-
Hi Guest, want to participate in the discussions, keep track of read/unread posts and more? Create your free account and increase the benefits of your WyoNation.com experience today!
Biggest concern for next year's football team?
- Thread starter evilpoke
- Start date
QB play was a major concern of mine until this spring. Even if both Benjamin and ACS turn out to be flops, Sween showed that he could manage the offense at a minimum. Sween won't be a great QB, but he has the ability to make the routine plays. That being said, I think Benjamin and ACS are both better QB's than Sween and better suited for this spread offense. This is good news considering Sween looked good in spring ball.
We need several receivers to step up their play this season or it will be another disappointing season. It is my opinion that Greg Bolling is our best overall receiver. He seems to have the best understanding of how to run routes and has pretty trustworthy hands. I look for him to lead the team in receptions this year. Brandon Stewart is definitely our homerun threat. I'm not so much referring to his ability to blow by a defensive back on a fly route, but rather to his ability to make tacklers miss after the catch. I will be looking fro him to get the ball in open space, whether it be on fly sweeps where he takes a handoff from the QB or whether it be on receiver screens. Remember that inside screen we used to run to Bouknight 3-4 times every game? Brandon seems perfect for that play. However, Brandon does not have the most consistant hands at this point. It is crucial he improves his hands because he will be a common target this season. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if he has less catches than Bolling but more yards. David Leonard had a solid spring and is an OK receiver. Those 3 receivers will be the main targets throughout the season. Also, I look for Zach Bolger and Donate Morgan to come up with a few plays here and there. I'm a bit disappointed in Travis Burkhalter's progress. Two years ago I would have predicted he would be one of the main receivers at this point, but it hasn't worked out that way.
Overall, the receiving corp lacks the depth we need to run this pass first spread offense. I'm not sure we brought in anything in this first recruiting class that gets me too excited, although Chris McNeill has a chance to be a good receiver. Hopefully we can land some top notch guys in this recruiting class to help bolster our receiving corp for years to come.
We need several receivers to step up their play this season or it will be another disappointing season. It is my opinion that Greg Bolling is our best overall receiver. He seems to have the best understanding of how to run routes and has pretty trustworthy hands. I look for him to lead the team in receptions this year. Brandon Stewart is definitely our homerun threat. I'm not so much referring to his ability to blow by a defensive back on a fly route, but rather to his ability to make tacklers miss after the catch. I will be looking fro him to get the ball in open space, whether it be on fly sweeps where he takes a handoff from the QB or whether it be on receiver screens. Remember that inside screen we used to run to Bouknight 3-4 times every game? Brandon seems perfect for that play. However, Brandon does not have the most consistant hands at this point. It is crucial he improves his hands because he will be a common target this season. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if he has less catches than Bolling but more yards. David Leonard had a solid spring and is an OK receiver. Those 3 receivers will be the main targets throughout the season. Also, I look for Zach Bolger and Donate Morgan to come up with a few plays here and there. I'm a bit disappointed in Travis Burkhalter's progress. Two years ago I would have predicted he would be one of the main receivers at this point, but it hasn't worked out that way.
Overall, the receiving corp lacks the depth we need to run this pass first spread offense. I'm not sure we brought in anything in this first recruiting class that gets me too excited, although Chris McNeill has a chance to be a good receiver. Hopefully we can land some top notch guys in this recruiting class to help bolster our receiving corp for years to come.
McPeachy
Well-known member
Our recievers, as a whole, suck. I like Stewart (he is the top dog by far)...and Leonard can catch also at times...but that is probably it. I had very high expectations of Bolling for the past 3 years, and he has done nothing but disappoint. He was supposed to be the next JB, but he isn't even in the same book.
Agreed, the WRs are weak. Hopefully we have a QB that can get them the ball in this pass happy offense, or we could be in big trouble next year.
MrTitleist said:
I think the new spread offense will automatically help out both our QB's and WR's. There are a lot more options in the passing game in a spread offense and there is a release valve that will pick up 3-5 yards on nearly every play. As long as the QB's take what is there and don't force things, we will be fine. A good QB in a spread offense isn't necissarily the most physically talented QB, but rather, the most cerebral QB. That benefits us, as none of the 3 carry overs from last year have top-notch talent. Of course, having top level talent is always a plus and I'm hoping Benjamin and ACS have the talent that we have been missing at the QB postion in the past few years.
I think this offense will help Bolling have a big year, barring any injuries of course. I expect him to be the #1 or #2 target on the majority of passes. I was actually a bit disappointed by what I saw from Stewart this spring, strictly looking at his WR skills. I was looking for him to have a HUGE spring with both Bolling and Morgan out, but instead I saw a mediocre receiver who looked like he was lost at times. One thing I noticed a lot was that he didn't adjust his route when the defense was in the zone coverage. I'm not privledged to what these coaches are teaching, but I would assume they want the receivers to adjust their routes approriately according to where the weak spots in the zone coverage are. I felt like Stewart ran right to where the defenders were during zone coverage. Of course, this may improve as he becomes more accustomed to the new offense. He is still a young guy, but at this point he isn't a polished, pure WR. He is a playmaker though, and I fully expect to see some big plays out of him this fall.
Fullback41
Well-known member
Agreed, I must vote receivers. UW has beaten Utah, TCU, Virginia, NM, CSU, UNLV, SDSU, and others with Sween at QB, but since Micheal Ford & Hoost Marsh graduated the wins have been harder to come by. Greg Bolling has had great games (Virginia) but hasn't had a ton of help in big games that I can think of. Some of the others have had decent games, but not the consistent production we need. Of course we can kind of throw out last year, as we only threw when we HAD to and even then we sometimes didn't.
To me the receivers are the biggest difference I see from the 6-6 2006 team, I know they didn't throw the picks, or fumble like the RBs but they did have passes bounce off them, not seperate enough, or keep the defenses honest.
I know 6-6 is not a great record, but that was a good team that finished 3rd in the MWC and barely lost to undefeated Boise St, and lost 2 road games to Syracuse and Virginia because we couldn't make a kick. Not that anyone here needs reminded.
To me the receivers are the biggest difference I see from the 6-6 2006 team, I know they didn't throw the picks, or fumble like the RBs but they did have passes bounce off them, not seperate enough, or keep the defenses honest.
I know 6-6 is not a great record, but that was a good team that finished 3rd in the MWC and barely lost to undefeated Boise St, and lost 2 road games to Syracuse and Virginia because we couldn't make a kick. Not that anyone here needs reminded.
