How bad will be next year?

I think we'll have another great season, 6-6 ora 7-5 with a Bowl game

It really just depends in who goes pro and who stays. If no underclassmen left early then we will probably be pretty salty next year. However, we're probably going to get gutted on offense knowing our luck.

Possible Starters:

QB - A. Allen OR Peavey OR Storey OR Town
RB - AC3 - RW3 - Walker - ?
FB - Cantrell OR Johnson
WR - Hatcher - Reed
WR - Morgan - Cornelius
TE - Henry - Gragg
TE - Sprinkle - O'Grady
OT - Kirkland - Gibson
OG - Allen - Merrick
OC - Rogers - ?
OG - Ragnow - Heinrich
OT - Skipper - Wallace


Worst Case Scenario:

QB: A. Allen OR Peavey OR Storey OR Town
RB: Walker - Day - ? - ?
FB: Cantrell OR Johnson
WR: Hatcher - Reed
WR: Morgan - Cornelius
TE: Sprinkle - Kraus
TE: O'Grady - Gragg
OT: Gibson - ?
OG: Allen OR Merrick
OC: Rogers - ?
OG: Ragnow - Heinrich
OT: Wallace - Jackson


I imagine it will fall somewhere in between there. We'll also have a JUCO OL or 2 that could mix up the OL depth chart. Outside of a RB like Whaley, I don't see any impact freshman on the offensive side that would change this up.

Unless Ricky Town or Story comes out and sets the world on fire in Spring ball, Austin Allen will be the starter next year.

No. That one is just a hypothetical if all of those juniors jump. Personally, I think AC3, JWill, Kirkland and Henry leave while Skipper and Hatcher stay.

It's definitely going to be nerve wracking waiting to see who declares and who doesn't. If we could get Kirkland and Skipper both back on the OL then I would feel good there. That would allow us to use Wallace at OG like we did with those two originally. OL would definitely still be a strength in that scenario.

Also, Bielema said in his presser today that Kendrick Jackson would be moving back over to defense because they feel good about what they having coming in at FB. It should be a competition between Austin Cantrell and Hayden Johnson for those reps so I adjusted accordingly above.

quote:

---

Only offensive position group that I feel solid about is WR. Pretty decent returning group.
All others have question marks, mainly lack of experience.

---

This may sound crazy, but I'm oddly confident in our QB situation going into next year. Enos has transformed Brandon Allen from inconsistent late game headcase into a clutch All-SEC caliber QB in one year.

I'm more worried about tailback if Collins leaves, which is looking more like an inevitability. It'll pretty much be Rawleigh (?), Walker and Day (?).

Yeah if we can hang on to Enos then I've got a feeling we will be better than expected at QB next year.

I think next year will be Bielema's best, yet. Breaking in a new QB will be tough, but most SEC teams probably do this every other year. And Enos seems to be very good at developing QB's, so I trust that our next QB will develop quickly.

Our big problem will be replacing starters on the OL, but while we're thin, we still have talent there. It'll take a while for everyone to gel, but I don't see why there's so much concern here. I think we've grown used to returning the same players on offense for so long that losing some makes us uneasy.

Defense can only improve and I expect lot's of it. We're not losing much and we'll have newbies like Bell and Agim. Those who played this year will be 1 year older and more experienced.