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Hypothetically, in what areas do we progress/regress in 2015?


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Progression:

 

LB play has been poor, a result of 1) Bo's two gap man scheme, 2) poor recruiting at this specific position (recruiting has been better else where), and 3) Els being the man-with-multiple-hats covering LBs, special teams (until this year), and recruiting coordination. Bray is a young talent, and we will get back M Rose plus get two new LBs. The only potential step back would be in the loss of Zaire and Roach

 

TE will definitely see an improvement under Riley's offense, and hopefully, Carter can stay healthy all year. We also have two athletic TE with RS-Fr Freedom and 2015 recruit Matt Snyder.

 

QB development should see growth over the off-season under Riley and Langsdorf. We will most likely hear a lot of talk either regarding a QB competition or transferring QBs, based on the number of QBs on scholly.

 

OL please God make this unit better. Our zone blocking scheme, predictable snap count, and lack of team competition had this unit playing poorly. Recruiting has been good/great the last couple of years, so we should see some very young talent making an impact as the season progresses.

 

Regression:

 

RB will take a step back talent-wise without Ameer. Cross may be used better in Riley's offense, but he needs to run more physical (similar to the 2013 season), and both Newby and Cross have to hold onto the ball better. Wilbon and Taylor are both unknowns who need to prove it on the field.

 

Bo knows DB. The secondary ranked #1 again this year. We have had multiple DB coaches, but Bo and his scheme was the constant that kept this unit one of the best in the nation. Regress might be a harsh word given the amount of talent that will remain on the roster, but it's hard to stay #1, and I anticipate our defense will be more oriented to stop the run next year.

 

Stay the same:

 

All special teams play. ST was solid this year, sans FG. We keep all the major players for each of these units, and with a ST coach, I don't think we get any worse. We might see some growth in Drew Brown, which would help.

 

WR no idea without knowing who the coach will be. We are losing KB, but he has been injured for most of the year anyway.

 

DL loses RG4 but keeps a lot of young talent. We also have 5 DE (Keels, King, Natter, Newell, and Stoltenberg) who have not contributed yet, but we only need 1-2 to develop, and hopefully, get Moss back. DT should be good again.

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Many comments about or DB's always being ranked highly. That is often the result of either two things. Either the DL or LB's are hurrying the QB or the opponents are having such great success running the ball that they don't bother to pass often. We have seen both during Bo's tenure. Suh and co were disrupters while since then our D has often been run on with contempt.

 

My hope for the new coaches is getting the team to play confident and fast and not worry if BP was going to ride their hineys to the bench and beyond.

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Areas that I expect to see major improvement is QB play first. Second I think we see better route running from our WR's.

 

Like someone stated, our OL needs much attention. Without that being improved, it doesn't matter how much QB is improved.

 

We won 9 games with a sub par OL this year. The OL didn't give up 59 points to Wisky. They didn't give up the early lead to Michigan St. So although it is help, defense is major concern first.

 

I think that there will be no regression. I think that the offense will be ok. I think that our special teams will be ok. Defense is where it starts at. Defense needs to get better upfront, and in the middle. Front 7 needs work. Losing Gregory, but he never went all out every play, so are we really losing alot there? DL never went after it hard every time either. When those players went for it, our front 7 didn't look that bad. So I think with some come to jesus meetings and change in attitude this team is closer than most think. At least close to winning the West div.

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Areas that I expect to see major improvement is QB play first. Second I think we see better route running from our WR's.

 

Like someone stated, our OL needs much attention. Without that being improved, it doesn't matter how much QB is improved.

 

We won 9 games with a sub par OL this year. The OL didn't give up 59 points to Wisky. They didn't give up the early lead to Michigan St. So although it is help, defense is major concern first.

 

I think that there will be no regression. I think that the offense will be ok. I think that our special teams will be ok. Defense is where it starts at. Defense needs to get better upfront, and in the middle. Front 7 needs work. Losing Gregory, but he never went all out every play, so are we really losing alot there? DL never went after it hard every time either. When those players went for it, our front 7 didn't look that bad. So I think with some come to jesus meetings and change in attitude this team is closer than most think. At least close to winning the West div.

O didn't give up 59 points but they did not move the ball at all for 3 quarters allowing the snowball to gain steam. Defense forces like 4 turnovers and we get them out of there game plan. Second level defenders killed us all year.

 

Progress I would say oline, wr/qb communication, run defense

 

Regress pass defense, wr play(mainly blocking), rb due to graduation

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I would like to see an identity established on offense and a reduction in turnovers and penalties. We really need some O lineman to develop (as well as get more depth at D line). LB depth is not good at all...need some difference makers there. I like our secondary, RB's, TE, and WR's going into next year...none of which works real well without mean and nasty lines (and our "hell in a helmet" line was anything but this year)

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All areas...

Also...all tough games are at home...

 

Seems like we should be very excited for next year and really be looking at 11 wins

11 wins? I think that's a tough task. BYU, at Miami, Michigan State and Wisconsin will give us fits.

 

I do hope we can compete for the division next year, but NU faces an uphill battle.

 

We had better. The Big Ten West division is hot garbage, and there's no excuse to not be in it come the last week or 2 of the season.

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All areas...

Also...all tough games are at home...

 

Seems like we should be very excited for next year and really be looking at 11 wins

 

11 wins? I think that's a tough task. BYU, at Miami, Michigan State and Wisconsin will give us fits.

I do hope we can compete for the division next year, but NU faces an uphill battle.

We had better. The Big Ten West division is hot garbage, and there's no excuse to not be in it come the last week or 2 of the season.
I don't think anyone said we won't be in it. He said those could be some tough games.

