DiderotsGhost
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As I'm anxiously awaiting the season, it's time for my second season preview post. Let's take a look at our position groups and how they rate overall. Once again, this is simply my completely worthless opinion. Would love to hear everyone else's completely worthelss takes, as well. 
GBO!
Quarterbacks
Starter: B+ / A-
Backups: A
Key Players
Josh Dobbs, starter
Quintin Dormady, 2nd string
Jarrett Guarantano
Sheriron Jones
In terms of running abilities, intelligence, and intangibles, there aren't many QBs in college football that compare to Josh Dobbs. At the same time, we know he has struggled at times with passing accuracy. Yet, he showed flashes of brilliance. He was very streaky passer, who seemed to either be "on fire!" (to use NBA Jam terminology) or "ice cold." Similar to Chad Kelly at Ole Miss (another top QB in the SEC), what Dobbs lacked last year was consistency. If he could become more consistent, he has the potential to be one of the best QBs in college football this year. Right now, I'd rate Dobbs as a "B+", but if we see improvement and more consistency in the passing game, then that easily could jump up to a A.
As for our backups, remember a few years ago when we had zero depth at starting QB and an injury to our starter meant disaster? How times have changed; I think you can argue we have one of the best backup situations in all of college football now. Quinten Dormady, Sherion Jones, and Jarrett Guarantano have all looked pretty good from what we've seen of them. Obviously, we hope Dobbs stays healthy this season and has great success, but its at least comforting to know that if something were to happen, we have multiple guys who could step in and still win games for us. For that reason, I rate our backup situation an A, as I dont think there are many teams with as much depth at QB as us.
Running Backs
Starters: A
Backups: C+
Key Players
Jalen Hurd, starter
Alvin Kamara, starter / backup
John Kelly
Carlin Fils-Aime (currently injured)
Don't need to spend too much time explaining why the two-headed monster of Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara is one of the best backfields in America. Aside from maybe Georgia and LSU, there aren't too many teams in America that wouldn't trade their backfield for ours. I don't have any concerns about Hurd and Kamara as long as they stay healthy.
I'm still not sold on our backup situation at RB, however. John Kelly has looked good in his moments on the field, but it's quite different running during "garbage time" than it is carrying the rock 20+ times per game against top quality defenses. Hopefully Kelly lives up to the billing, but behind him, we still have a lot of question marks.
Carlin Fils-Aime(currently injured) could prove to be a very solid RB, but he is a true Freshman, and we just don't know how he'll pan out yet. I wouldnt call our backups weak so much as untested. I also think we lack the depth we need at this position. Until proven otherwise, I'm rating our backups a C+, but hope to be pleasantly surprised here.
Wide Receivers
Starters: B+
Backups: B-
Key Players
Josh Malone
Josh Smith
Preston Williams
Jauan Jennings
Marquez Callaway
Tyler Byrd
Jeff George
If there was one group we thought would be world-beaters a few years back, it was our WR corps. They haven't lived up to the billing thus far, but we've also had a ton of injuries. Right now, Josh Smith, Josh Malone, and Preston Williams are projected as our starters, with Jauan Jennings, Marquez Callaway, and Tyler Byrd listed as backups. Our starters are pretty solid overall, but our backups include two true Freshmen who are untested. Early results for the new guys look promising, but difficult to say how they will pan out before seeing them on the field. For now, I say "B+" for starters and "B-" for backups. I particularly think Callaway and Byrd show a lot of promise, but we haven't seen them on the field yet, so we have to count them as "question marks" until proven otherwise.
Tight Ends
Starters: A-
Backups: B-
Key Players
Ethan Wolf
Jason Croom
Devante Brooks
Jakob Johnson
Austin Pope
Eli Wolf
We have Ethan Wolf returning as starter which is great. While Jason Croom is listed as a backup, Id consider him a starter in our offense, which will often utilize two TEs. Wolf and Croom will make a good starting duo.
As for our backup situation, we have a lot of options: Jakob Johnson, Eli Wolf, Devante Brooks, and Austin Pope are all currently listed as TEs. We dont have a sure-fire guy in that group, but I have to think at least one or two of those guys pans out pretty well. For now, well say B-.
