jc500 hereby issues the following BINDING DECREES...

[jc500]

Gents,

Hoops is normally my domain, but last year's football season has made it abundantly clear that jc500's involvement with the football program is SORELY NEEDED. My knowledge base, however, is a little depleted.

Having said that, jc500 DEMANDS to know whether the reports on Jessie Henderson's 4.25 speed are legit. Are they? Also, does anyone forsee this young man as the recruit that will turn the tide for the Ponies? What are the implications of JH's late-season injury this past year?

Additionally, can someone assess the talent level of this year's offensive and defensive linemen.

Sheep, it is my binding decree that anyone with information relevant to the above questions should respond to this post immediately.

Yours truly,
The Shepard

[ponyboy]

If you like sheep, you gotta get over to the TCU board.

[PerunaPunch]

Jessie's 4.25 is legit. I believe he ran that at the Nike Camp (or one of the other 3rd party camps where they have no reason to artificially inflate a kid's stats). Coach Bennett has said that Henderson is the fastest player he's ever coached, which is impressive since that list obviously includes speedsters Terrance Newman and Kevin Garrett. Newman is the only football player who Bennett has seen run a 4.3. Henderson is nearly that fast on wet grass. For all that, it's way to early to think that Henderson is the second coming of Doak or Dickerson. He's very small, and there's no guarantee that his speed and elusiveness will keep him as productive on the college level as he was in high school. But Henderson can be EXTREMELY dangerous in a number of capacities – both out of the backfield and as a receiver.

I don't see how we can't be much improved at DL this year. We're returning all our starters from last year (with the exception of Stansbury moving to LB). Adami is healthy, and a year more experienced. Jones and Bonds are bigger, in better shape, and should make huge improvements from being thrown to the wolves as true freshmen. We're also bigger, deeper and more experienced at DE.

On the OL we're bigger, stronger and more athletic. We're not as experienced, which could lead to some miscues, but I think this OL has the ability to move the line of scrimmage forward against WAC competition, which you really couldn't say for the last couple of years. I'm reserving my opinion on pass blocking for now, but I think we're pretty solid in the middle. If you can shut down the middle rush and force it outside, at least that buys you a second or two. Coach V. is the right man for the job. The OL will be better coached and HIGHLY motivated. With Coach V. at the helm, the OL could grow into a great unit in the next few years.

[WildHorse]

I agree with much of what you say. Jessie Henderson might be tiny, but you can't hurt what you can't catch. And the little bit of reading I've found on him suggests that he's really strong and durable for a guy his size. He might survive better than we think. After all, he's faster than Blake Warren, and he's still alive.

The defensive line should be better, but the DE spots still concern me. I think the starters, Melvin Williams and Justin Rogers, have ability and the desire to be successful. I don't know that we've unearthed another Luke Johnson in either one, but they're not pushovers. Backups Dominic Pryor and Jamar Bey are tall, have long arms and can fly -- but they're too thin and I fear might get shoved around. Charlie Berry is coming off an injury, and the freshman, Kyle Griffin, is light and inexperienced (obviously). I think many of these guys can play, but we need more depth, especially if we're playing DEs who are so light they get thrown around and need a breather more often than larger DEs who can hold their own, play in and play out.

With that said, I do like the DT rotation more than I did last year, simply because Desmond Jones and Brandon Bonds aren't unknowns anymore. They should take some of the heat off Adami this year, and I see #14 going out in style, with a huge senior year.