Some thoughts…..
There is nothing we as fans can do about the past. The players and coaches will look to what happened this year and they will identify things that worked and things that did not work. They will identify areas of concern and work to fix them. Let the players play and the coaches coach. That being said…let’s look ahead to 2019.
The first place to look is the Griz *projected* roster. Looking at the two-deep list from the cat game, the Griz only lose 4 players that had significant playing time over the season. That is a good start. By position we are in good hands at QB, WR, TE, LB, and S. The offensive and defensive lines are where the Griz will look to strengthen and re-build.
QB-It is a God-given miracle that Sneed didn’t miss any starts to injury. For a guy his size that uses his arm
as well as his legs, and given the Oline he had….Hats off to him just for making out this year in one piece. He is a gamer and showed us all why the coaches wanted him here to push for the starting job. What a performance this past Saturday. Backup QB has much less experience at this level, but I think we have 3 legit guys that can come in and play if needed. Humphrey, Wilson, and Harris will be one more year comfortable with the system, and hopefully they will push Sneed to a higher level this spring and summer. I left Graves out of this section for a reason, more about that in a bit….
WR-These guys are studs. Losing Curran is not a good thing, but he’s a senior so there’s nothing wrong with a good kid playing out his four years. The cupboards are, however, still full for the Griz WR corps. Akem is shaping up to be an all time great. Toure has the speed to take the top off and make great catches. JLM is only getting better in the short passing game-I was impressed by his hands this year as well as his decisiveness when taking cuts UP the field. Sulser is fast, we know that. But what about the great catch he had in the second half against the cats? He’s a gamer that will only had to opposing team’s woes once he is integrated more into the scheme. I’d look for Flowers to get more touches next year too. Maybe some jet sweeps or end arounds. He runs hard on special teams and I believe he has the potential to do damage on offense the next few years.
TE-Bingham, Deming, and Rensvold each contributed this year. Personally, I’d like to see more passes thrown their way. Get them into mis-matches with LBs up the seam or with a smaller CB on their back. I think this group is good and will only get better in run blocking, route running, and pass catching.
LB-Losing Buss hurts, obviously. Having an absolute beast like Dante Olson back helps ease the Loss of Buss. By all measures Olson should be back playing at a high level again, although he will need some help. That help may com from Jace Lewis. Lewis played incredibly well this year and has shown not only excellent play, but also excellent drive, ferocity, and attitude. This kid brings it. I love his attitude and toughness. Lewis seems to play with a fire and intensity we have not seen the past few seasons, and I eagerly await his growth as an emotional leader on this team. Welnel had some good playing time this year and may be a factor next season as well. I am hopeful Michael Matthews can grow into this team and make an impact too. Oh, it’s a long shot, but don’t forget Vika is still on this team….Just saying.
S-There was a lot of speculation about the secondary before the 2018 campaign, and for good reason. The safeties will return a lot of talent next year, and I believe it will be a strength of next years team. Losing Miller hurts, but thank god he was here for a year. Robertson, Hauck, Sandry, McGinnis and Graves (yeah, that’s right, Graves) will all be available next year. I don’t know if we will see the same defensive scheme as this year so perhaps one less of these guys gets to start, but they all made adjustments throughout the season, and make sound tackles much more often than the previous seasons. Robby always seemed to be in the right place at the right time (except for that damn trick play against UCD) and showed us he can tackle as well. Robertson is the big hitter and I hope will only get better with more reps and coaching. Sandry has been a starter for a while now and he is solid. Not the best year from him, but I expect a big senior campaign from him. I have only heard good things about McGinnis; can’t wait to see him. That brings us to Graves. I believe, as do many of you, that his best position going forward will be at safety. Yes, he got some touches as a RB (that speaks to our concerns at RB more than anything) this year, but by all accounts he could be a great defensive player. If he want’s to see the field sooner than later, safety is his best position.
OL-This is where things need to improve, a lot. I give credit to the guys that play, and I’m sure they would be the first to agree, but they need to give Sneed more time in the pocket, and they simply MUST create bigger running lanes for the RBs. It has been well documented that the Oline struggled this season, and really it shouldn’t have been a surprise. Since April Hauck said the OLine was a concern. We had defensive guys switching to OLine, we had true freshmen play, we had absolutely ZERO seniors play OL all year. We also had several guys leave the team before the season started. Give the coaches, and especially the players credit for continued work to develop these young guys. Yes it was ugly at times, but I believe there was also growth. Many posters have speculated about drop-down or JC guys coming to the rescue. I will not hold my breath, but I do hope we get some good recruits at this position group. Also, it stands to reason that they will only get better in the coming seasons. Could be an area of strength in a year or two.
