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Observations after reading the SEC previews
Posted on 7/11/14 at 4:49 pm
Posted on 7/11/14 at 4:49 pm
Got a chance to finally start looking into what teams have coming back. Here are my thoughts on the SEC.
Arkansas and Tennessee may not show much improvement this year, but they are both recruiting well and should be ready to take big steps forward in 2015.
Ole Miss and Miss. St. are similar on paper in that they each have their QB and most of the defense returning, PLUS the added advantage of weak SEC East opponents. I think 5-3 is very much within reach for both, if not better.
There's no reason to think Auburn won't score a billion points again, but they face the best two East teams and the defense may not be any better than last year. Despite returning many guys, they lost their biggest playmaker on that side of the ball.
Alabama and LSU both lost a ton of talent, but avoiding the best two East teams should help. Both will be relying on many freshmen and sophomores at key positions.
Florida's coaching staff has their back against the wall, and the last time an Eastern team was in that situation (Mizzou '13) they made it to Atlanta. The problem for Florida is lack of talent on offense and having to play Alabama and LSU from the West. But, one interesting story is Andre DeBose coming back from injury for his 6th year. Could he be their Henry Josey? Different position, but could be the offensive spark they need.
I think Kentucky and Vandy will struggle mightily, as neither has a wave of talent or returning players to get excited about. Kentucky did get one recruit over Alabama, but they look to be a year or two away at least.
South Carolina is going to be really good. Their QB won't be much dropoff from Garcia and they return many dudes on both sides of the ball including a 1,000-yard rusher.
Don't sleep on Mizzou. The new QB will be good and they draw two weaker West teams.
A&M has some great running backs returning and some good freshmen coming in at other positions. I think they will be a team you want to catch early.
I'm high on Georgia this year. They might be getting underestimated by some because they lost the QB, but with Gurley and 10 defensive starters back under a new DC they will be a better team than last year. The new QB was good in relief last year and will be fine.
Overall there is a lot of parity in the league this year. Expect many teams in the 4-4, 5-3 range.
Arkansas and Tennessee may not show much improvement this year, but they are both recruiting well and should be ready to take big steps forward in 2015.
Ole Miss and Miss. St. are similar on paper in that they each have their QB and most of the defense returning, PLUS the added advantage of weak SEC East opponents. I think 5-3 is very much within reach for both, if not better.
There's no reason to think Auburn won't score a billion points again, but they face the best two East teams and the defense may not be any better than last year. Despite returning many guys, they lost their biggest playmaker on that side of the ball.
Alabama and LSU both lost a ton of talent, but avoiding the best two East teams should help. Both will be relying on many freshmen and sophomores at key positions.
Florida's coaching staff has their back against the wall, and the last time an Eastern team was in that situation (Mizzou '13) they made it to Atlanta. The problem for Florida is lack of talent on offense and having to play Alabama and LSU from the West. But, one interesting story is Andre DeBose coming back from injury for his 6th year. Could he be their Henry Josey? Different position, but could be the offensive spark they need.
I think Kentucky and Vandy will struggle mightily, as neither has a wave of talent or returning players to get excited about. Kentucky did get one recruit over Alabama, but they look to be a year or two away at least.
South Carolina is going to be really good. Their QB won't be much dropoff from Garcia and they return many dudes on both sides of the ball including a 1,000-yard rusher.
Don't sleep on Mizzou. The new QB will be good and they draw two weaker West teams.
A&M has some great running backs returning and some good freshmen coming in at other positions. I think they will be a team you want to catch early.
I'm high on Georgia this year. They might be getting underestimated by some because they lost the QB, but with Gurley and 10 defensive starters back under a new DC they will be a better team than last year. The new QB was good in relief last year and will be fine.
Overall there is a lot of parity in the league this year. Expect many teams in the 4-4, 5-3 range.