Offensive Line
Starters: B+ (w/o Hall) / A- (w/ Hall)
Backups: B+
Key Players
Jashon Robertson
Coleman Thomas
Chance Hall (currently injured)
Drew Richmond
Venzell Boulware
Brett Kendrick
Jack Jones
Ryan Johnson
Dylan Weisman
Marcus Tatum
Nathan Niehaus (redshirt)
Our O-line looked spectacular at the end of last year. It was very satisfying after suffering through a few years of NegaVols on this board trashing our O-line at every opportunity to see them exceed expectations. Mahoney has proved himself though with the success at the end of last season. Now it's time to build on that.
The good news this preseason is that we haven't had a lot of bad injuries like we did last year. The bad news is that the one big injury we do have is at Offensive Tackle. Chance Hall was really one of our most impressive Freshmen last year. I don't think anyone could've predicted he would've played so well so early. Losing Hall is the only reason I'm rating our starting O-line as a "B+" rather than an "A-". The good news is that Hall is expected to be back sometime around early October.
Nevertheless, we're still returning a lot of talent on an O-line that jelled at the end of the season. Slated as starters right now are Coleman Thomas, Brett Kendrick, 5-star recruit Drew Richmond, Dylan Weisman, and Jashon Robertson. Backups include Jack Jones, Venzell Boulware, Dylan Weisman, and Marcus Tatum. We also have several developmental guys such as Nathan Niehaus who look promising, but will probably not see any action this year.
Overall, our starters are solid, but we could still use more depth. Nevertheless, we're in much better shape on the depth-front now than we have been the past few seasons. I'll give our backups a "B+
Defensive Line
Starters: A
Backups: A+
Key Players
Derek Barnett
Corey Vereen
Kendal Vickers
Danny O'Brien
Kahlil McKenzie
Shy Tuttle
Jonathan Kongbo
Kyle Phillips
Alexis Johnson
Darrell Taylor
Andrew Butcher
Quay Picou
Dimarya Mixon
Our D-line is a certifiable Murderer's Row. The fact that Kahlil McKenzie, Shy Tuttle, and Jonathan Kongbo are officially listed as "back-ups" should tell you something about how good this group is right now. There are many teams (even in the SEC) that would kill to have those three guys mentioned above as starters.
Derek Barnett is one of the best DEs in all of CFB. Corey Vereen is very underrated on the other side of the line, as well. We have Danny O'Brien and Kendall Vickers manning the middle as starters, as well. There aren't too many teams in CFB than say they have our combination of talent and depth at D-line, so this is a real strength for this team.
Where this becomes even more ridiculous is when you start looking at our third string. It's insane to think that Darrell Taylor and Kyle Phillips might be part of our "third string" right now. That's not a knock on those guys. Darrell Taylor is one of the most athletic and promising DEs in the nation. Kyle Phillips has immense promise and could probably step into a starting position at many good programs. I'd take our "3rd string" at D-line over many programs' 1st string.
We also have Alexis Johnson and Andrew Butcher. The amount of depth we have at D-line is simply astounding! I wouldnt trade our D-line group for any in the country right now.
Linebackers
Starters: A-
Backups: B-
Key Players
Darrin Kirkland Jr.
Jalen Reeves-Maybin
Kenny Bynum
Cortez McDowell
Colton Jumper
Quarte Sapp
Dillon Bates
Daniel Batuli
With Darrin Kirkland Jr and JRM starting as LBs, we are in very good spot. You can make an argument that JRM was the best player on the field for our defense at many points last season. DK Jr has progressed at an amazing pace and was already becoming a leader on the field as a true Freshman.
However, this is one position where I do worry about injuries. No knock on our backups, but it would be difficult to replace JRM or DK Jr. That said, we have a deep backup rotation with lots of potential; however most of these guys are still unproven. For that reason, I'll assign the backups a "B-" for now.
Secondary
Starters: B+
Backups: B+
Key Players
Cam Sutton
Emmanuel Moseley
Micah Abernathy
Todd Kelly Jr.
Evan Berry
Rashaan Gaulden
Malik Foreman
Nigel Warrior
Marquill Osborne
Baylen Buchanan
Justin Martin
This is where we take our biggest hits from last season. We lost starting safeties Brian Randolph and LaDarrell McNeil. Make no mistake, those are two big losses, but the good news is that Micah Abernathy has been very impressive thus far and while he lacks the experience of Randolph and McNeil, he could develop into a very excellent player. Todd Kelly Jr will also have to step up, as well.
