You talk about the McCoy injury like it’s just a given, when in reality it is a huge question mark. We already need a safety to breakout. If McCoy isn’t the same guy he was, we need another corner to breakout. McCoy was great last year and any drop off in play could have a very bad impact on the secondary, which was already mediocre in the biggest spots last year.
The dirty little secret last year was that our linebackers were below average after Pili went out. The defense was also markedly worse. We definitely need better play there.
The DL definitely needs guys to breakout. I think we will be fine there, but the defense the last couple years has required the DL to be more than fine. A dropoff there could really expose the back 7.
The OL definitely needs some breakout guys. Heard has to improve A LOT. Sanders could be everything we hope he is in 2 or 3 years but not be a good player right now, a la Darnell Wright. Pendleton has only gotten action due to injury so far. Is he gonna be good enough to run with the job? Center as you acknowledge is a huge question mark. I think Moe will be an upgrade, but the other 4 are huge question marks. We need at least two guys to breakout at those positions.
Tight end, I think we will be fine there if Kitselman’s injury didn’t derail him. Otherwise, it’s a bunch of unproven guys and we will need one to breakout.
Running back, I view about the same as the DL. I’d say we will be fine there. Problem is, based on last year, we need to be better than fine. Sampson was great and we still struggled on offense. He was the whole offense. Replacing that is asking a lot, and someone will have to breakout.
Receiver is not overly talented. It’s not like we have a Jeremiah Smith or Ryan Williams out there. We definitely need someone to breakout. Last year I would argue Thornton broke out, and even with that, receiver play was not good enough. Sure, we made the playoff, but it was 100% in spite of the passing game.
QB, I don’t think anyone will argue Shute fact that we need someone to breakout.
All in all, we have question marks at every single position. There’s not one that we should feel great about. That’s asking a lot if we are expected to tread water compared to last year, and it’s asking even more if we are to actually be competitive for championships. I don’t see how anyone with any objectivity could look at the roster and say “oh we don’t need a bunch of guys to breakout.” Most of the team has never done what they are going to be asked to do.
I'm not sure how you interpreted my statement as assuming the McCoy injury is a given. I literally said the success is more dependent on how he returns from injury than anyone having a breakout season. At Safety, I loved how Will Brooks competed but he is the biggest loss from that group and was a walk on.
At LB, we did see a drop off when Pili went down but we also faced a step up in competition(i.e. Georgia and Ohio State). I think it is a bit dramatic to call them below average, though. I tend to think that players improve from one season to the next and we return everyone but Pili basically.
At DL, we have a good bit of returning production and depth. Guys like Josephs, West, Eason, Moi, Herring etc. don't need a breakout season, they just need to continue to develop.
OL is probably the closest unit we have to meeting your stated need of multiple guys breaking out. In regards to Heard, people tend to forget that he was playing hurt a good bit last year. That group wasn't great as pass protection and we still made the playoffs. Same with QB and WR. I'd say we didn't have a breakout performance from anyone among those three units last year and, again, still made the playoffs.
At RB, Heupel has proven on a yearly basis that we don't have to have a star at that position to be very effective. Whether we replace Sampson's productivity with one guy or three doesn't make that much difference. Until I see otherwise, I will assume we will be around that 2,500 yard mark as a team.
At WR, didn't you just dismiss the notion that Hyatt came out of nowhere because he was a four star recruit? Chris Brazzell was a four start as a transfer, Mike Matthews was a five start on the composite, Braylon Staley and Amari Jefferson were both four stars. Are they inexperienced? Yes, except for Brazzell. Do we have a Jeremiah Smith or Ryan Williams? Not that we have seen. Who else in the country has one of those guys?
I'm starting to wonder if my definition of breakout season and yours differ. I don't disagree that we have several question marks coming into the season. We absolutely need players to be productive at those positions but needing to "have multiple guys break out in every unit in order to compete for anything of consequence" is just going way overboard with hyperbole. Keep in mind also that we play the same conference schedule as last year. Winning at least one of UGA, Bama and Florida and not dropping a game against an inferior opponent are the keys to making the playoff again.
