Going into this Fall and season with managed expectations. Optimism for the future, but some level of caution as well. Perhaps that’s just PTSD. Maybe it’s founded on the reality of where I know we were and how much needs to be done to jolt our program in the right direction.
Here’s what I’ll look for during Fall camp (and the early parts of the season):
1. Will Coach Gattis’ offensive ‘identity’ formation lean toward TVD’s downfield and opposite hash abilities?
In his interview today, he mentioned he’ll run a personnel-driven offense. A few moments later, he said the Fall was about establishing the identity of the team through the offense. I don’t think it’s difficult to interpret his comments as wanting a physical brand of football. He mentioned how, while they may not have the depth they want on the OL, they’ve got the potential to be as good as anyone (or something to that effect). We’re all wondering what the offense will look like. The Fall will only give us some hints. Let’s see how TVD-driven it might look.
2. How will we hold up physically?
I must’ve spent the better part of the last two seasons complaining - in subtle and not so subtle posts - about our tackling and hitting in practice. People close to the program continuously mentioned how we hit less than they ever expected. It became obvious on gameday. I fully expect Mario to ramp up the physical nature of our practices. The way it needs to be done. We shall see what happens, but it’s exciting to be prepared for actual football again.
3. Which 2-3 defensive players will surprise us?
Everyone I’ve heard from says the players are *fully* bought into Coach Steele. They are genuinely excited. Stephenson and the Safeties are good bets to be at least solid, if not more, but we need at least a couple of surprise ‘leaps.’ One of the DTs? One of the Edge players? A surprise LB or CB?
www.canesinsight.com
