I'm playing the Angel's Advocate to your Devil's Advocate, although much of my optimism is genuine.
Originally posted by Cat In The Cradle:
GCG answers in bolded text:
CIC's rebuttal in italics:
1. QB? We have a fifth year starter with a good arm and some experience who we saw turn the ball over five times in one half against a subpar Illinois defense in his only start[/B], a redshirt sophomore who has shined this springand threw a grand total of four passes for zero yards last year[/B], and a redshirt freshman who is supposed to be the Second Coming who has thrown a grand total of zero collegiate passes[/B]. Each stands a chance to earn the QB nod in his own right. Competition, pedigree, etc. Was there a QB question going into last season? Not really. There shouldn't be any this year either. In fact, the only question by what degree will the QB unit be better than last year.
We are positioned even better than Ohio State at QB after Braxton Miller's injury prior to the season, and that Program's untested QBs got them to the national championship. Re Oliver: Gotta like his second half against Illinois and earlier performances v. Northern Illinois and Purdue. Simply a minor case of the rattles that he hopefully got out of his system last season. Re Alviti: he only accomplished what the coaches asked of him, namely to have the QB position feature a different look - it worked out well for NIU against us - he ran for a crucial touchdown in the Notre Dame win and has done great things this spring. Re Thorson: it was a true luxury to red-shirt such a highly valued recruit for an entire year. See OSU's situation. That he now knows the x's and o's of the system completes the trifecta of what could be the brightest prospects for NU QBs since the 1960s and at least since the late oughts.
2. WR? Our best WR is returning from his second ACL tear with questions about his effectiveness upon his return[/B], our two super SBs - who should be included in any receiving corps evaluation - are coming back both of whom arguably underperformed last year[/B], new blood is emerging from recruiting who aren't even on campus yet[/B], and we still have speed specialists and tough over the middle guys with eligibility left we do?[/B]. Last year, you and others cited WR as one of our strengths. I was flat wrong. The unit looked much better on paper than they did on Saturdays.[/B] What's changed? Two straight years of underperformance, especially struggles with just consistently catching the ball.[/B] Sure, Jones graduated but we still have depth and high ceilings in this unit.
I think you and others were flat right last season, since your predictions occurred prior to C. Jones' injury. Yes, the man had an ACL tear but his strengths are in route precision and catching the ball and he's had a full year of rehab.
Miles Shuler has undeniable speed. Vault (assuming a WR transition), Youngblood-Ary, and Fuessel (assuming healthy) are not far behind him. The SBs are both excellent possession-type specialists and athletic enough to extend an otherwise short gain another 15 yards. I don't know whether either underperformed or just became lost in the playbook, but at least Vitale had a few eye popping games, including at Penn State.
Dropped balls - I don't know what happened here but this is probably the most easily correctly issue. This is epitomized by T. Jones' reliable clutch hands in 2013 taking time off a couple of times last seasons, particularly during the Notre Dame game. What changed? I think that he, and to a certain extent C. Dickerson, put way too much pressure on themselves to fill the hole left by C. Jones' injuries, and the dropped ball issues cascaded into a serious problem affecting the whole receiving corp. NU does not confront the same circumstances this year assuming everyone stays healthy.
And do not entirely discount the off-season distractions that Fitz cited as marring the overall team focus and concentration, including on catching the ball.
3. OL - There is only one direction this unit can go - that's up. It can't get any worse than the last two years. Nope. Sure it could. That's the fear. We lose a four-year starter at center and our starting LT. Those are two positions where inexperience can absolutely kill an OL.
Most everyone predicted the inexperience of the OL would be a problem heading into the 2013 season post-Outback Bowl graduation attrition. And it turned out to be worse. We had one of our top lineman at the time switch to the other side of the line, and the change didn't work out. But look for guys with experience like Park emerge into solid starters, as well as younger players like Hance step up from R&D. The past two years were a perfect storm of underperformance, injuries, and inexperience, and we head into this fall without confronting the same scale of these unfortunately circumstances.
4. DTs - we have so many big baddies coming off of injury that someone has to be healthy, and in the aggregate, we shouldn't concern ourselves with this unit. McEvilly has had chronic foot problems, which can be the end of a career for a big guy. Kuhar tore up his knee in November, making a full recovery by August highly unlikely. Robbins has to get much tougher against the run more consistently. Mahoney is now a guard. Lancaster has struggled with injuries the past two years. Oxley is coming off of shoulder surgery early in his career. Chapman is undersized to take regular snaps inside. Almost every guy currently repping at the DT position has some question attached to his 2015 performance
Mahoney's transition to the offensive line actually demonstrates team confidence in the improving health of the DTs, and could easily transfer back in event he's needed again there. Each of the names you cited have demonstrated capability in stepping up, displaying better depth than we've had in awhile, certainly since 2013.
[/B]
5. Punting? I liked what I saw from our left footed punter last season in the short time he played (also coming off an injury). No issues here. Huh? We don't have a left-footed punter. Niswander took a couple of reps from Gradone, but didn't exactly stake claim to the job and handed it right back to Gradone before the season ended. Been hearing consistency is his issue -- he'll boom one 60 yards on one rep, then hit one about 30 the next, which is typical for most young punters. He'll be a great punter if he can get consistency, but that has yet to be seen.
Sounds a lot like Todd Saurbrun and the Bears gave up a second round draft pick for him. Rare is the punter who enrolls at college with factory wrapped consistency. And the 30 yard shanks could be a lot worse. Look for more 60 yarders from this strong legged prodigy. I recall Niswander using his left foot to punt in response to a rush that would have blocked his punt from his normal kicking leg. When did you ever see another punter do that? It's got to be a first. With a quick thinking head like that on his shoulders, Niswander has the potential to go far in his career.
[/B]
6. Who will replace play making abilities of Campbell - the same guy who did last year in the Wisconsin game. Taking advantage of a historically awful QB situation andRIDICULOUSLY poor coaching decisions on the Badgers' part (seriously... Wisconsin's QBs were god awful at that point in the season and they decided to go pass-heavy for most of the fourth quarter? Huh?) without forcing any other turnovers the rest of the season. [/B]While Ariguza is also a notable loss, I don't see much downside to Henry assuming the position. Nobody has mentioned Henry taking any snaps at OLB this spring. Even if he did, that means putting out two inexperienced safeties, likely giving up some playmaking in the process.
On the other side of that coin, who would have expected an inexperienced safety to safeguard against the pass when defending against a beast of a RB who he had already hustled and outran to tackle on the second play of the game? A safety composed and experienced beyond his years, that's who.
Who knows who will replace Ariguza but the coaches have a good history getting our younger, backup linebackers ready for prime time. See Walker stepping up after Ellis' injury.
Eight win season. Starting with an upset over Stanford in the opener. From your keyboard to God's ears. Stanford returns a lot more starters at key positions than we do, then we head on the road to face what should be a decent Duke team.
It would be nice to win them both. I like that Stanford is traveling through a few time zones and geographical climes to play Northwestern at the start of a season (after comfortably camping in Palo Altos).
