re: Predict the football teams record for 2014

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Rooster, what makes you so confident in this? I'm honestly curious, cos losing Clowney, Quarles and Sutton has me very concerned about the effectiveness of our D-line next year. I think the o-line will be great, but the defensive side concerns me.

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There was good talent on the team last year, but I was aware of some chemistry problems for the past couple of years that I think will be non-existent now that those three are gone ... bless their hearts.

Okay, think about it this way and you'll understand where I was coming from all along.

Clowney, great kid, tried to stay low profile but his presence sucked-up all the attention even if he didn't want it. Wasn't his fault, but everyone else played in his shadow for the past two years.

Now, with regard to Quarles and Sutton, without giving away too much ... hmmmm, how can I do this. Okay, here we go. Think about this. When that little problem went-down up in NYC and the first people named were Quarles and Hampton - what did Kelcey Quarles immediately do? Answer: He immediately threw Sutton under the bus. I think his exact words were, "I wasn't there, they need to talk to Sutton. Sutton is the guy they're looking for."

Quarles did not endear himself with anyone still hear, including some coaches, for doing that IMHO. But no one was surprised because he had always been perceived as a bit of a ... a selfish person I guess you could say for lack of a better term. I have a better term actually, but I'm refraining from using it right at the moment and hoping that both Quarles and Sutton grow-up and do well.

With all of that said, when we started signing solid blue collar and blue chip players a couple of consecutive classes like Dukes, both of the Dixon brothers, English, Cooper, Turner, Washington ... I was watching these guys practice and they all practiced with a lot of intensity and focus. Same for the OLine guys - but I mean when it came to the OLine I was just amazed at what Shawn was doing. I knew Zandi was a steal because I had watched that kid play various ball since he was probably 14, and he started kind of late in football but I knew his parents and I knew he was going to be a major contributor because of his footwork and mean streak. And I had asked Shawn about the Stadnik brothers, you know Clayton was rumored to be part of the package deal but Shawn just laughed that off and I believed him ... and now look. He was right. But add those blue collar guys to the blue chippers we were signing and Shawn coaching'em-up and you could see the writing on the wall.

There is not only some serious talent in our trenches this year, and depth ... but also some serious chemistry. It's the first time I can remember in a long long time since I've seen the trench guys working harder than everyone else on the team in the weight room during the off season. Maybe 77-81 might have been the last time since I've seen these guys work like this when you had Jerome Provence leading the way along with his brother Andrew and you had guys like Lumpy Penny and Chuck Slaughter and Steve Cro-magnon Courson and those guys all in the trenches at the same time, or close enough.

So that's why I've been saying it for a couple of years now. It's just all been coming together.

With all of that said, we're not too shabby at other positions either. I know there are some question marks in the secondary but I hope we're going to survive there long enough to develop that group. Grady Brown is going to have to get'er done this year - he's going to have to earn his money.

We've got to get our kicking game hitting on all four cylinders this year in order to have a chance at a really special season. KO, KOR, Punting, PR, FG ... this is a do or die year for our Special Teams and it will be the difference in whether we have another good season or whether we have a really great season IMHO. It probably cost us a game last year IMHO, in Knoxville. It's cost us at least one game a year for the past few years quite honestly .... BUT, when Ace was here it probably won us one or two as well.

Our punting game has to get right come hell or high water.