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Biggest questions (at the moment) for this 2024 team

BWahlberg

BWahlberg

Well-known member
DONOR
Was reflecting a bit on this as I was travelling home yesterday. The 2024 Griz will probably be picked to win the Big Sky and will open up in the top 3 in FCS polling (most likely). This team could be poised for a huge year, but like we have seen around the conference and around college football in general - they could also totally fall short of expectations. Reflecting on where this team is at as it enters winter conditioning, here's my biggest questions I'd like to see resolved to ensure an even more successful year this year than they had in 2023.

- Does this O-line have the right guys and the right attitude to outplay the 2023 OL? Losing Walker, Forbes, MayGinnes, and seeing the graduation/departure of Dries leaves 3 starting spots + 1 backup role open. Fortunately we saw a lot of rotation on the OL and we have an experienced crew coming back + at least one presumed key transfer. I'm going to assume that our QB play will be different this year, so can this OL be more of a run blocking force while defenses know we don't have as big of a +1 advantage in the run game without Cliff at QB?

- Will the play of Ah Yat or Fife or Vidlak provide better consistency & execution? And will QB be a leader again with this offense? We've exhausted the talk of McDowell's play changing by way of either injury, defensive scouting, or just "coming back down to earth" over the stretch of the Furman/NDSU/SDSU games. So can this group of QBs that are vying for the job find a more consistent stretch that allows this offense to remain dangerous even during a deep playoff run? Furthermore it seemed the players on offense fed off Cliff's style and his play, can our new QB's instill that as well?

- The defense is replacing a lot of production, leadership, and toughness, can it reload? As you go down the line of graduation losses on this defense the production and attitude many brought will clearly be missed. Gubner, Janacaro, Hill, Flink, Walker, Cotton, Graves, and Fouch. You've got one of the very best interior DL we've ever had, a trio of "Montana tough" LB's, a first team corner, and 3 safeties and played/started for 2 to 3 years each. The 2024 defense has a lot of transfers coming in, can they assimilate fast? And can they match / meet / exceed what the 2023 defense did?

- Who are the new leaders on this team? I know something coaches always look to do is develop and bring along new leaders each year. I'll be anxious to see who those guys are for 2024. The outgoing class had some guys who were here pre-covid and had been around a long time. With a lot of new faces and reliance on some younger guys this next year, this team probably has a lot of new leaders needed to step up to the role.

- Finally, kind of already touched on it, we have a lot of new transfers - and I'll bet this summer we see a few more too. Can these guys buy-in and adapt fast? I like that most are here this spring already. Bringing in so many new guys sometimes works great, other times can mess with the team culture. As the staff is re-tooling the roster are they bringing in guys that fit in well - and if so, how fast can they adapt?
 
BWahlberg said:
Was reflecting a bit Reflecting on where this team is at as it enters winter conditioning, here's my biggest questions I'd like to see resolved to ensure an even more successful year this year than they had in 2023.

As the staff is re-tooling the roster are they bringing in guys that fit in well - and if so, how fast can they adapt?
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You're asking all the correct questions. Add the smaller questions about Kicker and punter.

The O-Line play is most critical if this team is to be in the elite category. QB play is important. Replacing Gubner is so so so Difficult - gotta get 2-3 good players to replace one dominant All-American (maybe the Unicorn DT that we will not ever see the equivalent).
 
Profound, Brint. Profound! :thumb: I'da have to be making a cross country trip in my jalopy(radio broke)to have even a sliver of Griz insight anywhere near your level of depth and breadth. I'm more on the level of Homer Simpson's daydreams, y'know, doughnuts and beer.
 
BWahlberg said:
Was reflecting a bit on this as I was travelling home yesterday. The 2024 Griz will probably be picked to win the Big Sky and will open up in the top 3 in FCS polling (most likely). This team could be poised for a huge year, but like we have seen around the conference and around college football in general - they could also totally fall short of expectations. Reflecting on where this team is at as it enters winter conditioning, here's my biggest questions I'd like to see resolved to ensure an even more successful year this year than they had in 2023.

- Does this O-line have the right guys and the right attitude to outplay the 2023 OL? Losing Walker, Forbes, MayGinnes, and seeing the graduation/departure of Dries leaves 3 starting spots + 1 backup role open. Fortunately we saw a lot of rotation on the OL and we have an experienced crew coming back + at least one presumed key transfer. I'm going to assume that our QB play will be different this year, so can this OL be more of a run blocking force while defenses know we don't have as big of a +1 advantage in the run game without Cliff at QB?

- Will the play of Ah Yat or Fife or Vidlak provide better consistency & execution? And will QB be a leader again with this offense? We've exhausted the talk of McDowell's play changing by way of either injury, defensive scouting, or just "coming back down to earth" over the stretch of the Furman/NDSU/SDSU games. So can this group of QBs that are vying for the job find a more consistent stretch that allows this offense to remain dangerous even during a deep playoff run? Furthermore it seemed the players on offense fed off Cliff's style and his play, can our new QB's instill that as well?

