I know I've been a little absent but I've had some things weighing pretty heavily on my mind and I've had some extra praying to do, but I hope y'all have had a very Blessed Lord's Day of Rest! So, when I'm speaking of breakouts I don't just mean players. I mean coaches as well. Some are obvious, some less so, some you'll agree with, some less so.... Without further ado, here's some on my list:
- QB Conner Weigman et al - Wow, Captain Obvious, talk about some low hanging fruit! I'm gonna be saying it a million times over before I leave this earth. To compete for Championships, we must have, at the minimum, above average quarterback play. What does that mean?! For me, it was what McCarthy, Penix, Milroe and Daniels did for their teams last year in very different forms. Good QB play doesn't haven't to be Heisman level but it can be. More likely it's making plays (when they are there to be made), running or passing, with few mistakes. Please note that I made a pretty strong qualification in that last sentence. It actually had two. There are few QBs who have the ability to make something out of nothing. Johnny did, but he was an exception. So, in my view, good QB play is hitting the plays when they are there (hopefully overwhelmingly most of the time) and not making the mistakes (unnecessary sacks, fumbles or picks). We get that and we'll be in every game.
- Coach Wiggins - I have Coach Wiggins on here for a couple of different reasons. First, we have almost like a brand new receiving corps to me. The holdovers haven't been coached up fairly and the new guys will just be learning from scratch. Mind you, I like what I've heard about the players and Coach so far, but we need big things from him in molding these kids into a topflight group and fast! The second thing I think we need from Coach Wiggins is helping us catch up in prep recruiting, especially '25. I do believe he's already laid a lot of groundwork there, but there's still much to do. Still, I can't be unhappy with seeing all the names he's been attached to with his late start....
- "Nickel Backs & Safeties" - I have no clue who any of these guys might be outside of perhaps Bryce Anderson, but I can tell you one thing...no positions are more important in Coach Elko & Coach Bateman led defenses than these are. Two words. Antonio Johnson. So much philosophically we do on defense will be tied to disguised zone, robber coverages and the like. Our nickels and safeties have to be able to it all...support the run, blitz, cover the flats, run with TEs or drop deep. To say we don't need at least two, probably three breakout performers here, is shorting ourselves.
- Reuben Owens - I'm greedy. I want a home run hitter in the backfield and I think Owens is it. Not only do I believe he can give us 80 yard TDs on the ground, I think he can do the same in the air. I mean, he catches the ball and runs routes like a doggone wide receiver. Coach Klein is excellent at designing up routes to isolate guys weak in coverage, especially against backs and TEs. Coach Moffitt will work on his strength. Coach Klein, Taylor and Cushing will work on him reading his blocks better. Honestly, impatience and strength were his biggest issues last year. Looking towards big season from him.
- "Corners" - Again, no idea of who they'll be, but we need at least one "shutdown corner." Who can that be?! Will Lee? BJ Mayes? Donovan Saunders? Dezz Ricks? No clue. But we need at least one and another at least serviceable guy manning the other side. So, someone's gotta breakout or we will be in a world of hurt just like last year. And it doesn't stop there, we must continue to accumulate, retain and develop good defensive backs. That's just the way football is going and we have to keep up....
- Coach Cushing - Do I really even need to say we need Coach Cushing to be the breakout star of our coaching staff next year and probably for the next few years?! So much of our disappointment with the last staff was related to development and none more so than the O Line. Soon, it will be Coach Cushing's chance to turn that miserable page into hopefully something much more positive on the practice field. I think his first order of his business will be restoring confidence to a unit that desperately needs it. Kids deep down know they can still play and play well. They just need a coach who can tell them that, too, and teach them.
- Shemar Stewart (WDE) & "OLB" - I put these last two together because they work together in concert in this defense. Stewart is starter as WDE and I believe he'll start there on the first two downs at least, but if you remember our history with Coach Elko as DC, he had "speed packages" on third down. Coach Bateman had similar packages as a DC, too. I believe it's very possible we will see our big DEs i.e., Scourton, Stewart rolled down inside with Hicks, Dindy or Turner. Regardless, with all those players drawing so much attention, whoever is getting snaps at WDE, we need someone out Sylla, White, Kennedy or even Stewart himself breaking out and breaking QBs in half. As for the OLB, someone has to play well next to York. It's probably too much to hope for another All American, but it's just too critical a position in this defense to have subpar play....
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