Think about where we're at for a moment. Think about what we've accomplished to date with what's absolutely been a worst case scenario for this team...
Going back to last year Freshman WR Lawrence Lee leaves the program for some undisclosed reason, after getting his redshirt burned along with Nate Brown. The staff had envisioned him taking a prominent role this year, and after rewatching last year's USC game this week, it's easy to see why his RS was pulled and even more evident that his skills (pass catching, shifty-ness, ability to get open) would be extremely valuable this year.
This past offseason we lose our starting DE, Marcus Loud, who was stunting out in Spring Camp. Then, during the summer, we lose our best defensive player, Harold Brantley, and suddenly a once strong position (DL) is now in flux. Of course, some of those concerns have been alleviated with the emergence of Beckner, Harris, Loud and on a smaller scale AJ Logan and Rickey Hatley. We also lose great depth at the RB position in Trevon Walters, which has resulted in undersized, under-talented or underprepared players having to take a starring role.
Fall camp starts and inevitably the 'hottest' name in fall camp, Jonathon Johnson, goes down with a fairly significant injury that's likely to keep him out for the year. Our WR corps has lost it's 3 starters and 90%+ of the production from last year, a emerging FR in Lee, now a promising FR in Jonathon Johnson.
Season starts against directional MO university and within the first handful of plays 2 of our Senior leaders, Russell Hansborough and Evan Boehm, go down on seemingly innocuous plays with what appear to be minor injuries. Beyond losing two key leaders, we've lost extremely valuable depth at two positions with almost no other capable players in the 2-deep. These injuries have lingered for both players for the first month of the season and have greatly diminished our capabilities in the run game.
A serious car crash on the afternoon before a game against UCONN takes out 2 receivers for that game, Desean Blair and Keyon Dilosa, and it's still uncertain when Blair will be back. Thank goodness that Beckner wasn't seriously injured and that everyone was able to walk away.
Now, in our first SEC game; perhaps our highest performing defender, Kentrell Brothers, gets hurt and is questionable and certainly won't be 100%, one of our few reliable receivers in Sean Culkin is out for a few weeks, we've lost our starting RT in Nate Crawford, and Ian Simon is banged up as well. Not to mention, that after the game something happened that resulted in our starting QB and backup OT being suspended for an undefined period of time.
So to recap:
Starting - DT
Starting - QB
Starting - DE
Starting - TE
Starting - RT
Starting - C
Starting - S
Starting - LB
Starting - RB
Backup - RB
Backup - OL
Backup - WR
Backup - WR
Backup - WR
Backup - WR
All this is to say that with what we've had to deal with this offseason, this team is still in position to go out win the next two games at home against beatable SEC foes and put themselves in position for at least a bowl and maybe more. Even an 8 win team in my opinion puts this year and this team alongside the most successful in Gary Pinkel's career as evidence of his absolute coaching genius.
I, for one, am more excited for this weekend's game than I have been in quite a while. Not because it's a high profile matchup or I think we're going to win big, but because there's no telling what we'll see and the team you see on that field will be a direct representation of this coaching staff and the leadership of our program. Do we see a team that comes out with fire in their belly and attacks the Gamecocks from start to finish and utilizes the skills of Drew "The Golden Dawn" Lock to attack deep early and open up the running game late? Does the defense harass a FR QB on the other side and force multiple TO's? Does our special teams minimize mistakes and consistently gain filed position against the team from lesser columbia? Can't wait to see what the next few weeks hold, but remember that even a modestly good season (8-9) wins puts this team in contention with Gary's very best coaching efforts and sets the program up for an ABSOLUTELY HUGE 2016 & 2017.
Going back to last year Freshman WR Lawrence Lee leaves the program for some undisclosed reason, after getting his redshirt burned along with Nate Brown. The staff had envisioned him taking a prominent role this year, and after rewatching last year's USC game this week, it's easy to see why his RS was pulled and even more evident that his skills (pass catching, shifty-ness, ability to get open) would be extremely valuable this year.
This past offseason we lose our starting DE, Marcus Loud, who was stunting out in Spring Camp. Then, during the summer, we lose our best defensive player, Harold Brantley, and suddenly a once strong position (DL) is now in flux. Of course, some of those concerns have been alleviated with the emergence of Beckner, Harris, Loud and on a smaller scale AJ Logan and Rickey Hatley. We also lose great depth at the RB position in Trevon Walters, which has resulted in undersized, under-talented or underprepared players having to take a starring role.
Fall camp starts and inevitably the 'hottest' name in fall camp, Jonathon Johnson, goes down with a fairly significant injury that's likely to keep him out for the year. Our WR corps has lost it's 3 starters and 90%+ of the production from last year, a emerging FR in Lee, now a promising FR in Jonathon Johnson.
Season starts against directional MO university and within the first handful of plays 2 of our Senior leaders, Russell Hansborough and Evan Boehm, go down on seemingly innocuous plays with what appear to be minor injuries. Beyond losing two key leaders, we've lost extremely valuable depth at two positions with almost no other capable players in the 2-deep. These injuries have lingered for both players for the first month of the season and have greatly diminished our capabilities in the run game.
A serious car crash on the afternoon before a game against UCONN takes out 2 receivers for that game, Desean Blair and Keyon Dilosa, and it's still uncertain when Blair will be back. Thank goodness that Beckner wasn't seriously injured and that everyone was able to walk away.
Now, in our first SEC game; perhaps our highest performing defender, Kentrell Brothers, gets hurt and is questionable and certainly won't be 100%, one of our few reliable receivers in Sean Culkin is out for a few weeks, we've lost our starting RT in Nate Crawford, and Ian Simon is banged up as well. Not to mention, that after the game something happened that resulted in our starting QB and backup OT being suspended for an undefined period of time.
So to recap:
Starting - DT
Starting - QB
Starting - DE
Starting - TE
Starting - RT
Starting - C
Starting - S
Starting - LB
Starting - RB
Backup - RB
Backup - OL
Backup - WR
Backup - WR
Backup - WR
Backup - WR
All this is to say that with what we've had to deal with this offseason, this team is still in position to go out win the next two games at home against beatable SEC foes and put themselves in position for at least a bowl and maybe more. Even an 8 win team in my opinion puts this year and this team alongside the most successful in Gary Pinkel's career as evidence of his absolute coaching genius.
I, for one, am more excited for this weekend's game than I have been in quite a while. Not because it's a high profile matchup or I think we're going to win big, but because there's no telling what we'll see and the team you see on that field will be a direct representation of this coaching staff and the leadership of our program. Do we see a team that comes out with fire in their belly and attacks the Gamecocks from start to finish and utilizes the skills of Drew "The Golden Dawn" Lock to attack deep early and open up the running game late? Does the defense harass a FR QB on the other side and force multiple TO's? Does our special teams minimize mistakes and consistently gain filed position against the team from lesser columbia? Can't wait to see what the next few weeks hold, but remember that even a modestly good season (8-9) wins puts this team in contention with Gary's very best coaching efforts and sets the program up for an ABSOLUTELY HUGE 2016 & 2017.
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