SA68AG said:

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Down. D-line is going to be much worse.

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How in the world could our D-Line be any worse? What games this year did you watch? When did our D-Line ever impress you this year? They consistently disappeared in all the games I watched.

I think we will be slightly better than this year. Will likely still experience another November descent. I think we will see improvement in areas that will provide hope, but overall not sure we will make huge leaps forward.

Offense, better. I tend to think by quite a bit. Even if Hudson doesn't come back, which he still may.

Defense, complete unknown and major concern. In Elko's first tenure here, it wasn't until year 3 that our defense really took a big jump. We were solid in 2018, solid again in 2019, very good in 2020, and borderline elite in 2021.

Can Elko take the jump in year 2 that he had in year 3 his first tenure here? Is Bateman a major hinderance? Do we have the horses on the DL to hold up? Do we have the speed in the back 7 to take a jump up? Tons of major questions defensively.

Agreed. Defense is my concern

We still need help along the DL and the secondary is still a concern. As I said earlier I think they will be better but I am not sure if it will be enough.

I have much more confidence in the back 7 than the front 4. I think there are a few potential NFL guys there with the right development. At least, athletically they can get there. But even then, there are questions. Can Humphrey play like he did the first 7-8 games and not his last 2 that got him benched? Can Chappell come back from injury? IN year 2 of the system, can Bryce, Ratcliffe, and/or Brooks improve? Where can Dezz Ricks be with another offseason? Are any of the 5 true freshman ready to compete (much easier to play in the back end than on the LOS as a true fish)

Still tons of questions, but also a lot of potential answers. Not as many answers at DT right now other than throwing true fish at the problem.

But either way, Elko has to get these guys to understand the system. I have read from a couple posters I trust that it was a very disconnected back end of the defense to the front end last year. They simply didn't mesh well together.

Now, some of that absolutely has to do with the fact that we had to throw 7 transfers at the problem, and 6 of those 7 played major roles. Lack of continuity and that many new faces can hurt you. Still, I would have hoped we would have gotten better as the year went on, but that wasn't the case. We are returning much more in 2025 than we did in 2024 defensively. The concerns are, are the guys we returning good enough with another offseason of development?

I agree DT is a much bigger concern than secondary and what you said is spot on. We have the talent in the back end they just need to show up.

Here's the deal. On paper in the defensive backfield, we have 16 total 4 star or better prospects, 10 are in the national top 200, and 6 of those are in the national top 100. Jordan Shaw and Chappell are the only 3 stars, and if healthy, Chappell has played like a future NFL guy overall in his career.

Simply put, this staff just absolutely has to have them playing at a much better level than last year. That isn't too much to ask.

Down

- schedule
- conservative in-game philosophies
- weak run D

Down. But wait til next year

Thw down hill slide has begun, we will wander in the wilderness until the jimbo/elko deals can get wiped off and we can hire a great coach.

barnag said:

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SA68AG said:

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Down. D-line is going to be much worse.

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How in the world could our D-Line be any worse? What games this year did you watch? When did our D-Line ever impress you this year? They consistently disappeared in all the games I watched.

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I watched all the games. What makes you think I was impressed by the D-line last year ?

We're going to go from average/bad to terrible.

How could we be worse ?

Talent level is going to be worse (High to mid round NFL draft picks to undrafted free agents) and we'll have little to no quality depth unless we hit gold in the portal on D-tackles which is unlikely.

SA68AG said:

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barnag said:

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SA68AG said:

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Down. D-line is going to be much worse.

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How in the world could our D-Line be any worse? What games this year did you watch? When did our D-Line ever impress you this year? They consistently disappeared in all the games I watched.

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I watched all the games. What makes you think I was impressed by the D-line last year ?

We're going to go from average/bad to terrible.

How could we be worse ?

Talent level is going to be worse (High to mid round NFL draft picks to undrafted free agents) and we'll have little to no quality depth unless we hit gold in the portal on D-tackles which is unlikely.

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I agree 100% with a single caveat: if Elko teaches an underlying work ethic based on delaying gratification and building step by step to very high standards, it can become a virtuous cycle.

He COULD be that guy, but his personal appearance suggests he isn't.

beerad12man said:

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Here's the deal. On paper in the defensive backfield, we have 16 total 4 star or better prospects, 10 are in the national top 200, and 6 of those are in the national top 100. Jordan Shaw and Chappell are the only 3 stars, and if healthy, Chappell has played like a future NFL guy overall in his career.

Simply put, this staff just absolutely has to have them playing at a much better level than last year. That isn't too much to ask.

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Spot on. This is what coaching is. With few exceptions, all coaches know how to teach and practice technique. The great coaches have a way to get their players to execute that on game day. I hope our coaches have that ability.

redaszag99 said:

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SA68AG said:

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Down. D-line is going to be much worse.

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It wasn't great last year!

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starting the same group that couldn't do anything against USC's backup quarterback, 3rd string RB, backup receivers, and 2 starting offensive lineman… and we added a guy who quit on his Georgia team and some average d-lineman from Iowa State and Florida… and with one of the weakest LB core behind them with Scooby who can't tackle and York who can't fit a gap or cover anyone to save his life… and a secondary who can't cover a forward pass according to the head coach.

Offensively, we'll have a rb room with 3 guys who are talented but all coming off leg injuries, a wr room with one guy who's proven to be productive at the college level in Concepcion, we added one guy who's not on the team and another who was the 4th best receiver on a 2 win Miss State team. Bussey averaged less than 1.5 catches a game, Jerome Myles is our only hope. Our offensive line lost depth and will return the same group that struggles against South Carolina and tu when the season was on the line, and not one is on any draft boards aside from possibly Bisontis, and we return like 2 TD's from the tight end room, and added no one who can change that, although Kiotti Armstrong should start day 1

But our punter should be great

Vegas will set the over / under of wins at a number that'll have all the maroon tinted glasses fans buying the over, we the zoo can make a fortune on the under

SA68AG said:

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Down. D-line is going to be much worse.

