2023 5-star DE Hicks travels to UM for Paradise, impressed by Simpson

[TRick72]

It’s not just the SEC West.

The entire SEC looks so mid this year. It’s early, but…

- Missouri nearly lost to Middle Tennessee St last week.
- Kentucky looked less than impressive against Ball St and then struggled with Eastern Kentucky
- Tennessee struggled to put away UVA for about 40 min, and then beat Austin Peay by 17…they only scored 30 points, after Austin Peay let up 49 to Southern Illinois week 1.
- UF lost to a mediocre Utah team (given the available personnel).
- South Carolina’s trenches look atrocious, gave up 9 sacks vs. UNC.
- Brian Kelly is a corch and got blown out by FSU/struggled with Grambling St for the first 25 minutes.
- Bama could have easily been ran out of the building by Texas if it wasn’t for a couple fortuitous bounces, still lost by double digits
- Miss St forced 4 picks by Jayden de Laura and still had to go to OT with Arizona
- Arkansas was a 38pt favorite against Kent St, a team UCF blew out by 50+….and were up 8 at half, only scored 28 points.
- Vandy got dominated by a rebuilding Wake Forest squad and should have lost to Hawaii Week 1
- Auburn struggled immensely with Cal and were fortunate their kicker is cheeks, as he missed three field goals.


Again it’s early and a lot can change, but absolutely can make an argument the SEC is the 3rd or 4th-best P5 conference.

In fairness, that’s just what Middle Tennessee St does to people

 

[WeBallinBoyz]

In fairness, that’s just what Middle Tennessee St does to people

 

[Cane4life18]

Their offense is good.

Their defense isn't. 240yards after the catch is bad. You don't just get better at tackling mid season. They're going to be dealing with poor tackling all season.

You look at their schedule and I see maybe 3 at most guaranteed wins left. They play Tennessee and Bama which they should lose. The other 5 games are toss ups.

So anywhere from 9-3 to 4-8 is possible for them.

Look at last year. They hung with and almost beat Bama, beat LSU, but lost to App state and Auburn and struggled with Arkansas.

They're too inconsistent. With that talent they could show up on any given Saturday and beat anybody but also could lose to anybody. Hard to predict what they'll be when everybody knows Jimbo is a dead man walking.

I actually agree with almost everything you posted. Objective post. I'll say this though:

Don't be so quick to write Bama and Tenn as losses. I'm not sold on Joe Milton as Tenn's savior. Kid has a **** of an arm but struggles with decision making and trusts his arm a little too much at times.

Bama is Bama but they have QB problems and got man-handled by Texas on both sides of the ball on Saturday. Bama has things they need to figure out. Texas A&M may be able to steal one of those games.

 

[JayCane20]

They have a fairly tough schedule. 6 might be their ceiling this year, which is not going to keep his job. I think they need 8 for that. Stacked far too much talent and spent far too much money for 5 to 7 win seasons......

They have 2 more easy wins on their schedule with ULM and Abilene Christian. Then, the SEC seems down all around to me.

Their bucket of games with Auburn, Arkansas, USC, Miss State - they probably go 2-2 or 3-1. I think they beat Auburn, SC, and MSU. All 3 of those at home. Lose to Arkansas on the road.

Tennessee, Ole Miss, Alabama, and LSU - they probably go 1-3 or 2-2. All on the road except Alabama. Tennessee, LSU, and Ole Miss don't look good but plenty of time before those game. Then they've always played Alabama pretty tough it seems.

If I was guessing now, I'd say 7-5. 9-3 ceiling if they can steal a road game against Ole Miss or LSU and can go undefeated in the 4 weaker SEC games. Probably not firing him unless he loses a bowl game on top of that. $70-80M is a lot of money.

 

[Yoyo82]

I actually agree with almost everything you posted. Objective post. I'll say this though:

Don't be so quick to write Bama and Tenn as losses. I'm not sold on Joe Milton as Tenn's savior. Kid has a **** of an arm but struggles with decision making and trusts his arm a little too much at times.

Bama is Bama but they have QB problems and got man-handled by Texas on both sides of the ball on Saturday. Bama has things they need to figure out. Texas A&M may be able to steal one of those games.

