2017 Gamecock Football - Way Too Early Outlook

I wanted to give some thought into what we could look like next year.

Our Defense improved in 2016 night & day compared to 2015, it really was a dramatic turnaround. We had one of the best pass defenses in the SEC and we're leading in Turnovers Gained. Our rush defense was better than 2015, but still below avg in the NCAA. We had 2 shite games on defense, but held our own for the other 10. This was done with the majority of the same players we had access to in 2015 and several FR and JUCO new-comers who contributed.

On Defense we lose: MLB Walton, OLB Holloman, DE Lewis, DE English. These 4 contributed statistically significantly to this season and started most of the year, Holloman got a lot of turnovers for the LB's, and English was tied for 3rd in the SEC in Sacks. Walton and Lewis made plays too consistently. Technically we'll also lose Diggs and Elder, but they weren't regular starters (Montac had more tackles/plays than either.)

We have some good to elite defenders coming in this class as well, and we'll probably have some commits/additions after this thread too.

I expect our rough depth chart to look like:
DE: Blackshear, Wonnum
DE: Sawyer, K Thomas KINLAW (I think Kinlaw still comes here.)
DT: Stallworth, K Smith/Taylor
DT: Ulric, Wideman/A.Thompson (We rotate our DL so much, it's hard to predict a 2 Deep.)
OLB: BAW, Green/Eldridge
OLB: Pittman, Bowen (he's so fast.)
MLB: Moore (the Return and brings a lot of playmaking ability.)
CB: King/Jamyest
CB: Lammons/King
S: DJ Smith, Nasirildeen (he has the size/athletics to start day 1.)
S: Montac, Nairlideen/Wilder
N: Fenton,

The key will be finding the sacks to replace the loss of English, but Blackshear has a much higher ceiling than English ever had (and English is going to probably end up being drafted.) We need Sawyer to lose about 20 lbs and get back to Buzzsaw weight. K Thomas is listed as a DT, but I think we have more depth there and will play him at DE, he showed that he can consistently get in the backfield.

On Offense we return 10 of 11 starters....that's amazing, it includes our Top2 QB's, Top5 Rushers, Our Top5 Receivers and 4of5 starting OL. The guys will have 2 extra weeks of winter practice, another spring, and another fall camp learning Roper's (soon to be improved) offense. We'll start varying the snap count and the complete playbook will be opened up for Bentley. I expect as dramatic a turnaround for our offense as we saw for our defense this year.

Our depth chart is a little easier to predict on offense:
QB: Bentley, McIlwain (both of them will be battling in the Spring Game.)
RB: Dowdle, Tyson William/Turner/Williams (this will be an exciting battle to watch on the spring. competition makes everyone stronger.)
WR: Deebo, Banks/S Smith
WR: Edwards, Googer/Dawkins
WR: Ortre Smith, R Davis/C Terrell (we have WR's rotating too, hard to predict accurate 2 deep.)
TE: Hurst/Crosby, Hinson/Markway We will be DEEP at TE
LT: Pellage(out of the doghouse)/Camper/Daley
LG: Bailey (the rock), Dereoun
C: Knott/Helms (?)
RG: Stanley (Finally...), Helms
RT: Park/Young/Daley

K: J Charlton (former #1 K recruit nationally)
P: S Kelly (so much swag for a Punter.)

RS: Jamyest...give that man the damn ball. I thought Turner was great (he was/is still a great return threat,) but Jamyest is a freak on returns.

Overall, we will have a lot of Jr's, Soph's and RS Fr on the DL. We have an age gap in the 2ndary. We have Sr Leadership there, but their backups will be RS Fr or Fr. (It makes it more apparent to me now that we need some homerun DB recruits still, I get why we are targeting those 2 JUCO DBs, we need both.) I think our offense is going to look completely different next year.

We'll have more returners than we've had at any point in recent memory and A LOT of speed (Deebo, Williams, Turner, Dowdle, Edwards, Banks, and Shi Smith are all sub-4.45 guys, with Deebo, Dowdle and Banks being sub 4.4. we have homerun speed.)

If we get a OL Coach who will make adjustments to snap counts/zones/assignments and hold people accountable for not fricking blocking anybody, then we should have a good year.


I think 8 wins is very realistic as floor.

Wins
Mizzou is burning
Vandy will vandy (they ran well late, but they're can't recruit what they're losing.)
Kent...Muschamp knows he can't lose this one and it's a home.
Tenn...it seriously is a fricking dumpster fire.
Louisiana Tech - nothing really needs to be said.
Wofford - lord, please protect our DL's knees.
NC State - at first I thought about putting them in toss ups...but they haven't recruited any better than we have, they don't have more playmakers, they don't have better coaches, it's a neutral field, and they haven't lost to NCState (or a NC team) this century.

Toss Ups:
UGA - it's at Athens, but their OL is fricked up. Tons of talent on defense though. Chubb and Sony gone, IDK?
UF - McIlwain's offense should be better, but Muschamp's best defenders will be gone, plus they'll have a new DC or that Shannon bozo. I like us at home.
clemson - It's at home and we just might get our own countdown clocks for this game, it worked for them. Plus Watkins, Watson and Williams will be gone.
Arkansas - Will we see the team that beat florida, or loss to a fricking terrbile mizzou team? They can't recruit well, and they're turning into a dumpster like tennessee. However, when they click, they click.

Loss:
aTm - until we beat these jizzards we'll have to wait and see.