I think the hardest game on the schedule will be Northwestern, and that is not a joke. They have a ton of returning starters and will be very good next year. I always find it hard to take teams seriously when they have never really been an elite program but NW will be no joke next year. With Colter, Siemian, Venric Mark, And 2 of their 3 receivers coming back they will be a force on offense. Anyhow we should be one of the best offenses in the nation next year, and if we are not top 10 it will be disappointing.
QB
Taylor Martinez- Will be much improved again after another session with Steve Calhoun.
RB
Mighty Mouse Ameer- Already has shown he can step in big time. Rushed for over 1,000 this year. Was a great compliment to Rex. Rex is a big loss but it was very good seeing what we did out of Ameer. He will put on more weight this year and be a force.
WR
Kenny Bell- Very fast, gets open and makes plays
Jamal Turner- IMO our best receiver and we will see that next year as i think as he will get more snaps. He is just electric when he has the ball.
Quincy Enunwa- Possession reciever, can make the catch when we need him to.
Tarriq Allen- Will be coming back from injury, made a few catches this year, including the big one at NW. He will be good.
Jordan Westerkamp- I'm very anxious to see Jordan in action. He will get lots of opportunities next year. I'm glad he redshirted because i think he didn't want to. But i remember the snippet of him not dropping a pass in camp. He is going to be a great WR for us.
TE
Jake Long- Has already played a lot, great blocker.
OL
Sirles- Will be our best Lineman.
A Rod- Needs to improve IMO.
Qvale- Hopefully gets a starting spot this year, the dude is a monster. Wonder what's keeping him back.
Pensick- Probably our second best Lineman.
Mark Pelini- Will be competing with Pensick for the center spots. He surprising had flashes of good blocking when he was in.
The O line is the key here. We surprising played pretty damn well for who we had. I see improvement for next year.
Then when you look at the D it will tough to know what to expect. The only thing i know we will expect is, "We've had the best Defense since i've been here." -Bo
We have a lot of gaps that need to be filled so it will be interesting.
DE
Ankrah- Has potential and has flashes of being good but has a hard time getting any pressure on the QB.
Avery Moss- This kid is supposed to be good, we will see
DT
Thad Randle- Again has potential. Him and Ankrah are similar. They cant get good pressure for some reason.
Aaron Curry- This kid is also supposedly good.
LB
David Santos- Played in a few games this year, looked good at time and out of position others, with a year under his belt i think he will make lots of improvements.
Michael Rose- Young kid with a chance to get PT
Sean Fisher- Deciding if he is coming back or not, personally i don't care either way. He is slow, but shows he can play okay against the run, just can't keep up with TE or WR.
Trevor Roach- Only got a few plays this year, might get some snaps next year.
CB
Jean- Baptiste- Has shown to be lengthy, and can make plays.
Andrew Green
Ciante Evans
Josh Mitchell- Needs to put on some weight in the offseason
Seisay- Plagued with injury this year, will be a good one next year.
Charles Jackson- Got a bit of PT this year, will get more next year.
S
Harvey Jackson- Flashes of potential
Corey Cooper- Should be our best Safety.
Honestly when i look at the defensive depth chart i think we will undoubtedly be better next year. We will no question be top 5 in pass defense again next year. We have all of our CB's coming back, and we have seen in Bo's systems these guys become shut down corners by there later years. Ciante, Green, Baptiste, Mitchell, Seisay, my gosh that will be a great combo. The best thing is the amount of depth. If one player is having a bad game we can throw in another CB and not lose anything. We will have shutdown corners. As far as Safety we lose P.J and Stafford. They will be replaced by Jackson and Cooper. Honesty i don't see us taking a step back here, P.J and Damian were good but also inconsistent. The D Line and LB's will be the key to our defense. If they can somehow get pressure on QB's and do better against the run we can be good. I think our LB play can be better next year with the amount of raw talent we have, they just need to be in position and tackle. I also believe the D Line will be about the same thing we saw this year. We won't be able to get a ton of pressure up front, they will pretty much just be there eating up space. We will need to blitz a LB much more often next year, which i think we will because our Secondary will be able to matchup 1 on 1 no problem.
With what we have coming back, and who we have replacing our lost SR's (some for the better) i see 10 wins right off the back.
Wyoming- W
Southern Miss- W they are a mess right now.
UCLA- W we proved to be good in "revenge" games, we have them at home. Close but i think we pull it out, UCLA proved to be inconsistent this year.
South Dakota State- W
Illinois- W
Purdue- W
@ Minnesota- W
Northwestern- W will be a close game, but i think we get the W at home.
@ Michigan- W IMO the hardest game this year, but we pull it out
Michigan State- W MSU is one of those teams that plays into our favor on D. This game will be like the game in 11'
@ Penn State- W We will not lose this game, the people predicting a loss don't realize the sanction and depth problem didn't start this year, they will be hurting big time next year
Iowa- W LOL
Ohio State- W squeak out a win and do not give up 70 points. Our offense is the reason we say we won the game.
Holy Hell this post took me 37 minutes, but you know what GBR