I've read some concerns on the board about our lack of playmakers on offense and think that one player everyone is forgetting about is Stephen Buckley. The kid was on his way to a very strong RS freshman season when he tore up his knee and while he played last year I just don't think he was fully recovered. Coming into his second season post knee injury, I feel he is primed to be a big contributor on offense this year at the WR position. When you factor him into the equation with Christian Jones, Vitale, Vault, Auston Anderson and Justin Jackson, I think this offense has the potential to be very explosive if we can solidify the OL and get a QB to step up.
Player Who Will Step Up This Year
- Thread starter corbi296
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On the defensive side of the ball, I expect Traveon Henry to assume a leadership role. Reports were that he lost some weight in the spring, and I think he will take over the playmaker role from IC this year.
If we see a slot WR emerge, I suspect it will be Flynn Nagel or Solomon Vault. I've also heard Macan Wilson is starting to come about. Nary a word on Buckley.
Who do you think will step up at the LB position? That's the biggest concern for me heading into the season. Basically two guys with significant game experience (D. Smith and A. Walker) returning. Someone else has to step up (or, really, multiple guys)....or else that position is going to be a big weakness on the team. There are a couple of promising freshmen coming in (N. Fox and T. Vitale), but I'm sure the coaches are going to look to older guys like J. Prater, B. Walsh, J. Jones and N. Hall to step up and fill the void left by the graduation of Ellis, Chi Chi and J. Hall.
The LB position should be fine, helped out by a very solid defensive backfield (especially run-supporting safeties in Henry and Igwebuike). At the very least, they should be one of the most athletic linebacking corps we've seen in Evanston for a while.
Walker has shown enough that he should be fine in the middle, especially with a full offseason as "the man." Drew Smith should slide to the Will spot, where his physicality can play more easily and he won't have to cover as much space in pass coverage (which is his weakness). I'm intrigued by Nate Hall sliding into the Sam position -- he's very similar to his brother Jimmy, but has been practicing as a linebacker since day one. Jaylen Prater could push for time at Mike or Will while Joseph Jones should be at least serviceable at Sam if needed. I also suspect that we will see Traveon Henry playing a Brad Phillips-type safety in the box pretty often with Kyle Queiro sliding into the other true safety spot.
All in all, they're be a relatively young bunch but also very athletic... which is what we can say about most of our 2015 team. Nobody is quite sure where they will play out, but it could be either very good or very bad... which is about what we can say about our 2015 team as well...
Based on what I saw out of Buckley when he took over chores, after a slew of backs got hurt, I think he will have a tough time seeing the field at RB. Not a knock against him but just my opinion about the power and speed that we already have at RB. Imo, I just think Anderson, Vault, Jackson are on a different level than him, and he certainly doesn't have the power game as Long. Fitz moved him to WR for a reason, and I think he brings a good skillset to WR. He definitely has good hands as well.
Oddly he had little impact at wr but not sure if that's because he struggled. Certainly, there is no reason why he can't find a spot among that group. When he gets the ball, he always seemed to find holes that didn't seem to be there but he was never 'wow' and he often got caught from behind in the open field, prior to his knee injury. Kenosha will tell, certainly he is a talent that should see the field somewhere, given health.
The guy is a beast. He has some talent playing alongside him as well that will be exciting to watch.
Thanks. I agree with your sentiment, though I don't think the team will likely be "very bad" this year. The last two seasons have stunk, but with all the struggles and all the injuries, we still beat Notre Dame, Wisconsin (who won our division last year), and Penn State (in State College for the first time in a long, long time) last year. I would consider a "very bad" year to be one with 2-3 wins, and I just think we have too much talent to drop that low. 6-7 is what I expect, with 8-9 wins if we stay healthy and the young guys come together early.
With the youth and replacements at important positions, we just don't know... that's part of the problem. I tend to think we are better than 2-3 win team, but it could all break the wrong way just as it could all break the right way.
Buckley's knee injury is a real concern, IMO. It's the kind that ends football careers.
My vote for step-up player for defense is Odenigbo. I expected more out of him last year but truly believe that this year he will bring pressure and/or force double teams which enable the D-Line to get some more pressure. To me, with the loss of some experience at linebacker, this is a key to our defensive performance.
Maybe they could just move him to LB, a position that seems to better fit his size and play making skills.
If he could move from DE to Linebacker and start in the same year, then we are weaker at LB than I thought. At LB, he becomes a work in progress and we are only looking at getting one year out of him as a senior. While I recognize his size and speed do fill the bill for a LB, I would look at that decision as a back-up plan.
I am hoping that he improves enough at run-stopping that we can see him on first and second downs more which would reduce the effectiveness of early down passing by our opponents. Given how much we need a pass rush and the fact that he is a pass rush specialist, I really hope that he steps up to be a playmaker this year at DE.
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