Some early rankings (very early) at a few offensive positions. Keep in mind that they're a little rough and are in no way my final preseason rankings.
QB:
1. John David Booty, USC (I know some might dissagree, but Booty's got such a cannon and you can't ignore what this school had produced at QB lately)
2. Eric Ainge, Tennessee (2nd on my QB board with a bullet. Ainge is possibly my favorite senior for next year. Absolutely love everything about him, especially his coachability. He's consistently gotten better every tear at Tennessee).
3. Colt Brennan, Hawaii
4. Brian Brohm, Louisville (Maybe I'll get hammered for having Brohm under Ainge and Brennan, but IMO, Brohm is overrated. I think he's going to struggle without Petrino and he looked completely shaken up in the Rutgers game, and enough to definitely cause concern).
5. Chad Henne, Michigan
6. Matt Ryan, BC
7. Andre Woodson, Kentucky (sleeper, big time, kid lit it up during the last few weeks, demolished Clemson and almost beat Tennessee. Held his own against Florida as well.)
RB:
(Seniors only, don't forget though that Rice, Slaton, McFadden, Hill, and Jones will all be eligible to declare):
1. Allan Patrick, Oklahoma
2. Mike Hart, Michigan
3. Yvenson Bernard, Oregon State (love this kid)
4. Brandon Ore, VaTech
WR:
1. Marcus Monk, Arkansas
2. Limas Sweed, Texas
3. DeShaun Jackson, Cal
4. Todd Blythe, Iowa St
5. Ernie Wheelright, Minnesota
6. Adarius Bowman, Ok St
T:
1. Sam Baker, USC
2. Jake Long, Michigan
3. Kirk Barton, Ohio St
4. Pedro Sosa, Rutgers
5. King Dunlap, Auburn
G:
1. Will Arnold, LSU
2. Mike Fladell, Rutgers
3. Kirk Elder, Texas A&M
4. Robert Gustavis, Arizona St
TE:
1. Travis Beckum, Wisconsin
2. Martin Rucker, Mizzou
3. John Carlson, Notre Dame
4. Joey Haynos, Maryland
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
one pro and one D-1.........but they're NOT predictions.
It's usually at this time of year that most people start spouting off their predictions. I've never been one to jump right in to claiming what team will do what, because for the most part I've come to the conclusion in recent years that predictions are inherently stupid. They're based on flawed logic and there's too many mitigating factors that contribute to a teams success or lack there of.
That being said, I'll give you two teams, one college and one pro, who I FEEL will do extremely well this upcoming season.
Seattle
Reasons: Loved their free agent pickups this season, most notably Patrick Kerney. I've always felt Kerney never got his due in terms of being mentioned with some of the elite pass rushers in the league. His prescence will most certainly help Julian Peterson continue his reemergence in Seattle's 4-3. Loved the Deon Grant signing as well. For a secondary that was in desperate need of some veteran leadership, they couldn't have found a better guy for the job than Grant on the FA market. Deion Branch has to be considered their first round pick and after him I liked (not loved) Seattle's draft. Needless to say though, it's hard to argue how good this offense can be when healthy and Hasselbeck is arguably the best quarterback in the conference after Brees. Branch is also too much of a gamer to not start clicking with Hasselbeck, and I have to believe he's going to bounce back to his full potential. Bottom line is he's a flat out better player than Darrell Jackson who flourished at times in Holmgren's offense, and there's no excuse as to why Branch can't.
On top of that, great coach, invaluable home field advantage, and they're coming off of a season where they were PLAGUED with injuries. Meaning that they're unlikely to suffer that sort of bad luck again.
If I'm a betting man, I'm putting Seattle back in the Super Bowl barring serious injury and I think it'll happen quite easily.
Wisconsin
It's a product of the team losing only one signifigant player (Thomas) and the rest of the conference getting signifigantly weaker. Ohio State is in a transition year and Michigan lost practically that entire defense. Henne, Hart, and Manningham are great but that team isn't nearly as complete as it was last year and I still am not a Carr fan.
Don't forget that WU's only loss last year came to Michigan as well and this year they'll have them at home. PJ Hill is a Heisman contender from the start and Travis Beckum might be the best Tight End in the nation. Him and Hill are definitely enough to keep the offense going with Tyler Donovan running the show.