In spite of the losses at Safety from last season, we bring back our two top CBs, Cam Sutton and Emmanuel Moseley. That's a big boost. Moreover, we've heard nothing but good things about some of the young talent, including 3-star recruit Baylen Buchanan and Nigel Warrior.
Our biggest issue in the secondary IMO is simply lack of experience. We have an immensely talented group with huge potential, but outside a small core which includes Sutton, Moseley, TK Jr, Berry, and Foreman, most of our guys just haven't seen a lot of game action yet.
I rated our starters as a "B+", but that could be upgraded to an "A-" depending on how our new starters perform in the role. For now, the backup rotation gets a "B+" due to its great depth but current lack of experience.
Special Teams
Rating: A-
Key Players
Evan Berry
Trevor Daniel
Aaron Medley
Alvin Kamara
Cam Sutton
We had one of the best special teams in college football last year and we get back most of the key guys from that group. Trevor Daniel was one of the best punters in the SEC last year and Evan Berry was one of the best return men. Aaron Medley struggled a bit early in the season, but came on during the 2nd half. He gets too much flak for our shortcomings, including missing an extremely difficult FG attempt at the end of the Florida game. If you look Medley's stats, though, he really performed very well in the late part of the season.
Overall
Starters: A-
Backups: A-
Overall, Im not afraid to say that this is the strongest roster weve had since the Fulmer years. I'm very excited about this team and hope it lives up to the billing.
We do have a brutal 4-game stretch that includes Florida, Georgia, A&M, and Bama. The success of our season is going to depend on how we navigate that. On a sheer talent, depth, and experience basis though, this is a very good looking roster, and it's the most optimistic I can say I've been since the mid 00's.
While losing key players such as Dobbs or Sutton would obviously be bad, my biggest concerns would injuries at RB or LB. We'd see a big dropoff in production if we lost either Hurd or Kamara as RBs; similar situation with JRM and Darrin Kirkland at LB. At other positions, I think the dropoff wouldn't be quite as dramatic.
Edit: Just a quick note on my analysis --- my backup ratings are relative to other SEC teams' backups. Hence, if I say our backups are an "A", but our starters are a "B+", I'm not saying our backups are better than the starters. Merely saying that we have very good depth relative to other SEC teams.
GBO!
Quarterbacks
Starter: B+ / A-
Backups: A
Key Players
Josh Dobbs, starter
Quintin Dormady, 2nd string
Jarrett Guarantano
Sheriron Jones
In terms of running abilities, intelligence, and intangibles, there aren't many QBs in college football that compare to Josh Dobbs. At the same time, we know he has struggled at times with passing accuracy. Yet, he showed flashes of brilliance. He was very streaky passer, who seemed to either be "on fire!" (to use NBA Jam terminology) or "ice cold." Similar to Chad Kelly at Ole Miss (another top QB in the SEC), what Dobbs lacked last year was consistency. If he could become more consistent, he has the potential to be one of the best QBs in college football this year. Right now, I'd rate Dobbs as a "B+", but if we see improvement and more consistency in the passing game, then that easily could jump up to a A.
As for our backups, remember a few years ago when we had zero depth at starting QB and an injury to our starter meant disaster? How times have changed; I think you can argue we have one of the best backup situations in all of college football now. Quinten Dormady, Sherion Jones, and Jarrett Guarantano have all looked pretty good from what we've seen of them. Obviously, we hope Dobbs stays healthy this season and has great success, but its at least comforting to know that if something were to happen, we have multiple guys who could step in and still win games for us. For that reason, I rate our backup situation an A, as I dont think there are many teams with as much depth at QB as us.
Running Backs
Starters: A
Backups: C+
Key Players
Jalen Hurd, starter
Alvin Kamara, starter / backup
John Kelly
Carlin Fils-Aime (currently injured)
Don't need to spend too much time explaining why the two-headed monster of Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara is one of the best backfields in America. Aside from maybe Georgia and LSU, there aren't too many teams in America that wouldn't trade their backfield for ours. I don't have any concerns about Hurd and Kamara as long as they stay healthy.
I'm still not sold on our backup situation at RB, however. John Kelly has looked good in his moments on the field, but it's quite different running during "garbage time" than it is carrying the rock 20+ times per game against top quality defenses. Hopefully Kelly lives up to the billing, but behind him, we still have a lot of question marks.
