At TE, Derek Roback has shown some skills.  I always thought he'd step in at some point.

Mark Smith or Sam Johnson at one of those guard positions.

Haha - yes, I admit, I've already done a projection for next year. (Red is losses, Bold is starters for at least 3 games)

QB - Tettleton, Vick, Windham, Sprague - Lost, none
RB - Blankenship , Boykin, Patterson, Hammonds - Lost, none
WR-X - Foster, Cochran - Lost=Bussey
WR-F  - L Smith, Waters, Dixon  - Lost=Futrell
WR -Z - Dovell, S. Smith = Lost=Clark
others at WR are Malik Rodriquiez, Jordan Reid, Alderman, Sawyer, Johan, Hammond
TE - Roback, Hill, Knight (not sure if jr or sr), John Tanner, Davon Henry, Art Jordan, Andrew Pepin - Lost = Thompson
LT - Prior, McQueen
LG - Lechner, Mark Smith - Lost=Carlotta
C - Lucas Powell, Lost=Allen, Bales
RG - Sam Johnson, Mike Lucas, Everhart, Lost=Herman
RT - McGrath, Bryce Dietz
other offensive linemen - Welter, Curtis, Gibbons, Watson
PK - Yazdani, Amicone, Lost=Weller

Offense - At the skill positions more people return who were lost for the season than are lost. The key losses are the interior of the offensive line, Carlotta, Allen, Bales, and Herman, plus the place kicker. Lechner is pretty much on a par with Carlotta, so I don't see a drop there. Sam Johnson has played well, and while he may not quite be as good as Herman, he'll be good....if he can beat out Mike Lucas, who also looks good. The only real question mark is center, where we haven't seen much of Lucas Powell. With all the tackles back, pass protection should be solid, but the run game may not be quite as strong with the changes on the interior. At placekicker, whoever wins between Yazdani and Amicone should be solid. On the whole the offense should be as good or better than 2012.


DT - Crutcher, McLeod (New Juco), Tautaiuki (New Juco) - Lose Huynh
DT - Purdum, Haser, Davis, Taylor - Lose Carl Jones
DE - Nic Barber, Kendrick Smith, Bennett, Radabaugh - Lose Tremayne Scott
DE - Ty Branz, Kurt Laseak, Price, Buehner - Lose Corey Hastings
MLB - Moore, Russell, Edmond, Blair Brown, Owens, Rider
WLB - Jovon Johnson, Blake Jones, Brandon Atwell, Schany - Lose Woseley
SLB - AJ Grady, Wm Johnson, Storm Timson - Lose Alphonso Lewis
nickle - