forums

Alright I’m going to say it. I have some concerns.

BigDikDaddyFromCincinnati said:
Welcome to CiS baby!!!

If he was a “stud center,” why was he almost undrafted?
It’s also ok to use a little nuance when reading. As in, the center is 20% of the position group.

And while we are picking apart people’s takes, let’s not overlook that fact that your take is loaded with assumptions and crystal balls. “Neither was replaced by a player at their level.” Is that a fact? Nope. It’s a complete assumption on your part. Now run along little boy.
Click to expand...

Whatever helps you sleep at night, son.
 
Advertisement
Im kinda with you. Feel like we’ve brought in a bunch of perfectly fine ACC players and talked ourselves into them being gamechangers. Aside from Ward, who may actually be program changing good for a year.

I just have no faith in the coaching, so the fact that we’re probably marginally better on paper at almost every spot won’t matter. We consistently get less out of more and need to be much much better than our opponents to win and we aren’t. I see an 8-4 season
 
No question on paper that this roster is an upgrade over a year ago. The OL is probably the lone exception and depends on center play and development of one or two youngsters. May be naive, but don’t see a drop off in safety play. Have to like what’s been pieced together.
 
Gables Cane said:
Mostly agree. Exceptions are…

TE: We are better
CB: Push
S: Worse (not way worse)

More importantly, we are better overall.
Click to expand...
I think CB is better than last year. We return all but one guy. Couch was okay at nickel. Got abused often. Everyone else that returns balled last year and are a year older in this system. Safety is not much worse IMO. Play Powell at strong and we have a lot of fast guys who can play free. I think Williams will surprise people. He’s always in the right place and is a ballhawk! He’s just small, so free safety should be his position. You don’t need him to be out there in the box, that’s not his game.
 
QB…Starter better... QB Room little better
RB…Top 2 better...RB room a little better
WR…Top 3 same...WR room better
TE…Top 2 little better, TE room better
OL…Starting 5 Ehhh same? (Maybe a little worse, but hoping youngster development cancels out losing 2 pretty good starters)...OL room same

DT…Top 3 Same (but worse if No Barrow)…DT Room better
DE…Top 3 Better…DE Room Same (I had high hopes for Kelly and Wayne, but love the frosh)
LB…Top 3 Little Better…LB Room Better
CB…Top 3 Same (If including nickle, little better outside imo)…CB Room Same
S/Nickle….Top 3 Worse…S Room Little Worse

K still very good
P…Could be little better in year 2.
 
Last edited:
No_Fly_Zone said:
This is where I shake my head...

Our stud center who had a great season is dismissed for being a mere 7th round pick, then two paragraphs later our 3rd round pick safety is being given too much credit and isn't a big loss.

Lee and Kam are real losses to this team and neither was replaced with a player at their level. It's OK to admit that and still believe we are an overall better roster and should win 10 games.
Click to expand...
Lee is a huge loss. Kam is also a big loss. But he was replaced with a dude that will have similar results. Nowhere near the upside but also his floor is exactly what we need. If our other safety slot doesn't need to be compensated for them the results will be similar. Any opinions on here if you don't realize by now they don't hold up to a grain of salt then you simply don't pay attention kind sir.
 
skeeter said:
QB…Starter better... QB Room little better
RB…Top 2 better...RB room a little better
WR…Top 3 same...WR room better
TE…Top 2 little better, TE room better
OL…Starting 5 Ehhh same? (Maybe a little worse, but hoping youngster development cancels out losing 2 pretty good starters)...OL room same

DT…Top 3 Same (but worse if No Barrow)…DT Room better
DE…Top 3 Better…DE Room Same (I had high hopes for Kelly and Wayne, but love the frosh)
LB…Top 3 Little Better…LB Room Better
CB…Top 3 Same (If including nickle, little better outside imo)…CB Room Little Same
S/Nickle….Top 3 Worse…S Room Little Worse

K still very good
P…Could be little better in year 2.
Click to expand...
I think LB top 3 is notably better, not just a little. Mauigoa is still excellent. Bissainthe showed a lot of positive development as the year progressed so he should be a better player than last year. Alderman could be a top 3 or excellent experienced depth but either way elevates the room. Popo has a year of growth and development and could be a top 3 or quality depth depending on Alderman. Meanwhile we lost Cloyd and Flagg. So our top 3 should be a notable improvement regardless of which of Alderman or Popo are in our top 3. Plus Smith, Bryant, and Washington have a year of development and we brought in two freshman who could make some noise early. I think the room has gone from bad a few years ago, to solid last year, and a real strength this year
 
Advertisement
3FW said:
On paper this team is favored in every game they will play. Let’s play the games and see what happens. Not an elite roster, but one good enough to make the playoffs.
Click to expand...
Not true.