 

We've been "in it" almost every year toward the end, we haven't won 11 games ever under the previous staff.

 

You say there's "no excuse", but actually there's a pretty good excuse if we would take a short step back, though I don't expect it. An entire coaching staff change is a pretty big deal. There's a lot that goes with it.

 

We lost some pretty good ball players off this squad as well.

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Improvements:

QB

O-Line

 

Regress:

D-Line

 

I think next years D is not going to be pretty at all, mainly because of the lack of big time playmakers on that side of the ball, which is odd for a "defensive guru" to struggle getting decent players on defense. Armstrong will improve if he starts, the offense as a whole would improve under Stanton IMO. I think DPE and Cross will do extremely well next year since Riley knows how to put them in positions to be successful.

That D though... that will be the biggest question next year.

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I'd say we'll go 9-3 regular season- so with a bowl win we could be plus one.

This is all based on a somewhat easy schedule- i.e. new coaching at Wisconsin and a home game with them as well as MSU and Iowa at home.

BYU's QB, if 100% might be the wild card in all of this but they say he isn't even walking on his own yet

 

I see losses to MSU (even at home) Minnesota, and Miami

I'd say that Rutgers could be a loss but they lose a lot of players.

 

all in all, we'll be in the same spot as last year, give or take

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I mean statistically on Pass D. Overall I think we will be ok in that area, just maybe not the nationally ranked numbers we got used to.

I, personally, would rather us be top 20 in both rush and pass d as opposed to top 5 in pass d and 50+ in rush d. Especially now being in the B1G.
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This is a great topic. I've been meaning to post something similar...I'm curious about our position-by-position trends for 2015, and I admit to being not nearly as knowledgeable about the team compared to some of you. Here's my thoughts:

 

QB wash (up?)

By many accounts, Tommy is a good athlete who has been a disaster at QB. Even I must admit his penchant for poor decisions in the passing game, and his tendency to miss easy short throws to open targets by a mile, has been very troubling.

 

Although, Tommy went off against USC in the bowl game, the only chance Beck had a chance to run his offense unfettered. And I still rate his leadership and competitiveness very highly.

 

Behind Tommy, we have no QBs with any meaningful experience. The competition for the job is nonetheless wide open, and the system on offense can be expected to undergo a big change with Riley and Langsdorf coming in. All of that points to growing pains in year 1.

 

RB down

We lose Ameer. It has to go down. Newby and Cross didn't impress too much, unfortunately. We have some promising young backs in Wilbon and Taylor, but whether they'll be closer to Rex/Helu/Ameer or Lucky/Heard/Green here remains to be seen. Also going to an offense that might feature the RB and the run game a lot less.

 

Even with Ameer, the run game ground to a halt at times, although that may have been due to injury in some games.

 

WR down?

Kenny Bell will be a big loss. I'm not sure we will have enough to replace him in year 1, even if in the long term, I expect the position to improve. I'm concerned about what we have coming back, though. We saw how fragile depth at this position has been.

 

Moore was not impressive, Westerkamp was too often not an impact player (although I really like him and his circus catches -- maybe it was just the offense?), and Turner has a lot of injury history on him. All eyes will be on return star DPE's progression in the offense, but even then, I don't think we're going to be the kind of offense where one or two dangerous receivers is enough.

 

The last several times we were supposed to be abundant at the position, it didn't come to frition. Now, it seems clear that Riley & co are going to have to restock this position very quickly for the future. It's also an unknown right now -- we don't know who the new WRs coach is yet.

 

TE up

This HAS to become a bigger part of the attack. Riley's history suggests it very strongly.

 

Cethan Carter, though, has been invisible to date. Maybe that's on the previous staff, or the quarterback, or maybe it's just a little much to hope for a total transformation right away. We have a nice TE commit in this class, but he'll just be a true freshman. Cotton also didn't impress too much.

 

So it should trend up, but I wonder how much.

 

OL up

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DE down

We lose Randy Gregory, and Avery Moss's return is currently a question mark. DE depth was an issue and I'm not sure it's going to be a short turnaround. Natter (RSo) and the RFr trio of King/Wills/Stoltenberg form the depth backbone of this group, and right now that cannot inspire a great deal of confidence.

 

We also lose Kaz, which I think was best for both parties, but he has a solid record as DL coach in the Big Ten conference.

 

I'm a big believer in that it all starts in the trenches on both sides, and this is a serious concern for me.

 

DT steady

I'm not as familiar with the DT depth, but Valentine/Collins have both impressed me. I feel mostly good about this position, at least compared to DE. Can we hold onto the Davis twins? That could be huge, one way or another.

 

Same question marks with Kaz's departure and Hughes incoming. Should be noted that Banker and Hughes both have many, many years of DL teaching expertise as well as DCing. Let's hope it's good.

 

LB up?

Having #15 back on the field will mean a lot. LB coaching is widely expected to improve. LB play has been subpar and it's got to go up, right?

 

However, LB depth is *scary*. Look at all the recruiting effort devoted there currently for future classes. This is a situation that might get worse before it gets better. Optimistically, we'll have enough to cover the starting spots next year and maybe spend a lot of time in the sub packages. Also, Roach is gone now, right?

 

DB down

Coach Warren is returning (though is he as good a coach as he is a recruiter?). We lose Josh Mitchell, but there's some talent in the cupboard here, especially Nate Gerry. On the other hand, we also lose Bo -- whose match zone defense and signature crushing of passing attacks is likely not to be duplicated with regularity in the future.

 

I guess time will tell, but I'm sure there will be games where we think back to the days of the QB Graveyard and say, "Alas."

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