- The defense is replacing a lot of production, leadership, and toughness, can it reload? As you go down the line of graduation losses on this defense the production and attitude many brought will clearly be missed. Gubner, Janacaro, Hill, Flink, Walker, Cotton, Graves, and Fouch. You've got one of the very best interior DL we've ever had, a trio of "Montana tough" LB's, a first team corner, and 3 safeties and played/started for 2 to 3 years each. The 2024 defense has a lot of transfers coming in, can they assimilate fast? And can they match / meet / exceed what the 2023 defense did?

- Who are the new leaders on this team? I know something coaches always look to do is develop and bring along new leaders each year. I'll be anxious to see who those guys are for 2024. The outgoing class had some guys who were here pre-covid and had been around a long time. With a lot of new faces and reliance on some younger guys this next year, this team probably has a lot of new leaders needed to step up to the role.

- Finally, kind of already touched on it, we have a lot of new transfers - and I'll bet this summer we see a few more too. Can these guys buy-in and adapt fast? I like that most are here this spring already. Bringing in so many new guys sometimes works great, other times can mess with the team culture. As the staff is re-tooling the roster are they bringing in guys that fit in well - and if so, how fast can they adapt?
Click to expand...

-o line is actually the least of my worries. I think the I juries and backups got a lot of important playing time last year that will carry over, plus I think fife is going to be a better running qb than we think which will help the o-line

-fife will be the guy. He is coming in ready I think to take over a team and be a leader, which is great because really ah yat after next year will be ready to roll

-I feel like the defense coming into this year was the same question but the Griz are next man up and it's showing now fully as the seniors this year were haucks first recruiting class. The depth I believe is already in place and the team having a playoff run like they did just makes them all more hungry

-the leaders part is my biggest question forsure. I'm hoping Riley Wilson and Hayden Harris with a year under their belts step up to lead the defense next year


Overall the Griz are going to have their biggest expectations since hauck has taken over next year so I am so curious how they all respond. A lot of these players got a taste of an amazing playoff run as well as going to frisco

My overall biggest worry is secondary depth

I love that we get to think about this and talk about this already. Feels like full on Griz football again

Thanks bring
 
The staff has done exceptionally well the last few years at bringing in the right transfer players for the culture. They have also been great at assimilating new guys and getting them to buy in. I have a lot of confidence that they will continue to do that.

In regard to O-Line play, do they really have to play better than this year's o-line? I thought this year's line was pretty good and it was mostly subpar quarterback play at times that slowed the offense. (This is not a knock on Cliff as we all know what he did to spur the team on. In the beginning of the year his passing was not good enough but as the year progressed he got better but then his decision making got worse...)

Fife looks like a fairly mobile QB. Maybe not quite as good of a runner as Cliff was, but he seems like a much better passer. If Ah Yat continues to progress the way he did this year, it seems like we will have two very good QBs to lead the team this fall.

I'm feeling a lot more confident about this team than I have in a long time.
 
kemajic said:
Griz Addict said:
One thing that will help the offense and a new QB, is having Grossman back. Game changer TE
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If he's the same Grossman.
Click to expand...

And if he’s utilized correctly. I have more hope after this year that he will be better but a little afraid maybe not still good enough.
 
Biggest question for me is the Ah Yat that we think we’ve seen might not be the Ah Yat we see in a full time starter roll. His extremely limited game time, some of which was “garbage time”, hopefully is just a precursor of what’s to come. There still the lingering question it might not be which won’t be answered tell this fall, if he wins the job.
 
Pani had 3 starts late in season.

Brown 1 start.

Lincoln 1 start, first game.

McCabe 1 start.

Macgin had only 3 starts, all earlier in season.

While not have Macgin hurt the o-line this season, in reality, the line only loses 2 starters to graduation.

Jackson had 3 starts at corner later in the season. He had 7 starts at Akron in 2021.
 
I know you are all waiting with baited breath for me to post on the subject. Pretty good in depth analyze by BWahlberg. Much went into that. As far as players go it all starts with the QB and finishes with the kicker. QB-I have only observed the limited tape that is available on Fife. It could be he turns out to be really good filler for Ah Yat.I really wish Ah Yat had seen more playing time this season for development. Possibly the coaches were planning on Cliff coming back but that is something as you can see never happened.
Vidlak has a good arm similar to Ah Yat but Vidlak seems to be only a pocket quarterback at this point(IMO).The OL did not seem good enough this year for some of the competition it faced. How it's going to better next year ? Development of a good OL has been a difficult process for many years for the grizzlies. Something needs to change there ? The DL will take some work .I am sure we have some good players, they just need to learn to develop a killer instinct fast along with game experience.
Special teams are usually newer players gaining experience for a future roll. We are fine.
And that leads to the kicker. We have had a couple good kicker/punters in the recent past but they seem to want to move on up. If you are good enough you will make it to the pros from the grizzlies . Except of course now there is transfer money to be had.
 
oldngrizzly said:
We have had a couple good kicker/punters in the recent past but they seem to want to move on up. If you are good enough you will make it to the pros from the grizzlies . Except of course now there is transfer money to be had.
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I agree with half of your point. Kicking/punting is really the only position that I cannot see why it would matter in terms of draftability facing FCS vs FBS competition.

