12-01-2017, 09:54 PM
Defensively, if Phillips leaves (which seems like a certainty), it will likely get worse next year. Which is bad, because it was buoyed by turnovers luck and (in actuality) wasn't much good. We saw what happened when the team had almost no turnovers and it was bad. That being said, DBs should be reinforced by healthy Holder plus growth from incumbents plus coming-off-redshirt Paulson Adebo. That's good. LBs should get better by continuity. Maybe Alfieri can eclipse Perez. Or maybe returning/healthy Barton does. You lose Kalambayi (which is a problem) and Tyler (which is ... not a problem), but Fox and Toohill should be fine. Robinson needs to start playing like the blue-chip recruit he was rated as.
DL is the problem. Pray for multiple miracles from Wade-Perry plus non-Phillips continuity.
Offensively, losing Love (which again seems like a certainty) is unfortunate but nearly everyone else is returning and therefore continuity is good. Stewart, who had a very poor year, will either improve greatly or be eclipsed. I wonder what this game would've been like with a healthy Little, who (presumably) would be slightly better than Hamilton and create a better RT option. The OL wasn't overwhelmed against SC but could be better. Anyway continuity helps. Aside from the Nall speculation, Scarlett and Speights should be adequate assuming the rest of the offense is good.
Special teams...well, as is and continuity should be good. Irwin (or I suppose Wedington) means improvement on punt returns as the Jay Tyler experiment was bizarre and held the team back through the half of 2017 that he played in.
Impact freshman... redshirting Wade-Perry, Adebo, Head, St. Brown ... we'll see who's incoming, but if Hollifield comes in he might make a difference. Maybe Michael Wilson and/or Simi Fehoko takes a receiving spot. While there are plenty of good receivers, there are also some obvious holes at receiver that can be upgraded by merely average replacements.
BTW Holiday Bowl v. Michigan isn't happening. A few reporters have said Michigan's heading to the Outback Bowl.
DL is the problem. Pray for multiple miracles from Wade-Perry plus non-Phillips continuity.
Offensively, losing Love (which again seems like a certainty) is unfortunate but nearly everyone else is returning and therefore continuity is good. Stewart, who had a very poor year, will either improve greatly or be eclipsed. I wonder what this game would've been like with a healthy Little, who (presumably) would be slightly better than Hamilton and create a better RT option. The OL wasn't overwhelmed against SC but could be better. Anyway continuity helps. Aside from the Nall speculation, Scarlett and Speights should be adequate assuming the rest of the offense is good.
Special teams...well, as is and continuity should be good. Irwin (or I suppose Wedington) means improvement on punt returns as the Jay Tyler experiment was bizarre and held the team back through the half of 2017 that he played in.
Impact freshman... redshirting Wade-Perry, Adebo, Head, St. Brown ... we'll see who's incoming, but if Hollifield comes in he might make a difference. Maybe Michael Wilson and/or Simi Fehoko takes a receiving spot. While there are plenty of good receivers, there are also some obvious holes at receiver that can be upgraded by merely average replacements.
BTW Holiday Bowl v. Michigan isn't happening. A few reporters have said Michigan's heading to the Outback Bowl.