I agree 100%. A&M could show up on any day and beat anybody. That's what happens when you have top 10 talent

 

[supacane]

Im not blowing 8&4 because we best them. I think they can have a good season because we came after that QB and he hung in there and delivered the ball. I think everyone is overreacting becausr they thought we were supposed to be trash instead of readjusting their view of us. I think they will be a better team than LSU, who i was sounding out before their game v FSU. A&M issue is Durkin. He is bad. But if they implode and we grab a couple, wouldnt mind it either. A&M implode, Saban retire, Ohio flame out on O. Could be a feeding frenzy for recruits

 

[KingB02]

Their QB is good. He got hit like 1000 times and never flinched. The pic Cam got the WR slipped and the last one we were baiting him into throwing that short comeback. He got the ball out QUICK and we couldn’t sack him. His knock is he doesn’t have a strong arm. Some passes were ducks. Their Oline is also good. We did everything we could and they held us to no sacks. They protected him as much as they could given all those blitzes. When we brought les than 5 they stonewalled us. They win win 8 games, but that shouldn’t be enough to keep Jimbo employed IMO.

 

[TRick72]

Im not blowing 8&4 because we best them. I think they can have a good season because we came after that QB and he hung in there and delivered the ball. I think everyone is overreacting becausr they thought we were supposed to be trash instead of readjusting their view of us. I think they will be a better team than LSU, who i was sounding out before their game v FSU. A&M issue is Durkin. He is bad. But if they implode and we grab a couple, wouldnt mind it either. A&M implode, Saban retire, Ohio flame out on O. Could be a feeding frenzy for recruits

 

[supacane]

Their QB is good. He got hit like 1000 times and never flinched. The pic Cam got the WR slipped and the last one we were baiting him into throwing that short comeback. He got the ball out QUICK and we couldn’t sack him. His knock is he doesn’t have a strong arm. Some passes were ducks. Their Oline is also good. We did everything we could and they held us to no sacks. They protected him as much as they could given all those blitzes. When we brought les than 5 they stonewalled us. They win win 8 games, but that shouldn’t be enough to keep Jimbo employed IMO.

1 sack. Mesidor sacked him early in the 2nd qtr. He tried running to the sideline.

 

[grover]

They have a fairly tough schedule. 6 might be their ceiling this year, which is not going to keep his job. I think they need 8 for that. Stacked far too much talent and spent far too much money for 5 to 7 win seasons......

I think they're better than they showed us. We got lucky because they had no idea what was about to hit them with Dawson and Guidry and our improved personnel. They'll be much more prepared for the rest of their schedule. ... Jimbo should fire his DC right now though.

 

[grover]

They have 2 more easy wins on their schedule with ULM and Abilene Christian. Then, the SEC seems down all around to me.

Their bucket of games with Auburn, Arkansas, USC, Miss State - they probably go 2-2 or 3-1. I think they beat Auburn, SC, and MSU. All 3 of those at home. Lose to Arkansas on the road.

Tennessee, Ole Miss, Alabama, and LSU - they probably go 1-3 or 2-2. All on the road except Alabama. Tennessee, LSU, and Ole Miss don't look good but plenty of time before those game. Then they've always played Alabama pretty tough it seems.

If I was guessing now, I'd say 7-5. 9-3 ceiling if they can steal a road game against Ole Miss or LSU and can go undefeated in the 4 weaker SEC games. Probably not firing him unless he loses a bowl game on top of that. $70-80M is a lot of money.

Agree with the probably range of 7-9 games. But any team that has a great QB, great WRs and great DL is going to be hard to beat. They could still put it all together and be very competitive. ... p.s., Bama without a good QB is in trouble IMHO.

 

[bdcane4eva]

completely forgot about this kid...
he'd probably already be ballin, gettin pub and an ACC player of the week here vs an unknown
sad.

 

[AUcane]

Agree with the probably range of 7-9 games. But any team that has a great QB, great WRs and great DL is going to be hard to beat. They could still put it all together and be very competitive. ... p.s., Bama without a good QB is in trouble IMHO.

This. Young gun slinger of a QB, great DL, solid OL and running game usually gets you 7-9 wins.

 

[Confidence1000]

If TAMU wins 6 games and Jimbo is axed then ….


#ComeOnOverToDeathRow

 

[canecrazy23]

Their QB is good. He got hit like 1000 times and never flinched. The pic Cam got the WR slipped and the last one we were baiting him into throwing that short comeback. He got the ball out QUICK and we couldn’t sack him. His knock is he doesn’t have a strong arm. Some passes were ducks. Their Oline is also good. We did everything we could and they held us to no sacks. They protected him as much as they could given all those blitzes. When we brought les than 5 they stonewalled us. They win win 8 games, but that shouldn’t be enough to keep Jimbo employed IMO.

You can say that again.