In terms of talent:
QB: Kaaya > Dorsey I do not know about that, Ken was more of a football nerd and he had close to the same skills.
WR: Coley/Richards > Sands Both have a LOT to prove before you make that assessment, Coley maybe. Richards has a couple games under his belt against NO ONE!
G: Isidora > Sherko Again, that guy lead out team in one category last yr, false starts. Shark was a solid guy in an all time great line that opened massive holes, and had great qb protection.
DE: Chad > Andrew Williams Again, at this point, Chad still has a lot to prove to be considered better than him. He's had a couple good games against terrible competition.
DT: McIntosh/Norton > Walters Walters was very good completely underrated by history revisionists. Closer to a wash. They could pull ahead if they continue to be great. But again they need to face good teams and still do what they have done so far.
OLB: Pinckney > Campbell (RIP)/Clark NO, just NO. Not yet. One great game against a JV team does not make you better than guys that ball out in NC games.
NB: Corn > Fitzgerald Possibly, only difference is Corn is not currently our NB he's a starting CB, so does he start at CB? Nope.
S: Rayshawn = James Lewis Jenkins is the one guy that might have started on that defense. He does cover a lot of ground and it would help to free up Ed even more. But think of it like this, did ST start over him? Is ST better than Rayshawn? Just a thought....
The '01 squad wins everywhere else.
Its really not fair to compare some of these guys in my opinion. They just do not have enough game/big game experience to give any of them the nod over all time great teams' players. These dudes were pretty darn good. And its a lot different when a guy is playing on a defense with 7,8,9 future pro bowlers. So as a group, everyone on this team has a LOT of work to do if any of them want to be considered great. Kaaya has better passing numbers, but does he sell the PA well? Does he manage a team full of STARS? Because like it or not, all those future pro bowlers totally respected Kenny and he was the leader of that team.
I said in terms of talent. Production is a different story because these guys have a lot of football in front of them.
But Kaaya is more talented than Dorsey. There's a reason he's considered a possible 1st round draft pick, and Dorsey was a 7th round pick.
Isidora will get a look in the NFL. Sherko went to the CFL.
Coley will get drafted (ditto Richards if he stays the course). Sands didn't.
And so on and so forth.
BTW I listed Corn at nickel because he often moves inside to cover the slot.
the question is would these guys have started for that team?
No they would not have, Sands was not a starter. It was Daryl Jones and Johnson. Coley may have started over Jones, but I can't definitively say that he would have. Lots of guys get drafted and don't even make a roster, so that does not make or break it for me. If I am determining if a guy would start ,its not based on how I project him. Its I know guy X did this, has guy Y been better than that up to this point for me to think he would have started over that guy. And honestly, Coley is the only one that has actually accomplished enough, and shown enough talent for me to say, yeah he might have started on that team. As for the other guys, whether they end up getting drafted or not does not matter, Freshman Pinckney would not have been a starter on that team right now, maybe by the time he is a Jr of Sr, but no as a freshman he would not be a starter on that team. There were some pretty **** talented freshman on that 2001 roster that sat the bench.
Kaaya, possibly. But it is a different game right now. I am not sold on his arm strength. I think it will undoubtedly become an issue for him in the NFL. I think, like Dorsey, he has plenty for CFB success. Dorsey was a top 3 Heisman finalist, Kaaya? Even with his great numbers he is not even in the conversation. Let alone the fact that Dorsey had a teammate in that room with him.
Isadora, IMO needs work. He is solid, but I do not see anything that blows me away. Sherko was part of a line that allowed like 10 sacks in a whole season or some crazy number like that. So if you look at their careers to the point of their current seasons. No, I do not think Isidora would have started over him.
I respect your talent argument, I used a different measure. I would not go on talent alone because talent does not always translate into a great football player necessarily. If talent is the barometer then Marcus Vick was a great quarterback. And Jason Geathers is an all time great, as is Choc Gray... Tons of guys are talented, but until it translates to the field they usually do not start over guys that get the job done. Heck look at the NFL draft guys get drafted super high out of college all the time and bomb, because they could not translate their talent into production against better talent.
Not trying to necessarily get into a right or wrong debate, just my opinion. And honestly, you are entitled to your opinion. So I'll let it go now...sorry bro.
