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There was some discussion of WR depth in other threads of other topics so decided to make a new one.
People want to put a lot of blame of the poor offensive production last year on the WR play and I don't think it was that bad. It wasn't great but we took some big hits early last year with injuries losing OG (Huge) and Isaiah Jones and even Pena for pretty much the entire year. Those hindered us significantly. But much of the passing game struggles were due to QB and OL injuries in the second half of the season as has been the case a lot recently. I love Shrader but his arm, elbow, shoulder or whatever just couldn't hold up for an entire season while at SU on top of all the other injuries he also incurred.
OG is a stud addition to add as a starter obviously and I'd guess he gets moved around between WR and TE/Slot Receiver. If he's healthy this year he kills it with McCord.
I think Alford and Hatcher play quite a bit of snaps still.
I've never been that high on Alford. I think mentally he needs to want it more. Alford will be better as not being the #1 WR. His issues are he doesn't consistently create much separation. And he needs to get some dawg in him and be more physical and use his body. He's huge for F's sake. But I do think we should have thrown it up to him more often. He can go up and get it. I mean he wasn't going to let others win the ball from him and he could get a high percentage of jump balls if the ball is thrown a bit more accurately... and not out of bounds. With him being either option 2, 3 or 4 and Alford throwing to him his success rate should be much better this year. He does have pretty good hands just loses focus on easy catches occasionally.
Hatcher will look better in 2024 as well with McCord. Hopefully he can add a little more muscle each year. He just isn't all that strong to fight for 50/50 balls. With McCord's better accuracy that shouldn't be as much of an issue. Think he blocks pretty well for his size. Good effort. He does have good hands as well but has had a drop or two. Who hasn't?
I think Yazeed has what it takes to win a starting roll especially since he'll be playing spring ball. We'll see.
Meeks will get snaps but i'm not sure how much. I don't think he wins a starting role.
With Tremble's combination of size and athleticism I think he could play a lot as a freshman but maybe not to start the season. Hard to pencil in players who haven't played any college ball yet and are just getting their feet wet. Even OG barely did much of anything as a true frosh.
Long and Cahoon I'm not sure. I think both could be transfer candidates and one of them is probably the likely rumored WR transitioning to defense, but that is just a guess.
I don't think Ross and Hornsby start at all this season coming in as freshman in the fall. Like them for depth this season and for the future though.
Brown and Gill will see some time this year as well. Brown shows promise as does Gill, especially if he can gain some weight. Pena is still here right? not sure what to expect there.
I could see Ja'Meer Thomas getting a specials role along with Yazeed. Maybe Yazeed as a kick returner and Thomas as a Punt returner? Thomas should be an explosive game changer. He will eventually be a very good slot guy for us.
Mang and Clement will play situationally as TE's.
Like Elijah Washington for the future.
Now lets get another OL or two please.
Edit: will be interesting to see how Villari does solely at TE. He should be really good once he gets the ball in his hands. He will get a fair amount of TE snaps but I think OG gets some there too. And he will need to split some snaps with the bigger traditional TE’s in Mang and Clement as well.
People want to put a lot of blame of the poor offensive production last year on the WR play and I don't think it was that bad. It wasn't great but we took some big hits early last year with injuries losing OG (Huge) and Isaiah Jones and even Pena for pretty much the entire year. Those hindered us significantly. But much of the passing game struggles were due to QB and OL injuries in the second half of the season as has been the case a lot recently. I love Shrader but his arm, elbow, shoulder or whatever just couldn't hold up for an entire season while at SU on top of all the other injuries he also incurred.
OG is a stud addition to add as a starter obviously and I'd guess he gets moved around between WR and TE/Slot Receiver. If he's healthy this year he kills it with McCord.
I think Alford and Hatcher play quite a bit of snaps still.
I've never been that high on Alford. I think mentally he needs to want it more. Alford will be better as not being the #1 WR. His issues are he doesn't consistently create much separation. And he needs to get some dawg in him and be more physical and use his body. He's huge for F's sake. But I do think we should have thrown it up to him more often. He can go up and get it. I mean he wasn't going to let others win the ball from him and he could get a high percentage of jump balls if the ball is thrown a bit more accurately... and not out of bounds. With him being either option 2, 3 or 4 and Alford throwing to him his success rate should be much better this year. He does have pretty good hands just loses focus on easy catches occasionally.
Hatcher will look better in 2024 as well with McCord. Hopefully he can add a little more muscle each year. He just isn't all that strong to fight for 50/50 balls. With McCord's better accuracy that shouldn't be as much of an issue. Think he blocks pretty well for his size. Good effort. He does have good hands as well but has had a drop or two. Who hasn't?
I think Yazeed has what it takes to win a starting roll especially since he'll be playing spring ball. We'll see.
Meeks will get snaps but i'm not sure how much. I don't think he wins a starting role.
With Tremble's combination of size and athleticism I think he could play a lot as a freshman but maybe not to start the season. Hard to pencil in players who haven't played any college ball yet and are just getting their feet wet. Even OG barely did much of anything as a true frosh.
Long and Cahoon I'm not sure. I think both could be transfer candidates and one of them is probably the likely rumored WR transitioning to defense, but that is just a guess.
I don't think Ross and Hornsby start at all this season coming in as freshman in the fall. Like them for depth this season and for the future though.
Brown and Gill will see some time this year as well. Brown shows promise as does Gill, especially if he can gain some weight. Pena is still here right? not sure what to expect there.
I could see Ja'Meer Thomas getting a specials role along with Yazeed. Maybe Yazeed as a kick returner and Thomas as a Punt returner? Thomas should be an explosive game changer. He will eventually be a very good slot guy for us.
Mang and Clement will play situationally as TE's.
Like Elijah Washington for the future.
Now lets get another OL or two please.
Edit: will be interesting to see how Villari does solely at TE. He should be really good once he gets the ball in his hands. He will get a fair amount of TE snaps but I think OG gets some there too. And he will need to split some snaps with the bigger traditional TE’s in Mang and Clement as well.
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