Random musings after watching the games last night and dreaming about the possibilities for our 2024 season.
- Can't help but see a lot of similarities between this year's Washington team and our team next year. Huskies returned super senior QB in Penix and their trio of starting WRs. They came off an 11 win season and a bowl win over a blue blood that gave them the confidence and experience to take the next big step the following year.
- Really excited to see what Kirby Moore can dial up in year two after watching Washington's offense last night. Recall Kirby spent four years under DeBoer and Grubb at Fresno State as PGC and WR coach. Loved seeing how they attacked both horizontally and vertically in the passing game. Super innovative and focused on getting their playmakers the ball in space to win one on one.
- I can absolutely see Cook taking another big step forward next year. It will be year three as a starter and year two in Kirby's offense. We return almost everyone except Schrader. I wouldn't be shocked to see Cook have a Bo Nix-type season next year - Nix went from 3500 passing yards, 29 TD, 7 INT in 2022 to 4500, 45, and 3 this year.
- Can't say enough about how big it was for Moore and Baker to return this year and maintain continuity on both sides of the ball. We'll be spending spring taking the next step in each scheme rather than getting everyone up to speed on a new system. It was interesting to hear how UW fended off Bama poaching Grubb last offseason just like we fended off ND trying to poach Moore.
- Schedule sets up really well for us again next year. Four winnable games before a bye, then head to College Station after they've played ND, at Florida, and Arky in Dallas the week before, then Auburn at home before Bama on the road. Very possible to be 7-0 heading down to Tuscaloosa for a potential top five matchup. I 100% believe in the importance of building momentum for more developmental programs like ours.
- We've done about as well as you could realistically expect in the portal and have very little holes to fill now. A cherry on top for me would be to add another impact defensive player and an RB that could challenge Carroll/add another element to the running game. Replacing Schrader is something I'm a little worried about - he was such an incredible safety valve - but we've had some good RBs over the last few years so you have to hope we can just reload here.
