It was an interesting weekend with the NFL Draft and its aftermath, as it and the end of spring practices gave a little bit of an idea of what we can expect from other teams in the SEC West this fall.
First, a look at the weekend from A&M's perspective. While not overly surprising, it was a disappointing one for a few guys -- certainly for Trey Williams. It's not the first time someone's had bad advisors in their ear telling them that they're ready for bigger and better things -- Jamar Toombs comes to mind immediately -- but Trey's early departure ended up being a massive blunder. Trey figured his impressive totals when he got the ball (a career average of 7 YPC and a TD every 11 touches) would overcome his lack of touches, period. It didn't. His agility, speed and versatility didn't overcome his lack of size, concerns about durability and lack of a real track record in the passing game. In the end, Trey didn't get drafted, and he didn't even get a free agent contract -- he's got a tryout with the Texans. That's depressing. Trey's one of my favorite players, on and off the field, in recent years and I feel terrible for him. I think that he'll stick somewhere eventually, but this is a scary reminder of the crapshoot that the NFL draft is.
I like the idea of Jarvis Harrison with the Jets. That's going to be a run-first team and, once Jarvis gets used to playing in the 3-point stance and the pace of the NFL game, he's going to be beat up on people in the running game. But he's got to really dedicate himself to the task at hand.
I like Ced to the Bengals too. They're going to need a new left tackle next year, but have someone in place for 2015 in Todd Hermanns. That will give Ced some time to fully recover from his ACL injury and make the NFL leap with minimal pressure before getting thrust into the starting lineup next year. He's so smart and athletic that a year as a backup will be more for full recovery and getting stronger than it will be to getting him used to game speed or the playbook.
Deshazor and Malcome Kennedy also found some really good landing points. Tampa's secondary isn't very good (when you're 2-14, NOTHING is good), and they're going to have to look at a lot of guys to try to find better play in the defensive backfield. Lovie Smith is an outstanding defensive mind and he (and his staff) should help Deshazor develop. Kennedy, in turn, ends up with a brilliant offensive mind in Sean Payton who has done great things with overlooked receivers like Marques Colston. As long as Drew Brees is around, they'll be in four and five wide sets throwing the ball around the joint, and that increases his chances of sticking.
So how about the rest of the division?
Alabama looks loaded, especially on defense. Their defensive front is probably the only one that is clearly superior to A&M's (yes, I know what I just said) in terms of both depth and talent. They feel better about their secondary than they did last year, and Landon Collins just went in the second round. But they have two problems, one glaring. The big one is quarterback, where Jacob Coker has the top job but hasn't impressed anyone. He may not hold it in the fall. Either way, they'll be very inexperienced, but they were when Blake Sims started last year too. The other issue is depth at running back; their top two are awesome, but there are a lot of big injuries behind them, so any more injuries could cause problems.
Auburn should be very scary on offense. I like Jeremy Johnson and with Duke Williams leading a strong receiver group, they're going to put up points. Their O-line is good and the backs are solid. They're still looking for answers at linebacker and are worried about their secondary, even though their defense has become a lot more aggressive. Sound familiar?
LSU has a ton of really good receivers and great running backs, but still can't figure out what they're going to do at quarterback. Problem. Another problem is that Kevin Steele has arrived and decided he's going to implement a hybrid 4-3/3-4 defensive scheme, and whether he has the personnel up front to run either is really a question. Which sounds utterly bizarre, I know. LSU's going to reload and their '16 class looks tremendous so far, but this year may be the one where they finally slip a little.
Arkansas brings back virtually everybody on offense, (even though losing TE A.J. Derby hurts) but their defense has lost a lot. They had DE Trey Flowers, LB Martrell Speight, CB Tevin Mitchell and DT Darius Philon drafted, and that's a a pretty big number for a defense which is still trying to re-build its depth.
Ole Miss has quarter back issues. JUCO transfer Chad Kelly was supposed to take care of that and he didn't -- in fact, he looked the worst of the three candidates. The best was Devante Kincade of Skyline, who I have been watching since his junior year of high school and he has yet to impress me once. Their running game is suspect and their offensive line has to get established, but their defense should be really good this fall.
Mississippi State took a pounding with attrition of very good players. They had five guys drafted (two quickly the second round), but their losses on both lines and in the secondary were staggering. They've got a lot to make up for in a hurry, and while Dak Prescott should be unanimous preseason All-SEC, there's not much else that we know of right now.
