If you could choose one player

[laxwyo]

That could step up and play to their hype aka, play like a first two round draft pick, who would it be and why?

I am going with Uso Olive. We need a pro caliber defensive lineman and bad. Him or mark nzeocha. He could be a killer at that size and speed.

[kdwrightuwyo]

It would be nice to have Herron play up to his hype/potential. Or any receiver for that matter.

[BeaverPoke]

Only 1 player? Gotta go with Herron. With his speed, all Brett Smith needs to do is throw a 5 yard slant pass to Herron coming across the middle and that is a 15 yard play to a TD everytime.
But I would love for Uso and Nzecha to play up to his "taylor mays" hype.

[gopokes1399]

I'm gonna go with Trent sewell a lot of people talking him up

[J-Rod]

I'll go with Pat Mertens. This team won't have sustained success until the defense plays at a Top-20 level. Without an elite DT, you have nowhere to even begin. Need a top DT to step up...someone, anyone....or these Temple-type games will multiply.

[carbonpoke]

I don't know how much more we will get out of herron. honestly he already is playing within the needs of the team. As a slot reciever, he shouldn't be asked to produce 100 catches. We need improved play from our outside recievers to open him up more. I believe we recruited two individuals to help us there, in sewell and nico brown. to bad doctson left. Rufran is also more of a slot build. but we may be two years away from sewell and brown being top flight mountain west recievers.

defensively, we need some interior dline man that command double teams every play. last year, teams like nebraska exposed our teams biggest weakness. Our dline.... they could be blocked by one offensive lineman, creating overloads in our 2nd tier level of pursuit. when i watched the nebraska game, I was shocked at how bad hendricks was at fighting through blockers to get to the point of attack. Now however, i understand it wasn't his responsibility to fight that blocker off. the dline needs to hold their gaps and allow the linebackers freedom to pursue. that failure just made him look like an idiot.

If i had to choose one player that will need to live up to the hype to assist this team to victory... I have to choose gleeson or the kicker. its proven over the last 15 years with wyoming football that we are going to be in a ton of very close games. that wont change this year... we are getting there, be we still have to win the position battle and be very consistent with our field goals. if we can sustain or improve in that area over last year, I can actually see us improving in win totals.

[WYO1016]

I'm going with Eddie Yarborough. The kid has a ton of hype behind him, but got to redshirt and bulk up for a year due to our depth at D end last season. Now that both starters and an expected starter have left the team we'll need him to step up and show us how good he is.

[WYCowboy]

I don't know how much more we will get out of herron. honestly he already is playing within the needs of the team. As a slot reciever, he shouldn't be asked to produce 100 catches. We need improved play from our outside recievers to open him up more. I believe we recruited two individuals to help us there, in sewell and nico brown. to bad doctson left. Rufran is also more of a slot build. but we may be two years away from sewell and brown being top flight mountain west recievers.

defensively, we need some interior dline man that command double teams every play. last year, teams like nebraska exposed our teams biggest weakness. Our dline.... they could be blocked by one offensive lineman, creating overloads in our 2nd tier level of pursuit. when i watched the nebraska game, I was shocked at how bad hendricks was at fighting through blockers to get to the point of attack. Now however, i understand it wasn't his responsibility to fight that blocker off. the dline needs to hold their gaps and allow the linebackers freedom to pursue. that failure just made him look like an idiot.

If i had to choose one player that will need to live up to the hype to assist this team to victory... I have to choose gleeson or the kicker. its proven over the last 15 years with wyoming football that we are going to be in a ton of very close games. that wont change this year... we are getting there, be we still have to win the position battle and be very consistent with our field goals. if we can sustain or improve in that area over last year, I can actually see us improving in win totals.

Good analysis CarbonPoke. I noticed the same thing with Hendricks last year and your explanation makes sense. The kicking game is important - just ask BSU.

[whyoh]

could i choose sullivan?


it would be great to get consistent touch backs as well as FG's this year

[Asmodeanreborn]

Have to say somebody on the defensive line. I think our offense will find ways to get points utilizing a lot of different players, but the defensive line needs to REALLY step things up if we are to have success as a team. I want to see somebody causing havoc every game by pushing the o-line into the opposing QB, getting around the blocks to force bad decisions, and most importantly, stand their ground against the run game.

[McPeachy]

I am going to select Alex Toney...

[TheRealUW]

Three major candidates for me:
1) Trent Sewell
2) Eddie Yarbrough
3) Kankolongo

Trent Sewell will be the most talented WR we have on our roster next year. For him, it's going to be more about his mental preparedness that will determine what type of impact he has a true freshman. For someone of his talent level, his biggest obstacle will be his ability to pick-up the playbook well enough that DC can trust him on the field on a consistent basis. I am very excited to see what this guy can do this fall.

The Eddie Yarbrough situation is a little bizarre to me. DC was calling him a potential All-American candidate as a true freshman, but then he was redshirted. I understand that we had two proven starters at the DE position, but DC has proven he isn't worried about pulling a guys redshirt if he is good enough to help the team. I also found it sort of weird that we didn't hear much about Yarbrough this spring either, and then he ends up second on the depth chart at a position fairly poor in depth. I know he is only a redshirt freshman, but I would be very surprised if he doesn't see the field a lot this coming season.

I'll admit that Kankolongo has been a bust so far. He has constantly been injured or in DC's doghouse. He seems like he has been with the team forever, but the guy is still only a redshirt sophomore. He certainly does not lack talent. I was consistently impressed every time I got a chance to see him during scrimmages or practices. If there is ever a time for this guy to step up and earn some playing time, this would be it with the move of Muhammad back to linebacker and the loss of Alexander. He is a sleeper, but don't be surprised if you hear his name a lot more this fall.

[McPeachy]

Three major candidates for me:
1) Trent Sewell
2) Eddie Yarbrough
3) Kankolongo

Trent Sewell will be the most talented WR we have on our roster next year. For him, it's going to be more about his mental preparedness that will determine what type of impact he has a true freshman. For someone of his talent level, his biggest obstacle will be his ability to pick-up the playbook well enough that DC can trust him on the field on a consistent basis. I am very excited to see what this guy can do this fall.

The Eddie Yarbrough situation is a little bizarre to me. DC was calling him a potential All-American candidate as a true freshman, but then he was redshirted. I understand that we had two proven starters at the DE position, but DC has proven he isn't worried about pulling a guys redshirt if he is good enough to help the team. I also found it sort of weird that we didn't hear much about Yarbrough this spring either, and then he ends up second on the depth chart at a position fairly poor in depth. I know he is only a redshirt freshman, but I would be very surprised if he doesn't see the field a lot this coming season.

I'll admit that Kankolongo has been a bust so far. He has constantly been injured or in DC's doghouse. He seems like he has been with the team forever, but the guy is still only a redshirt sophomore. He certainly does not lack talent. I was consistently impressed every time I got a chance to see him during scrimmages or practices. If there is ever a time for this guy to step up and earn some playing time, this would be it with the move of Muhammad back to linebacker and the loss of Alexander. He is a sleeper, but don't be surprised if you hear his name a lot more this fall.

Great post.

[HellBass]

Sam Awrabi...I don't know what it is about this kid, but I think he might be the next Mitch Donahue

[mrtnt3x]

Sticking with the dline, I would like to see what Puletasi and/or Yarborough can do

[Fullback41]

I like the theory behind some of the selections...turning a weakness into a team strength, but I'm going to go with Brett Smith as the guy I want to play like a round 1 or 2 draft pick. A stud QB translates to more wins than any other position. This pick is more about the importance of the position than someone living up to their abilities, because I don't think that will be a issue with Smith.