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Impove, same as last year or not as good as last year?


wildlife alumni

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Ok, with less than a week to go I wanted to post my first thread and see what everyone's impressions are.  Been around for years reading people's opinion who have a lot more information than me. I know this is talked about in various threads, but I wanted a quick way to look at what the overall team looks like compared to last year. Here is what I am thinking.

QB: Slight improvement 

HB: Little bit of a drop

FB: Improved

TE: About the same

WR: About the same till young guys have some experience 

OL: Improve 

DL: Big improvement 

LB: Improve

CB: About the same

Saftey: About the Same

Defence should be a lot better.

Offence could go either way.

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Fair appraisal. My hope is we take advantage of things better. Coaches have to figure out what works inside the red zone. Play calling has to be better. Inside the 5 yard line we need to play smash mouth offense . I think Muschamp started it last year and I think Kevin has continued it this year in getting the defense to play with an attitude. Offense needs to get their fast play back as well as their transparency in play calling. I think having some outside speed this year to work the perimeter on offense I think we get back a threat we did not have or utilize last year. Personnel wise I think we have the talent now it depends on the game plan.   WDE

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i am not pumping sunshine nor am i an expert at all. that being said i think we improve pretty much across the board. in my mind i do not believe we will come close to being as bad as last year. i even believe jj will perform well when he is brought in when gus wants to change things up. why?  i believe this year we have a team.  i believe we pull together to surprise some folks instead of struggling  like last year. i am certainly not gonna bet the farm but i just have a good feeling this year. when ALL the coaches and all the players are on the same page great things will happen.

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My way to early prediction...........

Offense: Same or slightly better than last year.

Defense: Much better than last year.

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Im kinda thinking we'll see better results but dont know how much they actually improve. Last year between the dropped balls, missed opportunities and just couldn't catch a break Auburn really wasn't all that bad. The offense was off a lot but, I put that on the coaches, not the players so, Im really hoping for a lot of  improvement in the coaching. Im not really worried about the players because there is plenty of talent available but they need to be put in the right situations to be successful, Last year I felt the play calling was really bad a lot of the time.

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Offense Much Better.

I believe in SW.

  He's got another year under his belt and I'm encouraged by the controversial highlight film from last year.

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8 hours ago, wildlife alumni said:

Ok, with less than a week to go I wanted to post my first thread and see what everyone's impressions are.  Been around for years reading people's opinion who have a lot more information than me. I know this is talked about in various threads, but I wanted a quick way to look at what the overall team looks like compared to last year. Here is what I am thinking.

QB: Slight improvement 

HB: Little bit of a drop

FB: Improved

TE: About the same

WR: About the same till young guys have some experience 

OL: Improve 

DL: Big improvement 

LB: Improve

CB: About the same

Saftey: About the Same

Defence should be a lot better.

Offence could go either way.

WR: improves. Lots of drops last year but Marcus Davis has hands!

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QB: Improvement 

HB: Improvement

FB: Improvement 

TE: About the same

WR: Improved 

OL: Improved

DL: Big improvement 

LB: Big Improvement 

CB: About the same

Saftey: About the Same

Defense: Much Improved

Offense: Improved 

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QB: Slight improvement  - Sean has some experience now so things should slow down for him, I'm hoping for better than slight improvement or else this year will be forgettable

HB: Little bit of a drop - Losing our best RB sucks but I think Pettway and Miller will have success along with Johnson, Franklin and Martin

FB: Improved - Same guys, more experience. I expect great improvement

TE: About the same - We use TE's?

WR: About the same till young guys have some experience - We will probably miss the blocking more than the catching from last year but much improved catching

OL: Improve - I expect a slow gel, may be a push

DL: Big improvement - Lord I would hope so, we have talent

LB: Improve - Not expecting that at all, little experience aside from Tre and Dean

CB: About the same - Much improved

Saftey: About the Same - Much improved

Defence should be a lot better. - yes

Offence could go either way. - yes

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11 hours ago, wildlife alumni said:

Ok, with less than a week to go I wanted to post my first thread and see what everyone's impressions are.  Been around for years reading people's opinion who have a lot more information than me. I know this is talked about in various threads, but I wanted a quick way to look at what the overall team looks like compared to last year. Here is what I am thinking.

QB: Slight improvement 

HB: Little bit of a drop

FB: Improved

TE: About the same 

WR: About the same till young guys have some experience 

OL: Improve 

DL: Big improvement 

LB: Improve

CB: About the same

Saftey: About the Same

Defence should be a lot better.

Offence could go either way.

I agree except with these 2. 

RB- our RB3 turned RB1 last season missed holes and had absolutely no game breaking speed. He DID have the heart of a lion, and he put us on his shoulders against Jax State and it felt like he literally willed us to a win. I will give him that. But before this season is over, I have a feeling this will be a huge improvement. Sure I was stoked about JR this season, but he was a knucklehead yet again. This opened the door for KP and KJ to excel. Don't forget KP was recruited and signed to play RB. He wasn't recruited to play FB. He just reminds me of Christian Okoye. KJ has the speed of Roc and doesnt spin as much. Give me KP and KJ over PB and RT all day long and twice on Sunday.

