- Nov 16, 1999
- 1,244
- 9
- 38
Season ticket holder for many years. Will try to keep everyone updated on the Orange.
Lots of questions once again heading into season.
Strengths:
Wide receivers - Above average. Taj Smith is a burner and back from shoulder injury. Mike Williams showed promise as a freshman, good speed and hands. Lavar Lobell has looked much improved, slimmed down and gotten stronger but has been a disaster since being heavily recruited by lots of elite schools and choosing SU. They are all between 6'1 and 6'3 and should be able to get some seperation, something that has been rarely seen in last few years. Loss their starting TE in Ferron as he quits on team at start of summer. Their progress depends on OL and QB.
Defensive Front - McClain is a talented DE but got most of those sacks last year against the bottom feeders on SU schedule. Lee Williams at other end has dropped weight and looking faster. DT Jenkins has lost weight and hit the weight room hard. It is imperative that this group hold their own or that 150+ yards of rushing per game they gave up last year will go higher. They will get after the passer.
Secondary - Four upperclassmen, two returning starters, other two saw plenty of time. Fields showed promise in making the switch from QB last year and will be even better. Must stop giving long the home run ball.
Weakness;
OL - Horrible in both pass protection and run blocking lst year. undisciplined group. Three of them return for another go around, joined by Senior norton and junior Chavers. Depth is non existent with tthree red shirt fresh and one true fresh. If they improve, the offense improves. if not, your looking at another 100 offensive ranking.
RB - loss of carter is huge. brinkley is still recovering from knee surgery in spring and has not shown much this fall. Chiara is the back up and he is slow to the hole. Unless brinkley gets to 100% soon and shows some improvement ( lost his job to true fresh last year), this will be a bad news group.
LB - All three are new. None saw any significant time last year. Speed will be an issue. unless D line shows up huge, they will be overmatched against all except Buffalo and Miami-Ohio.
unknowns:
QB: The Andrew Robinson era begins. Classic pocket passer. Good arm. if line protects and he gets the ball to the receivers, Maybe some good things will happen. I can see lots of growing pains.
I look for a 5-6 season with wins over Illinois, Buffalo , Miami, UCONN and Pitt.
Tonight, i like Washington -3.5. I can not see this OL coming out in the opener and giving Robinson the time he eeds to be comfortable in his debut. Running game cant take the pressure off. The defense should be alright.
Washington 17 SU 10
Lots of questions once again heading into season.
Strengths:
Wide receivers - Above average. Taj Smith is a burner and back from shoulder injury. Mike Williams showed promise as a freshman, good speed and hands. Lavar Lobell has looked much improved, slimmed down and gotten stronger but has been a disaster since being heavily recruited by lots of elite schools and choosing SU. They are all between 6'1 and 6'3 and should be able to get some seperation, something that has been rarely seen in last few years. Loss their starting TE in Ferron as he quits on team at start of summer. Their progress depends on OL and QB.
Defensive Front - McClain is a talented DE but got most of those sacks last year against the bottom feeders on SU schedule. Lee Williams at other end has dropped weight and looking faster. DT Jenkins has lost weight and hit the weight room hard. It is imperative that this group hold their own or that 150+ yards of rushing per game they gave up last year will go higher. They will get after the passer.
Secondary - Four upperclassmen, two returning starters, other two saw plenty of time. Fields showed promise in making the switch from QB last year and will be even better. Must stop giving long the home run ball.
Weakness;
OL - Horrible in both pass protection and run blocking lst year. undisciplined group. Three of them return for another go around, joined by Senior norton and junior Chavers. Depth is non existent with tthree red shirt fresh and one true fresh. If they improve, the offense improves. if not, your looking at another 100 offensive ranking.
RB - loss of carter is huge. brinkley is still recovering from knee surgery in spring and has not shown much this fall. Chiara is the back up and he is slow to the hole. Unless brinkley gets to 100% soon and shows some improvement ( lost his job to true fresh last year), this will be a bad news group.
LB - All three are new. None saw any significant time last year. Speed will be an issue. unless D line shows up huge, they will be overmatched against all except Buffalo and Miami-Ohio.
unknowns:
QB: The Andrew Robinson era begins. Classic pocket passer. Good arm. if line protects and he gets the ball to the receivers, Maybe some good things will happen. I can see lots of growing pains.
I look for a 5-6 season with wins over Illinois, Buffalo , Miami, UCONN and Pitt.
Tonight, i like Washington -3.5. I can not see this OL coming out in the opener and giving Robinson the time he eeds to be comfortable in his debut. Running game cant take the pressure off. The defense should be alright.
Washington 17 SU 10