton and Gardner, and lost Bentley. Bentley leaving suck. Camar is by far and away the highest rated recruit ever on campus, dwarfing even Stone. And, BTW, don't sleep on Gardner - he is actually just behind Dawson and ahead of Epton as our third best RB recruit. Coming into the fall, the depth chart is Siggers - Epton - Lavine. But this is going to be a battle royal during camp, because Camar, Gardner, Epton, and Dawson are all very high level recruits and Siggers has a ton of experience.

WR - Brought in Corrales, Knox, Dixon, and Bailey. Knox is our highest recruited WR on the roster, highest recruited WR we have brought in. Dixon is next. Bailey was actually a little more highly rated than Corrales coming out of HS. Ratings wise, we are Knox-Dixon-Goffney-Danniels-Rice-Wiggins-Kerley-Bailey-Corrales, and then Record and Upshaw were DITR. I think it starts as Rice-Kerley-Corrales heading into camp. Upshaw had a nice spring and can be a solid role player, and I have heard nice things about Record. I've heard early that Bailey looks fantastic. I think Rice-Kerley-Corrales is tough because I think they might want Rice outside and not in the slot. So Maybe Rice-Corrales-Knox, with Kerley-Dixon-Bailey and then Goffney-Daniels-Record? It is a very deep group, and I am guessing it will be rotated really frequently.


TE - Allen transferred in, but I think this is Mathews' job to lose. Redding and Gonzalez will fight for a backup role, but Gonzalez has to stay healthy. Allen will probably have some role as a blocker.

OL - Lost Ali and Howerton. Added Condon (tied with Osborne as our highest rated OL recruit) and Bissinger (who would be around the Sparks/Waller level as OK recruits), Waller and Larson who would be a step lower. Condon is a tackle, Bissinger a guard, and Hickman a center. Everyone else has shifted around all over the place. I *think* you are looking at Thomas - Bissinger - Hickman - Osborne - Condon, with Ike, Robinson, Sparks, Perdue, Ervin, Brooks, and Bryant in the next group. That said, I think part of the reason you saw Thomas at C for parts of the spring is that there really isn't another center in that group. So, maybe first string is Condon - Bissinger - Thomas - Osborne - Bryant, and second string is Robinson - Sparks - Hickman - Ervin - Perdue? That starting 5 actually has some nice potential and there are adequate depth pieces in the second group.


DE - Kept everyone, added Isiah Smith and Fite as a frosh and Abiara as a transfer. Abiara, transfer for UT interestingly enough is not our highest rated overall player - Samuels is slightly ahead of him, and he is about even with Isiah smith. Going into fall, it is probably Coxe and Paul (massive steps forward this spring) with Wiley and Samuels backing them up. I would expect massive pushes by both Smith and Abiara. My bet would be on Coxe and Paul starting and Samuels and Abiara backing up. I'm not sure if Aho ends up here or at DT, so he might be a 3rd down guy with Wiley as 3rd string.

DT - Starters are Levelston and Chatman. Newman and Jackson (looked great in the spring) backing up. I bet those are your 2 deep. 3rd string is probably Wright and Frazier, hoping Wright gets healthy. I wouldn't be surprised to see a transfer come in here if they don't have faith in Wright.

LB - Massive upgrades with Burns, Reid, Kelley, and Farrar coming in, who are the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 5th best LB recruits on the roster. Slade and Phillips will start. Reid will be second team. Keke Burns, Jaqwondis Burns, Farrar, and Sneed are going to battle for that open second string position and then 3rd string. Huge bump up on the roster.

CB - Lost Thursby who was a pretty highly rated recruit for us at corner. Added Davis and Lawton who are nice frosh recruits, and Kevaris Hall from Tulane who would be regarded as DITR, but still a higher rated recruit than Westfall, McMorris, and Johnson. Hall has good length, fits the system, and looked good as a true frosh for Tulane, but was injured last year. Westfall and Johnson won the starting spots in the spring with McMorris and Rogers backing them up. Johnson is a great fit for the system, so I think he will start, and McMorris, Westfall, Rogers, and Hall will battle it out for the second spot (If Hall is healthy). Davis and Lawton both have a ton of promise and were much higher rated recruits than anyone outside of Rogers, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them push for a spot in the 2 deep and get time on teams.

S - bring in Goree and Moses as frosh, and Adimora and Roberts as transfers. Adimora is as highly rated as Calloway was, and the highest rated safety on the roster. Don't sleep on Roberts - he was as highly rated as Goree as a recruit. My guess is that Roberts ends up at the nickelback position. Starters here are Massey at the field spot and NWO as the boundary. Adimora will push NWO, and I would not be surprised if Goree or Moses are second string pretty quickly behind Massey because of the lack of speed from Clay, Cromartie, Roberson, and Taylor.

Nickelback - Crossley is the starter here. Clay was backing him up in the spring. Hall might have a run as a backup here, but my guess is going to be that the transfer Roberts ends up backing up Crossley.
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Re: Depth Chart coming out of Spring Practice

Postby Charleston Pony » Fri Jun 10, 2022 8:50 pm

Bottom line is that there is going to be healthy competition for playing time at most positions so that's an indication of how far this program has come
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Re: Depth Chart coming out of Spring Practice

Postby JasonB » Fri Jun 10, 2022 10:37 pm

Yes, the depth is amazing. There is a real opportunity for quite a swing defensively. Crossley+Massey+NWO/Adimora is such an upgraded secondary, it will go from a negative to one of the best in the conference in one season. Same with the speed and depth at LB.