As far as TE... Last season the TE was nonexistent. If we have a TE take a single snap this year, it will be a 100% improvement. And the offense we will run with Sean at the helm, he is going to need a TE.

Overall fair assessment.

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19 hours ago, wildlife alumni said:

Ok, with less than a week to go I wanted to post my first thread and see what everyone's impressions are.  Been around for years reading people's opinion who have a lot more information than me. I know this is talked about in various threads, but I wanted a quick way to look at what the overall team looks like compared to last year. Here is what I am thinking.

QB: Slight improvement 

HB: Little bit of a drop

FB: Improved

TE: About the same

WR: About the same till young guys have some experience 

OL: Improve 

DL: Big improvement 

LB: Improve

CB: About the same

Saftey: About the Same

Defence should be a lot better.

Offence could go either way.

I can pretty much agree with this, except for three positions. I look for a big improvement at QB and a big improvement at LB. Not sure about the OL, this could take some time and I really seen no reason for a bunch of optimism about play across the O-front.

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Well since SEC Network picked Arkansas to go 9-3 and beat just about everyone in the SEC west and lost to TCU and TAMU, and I think LSU I am expecting us to be better, much better across the board.  

HB better along with TE.  

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It depends what you consider an improvement I guess. We could be a better overall team this season but our record could be exactly the same or just slightly better just due to our insane schedule. I am looking for our guys to improve each week and if we can hit 8 wins we will be on the right track -- it sucks we are at this point considering we seemed to be on the doorstep of being a perennial top 10 team for years to come, but we can still get there. 

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So much rides on the center position. I yammered on about it last preseason (a guy who'd never played the position before, even in high school), and all offseason, and now there's a thread saying the same thing from somebody close to the program. That guy is absolutely essential to a high functioning offense. Everybody talks about 2010 and 2013. Guess what kind of center we had those seasons? Now let's look at 2008, 2011 and 2015. Yup. The opposite. Certainly lots of other factors at play in all 5 seasons, but it can't be discounted. 

Anyway... if we start the season with adequate play at the center position, then we're poised for a much better offense.

-Week 1, we *will* be better at QB. It's almost impossible not to be better than Jeremy was against Louisville.
-RB might be a wash. Remember, Jovon only had 2 carries in that first game. We lost our most talented RB but we have to remember that that doesn't necessarily leave us any worse off than last year because the dude only had 117 rushing attempts over 8 games. The vast majority of those came after Sean got hurt, with 54 of them coming against TAMU and Memphis. Can Pettway be equal to or better than Barber? You bet. Is sophomore Kerryon better than true FR Kerryon? Almost certainly. Is Kam Martin better than Roc Thomas? Considering that Thomas spent most of 2015 sulking in the tub, most likely. Is Malik Miller a depth guy we didn't have last year? Yup. Is it better that we lost 2 questionable-to-bad attitudes out of that position group? I think it has to be. Pettway isn't going to be looking over his shoulder knowing that some guy is going to take his job as soon as he decides to stop being an a-hole.
-HB... sophomore Chandler Cox instead of true freshman Chandler Cox. Better. One thing that we haven't talked about much, though, is what happens if he goes down. Could be very important. 
-TE... sophomore Jalen Harris and talented freshman Landon Rice instead of freshman Jalen Harris and whoever the other freshman was. Seriously. Don't even remember his name. We add experience and talent, even if only a little. Better.
-WR... we lose Ricardo and a nightmare. We add 4 stud freshmen, plus another year of experience for Smith, Davis, Stevens and Slayton, plus we might have a more experienced and healthy Truitt and R. Davis. Better.
-LT... remains to be seen, but Coleman wasn't a world beater.
-LG... another year more experienced and another year healthier. Better.
-C... see above
-RG... another year more experienced. Better.
-RT... same at worst. 

That's a lot of little betters that add up to a very big better *if* XD and Cox produce/stay healthy. 

Defense is crazy talented. Should be better if Lawson stays healthy.

No idea about special teams. Hearing Carlson's not looking super sharp. I'm optimistic about kick returns. Could be a wash.

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QB: Improved - just getting rid of the constant rotation should improve this position

HB: Improved - we have our starting HB in instead of our 3rd string HB and at least 3 solid weapons. As long as everyone stays healthy, it has to be an improvement.

FB: Big Improvement - no question about it.  they showed flashes, last year, but this year I expect them to be highlights of the offense.

TE: ?  I have a feeling we'll have improved, since we have guys with experience and a better recruit at true freshman, but this remains to be seen

WR: Improved - we're heard several really great things out of camp and we have a whole crop of top recruits waiting to make a name for themselves.

OL: Slightly improved - just because we have a solid center from game 1.  I think the line was really coming into their own by the end of last season and hope Braden is turning into the monster he is built to be.

DL: Big improvement  - Carl + Monte + countless others who have been killing it in practice.  This should be fun to watch

LB: Improve - How could we not?  Also, it sounds like the lights have really come on in practice.

