2013 Depth Projection

[ojaipony]

What about the defensive side of the football? Losing quite a few starters.

That's a bit trickier IMHO. I'm concerned about the interior. Sanders, Rambo, and Wright should be solid. Depth in the defensive backfield. But outside of Holloway, I don't know who plays on the edges on the DE (maybe Cameron Smith, Robert Seals, Lincoln Richards seems like huge potential but at OLB) . . . Zach Wood is a good depth guy, too small for a starter IMHO. So biggest issue on the whole team is who is the starting DE opposite Holloway and who is the other interior LB next to Rambo (and depth along the Dline and LB generally).

[bigstangsfan]

What is your love fest for Holloway? Hasn't played for almost two years. Z Wood and B Barnes will go into Spring as starters. Z Wood is 6' 3" and his weight will range from 265-275. Barnes is around 6' 4" and weighs between 255-265. Have you even seen the current DL in person? You have ran these two guys down from previous threads and I am not sure what you base your IMHO on.

[DallasDiehard]

My guesses (going in to spring ... who knows about next year):

QB: Gilbert, Burcham
RB: Shead, Wimbley
LT: Gottschalk, Weeks
LG: Chamagua, Briggs
C: Lasecki, Duhe
RG: Rice, Chamagua
RT: Lowe, Myers
WR: Thompson, Stewart
WR: J. Johnson, Nelsom
WR: Joseph, Walker
WR: Holman, Dieter

DE: Barnes, Smith
NT: Wright, Reed
DE: Wood, McCleneghen
LB: Sanders, Richard
LB: Seals, Longoria
LB: Pope, Henderson
LB: Joyner, Yenga
CB: Acker, Montes
CB: J.R. Richardson, Parks
S: Randolph, Greenbauer
S: Scott, Gray

K: Hover
P: Loftus
KR: J.R. Richardson
PR: Stewart

[ponyinNC]

I think Yenga will be a stud.

[Charleston Pony]

Looks like we'll have an additional JUCO lineman to factor into the mix.

What's the deal with Lowe? I've seen some posts on here that indicate he is a total zero, and I've seen others that indicate he may be the second coming of Orlando Pace. Is there a consensus?

Also, receiver worries me. They held Gilbert back this year. Gilbert clearly improved as the season went on. But if we could get some receivers that can actually catch the ball, he'd look like Joe Montana. Definitely need to see improvement in the receiver corps.

Lowe ended up being ineligible this year - found out late - I don't know the details. I've seen pictures of him and he looks like he's really leaned out. Unfortunately, he'll just have 1 year left I think. My gut tells me the guy will start and do really well.

Receivers - we need to rotate in several guys unless we find a good rhythm. Jeremy Johnson showed me that he's the only real starter out there coming back (wish he was about 4 inches taller and about 20 pounds heavier but he looks sometimes like Beasley and I'll take it). Darius Joseph showed some signs, definitely has some toughness. Stewart has potential. Start Deiter (big target that will compete, has good fundamentals - pure receiver). I think we need to replace Thompson (rotate him in for the occasional deep ball and definitely keep him on kickoffs and maybe punt returns). So DJ replaces DJ, Dieter replaces Holman, maybe Stewart replaces Thompson although I'm guessing they want Stewart in the slot. Then there's Gaines and Taylor coming in who both probably have the skills to play right away (Gaines certainly has the size).

Wish I could agree about Gilbert, but in the games I've watched, he has been really inaccurate and DJ in particular has bailed him out on several occasions with acrobatic catches

[giacfsp]

GG hasn't thrown an interception in five games. His accuracy has been a lot better lately.

[ClickClack]

GG hasn't thrown an interception in five games. His accuracy has been a lot better lately.

Have you watched the games or just looked at the stats? He hasn't thrown an INT in 5 games because he is so terrified of turning it over like he did the first half of the season....he will not attempt to make good throws in tight spaces, his throws are innacurate and he over throws the long ball bc he is scared of it getting picked.