I don't know that we have had anyone leave because they thought it would help them get to the NFL since Bobby came back. One said it was his dream to win the Ray Guy award, and you have to be FBS to do that. I still find that weird, but whatever. Nothing about a better shot at the pros. The other guy we lost wanted to be a fighter pilot, and you really cannot wait around on that. If he were to randomly tear his ACL playing football, he could never be a fighter pilot. If his eyes deteriorate before graduation, no more fighter pilot dream. So he did the right thing and left to pursue his dream and serve his country. So we aren't losing guys who say they are moving up for money or the NFL.
 
ElrodGrizzly said:
oldngrizzly said:
We have had a couple good kicker/punters in the recent past but they seem to want to move on up. If you are good enough you will make it to the pros from the grizzlies . Except of course now there is transfer money to be had.
Click to expand...

I agree with half of your point. Kicking/punting is really the only position that I cannot see why it would matter in terms of draftability facing FCS vs FBS competition.

I don't know that we have had anyone leave because they thought it would help them get to the NFL since Bobby came back. One said it was his dream to win the Ray Guy award, and you have to be FBS to do that. I still find that weird, but whatever. Nothing about a better shot at the pros. The other guy we lost wanted to be a fighter pilot, and you really cannot wait around on that. If he were to randomly tear his ACL playing football, he could never be a fighter pilot. If his eyes deteriorate before graduation, no more fighter pilot dream. So he did the right thing and left to pursue his dream and serve his country. So we aren't losing guys who say they are moving up for money or the NFL.
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Not true. Just has to be able to pass a physical.
 
AZGrizFan said:
ElrodGrizzly said:
I agree with half of your point. Kicking/punting is really the only position that I cannot see why it would matter in terms of draftability facing FCS vs FBS competition.

I don't know that we have had anyone leave because they thought it would help them get to the NFL since Bobby came back. One said it was his dream to win the Ray Guy award, and you have to be FBS to do that. I still find that weird, but whatever. Nothing about a better shot at the pros. The other guy we lost wanted to be a fighter pilot, and you really cannot wait around on that. If he were to randomly tear his ACL playing football, he could never be a fighter pilot. If his eyes deteriorate before graduation, no more fighter pilot dream. So he did the right thing and left to pursue his dream and serve his country. So we aren't losing guys who say they are moving up for money or the NFL.
Click to expand...

Not true. Just has to be able to pass a physical.
Click to expand...

I'm not going to pretend I'm any expert on the Air Force. A friend of mine got accepted and it was a big deal in our little town. He ended up failing out after he tore his ACL before he attended, and they told him a torn ACL was disqualifying as a fighter pilot, so he ended up at the U with me. This was 20 years ago, though, so maybe things have changed?

I googled, and I got this --

"A history of ACL reconstruction is disqualifying but usually waivable. Injuries occurring AFTER the DoDMERB examination may be disqualifying if inadequate time exists for resolution and return to unrestricted activity prior to entry to the U.S. Air Force Academy."

It reads to me like you are probably right. The punter could "usually" get a waiver for the ACL reconstruction, and I'd imagine a punter could time it so that the surgery left plenty of time to start at the academy.
 
ElrodGrizzly said:
AZGrizFan said:
Not true. Just has to be able to pass a physical.
Click to expand...

I'm not going to pretend I'm any expert on the Air Force. A friend of mine got accepted and it was a big deal in our little town. He ended up failing out after he tore his ACL before he attended, and they told him a torn ACL was disqualifying as a fighter pilot, so he ended up at the U with me. This was 20 years ago, though, so maybe things have changed?

I googled, and I got this --

"A history of ACL reconstruction is disqualifying but usually waivable. Injuries occurring AFTER the DoDMERB examination may be disqualifying if inadequate time exists for resolution and return to unrestricted activity prior to entry to the U.S. Air Force Academy."

It reads to me like you are probably right. The punter could "usually" get a waiver for the ACL reconstruction, and I'd imagine a punter could time it so that the surgery left plenty of time to start at the academy.
Click to expand...

Well, I doubt the services differ in their requirements, and I know of at LEAST two individuals who became pilots (one A-6, one F-14) with reconstructed ACL's.
 
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