So, in other words: if A&M's going to strike, it would be well advised to do it in this year or next. The window's open, because nobody has everything set going into August.
First, a look at the weekend from A&M's perspective. While not overly surprising, it was a disappointing one for a few guys -- certainly for Trey Williams. It's not the first time someone's had bad advisors in their ear telling them that they're ready for bigger and better things -- Jamar Toombs comes to mind immediately -- but Trey's early departure ended up being a massive blunder. Trey figured his impressive totals when he got the ball (a career average of 7 YPC and a TD every 11 touches) would overcome his lack of touches, period. It didn't. His agility, speed and versatility didn't overcome his lack of size, concerns about durability and lack of a real track record in the passing game. In the end, Trey didn't get drafted, and he didn't even get a free agent contract -- he's got a tryout with the Texans. That's depressing. Trey's one of my favorite players, on and off the field, in recent years and I feel terrible for him. I think that he'll stick somewhere eventually, but this is a scary reminder of the crapshoot that the NFL draft is.
I like the idea of Jarvis Harrison with the Jets. That's going to be a run-first team and, once Jarvis gets used to playing in the 3-point stance and the pace of the NFL game, he's going to be beat up on people in the running game. But he's got to really dedicate himself to the task at hand.
I like Ced to the Bengals too. They're going to need a new left tackle next year, but have someone in place for 2015 in Todd Hermanns. That will give Ced some time to fully recover from his ACL injury and make the NFL leap with minimal pressure before getting thrust into the starting lineup next year. He's so smart and athletic that a year as a backup will be more for full recovery and getting stronger than it will be to getting him used to game speed or the playbook.
Deshazor and Malcome Kennedy also found some really good landing points. Tampa's secondary isn't very good (when you're 2-14, NOTHING is good), and they're going to have to look at a lot of guys to try to find better play in the defensive backfield. Lovie Smith is an outstanding defensive mind and he (and his staff) should help Deshazor develop. Kennedy, in turn, ends up with a brilliant offensive mind in Sean Payton who has done great things with overlooked receivers like Marques Colston. As long as Drew Brees is around, they'll be in four and five wide sets throwing the ball around the joint, and that increases his chances of sticking.
So how about the rest of the division?
Alabama looks loaded, especially on defense. Their defensive front is probably the only one that is clearly superior to A&M's (yes, I know what I just said) in terms of both depth and talent. They feel better about their secondary than they did last year, and Landon Collins just went in the second round. But they have two problems, one glaring. The big one is quarterback, where Jacob Coker has the top job but hasn't impressed anyone. He may not hold it in the fall. Either way, they'll be very inexperienced, but they were when Blake Sims started last year too. The other issue is depth at running back; their top two are awesome, but there are a lot of big injuries behind them, so any more injuries could cause problems.
Auburn should be very scary on offense. I like Jeremy Johnson and with Duke Williams leading a strong receiver group, they're going to put up points. Their O-line is good and the backs are solid. They're still looking for answers at linebacker and are worried about their secondary, even though their defense has become a lot more aggressive. Sound familiar?
LSU has a ton of really good receivers and great running backs, but still can't figure out what they're going to do at quarterback. Problem. Another problem is that Kevin Steele has arrived and decided he's going to implement a hybrid 4-3/3-4 defensive scheme, and whether he has the personnel up front to run either is really a question. Which sounds utterly bizarre, I know. LSU's going to reload and their '16 class looks tremendous so far, but this year may be the one where they finally slip a little.
Arkansas brings back virtually everybody on offense, (even though losing TE A.J. Derby hurts) but their defense has lost a lot. They had DE Trey Flowers, LB Martrell Speight, CB Tevin Mitchell and DT Darius Philon drafted, and that's a a pretty big number for a defense which is still trying to re-build its depth.
Ole Miss has quarter back issues. JUCO transfer Chad Kelly was supposed to take care of that and he didn't -- in fact, he looked the worst of the three candidates. The best was Devante Kincade of Skyline, who I have been watching since his junior year of high school and he has yet to impress me once. Their running game is suspect and their offensive line has to get established, but their defense should be really good this fall.
Mississippi State took a pounding with attrition of very good players. They had five guys drafted (two quickly the second round), but their losses on both lines and in the secondary were staggering. They've got a lot to make up for in a hurry, and while Dak Prescott should be unanimous preseason All-SEC, there's not much else that we know of right now.
So, in other words: if A&M's going to strike, it would be well advised to do it in this year or next. The window's open, because nobody has everything set going into August.