This post was edited on 7/11/14 at 5:19 pm
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Posted on 7/11/14 at 4:51 pm to RidiculousHype
quote:
Arkansas and Tennessee won't be as talented as they were last year
Huh? We hardly had any talent last year and most of them were freshmen lol
Posted on 7/11/14 at 4:52 pm to RidiculousHype
quote:
South Carolina is going to be really good. Their QB won't be much dropoff from Garcia
Damn guy was there for too long
Posted on 7/11/14 at 4:54 pm to RidiculousHype
quote:
I think Kentucky and Vandy will struggle mightily, as neither has a wave of talent or returning players to get excited about. Kentucky did get one recruit over Alabama, but they look to be a year or two away at least.
Stoops has recruited better than any modern coach at UK. Both Bud Dupree and Za'Darius Smith passed on the NFL draft to return for senior seasons. Plenty to be excited about even if they're still some time away from making their maximum impact.
Posted on 7/11/14 at 4:55 pm to gohogs141
quote:
Huh? We hardly had any talent last year and most of them were freshmen lol
Yeah, our only losses was a Fullback, Center, and a kicker.
Posted on 7/11/14 at 5:02 pm to RidiculousHype
quote:
Arkansas and Tennessee won't be as talented as they were last year
Tennessee lost only 3-4 good players (all on the o-line) and added 21 4*s.
Posted on 7/11/14 at 5:02 pm to gohogs141
quote:
Huh? We hardly had any talent last year and most of them were freshmen lol
I was more talking about the losses at C, DL, and WR that seemed like premium guys. But returning the QB and RB is good.
With that many sophomores playing this year, I still say 2015 is the year with all those guys back as juniors.
Posted on 7/11/14 at 5:05 pm to RidiculousHype
quote:
I was more talking about the losses at C, DL, and WR that seemed like premium guys. But returning the QB and RB is good.
The WRs we lost weren't that good but Swanson at C and Smith at DE were good
quote:
With that many sophomores playing this year, I still say 2015 is the year with all those guys back as juniors.
Agreed
Posted on 7/11/14 at 5:05 pm to RidiculousHype
quote:
I was more talking about the losses at C, DL, and WR that seemed like premium guys. But returning the QB and RB is good.
With that many sophomores playing this year, I still say 2015 is the year with all those guys back as juniors.
Talent wise, Arkansas will be better than they were last year. However, you are correct, 2015 looks to be the year that we will start making a move forward again. We should be pretty loaded, at least offensively, that year assuming we find a QB.
Posted on 7/11/14 at 5:06 pm to RidiculousHype
quote:
I was more talking about the losses at C, DL, and WR that seemed like premium guys.
The DT that was lost was injured for a large portion of the season, he was filled in for nicely by a RSFR. Chris Smith is a loss, but we returned Flowers who is very good.
Swanson will be difficult to replace, but I think they will replace the position and not try to replace Swanson if that makes sense.
WR losses are addition by subtraction.
But yes, TF RSF, Sophs, and RS Sophs will be the majority of the contributors on the roster with a few Juniors and a couple Seniors.
Posted on 7/11/14 at 5:18 pm to DaleDenton
I think what threw me about Arkansas was this preview that has only 4 defensive starters returning. But now that I'm checking other sources that looks to be off.
This post was edited on 7/11/14 at 5:18 pm
Posted on 7/11/14 at 5:20 pm to RidiculousHype
quote:
I think what threw me about Arkansas was this preview that has only 4 defensive starters returning. But now that I'm checking other sources that looks to be off.
It is. It is possible that some of the starters in the secondary could lose their starting spots this season.
I've noticed a bunch of previews being off or having inaccurate information for Arkansas, just today ESPN's mailbag was talking about the D-line being the weakness of the defense, if anything the d-line is the strength of the defense, for example.
Posted on 7/11/14 at 5:20 pm to RidiculousHype
quote:
A&M has some great running backs returning and some good freshmen coming in at other positions. I think they will be a team you want to catch early.
That's fair, and I agree. I think we may struggle out the gate, but find our footing later in the season once all our freshman get used to the speed of the college game.
Posted on 7/11/14 at 5:27 pm to RidiculousHype
quote:
I think what threw me about Arkansas was this preview that has only 4 defensive starters returning. But now that I'm checking other sources that looks to be off.
Well the article also said it would hurt losing star power like Eric Bennett.
He was the worst safety I've ever seen start for us.
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