CB: Improve - The beginning of last season, Davis was just another guy on the team.  Now he has a year and another off-season under his belt.  If whomever plays opposite him has a decent season this should be an improvement 

Saftey: ? Totally depends on which version of Trey, Rudy, etc show up.

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QB: Push

HB: Improvement

FB: Improvement 

TE: Improvement

WR: Improved 

OL: Improved

DL: Big improvement 

LB: Big Improvement 

CB: Improvement

Saftey: Improvement

Defense: Much Improved

Offense: Improved 

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QB might be better than a slight improvement. White threw for 250+ yards against three SEC teams in a row before going down for the season. It's entirely possible that he finds that groove again and lights it up.

 

RB is hard to say. We lost our by-far best RB in Jovon (who I thought could challenge for best RB in the SEC this year), but we didn't get a whole lot out of him last year, so a year comparison has to leave him largely out. Roc never seemed to be able to break tackles against SEC competition, so he didn't really live up to the billing (then again, he may have been on the cusp). I'm really disappointed not to get to watch Jovon this year, but I'm excited to see what all of the relatively new names can do at RB (or full time RB).

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8 minutes ago, AUinfusion said:

We lost our by-far best RB in Jovon (who I thought could challenge for best RB in the SEC this year), but we didn't get a whole lot out of him last year, so a year comparison has to leave him largely out. 

That's been my thing. We simply aren't having to replace that much production when it comes to JR, and it's not like he carried us to any important wins. Barber was the guy for Sean's healthy starts. Pettway + SO Kerryon can be better than Barber + FR Kerryon, absolutely. 

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QB: Moderately Improved.  White can only be better with another year under his belt.  And JJ will be a solid backup if White goes down.

HB: Same.  Robinson is gone, but I expect Johnson, Pettway and Miller to be just fine.

FB: Slightly Improved.  Coaches are high on Cox.  It seems we have a bigger backfield in general than last year which is always good from a FB standpoint.

TE: About the same (honestly we've never been a TE team since Gus became HC, so it's hard to judge).

WR: Slightly improved.  I don't think they'll play worse (and it was bad at times last year). I don't think we'll see as many drops from the starters and I think the freshmen will be solid in the limited playing time they get the first half of the season.  I think that by the 2nd half of the season we'll see either Stove or NCM become one of our "go to" guys.  However, I expect the real improvement to come in 2017 once this (insanely good) freshman class has a year in the weight room and a full season under their belts.

OL: About the same.  Which is fine because the issue last year really wasn't with the OL at all.

DL: Moderately improved. They are the strongest unit on the team and I think everyone knows that.

LB: Slightly improved (mostly because it can't get much worse).  We haven't had a complete unit of SEC caliber LB's since Tubs and I am sure the coaches know that and want to change it.  The unit played good the last half of the year and I expect them to be better.  However, I don't expect bammer level of good this year.  The upside is we have a former Tubs LB coaching these guys and he knows what it takes to get back to that level.  I don't expect all-world from them this year, but they will show some improvement (especially compared to the first half of last season).

CB: Slightly improved.  Davis is gonna pull out an All-SEC year (mark it down). He is AU's best corner since Carlos Rogers and reminds me so much of Rogers.  I remember when Rogers was a Frosh that he was out locking down the best WR's in the league.  He was skinny his freshman year and needed to add mass, but he still held his own.  He only got better after he added some strength and mass.  Rogers just had a natural talent for ball hawking that can't be coached. I think Davis is the same type of guy.  He is my favorite player on the team and has brought that 2004-2006 swag back to AU's defensive backfield.  If we had Dean I think we'd see a big improvement overall, but since he is out with an injury, I am going to say "slight" improvement for this group. Either way, I don't think we'll see a drop-off in performance.

S: Moderately improved.  Depends on what happens to Roberts and Taylor, but we got Holsey back and that's big.  He has a ton of experience and knows what he's doing back there.  He isn't a guy that's going to blow a lot of coverages and he will keep everyone else in position.  And we can't forget the most talented safety from a physical standpoint -- Rudy Ford.  The biggest question mark will be Taylor and when/if he can make it back in the rotation.

K:  Daniel Carlsen.  All that needs to be said.

Bottom line, I don't see much with this team that's gonna be worse.  The RB's maybe might see a drop-off and the WR's need to pick up their game, but that's all I can think of.  I don't think we're going to see any group on defense play worse than they did last year.  Muschamp had them vastly improved the last 3 or 4 games and I think Steele will pick up where he left off.

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17 minutes ago, AcUmen said:

K:  Daniel Carlsen.  All that needs to be said.

Word leaking out from practice is that he hasn't been on his game... Unfortunately, this is one place we could drop off, because he was so good last year.

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1 minute ago, lionheartkc said:

Word leaking out from practice is that he hasn't been on his game... Unfortunately, this is one place we could drop off, because he was so good last year.

This hurts. We need every edge we can get, and we were thought to be able to count on our kicker to be consistent for us. Hopefully he gets out of his slump in 5 days. Yikes.

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