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Just got done looking at the roster... here is a look at each position and then a final prediction on the season:

QB: bartel and Wallis, two redshirt frosh battle it out. Gilray and Hodges will get a red shirt year out of it. This is our trouble position. The guys might have talent, but we will have someone playing that has never played a down of college football. They also don't have any experienced QBs to help them out and teach them how to handle game situations. Huge problem area, not necessarily because of talent, but because of youth. Sure, Phillip Rivers had a great year at NC State as a frosh, but he also had some expereinced players helping him out.

RB: Not a lot of runningbacks on the roster, but some great players. Charles and Kincaid will play a lot, Barnett will probably be red-shirted (RB of the future, get two years of spacing between him and ShanD). This is NOT our problem.

FB: Not a lot of experience, but some good players. Will be interesting to see how Briggs looks here. Brown is a good player. Morris was highly regarded out of high school. Strong players, but not a whole lot of expereince at the position. Could go either way.

WR: We have a TON of recievers on the roster. I count 11, and they aren't walk-ons. Elliott and Francis should be red-shirted, just because of the numbers at this position. Cunningham and Ford start. Cardwell, Freeman off the bench. I wouldn't be surprised to see Freeman pushed back to RB because of the numbers out there. Taylor will back up the posession reciever (Ford). Nixon, Griffin, and Vinson were all promising coming out of high school. Better height this year, as even with Elliott red-shirting, we have 4 recievers that are 6-2 or taller. This would be a strength if we had a better QB situation.

TE: Again, a strength with Hampton, who is all world. Hrncir is an able backup. Darrin Johnson might play here, but might also split time between this and defensive end. Kennedy is probably red-shirted.

OL: At center, Chandler probably starts with Reindl backing him up. OT is Davis and Neal, with a true frosh in reserve. OG is between Hargis, Harris and Kieshnick, I would lean towards the first two players (expereince counts). So one at least true frosh is going to get some time as a backup, the rest are red-shirted (there are 7 total). Eidson might also get some time immediately as a long-snapper. The gray shirt, Hulsey smith has good size and might be the backup. I think that offensive line is a concern because it didn't realy gel until the end of last year. The line is not as big as last year's.

DL: This is odd because on the roster, two players, Croy and Walker are listed as nose guards. We might see some three-linemen, 4-backer sets due to our depth at linebacker, and lack of depth on the defensive line? Anyway, in the middle of the line it looks like a rotation between Walker, Croy, Adami and Birdwell. Denman will probably be redshirted, as will Jamar Bey. At defensive end, there is a lot of depth, but not a lot of stars. Williams was solid last year and should improve with more weight gain. Swoffard was highly regarded before he switched positions. With the switch, you would expect to see him out of the starting lineup. Dineen was highly regarted. Peterson is solid. Karrington and Rogers will probably both red-shirt here, and there are a handfull of other guys that wont play that much. Defensive tackle looks to be a solid position, but defensive end scares me a bit unless Pratt comes back.

LB: A ton of players, and one of our best positions once again. I would not be surprised to see the mustangs go with a four linebacker lineup every once in a while. Bichoff and James on the outside, with Viloria in the middle and DD Lee (who I think is going to be a GREAT player) is waiting in the wings. Stansbury has good bloodlines at least . DD Johnson, Justin Wiliams and BJ Williams are all strong players. Carrington and Horton will be red-shirted. This is obviously a strength of the team.

CB: A TON of depth here. Expect the frosh to be red-shirted, unless harper plays QB. Gilmore will need a redshirt because of his knee. Garnett and Rutledge are one of the finest corner pairs in the country. Medlock and Orr back them up, and Rushbrook comes back into the picture as well. Expect him to come in before Orr does. 4 players red-shirt here.

S: Is it just me, or do we have a ton of outstanding strong safteys, and a lot of weaker free safteys? Strong saftey is a toss-up between Nnabuife, Price, and Harris. I personally like Price. Free saftey has moodley starting in front of Godfrey and Briggs. I wonder if Harris and Price would be able to play together back there? Anyway, the frosh redshirt, Hunt and James.