Big fan of their defense too. Jack Ikegwuono is probably the best defensive back in the Big 10 and Al Langford helps compliment him on the other side. Can't deny that the Badgers have a top notch secondary.
I love WU for the Big Ten and won't be surprised at all if they make a push for the National Championship.
That being said, I'll give you two teams, one college and one pro, who I FEEL will do extremely well this upcoming season.
Seattle
Reasons: Loved their free agent pickups this season, most notably Patrick Kerney. I've always felt Kerney never got his due in terms of being mentioned with some of the elite pass rushers in the league. His prescence will most certainly help Julian Peterson continue his reemergence in Seattle's 4-3. Loved the Deon Grant signing as well. For a secondary that was in desperate need of some veteran leadership, they couldn't have found a better guy for the job than Grant on the FA market. Deion Branch has to be considered their first round pick and after him I liked (not loved) Seattle's draft. Needless to say though, it's hard to argue how good this offense can be when healthy and Hasselbeck is arguably the best quarterback in the conference after Brees. Branch is also too much of a gamer to not start clicking with Hasselbeck, and I have to believe he's going to bounce back to his full potential. Bottom line is he's a flat out better player than Darrell Jackson who flourished at times in Holmgren's offense, and there's no excuse as to why Branch can't.
On top of that, great coach, invaluable home field advantage, and they're coming off of a season where they were PLAGUED with injuries. Meaning that they're unlikely to suffer that sort of bad luck again.
If I'm a betting man, I'm putting Seattle back in the Super Bowl barring serious injury and I think it'll happen quite easily.
Wisconsin
It's a product of the team losing only one signifigant player (Thomas) and the rest of the conference getting signifigantly weaker. Ohio State is in a transition year and Michigan lost practically that entire defense. Henne, Hart, and Manningham are great but that team isn't nearly as complete as it was last year and I still am not a Carr fan.
Don't forget that WU's only loss last year came to Michigan as well and this year they'll have them at home. PJ Hill is a Heisman contender from the start and Travis Beckum might be the best Tight End in the nation. Him and Hill are definitely enough to keep the offense going with Tyler Donovan running the show.
Big fan of their defense too. Jack Ikegwuono is probably the best defensive back in the Big 10 and Al Langford helps compliment him on the other side. Can't deny that the Badgers have a top notch secondary.
I love WU for the Big Ten and won't be surprised at all if they make a push for the National Championship.
The beginning
Well, here we go. After years of bouncing around the idea of establishing my own football website, I've finally given in to my own laziness and simply amended the entire ordeal to a simple blog for now.
The goal here is to discuss any and all aspects of football. Not just NFL, and certainly not just College. We're looking at any and all angles of the game on all levels. Of course, NFL and D-I will obviously be dominating the content here, but I don't want to limit myself to any one level. Plus, if I ever want to talk about something other than those two outlets, I've already covered myself from the get-go (this is all assuming that the few people who would even read this besides myself would even care, so I don't know why it matters. It's a pretty pointless thing to be writing about for the time being, and I'm not sure why I've put this much thought into it. In fact, why am I still typing about this?).
So there you have it, a slight insight things to come. Just random opinions and observations on all levels of the game, and I figure it's a good thing to start now so I'll be in the swing of things come autumn.
Hope you guys enjoy the blog, and until the season starts I'll try to pump out 1-2 posts per week.
The goal here is to discuss any and all aspects of football. Not just NFL, and certainly not just College. We're looking at any and all angles of the game on all levels. Of course, NFL and D-I will obviously be dominating the content here, but I don't want to limit myself to any one level. Plus, if I ever want to talk about something other than those two outlets, I've already covered myself from the get-go (this is all assuming that the few people who would even read this besides myself would even care, so I don't know why it matters. It's a pretty pointless thing to be writing about for the time being, and I'm not sure why I've put this much thought into it. In fact, why am I still typing about this?).
So there you have it, a slight insight things to come. Just random opinions and observations on all levels of the game, and I figure it's a good thing to start now so I'll be in the swing of things come autumn.
Hope you guys enjoy the blog, and until the season starts I'll try to pump out 1-2 posts per week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)