DL-Losing Shaw hurts. This group was thin to begin and will need to see some big improvements if they want to compete for a playoff spot next year. Not enough depth seemed to grind our interior linemen down at the end of games, and a lack of a true pass rusher is a big detriment in the Big Sky Conference. I have hope that some of our young guys will develop into a nice group of pass rushers with the likes of Lorenzo Brown and Milton Mamula getting a chance to see the field. Will Simms be an interior lineman again? Some have suggested this is not his best position, but credit him for playing where the coaches need him and showing up. He had some nice plays against arguably the toughest runner in the BSC in Anderson last week.
CB-Corners can be a tough group to recruit and develop. Given the absolute mess the previous staff left with this group regarding depth, I think they performed admirably this year. Calhoun has to be commended for making the switch to defense, and so do the coaches for recognizing his talent and using it. I thought Nash played well this year as well. Getting some recruits this year will help, but I am optimistic this group will grow and improve with good coaching and experience. Again, could be a strength for the Griz in a few years if we get one or more recruits.
RB-This is where it gets really tough. Were the Griz RBs limited by their ability this year? Or was it the offensive line’s inability to help them get running lanes? Was it coaching? I won’t pretend to have all the answers, but I will say this team needs to upgrade it’s current running attack TODAY. Calhoun’s situation was clouded from his off-season and injuries. Like somebody posted earlier, after his suspension, and given he missed time due to injuries, Hauck played Calhoun just as much as Eastwood. So losing Calhoun will definitely hurt. Is Eastwood the answer going forward? He does catch the ball well out of the backfield, but the Griz need a guy that makes strong cuts, and decisive runs upfield. Some have speculated that Turner will be a good back for the Griz, I certainly hope that is the case because I don’t see that guy on the roster as of today (unless Turner IS the guy, but only time will tell. I hope his is, always nice to have Montana kid back there kicking ass). My gut says the running back issue will be helped by improved Oline play. Will fullbacks ever get used again? Not sure, but I’d like to see us try since we have devoted some roster spots to some good athletes at that position.
I have faith in our special teams play with Hauck and Shann at the helm; so not much there except Williams had a great year and we will look to replace his efforts.
From what I have read, heard, and watched this team really struggled to put teams away late in games due to lack of depth and experience on the defensive and offensive lines. It will be difficult to fix those two groups in one year, but I feel once those needs are addressed and remedied this program will being to put teams away and win big games.
Good things to come, onwards and upwards.
Go Griz!
There is nothing we as fans can do about the past. The players and coaches will look to what happened this year and they will identify things that worked and things that did not work. They will identify areas of concern and work to fix them. Let the players play and the coaches coach. That being said…let’s look ahead to 2019.
The first place to look is the Griz *projected* roster. Looking at the two-deep list from the cat game, the Griz only lose 4 players that had significant playing time over the season. That is a good start. By position we are in good hands at QB, WR, TE, LB, and S. The offensive and defensive lines are where the Griz will look to strengthen and re-build.
QB-It is a God-given miracle that Sneed didn’t miss any starts to injury. For a guy his size that uses his arm
as well as his legs, and given the Oline he had….Hats off to him just for making out this year in one piece. He is a gamer and showed us all why the coaches wanted him here to push for the starting job. What a performance this past Saturday. Backup QB has much less experience at this level, but I think we have 3 legit guys that can come in and play if needed. Humphrey, Wilson, and Harris will be one more year comfortable with the system, and hopefully they will push Sneed to a higher level this spring and summer. I left Graves out of this section for a reason, more about that in a bit….
WR-These guys are studs. Losing Curran is not a good thing, but he’s a senior so there’s nothing wrong with a good kid playing out his four years. The cupboards are, however, still full for the Griz WR corps. Akem is shaping up to be an all time great. Toure has the speed to take the top off and make great catches. JLM is only getting better in the short passing game-I was impressed by his hands this year as well as his decisiveness when taking cuts UP the field. Sulser is fast, we know that. But what about the great catch he had in the second half against the cats? He’s a gamer that will only had to opposing team’s woes once he is integrated more into the scheme. I’d look for Flowers to get more touches next year too. Maybe some jet sweeps or end arounds. He runs hard on special teams and I believe he has the potential to do damage on offense the next few years.
TE-Bingham, Deming, and Rensvold each contributed this year. Personally, I’d like to see more passes thrown their way. Get them into mis-matches with LBs up the seam or with a smaller CB on their back. I think this group is good and will only get better in run blocking, route running, and pass catching.