Kickers: McMurtray and Mentzel. Lots of potential, but we have a kicking game where nobody has game expereince. Especially punter, where you could have a true frosh center snapping to a true frosh punter, which could be a disaster.

Overall, I would say that you can look for our quarterback play and kicking game to let us down this year. Wide recievers and runningbacks are fine, offensive line is a little weak, but will probably be adequate, especially for the wac season (they may get killed against Tech though). Defensive line is a little weak, but our strength at linebacker will make up for that some. We will struggle putting presure on the quarterback unless we blitz linebackers; luckily we have a pair of very good cornerbacks. Free saftey is also a problem, and we will be beat over the top a few times.

I would look for a losing season, unfortunately. The navy game SHOULD be easy, but we are starting a QB playing his first college game, which is always an iffy proposition. Hopefully we can sustain the running game (which we have done in the past against Navy). Tech, TCU, OK St., Hawaii, Fresno are losses. We will have trouble keeping up with L. Tech offensively. We should EXPECT 4 wins, and anything less would be really bad. A 7-5 or 8-4 season would be outstanding by Bennett. A 5-7 season is a realistic expectation. Next year, however, I think the Ponies will do EXTREMELY well.

Who in the hell are you? Your negative comments about some of the players serves no good purpose at all -- especially since the players all read this board. So, to sum up, nobody cares what you predict!

50's Pony

I care what JasonB has to say. He earned the right to say it, because I believe he played for the Ponies. I saw nothing negative about any specific players other than inexperience. As he pointed out, OL and QB are areas of concern this year.

Get off your high horse. Former players earned the right to critique the team.

JasonB,

you have pretty strong arguments with regards to the team, but I think if the run game is successful it could take alot of pressure off of the qb and you might be surprised with the passing game. I do disagree with Ford starting at receiver. I think if he worked as hard at receiving as he did making his uniform look good he might be ok. I have yet to see why this kid is a starter. He has shown nothing to make me think that Cardwell, Taylor, Griffin, or Vinson shouldn't start in front of him. And I think your O line is the biggest weakness not the qb. The qb's backside of the line is gone with McCarthy and Slaten. If I were the qb I'd watch my back.

I think JasonB is right on with his analysis at QB. He doesn't say anything derogatory about that position except for their lack of experience. Personally, I’m delighted to have some QBs that can see over the line of scrimmage. I’m pretty sure we have talent at that position now, so I expect to see flashes of brilliance... but I also expect to see a lack of consistency and some rookie mistakes. And those who have been to the games over the last few seasons have seen how a couple of mistakes can quickly take you out of a game.

Just A Friend,

I like Billy Ford as the starter opposite Comet. Pretty or not, Ford is a big tough receiver. Maybe he’s not lightening fast, but a can catch (as compared to Freeman who is lightening fast but can’t catch). And I’ll have to turn your argument against you and point out that thus far Taylor, Griffin and Vinson have done nothing to make me think they should start in front of Ford. Plus, Ford is (literally) half a foot taller than Cardwell, Griffin and Vinson. Start Ford and let him rattle a few opposing CBs jaws for a quarter or two. Maybe he’ll make things easier on Cardwell, Griffin and Taylor when they come in.

50's Pony, I am sorry if I upset you. I love the Mustangs (just spent all last night updating the roster on NCAA football 2003). When I was studying the roster, I decided to write this up .

JustAFriend, I agree with you about Ford; I don't think he is the greatest reciever, but he gives us some height. Maybe Taylor can beat him out in fall practice, but right now he is the starter at one receiver. The other guys are smaller guys like Cunningham.

Just to summerize, I think that this is the first time in a long while that the Ponies have some real playmakers on the team: Rutledge, Garrett, Comet, and ShanD. I think our defense is going to be our strongpoint, with oustanding CBs and I think that our linebackers can make up for a weakness at DE. Offensively is another story. Some teams we will be able to run all over (potentially Navy). We have good players at all skill positions, but are incredibly young at QB. The O-line is a big question mark.

I just don't think you can count on a lot of wins, against quality opponents like Tech or games on the road, with QBs and players in the kicking game who have never played a college game. Heck, Bennett is a great coach and might be able to put things together. Bartel might have found maturity in the minors and may be able to cope with the pressuere pretty well. But going into the year, I think we have to look at this season as a growing season and that a 4 or a 5 win season is possible. On the other board, people are expecting a 7 or 8 win season, and with an inexperienced QB and kicking game, that is just an unrealistic expectation. The talent is there, I believe, but expecting those kids to perform at a high level with no experience is just setting yourself up for a letdown.

I'll be at the games regardless and am looking forward to the kids growing up as the season goes on, Shan D exploding, and the defense playing great. Go Stangs!

Just for information purposes only, Billy Ford is not playing a wideout position. He is a u-back, or tight end. To be used in two TE sets. He is notr competing with Taylor, Nixon,Rutledge,Cardwell,Comet,Freeman,Vincent, or any others I can't think of right off hand that play wideout. He is weighing 243lb. and cannot run with the big boys.

Not so fast my friends!

Since when did Sterling Harris become a guard? He's a tackle all the way. And I was under the impression that Townsend Hargis also was working as a tackle. Are they bumping him back inside to guard? From everything I've seen, he has the talent to play either one, but I'd been under the impression that he was working at tackle.

I like your idea of bumping Freeman back to tailback, but how many carries will he get? ShanD and Keylon Kincade are going to get 90 percent of the carries this year. Freeman's biggest impact might be if they throw him back there with Jonas returning kicks. With his speed, there's always a chance he could break a long one - all the way to the end zone.

Surprise offensive threat this year: Cedric Vinson

Current starters in the OL from left to right: Davis, Hargis, Chandler, Hargis, and Harris. Backups are: Reindl, Smith, and Neal. Ford is a TE and HBack (UBack?. Ford,
Hampton, and Hrncir will be TEs and play some double TE sets.

[This message has been edited by Mickey (edited 07-26-2002).]

Ford is back at TE? Double tight end sets? I like the running game, but normally in a double TE set, your TE are blockers, right? Can Ford block well? Or is he second string recieving tight end behind Hampton? It sounds like Taylor will have the first step on the tall reciever slot....

I think that's just as well. Taylor has all the tools to be a great threat. He will certainly be one to watch this year. If said young qb's can get him the ball. But I just dont see Ford being an offensive threat. Even if you can catch you still have to get open, and I dont see his ability to do that.

Yeah Mickey, I should have said H-Back instead od U-Back. Ford is an H-Back/TE. I think All of the receivers will be OK. Wallis seems to be able get the ball to them pretty well. I think we're going to be fine this fall. I think Coach Bennett has them pumped up. They may not win it all, but I think they will give it all they've got.

Exactly how many games that Ford has played in have you watched JustAfriend? If you haven't watched any, then you really are in no position to say what you have said. Speed is not the only mechanism for getting open. Cardwell isn't all that fast either, but has the knack for getting open. Ford was at the receiving end of a pass for the first touchdown in Ford Stadium and he has had many other great plays. He has the size, experience, smarts and toughness to be a great receiver. In other words, he deserves to be a starter. Taylor will get plenty of playing time too, not to worry.

Mickey, I'm curious. I know Townsend Hargis is a talented player. But if he's able to start at BOTH guard positions and live through the season (not to mention avoid tripping over Chandler and avoid getting our QB and RBs killed), then he should get the Lombardi Award and the Outland Trophy immediately.

Did you mean Keischnick at one of the starting guard spots, perhaps?

JB- Ford is back at TE. Double TE sets will probably be Hampton and Hrncir on blocking schemes. Ford will play a lot of HBack and go in motion to lead block and for passing situations. Ford is extremely fast for a TE, and it will be tough to match up with him.

Hoofprint: No, I meant the starting OL will be Davis, Chandler, Davis, Chandler and Davis. Just kidding. You are correct, the starting guards as of now are Kieschnick and Hargis. OL from L to R: Davis, Kieschnick, Chandler, Hargis, and Harris. This will probably change by the first game.

Thanks for pointing ouy the typo. Hargis is good but he aint good enough to play both guard positions at the same time.