Atlanta Griz1 said:
In your comparison, please rank them as one of the following: 1) better than the Griz teams of old 2) equal to Griz teams of old; or, 3) inferior to Griz teams of old.
Here are my rankings.
QB - inferior
RB - inferior
OL - inferior
DL - equal to
LB - equal to
CB - equal to
S - inferior
WR - superior
However this isn't so easy as this. There's two things that are taken out of context:
1. The different systems. Will a Stitt-era running back be "inferior" compared to a Hauck-era one? Well it depends. Bobby mostly wanted work-horse power backs that he could give the ball to 30+ times per game. Stitt wants pass protectors who will run but are more dangerous as receivers.
2. The 2015 Griz haven't played a real game yet. Really hard to make comparisons on a team that's yet to lace them up for the year and compare them to teams that have. You say to "take of the maroon glasses" so does that just mean we should be pessimists and bash the hell out of guys based on spring camp alone? It could swing the other way and many of these guys could turn out to be pretty good.
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Taking in the context of the offense
QB - inferior, mostly due to the fact that all of our QBs are unproven, not because they are bad. Could change quickly once the season gets goint
RB - Equal to. The running backs we have fit this system by the virtue of who has risen to the top (Nguyen and Logwood). They're not power backs, no, but honestly Lex Hilliard and Justin Green would probably have been afterthoughts in this type of offense as well. The backs we have fit, if they'll be "superior" that remains yet to be seen.
OL - Inferior to. We have an OL of guys mostly groomed to be run blockers who are rapidly being re-trained on fundamentals. We've got experience at every spot but one and have the size and the right coach. This group could come in as one of the most improved over 2014. For now, inferior to others but that could change even by fall camp.
DL - Equal to. Holmes is the star, lots of solid but not "flashy" guys in Peevey, Kidder, Bradley, and Crittenden.
LB - Superior. Have we had better individual linebackers? Sure. We had 3 guys playing together that are now all in the professional ranks... but that group had major consistency issues on the field. These LBs are better equipped to cover the pass in a pass-heavy league and play better as a unit than maybe any LB corps save the 2006/07 teams. The 2-deep is stacked. This is almost as good of a group as we've seen in the last 20 years.
CB - Equal to. This group is much better than more CB groupings we've seen but they're young and inconsistent for now. Harris, Nelson, McKinley, and Sanders as a group are pretty good but need to prove it against pass-heavy teams before they can be considered as some sort of incredible group.
S - Superior to. Since others use their forward guess work to tear players and positions down I'll flip it for safety. This group is already incredibly improved and looks to return to or even be better than some of the better safety pairings we've had in the past. Whitted, Dallaserra, and Rasmussen are going to be a great group this season.
WR - Equal to. We've got 1 game-breaker that we know of in Henderson, a 2nd reliable and rock-steady 1000 yard guy in Jamaal Jones. After that there's great rising potential (Burke, Janssen, Carlson, Naccarato) and the usual egriz freak out about transfers being the greatest thing ever. This group could become great but may not show much if our QBs can't make this system work. We've had a lot of WR groups as good or better than this one. Thinking of the Don Read era we had 3 to 4 Ellis Henderson type WRs on the field at once.