Carlin Fils-Aime(currently injured) could prove to be a very solid RB, but he is a true Freshman, and we just don't know how he'll pan out yet. I wouldnt call our backups weak so much as untested. I also think we lack the depth we need at this position. Until proven otherwise, I'm rating our backups a C+, but hope to be pleasantly surprised here.
Wide Receivers
Starters: B+
Backups: B-
Key Players
Josh Malone
Josh Smith
Preston Williams
Jauan Jennings
Marquez Callaway
Tyler Byrd
Jeff George
If there was one group we thought would be world-beaters a few years back, it was our WR corps. They haven't lived up to the billing thus far, but we've also had a ton of injuries. Right now, Josh Smith, Josh Malone, and Preston Williams are projected as our starters, with Jauan Jennings, Marquez Callaway, and Tyler Byrd listed as backups. Our starters are pretty solid overall, but our backups include two true Freshmen who are untested. Early results for the new guys look promising, but difficult to say how they will pan out before seeing them on the field. For now, I say "B+" for starters and "B-" for backups. I particularly think Callaway and Byrd show a lot of promise, but we haven't seen them on the field yet, so we have to count them as "question marks" until proven otherwise.
Tight Ends
Starters: A-
Backups: B-
Key Players
Ethan Wolf
Jason Croom
Devante Brooks
Jakob Johnson
Austin Pope
Eli Wolf
We have Ethan Wolf returning as starter which is great. While Jason Croom is listed as a backup, Id consider him a starter in our offense, which will often utilize two TEs. Wolf and Croom will make a good starting duo.
As for our backup situation, we have a lot of options: Jakob Johnson, Eli Wolf, Devante Brooks, and Austin Pope are all currently listed as TEs. We dont have a sure-fire guy in that group, but I have to think at least one or two of those guys pans out pretty well. For now, well say B-.
Offensive Line
Starters: B+ (w/o Hall) / A- (w/ Hall)
Backups: B+
Key Players
Jashon Robertson
Coleman Thomas
Chance Hall (currently injured)
Drew Richmond
Venzell Boulware
Brett Kendrick
Jack Jones
Ryan Johnson
Dylan Weisman
Marcus Tatum
Nathan Niehaus (redshirt)
Our O-line looked spectacular at the end of last year. It was very satisfying after suffering through a few years of NegaVols on this board trashing our O-line at every opportunity to see them exceed expectations. Mahoney has proved himself though with the success at the end of last season. Now it's time to build on that.
The good news this preseason is that we haven't had a lot of bad injuries like we did last year. The bad news is that the one big injury we do have is at Offensive Tackle. Chance Hall was really one of our most impressive Freshmen last year. I don't think anyone could've predicted he would've played so well so early. Losing Hall is the only reason I'm rating our starting O-line as a "B+" rather than an "A-". The good news is that Hall is expected to be back sometime around early October.
Nevertheless, we're still returning a lot of talent on an O-line that jelled at the end of the season. Slated as starters right now are Coleman Thomas, Brett Kendrick, 5-star recruit Drew Richmond, Dylan Weisman, and Jashon Robertson. Backups include Jack Jones, Venzell Boulware, Dylan Weisman, and Marcus Tatum. We also have several developmental guys such as Nathan Niehaus who look promising, but will probably not see any action this year.
Overall, our starters are solid, but we could still use more depth. Nevertheless, we're in much better shape on the depth-front now than we have been the past few seasons. I'll give our backups a "B+
Defensive Line
Starters: A
Backups: A+
Key Players
Derek Barnett
Corey Vereen
Kendal Vickers
Danny O'Brien
Kahlil McKenzie
Shy Tuttle
Jonathan Kongbo
Kyle Phillips
Alexis Johnson
Darrell Taylor
Andrew Butcher
Quay Picou
Dimarya Mixon
Our D-line is a certifiable Murderer's Row. The fact that Kahlil McKenzie, Shy Tuttle, and Jonathan Kongbo are officially listed as "back-ups" should tell you something about how good this group is right now. There are many teams (even in the SEC) that would kill to have those three guys mentioned above as starters.
Derek Barnett is one of the best DEs in all of CFB. Corey Vereen is very underrated on the other side of the line, as well. We have Danny O'Brien and Kendall Vickers manning the middle as starters, as well. There aren't too many teams in CFB than say they have our combination of talent and depth at D-line, so this is a real strength for this team.
