Bray should be more comfortable at QB and running the offense especially if we can make a bowl game this year. The extra bowl time to practice would be a strong benefit to the whole team. Worley will be a solid addition but I think Simms will transfer so we will still only have 3 QBs Bray, Nance and Worley.
The O-Line is only going to get better. I like where things are heading there plus the recruits that should be coming in. We should be deep there for a couple of years as we only lose 1 OL - J.Shaw. D.Thomas will be a Jr. but J.James, M.Pair, J.Stone, J.Scholfield will all be Soph or RSoph. Plus, you have D.Hood (RSoph), C.Pope (Sr) as well as recruits M.Crowder, K.Kerbyson, A.Posey plus hopefully A.Richardson. I think J.Stone and Crowder will solidify the center position. Gooch will be a Jr. but he will just be a back up at best going forward.
Losing Moore and Jones will definitely hurt just for their experience alone but WR should be strong with Hunter, Rogers and Rogers plus Milton and Arnett?. Vincent Dallas could be a good add too. This will be a young group but they will be good. I wouldn’t mind seeing another receiver step up.
RB will be strong with Poole and Neal. I’d like to see Oku step up more. I’m disappointed in his play. He doesn’t seem to be running hard like Poole and Neal. Maybe Tony Williams will be back to 100% and step up. It usually takes another year before an RB is fully back from ACL surgery and the confidence is there that the knee can handle it. If we could pick up a 4* or better. I’d be surprised if we picked up a 5* RB though but a 4* could happen. Recruit Tom Smith will be a solid contributor.
TE is a concern especially since it is a position Dooley supposedly like to use and use often. I haven’t seen it with Stocker this year. But, that could be the QB play causing it. Either way, losing Stocker hurts. Rivera looks to be decent but what do we have after him and he will be a Sr next year. We have Downs coming in as of now. It looks like Power and UT have gone their separate ways though. Does that mean UT is in strong (silent commit) from a top TE? I’d love to get Jay Rhome. I think we get Cameron Clear too but he maybe OL.
Defense will get better. But, it starts with the D-Line. I think our LBs are average at best with potential. I love Reveiz’s heart but I think Austin Johnson is better and will be a better MLB next year and Thompson isn’t bad and we will also lose Savion Frazier. With Johnson, King and Lathers we will have a better unit. Plus, Vereen is solid. Hopefully, the other young LBs will step up like N. Mitchell-Thorton, J. Askew, R. Nelson, J. Propst will step up as well. I think this is a good group of LBs. Still, I hope 4* A.J. Johnson or 3* Christian Harris end up being a stud in this recruiting class. We need a playmaker at LB. Mayo was really the last playmaker we had at LB.
Defensive Backs aren’t bad either. Jackson will be a Junior and I like how Brewer has come on along with Prentiss Waggoner. With Teague, Gordon, N. Oliver and hopefully Eddrick Lofton that gives us 7 solid players for next year plus as of now 3 recruits with one (Pat Martin) possibly playing early. Randolph and Coleman will probably redshirt. Also, remember Ted Meline was moved to DB as well.
Even Defensive End should be fine with Ben Martin returning from his injury and Malik Jackson back along with J. Smith, C. Miller and W.Bohannan. We do lose Chris Walker and Gerald Williams but those 5 should give this position a strong outlook for next season. Dooley still needs another solid DE in this recruiting class to go along with 3* Jordan Williams.
The DTs will be the key to how good this defense can be. With Hughes, Sykes, Fowlkes, Ayers and Jeffery having another year under their belt and the return of Walls from injury this group has the potential to be good but I think UT needs to go after a couple more DTs to light a fire under these guys. Walls and a motivated Hughes would be a solid starting duo but after that it’s questionable. And w/o Walls, Hughes has been disappointing. That’s 6 returning players but none of them really get you excited other than Walls. I’d feel better about this position if we could end up getting Gabe Wright and Mickey Johnson both of whom we are in good shape with. Sure would be nice to get Tim Jernigan too. We should also pick up JC Maurice Couch and maybe another JC Sheldon Richardson? Bottom line is that we need quality. I believe we get 2 of them for sure (Couch & Johnson) with a possibility of 1 or 2 more due to the possibility to play right away.
We also need to pick up a punt returner. I don’t want to see Gordon try to return another punt. I’m not sure how I feel just yet about him returning kickoffs but would prefer someone else there as well maybe Oku and Da’Rick instead for now.
Palardy will take over for Lincoln which he is in the process of doing this year and Darr will take over for Cunningham. Hopefully Darr will be able to do the job but if not Palardy could fill in there as well.
For the most part though, this recruiting class does seem to be filling in holes.
