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Every single player we graduate will actually be replaced by a player who was higher regarded by recruiting services...

Robinson, Grenier, Hunt, Davis, Pittman, Davis, Reed, Rogers, Mcjunkin, Line, and Smith were all diamonds in the rough and are being replaced by players rated significantly better by recruiting services.

Free and Collins had sniffs at OL from other program, but we have 7 linemen who were better regarded.

Johnson obviously had a lot of interest at WR, but Sims and Guinyard had more.

Fuller was a decent recruit, but Lagasse and Stewart were highly regarded.

Loftin was liked by ESPN, but Ace and JJ were more highly rated across the services.

The seniors did a fantastic job, but this should be the season a lot of our highly rated recruits from the last three years start making their names heard.

I realize there is a lot of concern around the current recruiting class, but we should see the benefits of the last three classes next season.

I was more worried about this year and replacing receivers, Oline, D lineman and safety than I am about replacing this years seniors. Obviously some positions will be tough to replace (example, Hunt) but overall I feel we will have some better athletes and more depth than in the past.

Guinyard was highly regarded before he got hurt his senior year. How he is regarded now is anyone's guess. I know DJ thinks he can play amd that should count for something.

I'm most concerned about replacing Free, Collins and McJunkin. Coach Palcic did a great job piecing together a line after the 5 seniors graduated last year, but next year he doesn't have seniors coming out of the bullpen. Lowe will be a senior but hasn't played in a couple of years. Not sure who else is in the mix.

At WR, I assume Jeremy Johnson and Der'Rikk Thompson start, joined by ... Keenan Holman and Darius Joseph? I was all fired up about Joseph after his performance in the Tulane game, but he didn't play much after that. Hopefully he gets a chance next year, or in the spring.

On the defensive line ... time Zach Wood, Darrian Wright and Beau Barnes to step up big, and we really need to develop some depth there.

I'll be most interested to see if Preston can replace Zach, for a number of reasons.

And I'm told there's a third Line...

I've been trying to say all season what JasonB posted here at the start of this thread. We are upgrading in talent and potential in a lot of places. Remember that all of these star WRs from the last 3-4 years, for example, had no real high school resume to brag about AS WRs (Beasley was a converted QB as is JJ, Thompson didn't play much his senior year if at all due to injury, DJ3 didn't have huge numbers in HS and even ES didn't have crazy numbers in high school - these were all diamonds in the rough that got developed once they came here . . . imagine if they had a few years of experience at WR BEFORE coming here, like Taylor and Gaines coming in will). Actually, the only guys with decent resumes off the top of my head are the ones who are going to be studs for us this coming year most likely (Acker, Sanders, JR Richardson, etc).

Anyway, now, "potential" doesn't guarantee anything and all of these guys have to prove it on the field. Guys like Lincoln Richards, JR Richardson, he who shall not be named, etc.

Then you have the guys who have potential to be all world this year (heavily recruited guys who have the measurables) like GG, Traylon Shead, Lowe. We have NEVER had that caliber of athlete (and sheer NUMBER of these guys) post-DP. Take GG for example. He's definitely not probably a 5 star type guy but he's a superior athlete to most of our CUSA/MWC level competition (I'd even throw in your mid tier Big12 talent as well). You saw what he could do with his legs alone. We'll have another one in Shead and, I'm expecting, Lowe as well.

So, anyway, there is A LOT to be excited about. I, like most of us, don't expect us to win the NC next year but we DO want us to be competitive against the Baylors and TTs of the world (and beat TCU) and take care of business against the rest of the schedule (no more Tulane and Rice games and play a team like UCF much much closer and expect a win, etc).

Bottom line, 2012 was very disappointing for me but ended on an awesome note. My expectation going into 2013 is the same it was going into 2012: beat the teams you should beat, upset 1-2 (TCU and Baylor), have a crack at the conference championship, and have a top 30 recruiting class. Do that, and I'll be very happy. Do it not, and I'll be very frustrated. Barely have a winning record and win your bowl in a blowout, I'll be happy but still frustrated (a top recruiting class will help me be less frustrated though).

Don't forget Pittman -- a very good player who is usually overlooked, but was a force in the middle and let the rest of the D work.

leopold wrote:I'll be most interested to see if Preston can replace Zach, for a number of reasons.

And I'm told there's a third Line...

Yup. Ben Line plays RB and LB, just like his brothers.

I say offer everyone in that family!

DJ3 was very good in high school. I remember Stallion raving about him when he committed.

mustangxc wrote:DJ3 was very good in high school. I remember Stallion raving about him when he committed.

He had a good HS career, and made some big plays in big games like he did here, but his numbers weren't all world.

Regarding Prescott Line, if he beats Traylon Shead to become the starter at any point over the next 2 years he will be a very bad man and could be better than his brother. I don't expect that to happen, though.

mustangxc wrote:DJ3 was very good in high school. I remember Stallion raving about him when he committed.

He was a good high school player, but it wasn't until his school's playoff run that DJ went on a rampage and began catching everyone's eye.

He had one of the Best years of any receiver in Texas 5A and would have been the 5A Championship MVP if his team had won.

Last year I put together a spreadsheet looking at the Roster in order to see where the experience gaps would be. I included the Rivals Star rating as a possible mitigating factor for a gap in experience. At many positions, they provide a visual representation that backs up JasonB's assertion.

http://www.learnoutsidethebook.com/2012%20defense%20roster%20analysis.htm
http://www.learnoutsidethebook.com/2012%20offense%20roster%20analysis.htm

I recognize that these haven't been updated in quite some time, and I apologize for any player names that have been misspelled. Also, the formatting was just a straight save from excel, so it's not much of a web-page, but then again, you get what you pay for.

It sucks to lose experience, but there's a lot of hope in the potential out there.

-CoS

If the guys in waiting were as good as their "rivals rating" indicated, my guess is that they would already be seeing significant playing time and coaches would find a way to get them on the field.

When you get to 2 & 3 start players, it probably gets to be a bit of a crap shoot and how well they develop once in school.

I will hold this team at "CCC" status (see S&P for scaling definition) until something tells me otherwise. We just lost a lot of really good players and still have no receivers.

I would expect Jones at this stage of his SMU career to be able to replace outgoing seniors with better raw talent. I honestly don't know if this is the case though.