Where this becomes even more ridiculous is when you start looking at our third string. It's insane to think that Darrell Taylor and Kyle Phillips might be part of our "third string" right now. That's not a knock on those guys. Darrell Taylor is one of the most athletic and promising DEs in the nation. Kyle Phillips has immense promise and could probably step into a starting position at many good programs. I'd take our "3rd string" at D-line over many programs' 1st string.
We also have Alexis Johnson and Andrew Butcher. The amount of depth we have at D-line is simply astounding! I wouldnt trade our D-line group for any in the country right now.
Linebackers
Starters: A-
Backups: B-
Key Players
Darrin Kirkland Jr.
Jalen Reeves-Maybin
Kenny Bynum
Cortez McDowell
Colton Jumper
Quarte Sapp
Dillon Bates
Daniel Batuli
With Darrin Kirkland Jr and JRM starting as LBs, we are in very good spot. You can make an argument that JRM was the best player on the field for our defense at many points last season. DK Jr has progressed at an amazing pace and was already becoming a leader on the field as a true Freshman.
However, this is one position where I do worry about injuries. No knock on our backups, but it would be difficult to replace JRM or DK Jr. That said, we have a deep backup rotation with lots of potential; however most of these guys are still unproven. For that reason, I'll assign the backups a "B-" for now.
Secondary
Starters: B+
Backups: B+
Key Players
Cam Sutton
Emmanuel Moseley
Micah Abernathy
Todd Kelly Jr.
Evan Berry
Rashaan Gaulden
Malik Foreman
Nigel Warrior
Marquill Osborne
Baylen Buchanan
Justin Martin
This is where we take our biggest hits from last season. We lost starting safeties Brian Randolph and LaDarrell McNeil. Make no mistake, those are two big losses, but the good news is that Micah Abernathy has been very impressive thus far and while he lacks the experience of Randolph and McNeil, he could develop into a very excellent player. Todd Kelly Jr will also have to step up, as well.
In spite of the losses at Safety from last season, we bring back our two top CBs, Cam Sutton and Emmanuel Moseley. That's a big boost. Moreover, we've heard nothing but good things about some of the young talent, including 3-star recruit Baylen Buchanan and Nigel Warrior.
Our biggest issue in the secondary IMO is simply lack of experience. We have an immensely talented group with huge potential, but outside a small core which includes Sutton, Moseley, TK Jr, Berry, and Foreman, most of our guys just haven't seen a lot of game action yet.
I rated our starters as a "B+", but that could be upgraded to an "A-" depending on how our new starters perform in the role. For now, the backup rotation gets a "B+" due to its great depth but current lack of experience.
Special Teams
Rating: A-
Key Players
Evan Berry
Trevor Daniel
Aaron Medley
Alvin Kamara
Cam Sutton
We had one of the best special teams in college football last year and we get back most of the key guys from that group. Trevor Daniel was one of the best punters in the SEC last year and Evan Berry was one of the best return men. Aaron Medley struggled a bit early in the season, but came on during the 2nd half. He gets too much flak for our shortcomings, including missing an extremely difficult FG attempt at the end of the Florida game. If you look Medley's stats, though, he really performed very well in the late part of the season.
Overall
Starters: A-
Backups: A-
Overall, Im not afraid to say that this is the strongest roster weve had since the Fulmer years. I'm very excited about this team and hope it lives up to the billing.
We do have a brutal 4-game stretch that includes Florida, Georgia, A&M, and Bama. The success of our season is going to depend on how we navigate that. On a sheer talent, depth, and experience basis though, this is a very good looking roster, and it's the most optimistic I can say I've been since the mid 00's.
While losing key players such as Dobbs or Sutton would obviously be bad, my biggest concerns would injuries at RB or LB. We'd see a big dropoff in production if we lost either Hurd or Kamara as RBs; similar situation with JRM and Darrin Kirkland at LB. At other positions, I think the dropoff wouldn't be quite as dramatic.
Edit: Just a quick note on my analysis --- my backup ratings are relative to other SEC teams' backups. Hence, if I say our backups are an "A", but our starters are a "B+", I'm not saying our backups are better than the starters. Merely saying that we have very good depth relative to other SEC teams.
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