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Dunno, DL was pretty average down the stretch...

Luckily, all but 1 of the 2025 class were early enrollees and will go through spring ball so they should be more able to help out in the fall than a normal freshman class.

Feeling disappointed with next years outlook and current state of the program. DL depth dropping and a lot of things to correct on both sides of the ball. The Texas move to the sec is a complete disaster for us with them having the current edge in talent acquisition, momentum, and us losing the sec recruiting advantage. I feel like we are back to being their whipping child going forward. We have to get our sh*t straight fast if we're going to prove it's not going to be like the old days.

A glass half full guy, huh?

I'm predicting 8-4 and even I cringe at how over the top you are.

There's also plenty of good things that could be listed, too. Of course, if I do that, I'll just be labeled a sunshine pumper because this board doesn't want to believe there's even a remote possibility we could be a good team next year. But there's tons of question marks and concerns, and there's tons of reasons why we could be better, too.

The truth is usually in the middle, and again, while I bet we go 8-4 if I had a gun to my head, I think the picture will end up a little brighter than a post like this suggests. There's more to build on than you make it seem.

Just off the top of my head, Trey Zuhn would have been drafted this year had he come out. So saying only Bisontis on the OL is not true. Crownover and Fatheree will both get looks. Reed-Adams will get a really strong look. Craver is not the 4th best WR on his team. Easily one of the top 2 most talented. 2nd in yards per game. 1st in yards per reception. T2 in touchdowns. You see 4th in total yards and just immediately go to the fact that he's 4th best because you want to paint a narrative. I'd say he was easily their 2nd best WR weapon when healthy. He just played less games and was set back by injury missing 3.5 games.

But again, those are only 2 of about 10 things I could comment on. Not to mention, our roster isn't set. I could see us adding 3-4, if not 5 more guys between now and the spring portal window. At WR and DT specifically.

Yep. I see 7-5 to 9-4 as we stand right now but there so much still happening it's tough to say and i really am not going to even begin to predict our outcome until the dust settles.

I don't see any proven, above average position groups anywhere on the team.

- Our starting QB is still young and unproven; we really don't know anything about the backups.

- Our top 2 RBs are coming off season ending injuries, and frankly Owens hasn't shown much to date.

- Our OL should be improved, but they've been a disaster for about 3 years. No reason to expect they'll be elite.

- Our WR group may be improved but still TBD. While this could be our best offensive group, our OC's philosophy is centered on the run.

- Our TE group is average at best, probably below average.

- Our DL is almost certainly less deep or talented than the underperforming group from last year

- Our LB group is probably average or below average

- Our DB group may be better than last year, but they were pretty bad last year.


Next year our schedule will be more difficult than this year. So, I think we're looking at another 7-5 or 8-4 type season. I hope I'm wrong.

In general, I agree with most of what you said and it's hard to argue at this time.

I will say the only thing I disagree with is that our OL was no where close to a disaster in 2024. In fact, it graded out as an upper half of the sec OL. Maybe even top 5-6 but I can't remember exactly where it was, but it was above average. People seem to confuse what a good OL is, because teams like Texas and even USCe this year made many OL's look really, really bad. Our issues were not really having any position really pick others up. QB was young. WRs were overmatched against any good secondary's. RB after Moss went down was average to below average. TEs were average receivers and below average blockers. So against good defenses, no one could be a plus unit to get it done. But the OL was probably one of the least of our worries.

But again, I agree with most of what you are saying. 2025 is a MASSIVE unknown to me. It's time for Elko to win back some fans by getting some of these guys we aren't sure on to exceed expectations, which rarely happens around here. 2012 and 2020 are about it. We have to improve more than a couple of these positions to being above average to good sec units. If not, we are in for 7-5.

We will be better because all the Texags experts think we will be worse.

Looking at NIL transfer the offense will have more talent. Defense will be even worse. Too much youth and quite frankly way too little talent. I really believe we are sinking. The hiring process was no better than when Jimbo was hired.

Talent is absolutely a major question mark. But in terms of youth, it will actually be a very old, experienced defense. Youth isn't really a concern. The lone exception could be DT if we don't add anyone in the spring window. Talent is a major concern, but it is not a young defense by any means.

Defense only has too much youth at DT. If we add at least 1 true contributor we should be ok at DT but ideally I'd like 2 contributors. Everywhere outside the DL we should be equal to or better than last year because at worse we basically have the same guys and they will be another year in the system. The big question is will it be enough to see improvement on that side of the ball.

We need more consistent DL play and much improved secondary play to have a chance.

Offense has a solid chance to be better across the board except maybe for pass catching TE. TE blocking should be dramatically better.

It's funny that Elko is our coach and we are all concerned about our bad defense. We lose the absolute best pieces of a defense that was for the most part pretty bad this year. How did we get here?

Aggie Michael said:

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What's everyone's thoughts. We had a year in which Elko played a notable hand in two recruiting classes (transfer + HS), redid our staff (especially our coordinators) and changed our recruiting (less on talent, more on what he calls a fit or perhaps alternatively the "do more with less" view our AD spoke about).

Not sure if we will be upgrading any positions next year for sure. You can argue our QB situation will improve along with the RBs (assuming Moss, Owens are 100%) but both lines (offense, defense), the receiving core, etc can easily drop off next year depending on your views and what we picku. Will we have more wins next year?

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We will probably go 8-5