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Published: 3-10-13

"Sports Illustrated's Zac Ellis posted a preview for each school in the conference formerly known as the Big East last week. Ellis posed a "burning question" that each program needs to answer in the next few weeks if it hopes to find success in 2013.

Not surprisingly, Ellis put the spotlight squaring on Garrett Gilbert's shoulders when it came to SMU."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/colleg ... n-2013.ece

I'm not as concerned about Gilbert this year. He has had a year to learn the JJ offense and he made big improvement through the season. And he was learning with a brand O line. His ability to run will put some new pressure on Ds. I think the D line will be a bigger issue overall.

the biggest question mark? I wouldn't think so in terms of who are you the more unsure about. But if you are asking who is capable of turning an ok or good season into a great one- surely it is gilbert.

The o-line and WRs are bigger question marks than Gilbert. Gilbert's biggest problem last year was that he was being used improperly.

Absolutely, GG is the key to a good season and another bowl. Others need to step up surely, but he is the key to unlocking this struggling offense. And JJ knows that.

So many other positions come to my mind before Gilbert's....Wide Receivers, Secondary, D-Line and perhaps RB as well, though I think Shead will end up shining.... Not saying GG had an amazing season or anything, but he played for the most part a hell of a lot more consistently than the receiving corp... hard for him to do his job well if they can't do theirs.

I'm not so concerned about running back. We have some solid players, a couple of younger guys with some real ability and Snead transferring in.

Last year, I thought our OL was really young, but in fact we graduated Collins, Free, and McJunkin. So there may be as many question marks on the OL as last year.

As a whole, the WRs were a disappointment last year. The only returning WR I think has earned a starting spot is Jeremy Johnson. Interested to see what we have in Darius Joseph. Also interested to see what a slimmed down Arrius Holleman can do.

Man, I'd love to have had another year out of Fuller. That kid could play.

The real question mark is how many losses has jj penciled in already?

redpony wrote:The real question mark is how many losses has jj penciled in already?

I don't know, but maybe we can "steal one on the road" at Memphis.

My concerns:

1. Offensive line
2. Receivers
3. Defensive line
4. Long snapper

You might to also want to add special teams -esp. kicking.

They can be improved, sure, but those other areas are of bigger concern to me.

redpony wrote:The real question mark is how many losses has jj penciled in already?

Actually, the real question is when you're going to come up with some new material. It's getting very, very old.

The truth hurts. It is very clear that June's staff picks and chooses which games to emphasize in their game planning and which ones they are simply hoping to "steal" but would just as well write off. Mason said on The Climb that they decided it wasn't even "worth it" to prepare for Navy two years ago because they run such an unusual, rare system. Clearly our first non-conference games aren't "worth it" either because we always come out looking green and terrible. Give June a month in Hawaii, his team is prepared, executuon is planned and the team going on all cylinders; give June eight months in Dallas, the opposite. We joke about "penciling losses" so much, because it is a freaking joke that June doesn't think we should out-right have a good chance to beat every conference team on his schedule. It's a joke we schedule former rivals as non-conference games and come out looking like we didn't give the game a second thought. It's becoming depressing and absolutely saps any enthusiasm for traveling to away games knowing we are simply trying to "steal" a win. Barf.