Really OL is the big concern. Bryant can be solid, but struggles to stay healthy. Osborne I think will thrive in a new system. Hickman or Thomas at center I can live with.

I'm not sold on Bissinger at guard, because he never really held onto a starting position at UVA. Sparks has shown promise at guard at times, but then flatlines and drops off. Robinson saw time at Missou, but then never came close to playing last season.

At Virginia, Bissinger was rated by PFF with the worst grades of their OG. He wasn't good in the running game and was not quite adequate in pass protection. He had the third most snaps of their guards, but was a clear number 3. Ossinger was rated about the same as Bissinger, and both were significant dropoffs from where Howerton was.

Condon never grabbed a starting job, even though he had a shot at it going into 2020. Now, granted, he lost out to Warren McClendon, who got really nice grades from PFF. Owen was a 76 pass and a 51 run, and the chatter has been that he really lacks power in the run game. But honestly, he pretty much grades out the same as the rest of the SMU tackles... he is almost exactly where Beau Morris and M Bryant were last year for run blocking, but he was significantly better than Beau at PB (worse than MB, who was excellent at PB). JT grades better than all three in running, but only has an adequate grade in pass protection.

It is also important to note that Ali graded out as our second best OL, and was significantly better than Hickman, who has been forced to play too early in his career.

If 3 of Robinson/Bissinger/Condon/Hickman/Osborne can take a step forward and perform at the level of JT and MB, this team has the potential to actually be elite. But I think that it is equally likely that the OL struggles this year and holds the team back against some of the better teams.
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Re: Depth Chart coming out of Spring Practice

Postby ponyswim » Mon Jun 13, 2022 9:21 pm

One of my hopes for this team is that we have some people that positively respond to new strength coaches and assistant coaches and we will have some people blossom that did not under the old staff. The offensive line is one area that I would expect that this would happen.
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Re: Depth Chart coming out of Spring Practice

Postby JasonB » Tue Jun 14, 2022 8:29 am

ponyswim wrote:One of my hopes for this team is that we have some people that positively respond to new strength coaches and assistant coaches and we will have some people blossom that did not under the old staff. The offensive line is one area that I would expect that this would happen.


I think it is pretty clear at this point that the OL and OC were not great. Their scheme didn't benefit anyone. TM didn't throw deep because of the OC. Watching Howerton dominate at the Senior Bowl and his pro day, as well as the high transfer rating for Ali, were pretty strong indications that something wasn't right with how the OL was coached as well.
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Re: Depth Chart coming out of Spring Practice

Postby mtrout » Tue Jun 14, 2022 8:58 am

JasonB should be paid for a lot of his posts :)
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Re: Depth Chart coming out of Spring Practice

Postby Charleston Pony » Tue Jun 14, 2022 9:30 am

JasonB wrote:
ponyswim wrote:One of my hopes for this team is that we have some people that positively respond to new strength coaches and assistant coaches and we will have some people blossom that did not under the old staff. The offensive line is one area that I would expect that this would happen.


I think it is pretty clear at this point that the OL and OC were not great. Their scheme didn't benefit anyone. TM didn't throw deep because of the OC. Watching Howerton dominate at the Senior Bowl and his pro day, as well as the high transfer rating for Ali, were pretty strong indications that something wasn't right with how the OL was coached as well.


Well, Sonny thought highly enough of Riley and Ricker to hire them as OC/QB and Co-OC/OL coaches, respectively on his staff at TCU and as Co-OC I'm assuming Ricker got a nice raise to boot. I wouldn't be disappointed to see Sonny's move to cowtown end as a miserable failure but thinking short term, I just want to keep the win streak against the purple menace alive at Ford in 2022
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Re: Depth Chart coming out of Spring Practice

Postby ponyboy » Tue Jun 14, 2022 12:02 pm

It ought to be a highly charged atmosphere, a fun game.
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Re: Depth Chart coming out of Spring Practice

Postby peruna81 » Tue Jun 14, 2022 3:23 pm

SMU wins by double digits...and the heckling will be epic.

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Re: Depth Chart coming out of Spring Practice

Postby Terih36 » Wed Jun 15, 2022 4:00 pm

JasonB wrote:
ponyswim wrote:One of my hopes for this team is that we have some people that positively respond to new strength coaches and assistant coaches and we will have some people blossom that did not under the old staff. The offensive line is one area that I would expect that this would happen.


I think it is pretty clear at this point that the OL and OC were not great. Their scheme didn't benefit anyone. TM didn't throw deep because of the OC. Watching Howerton dominate at the Senior Bowl and his pro day, as well as the high transfer rating for Ali, were pretty strong indications that something wasn't right with how the OL was coached as well.



Ding, ding, ding!!!

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Re: Depth Chart coming out of Spring Practice

Postby Kevant103 » Thu Jun 23, 2022 1:47 pm

i think we are a bit weak at center so maybe these new recruits will help
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