bgbigdog said:
kemajic said:
signedbewildered said:
Thing to remember about Bobby is he aint no sugar coater. That can be a good thing.
Very different from the last staff.
He is savvy enough to try to keep expectations down. It's a win/win when the expectations are exceeded.
Granted. But there’s more than a grain of truth in what he shared. Success in this transition will likely be more from solid strategy, coaching, disciplined play & some number of overachievers surfacing.
In 12 years covering the Big Sky, it's my opinion that you need 10 to 12 elite players, players who are at the top two or three at their positions in the Big Sky Conference, to win a league title. You can overcome that number if you have an elite unit on either the offensive or defensive fronts, an elite quarterback or a shut down secondary. But usually, you need at least 10 guys who are first or second-team All-Big Sky caliber players.
This Montana team has several guys who could rise to an elite level but you usually need twice as many that have first-team all-league potential to actually have 10-12 reach that level.
Montana's players who have first-team All-Big Sky potential THIS YEAR: QB Gresch Jensen, RB Jeremy Calhoun, WR Jerry Louie-McGee, Keenan Curran, Samori Toure, TE Colin Bingham, FB Trace Le Texier (he's looked really good the four practices I've been to), OG Angel Villanueva, OLB Josh Buss, S Gavin Robertson.
That's 10. But you'd have to bat 1.000 for all those guys to be first-team All-Big Sky. And most of them are on offense. I think this is what Bobby is alluding to.
I'm most interested to see what the defensive line looks like. When Reggie Tilleman, David Shaw, Jessie Sims and either Chris Favoroso or Randy Rodriguez line up, it looks like one of the most imposing groups in the league. It's my opinion that the technique the group was taught and the scheme they played in did not help them succeed in terms of being solid or making a lot of plays. A revising of fundamentals and a more solid scheme could go a long way to helping that group and if that's the case, I think all five of the guys I just listed have All-Big Sky potential.
I'm also intrigued by Dareon Nash. He has great size as a 6-foot-2 cornerback, he's physical and he's very competitive. If he can make the next step, he could be a rising contributor as well.
It's not that Montana doesn't have talent. The Griz have a collection of talent. It's just that in a 13-team league you have to have a ton of talent and things to go your way to win it.
Weber State last season had the best defensive player in the league in future NFL draft pick cornerback Taron Johnson, the best tackle in the league in Iosua Opeta, the best tight end in the league and an NFL guy in Andrew Vollert, the best kicker in Trey Tuttle, the best punter in Jacob DeMaio, the best kick returner in Rashid Shaheed, the best interior defensive lineman in McKay Murphy, one of the three best inside linebackers in the league in LeGrand Toia, the best pure pass rusher that does not play for Sac State in Jonah Williams, the best sideline to sideline outside linebacker not named Josh Buss or Mac Bignell in Landon Stice, another top 5 corner in Xequille Henry and the longest, rangiest safety in the league in Jordan Preator.
That's not to mention a senior quarterback in Stefan Cantwell that, if you gaged it purely by what he was asked to do in operating the offense and not by statistical measures, might've been the MVP of the league.
The point is you have to be stacked to win an FCS power conference like the Big Sky. And you need good coaching. And you need a little luck. Bobby Hauck will get Montana there. And he is certainly tempering expectations intentionally. But he's also being pretty honest in his evaluation of what his staff has inherited.
