Thanks! This is most helpful.
We've been hit with the injury bug as well. Our O-line has taken the worst of it in my opinion. I believe that has played into some of the offensive issues we've seen late season. We placed only one player on the all-conference first team for offense - center Jesse Chapman.
Our defense has been very strong in most situations and, hopefully, will have a stellar game against Ohio. The Sun Belt defensive player of the year is our defensive end Ronald Blair. He, John Law, and Latrell Gibbs were all first team honorees.
While Marcus Cox is certainly a standout running back, he also can cough up the ball more easily than I like. I would not be surprised to see freshman Jalin Moore eclipse Cox's running efforts in the years ahead.
Finally, our kicking game has been a tale of two kickers in the last two seasons. The irony is that it's been the same kicker both years. Last year Zach Matics missed extra points and short field goals with enough regularity to elicit groans from the fans when any kicking situation arose. This year Zach has been spot on with nearly every kick he's taken. He and punter Bentlee Critcher are fun to watch.
Bottom line is that, as in all games, this one could be lots of fun or heartbreak for either set of fans. See you in Montgomery!
Ohio had no first team all conference players, and only one second team all-conference player, Ian Wells. Ohio has solid players across the board more than individual stars, but it didn't help that many of the best players missed significant portions of the season.
Our backs are an interesting group, and all of them are good, but in different ways, so you'll find a lot of disagreement here over who is the best and/or who should be starting. One thing is that none of them fumble much. Anyway, the choices:
Daz Patterson - compact but solid, fast, quick, a threat in space, but also has good power inside, a Hornung Watch list nominee, also returns kicks, punts, and is a good receiver, plus blocks well
AJ Ouellette - played as a true Freshman last year, great power, deceptively fast, not elusive, but your linebackers will know it when they meet him. He always gets yards after contact, and almost never loses yards, plus he's an outstanding blocker
Papi White - extreme quickness and speed, will make people miss, and will outrun people, an exciting playmaker
Maleek Irons - A redshirt freshman, is the back of the future. He's a big back with outstanding vision and balance. Still a little raw in some areas, but has breakaway potential. I beileve he's out for this game.
Dorian Brown - Another exciting back that can make people miss, and has a lot of potential
Bo Hardy - Exceptional speed, and a hard worker. Plays mostly special teams, but has jets when he has the ball.
In watching some App State, they have an interesting offense. It actually doesn't look dissimilar to Ohio's offense, except that they have a different focus. They work harder on deception as to who they are giving the ball too, and usually have multiple backs. That makes their running game more effective, but takes away from their passing. Ohio does a lot of the same sorts of things, but is more of a 50-50 run pass oriented team.
If Ohio can get ahead of App State early, and/or take away their running game, App State might get uncomfortable on offense.
Last Edited: 12/10/2015 11:54:14 AM by L.C.