[PSCA]

I’ve been to all the games and have watched on my recordings many times, and IMO GG has indeed improved. Went down the field a few times in the Tulsa game, first play of the game in fact … slightly over thrown. The TD pass to Thompson (I think #7), in the southeast corner of the end zone (about 35-40yd corner post) was a thing of beauty … I’m talking major league throw. Threaded it between two defenders and put it on the outside about face-mask level. Receivers have to get open deep and create separation first … and that is what I think GG has improved on also … his decisions.

[Lotus]

I only made it to six games (made it up for 5 home games plus the Baylor game), and it's night and day from the start of the season to now. Gilbert looked lost at the start of the season but seems far more comfortable now. His improved running seems to have helped his comfort level but he is also making much better decisions when throwing the ball ... Or tucking it and taking off.

[JasonB]

What is your love fest for Holloway? Hasn't played for almost two years. Z Wood and B Barnes will go into Spring as starters. Z Wood is 6' 3" and his weight will range from 265-275. Barnes is around 6' 4" and weighs between 255-265. Have you even seen the current DL in person? You have ran these two guys down from previous threads and I am not sure what you base your IMHO on.

I think that Wood has potential and Mason raves about the depth on the DL, but to the other person's point, 255-265 is small for a 3-4 DE. You want players that occupy the linemen so that the LBs can make plays. I think Wood is going to end up at a nice size by Spring/Fall.

[JasonB]

I only made it to six games (made it up for 5 home games plus the Baylor game), and it's night and day from the start of the season to now. Gilbert looked lost at the start of the season but seems far more comfortable now. His improved running seems to have helped his comfort level but he is also making much better decisions when throwing the ball ... Or tucking it and taking off.

I think this bowl game will be really interesting to watch for GG. We know that he has a terrific work ethic. He will watch a ton of film and come out and play really well. I know that in the Army game, KP fractured his finger on one of the first plays of the game, but in the other two bowls, the QBs came out prepared and played much better than they had during the end of the season.

[Lotus]

Wasn't Padron also playing on a jacked up ankle?
Hope you're right.

[PerunaPunch]

I think he either jacked it up at the conference championship game in Orlando that year or he reagrivated an existing injury there because he was noticeably hobbled from then on.

[ojaipony]

What is your love fest for Holloway? Hasn't played for almost two years. Z Wood and B Barnes will go into Spring as starters. Z Wood is 6' 3" and his weight will range from 265-275. Barnes is around 6' 4" and weighs between 255-265. Have you even seen the current DL in person? You have ran these two guys down from previous threads and I am not sure what you base your IMHO on.

It's called talent. Nothing personal against Barnes and Wood. They are good backups but they are definitely not D1 starters (maybe Wood has some upside, I don't know, but I wouldn't feel comfortable at all with him as the starter). Holloway is the real deal. I saw him play in high school. 6'5", 270 and a 4.6 40. We haven't seen anything like him here in a long time. Fathers of other players who know him well told me he is a legit NFL prospect. Mason said in his senior year in high school that he was the best defensive athlete we had . . . WHEN HE WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL, he was already our most talented defensive athlete (having seen him play in person I would agree). Now, I'm sure he will be very rusty and has a ways to go during the spring and summer. And If he's a bust, I'll gladly eat crow. You have to remember that UCLA had him, he was even enrolled but had some kind of transcript issue and transferred back here.

All I said was that he'd be the starter. There's no lovefest. I just think he is a very talented, good kid that I saw play in high school. Sorry, I didn't know we couldn't praise kids we think will do well here and are proud to have them here. I could say the same about Dieter, Sanders, Acker, Shead, etc etc .... top tier athletes SMU hasn't had since the death penalty . . . I also think Richards and Stewart could fit into that category as well (perhaps also Gaines and Taylor).

[Stallion]

"You have to remember that UCLA had him, he was even enrolled but had some kind of transcript issue and transferred back here."

Man you are mixing things up. He never was involved with UCLA. He only played 2 years of high school football and will have missed 3 years of football before getting on the field. Nobody transferred back from UCLA. We had an OLM Darryl Jackson that decommitted from SMU and tried to go to UCLA after not being he admitted to SMU-but he was never actually admitted to UCLA either and after JUCO he went to Oregon St where he never played a game because of a high school injury and had to give up football.