We are already dogs to FSU at home (+1) technically but that means Vegas thinks we’re about a 3-4 point underdog to FSU on a neutral field.

We are also dogs to Louisville on the road, still +1 but juice in favor of Louisville as well.

Again very close to 50/50 in the current situation, but technically underdogs in those games. It’s also very early lines before even fall camp as begun, so there’s only so many data points you can use - it’s pretty much calibrated by the following:

- Returning production #’s from Bill Connelly
- Sagarin ratings
- HS recruiting slightly since most won’t contribute much Y1
- portal recruiting for sure
- SOS
- Coaching upgrades/departures
 
Last edited:
ST26 said:
Where did you get that Carpenter was average? Dmoney and everyone close to the program has said otherwise lo. lHe’s bigger and stronger than Lee. He still made all big-10 hm playing next to two terible guards at Indiana. Worst case is that he’ll be the same level as Lee. Whoever ends up playing LG will have a higher ceiling than Cohen. It also helps that we bring back our three best offensive lineman
Click to expand...
Lee was much better
 
I have some concerns as well, I think we all do. And, if I’m a betting man, I’d say most of us have the same concerns in two key areas: The interior of the D-Line(DT) and do we have enough talent/depth at DB and in the secondary. I honestly have very little, if any, concerns about the offense, and I think our pass rush/LB’s will be very good, but I could see us being involved in some high scoring affairs this season. Years of lackluster recruiting at DB have led to the current situation in our secondary room. We’ve got some studs coming in at DT, but ideally you never want to have to rely on true freshmen on the line of scrimmage. Right now, I 100% believe our offense is playoff caliber, but the defense is still a question mark for me.
 
#1cane said:
My concern is Dawson/Mario. If they open up the offense for 4 quarters and not just when they get behind this team can win. Schedule is easy and the talent is better. Now lets see the results.
Click to expand...
I have no doubt they will open the offense for cam, just gotta scheme better
 
atlcane72 said:
A QB alone takes us to another level. Our team was good last year. The implosion of TVD sank all momentum
Click to expand...
Exactly. This team would have been 10-2 last year with decent QB play. We easily beat GT, FSU and NC State last year if we got anything from the quarterback position. Even if there’s zero improvement at any other position, quarterback play alone will get us to the ACC championship game against this schedule.
 
Miami04 said:
Have we gotten better across the board this off season or just at a couple of spots? I know Dmoney compared year. 1 vs today but just looking at last year to today.

QB - much much better
RB - if fletcher is out for the year this is a push but we will say slightly better (heavily relying on unproven players)
WR - experience and the transfer should make us better here
TE - push
OL - small step back. I doubt we would have still been sniffing around another portal C and IOL if this wasn’t the case

DE - much much better
DT - if we lose Barrow we are worse than last year and with him it’s a push
LB - better and have some depth
CB - worse
S - way worse. Depending on where Powell plays maybe the worst group of S in the ACC


Maybe it’s the 20 years of sucking and the refusing to fall for the hype again but I’m just not sure this team has the horses. Cam should make a huge difference but if we need talent to overcome Mario’s deficiencies I don’t see it yet. Granted there are a lot of true Soph that can step up but that’s nothing we can count on.

The schedule should help but we’re going to have to out coach some teams and that hasn’t happened yet. I think 10 win may be this teams ceiling. I hope I’m wrong. My #1 concern is we lose a game because of coaching or a crucial game and the mercenaries quit on the team and fracture the locker room. But that’s something 90% of the country has to worry about.
Click to expand...
Amazon Studios Were Fine GIF by Amazon Prime Video
 
Advertisement
BS85 said:
Lee was much better
Click to expand...
Was he really? Carpenter is bigger/stronger and significantly better in the run game. Last season, I’ll give the slight edge to Lee on pass blocking. But Carpenter will be just as good if not a better pass blocker in this system. Indiana’s guards were terrible last season.
 
I'm in wait and see mode. I think the talent has improved but we need to see development from certain positions (DT, secondary, LB, and lowkey TE) and the play-calling in the Fall before I start drinking the kool aid.
 
Back
Top