LB-Losing Buss hurts, obviously. Having an absolute beast like Dante Olson back helps ease the Loss of Buss. By all measures Olson should be back playing at a high level again, although he will need some help. That help may com from Jace Lewis. Lewis played incredibly well this year and has shown not only excellent play, but also excellent drive, ferocity, and attitude. This kid brings it. I love his attitude and toughness. Lewis seems to play with a fire and intensity we have not seen the past few seasons, and I eagerly await his growth as an emotional leader on this team. Welnel had some good playing time this year and may be a factor next season as well. I am hopeful Michael Matthews can grow into this team and make an impact too. Oh, it’s a long shot, but don’t forget Vika is still on this team….Just saying.
S-There was a lot of speculation about the secondary before the 2018 campaign, and for good reason. The safeties will return a lot of talent next year, and I believe it will be a strength of next years team. Losing Miller hurts, but thank god he was here for a year. Robertson, Hauck, Sandry, McGinnis and Graves (yeah, that’s right, Graves) will all be available next year. I don’t know if we will see the same defensive scheme as this year so perhaps one less of these guys gets to start, but they all made adjustments throughout the season, and make sound tackles much more often than the previous seasons. Robby always seemed to be in the right place at the right time (except for that damn trick play against UCD) and showed us he can tackle as well. Robertson is the big hitter and I hope will only get better with more reps and coaching. Sandry has been a starter for a while now and he is solid. Not the best year from him, but I expect a big senior campaign from him. I have only heard good things about McGinnis; can’t wait to see him. That brings us to Graves. I believe, as do many of you, that his best position going forward will be at safety. Yes, he got some touches as a RB (that speaks to our concerns at RB more than anything) this year, but by all accounts he could be a great defensive player. If he want’s to see the field sooner than later, safety is his best position.
OL-This is where things need to improve, a lot. I give credit to the guys that play, and I’m sure they would be the first to agree, but they need to give Sneed more time in the pocket, and they simply MUST create bigger running lanes for the RBs. It has been well documented that the Oline struggled this season, and really it shouldn’t have been a surprise. Since April Hauck said the OLine was a concern. We had defensive guys switching to OLine, we had true freshmen play, we had absolutely ZERO seniors play OL all year. We also had several guys leave the team before the season started. Give the coaches, and especially the players credit for continued work to develop these young guys. Yes it was ugly at times, but I believe there was also growth. Many posters have speculated about drop-down or JC guys coming to the rescue. I will not hold my breath, but I do hope we get some good recruits at this position group. Also, it stands to reason that they will only get better in the coming seasons. Could be an area of strength in a year or two.
DL-Losing Shaw hurts. This group was thin to begin and will need to see some big improvements if they want to compete for a playoff spot next year. Not enough depth seemed to grind our interior linemen down at the end of games, and a lack of a true pass rusher is a big detriment in the Big Sky Conference. I have hope that some of our young guys will develop into a nice group of pass rushers with the likes of Lorenzo Brown and Milton Mamula getting a chance to see the field. Will Simms be an interior lineman again? Some have suggested this is not his best position, but credit him for playing where the coaches need him and showing up. He had some nice plays against arguably the toughest runner in the BSC in Anderson last week.
CB-Corners can be a tough group to recruit and develop. Given the absolute mess the previous staff left with this group regarding depth, I think they performed admirably this year. Calhoun has to be commended for making the switch to defense, and so do the coaches for recognizing his talent and using it. I thought Nash played well this year as well. Getting some recruits this year will help, but I am optimistic this group will grow and improve with good coaching and experience. Again, could be a strength for the Griz in a few years if we get one or more recruits.
RB-This is where it gets really tough. Were the Griz RBs limited by their ability this year? Or was it the offensive line’s inability to help them get running lanes? Was it coaching? I won’t pretend to have all the answers, but I will say this team needs to upgrade it’s current running attack TODAY. Calhoun’s situation was clouded from his off-season and injuries. Like somebody posted earlier, after his suspension, and given he missed time due to injuries, Hauck played Calhoun just as much as Eastwood. So losing Calhoun will definitely hurt. Is Eastwood the answer going forward? He does catch the ball well out of the backfield, but the Griz need a guy that makes strong cuts, and decisive runs upfield. Some have speculated that Turner will be a good back for the Griz, I certainly hope that is the case because I don’t see that guy on the roster as of today (unless Turner IS the guy, but only time will tell. I hope his is, always nice to have Montana kid back there kicking ass). My gut says the running back issue will be helped by improved Oline play. Will fullbacks ever get used again? Not sure, but I’d like to see us try since we have devoted some roster spots to some good athletes at that position.
I have faith in our special teams play with Hauck and Shann at the helm; so not much there except Williams had a great year and we will look to replace his efforts.
From what I have read, heard, and watched this team really struggled to put teams away late in games due to lack of depth and experience on the defensive and offensive lines. It will be difficult to fix those two groups in one year, but I feel once those needs are addressed and remedied this program will being to put teams away and win big games.
Good things to come, onwards and upwards.
Go Griz!
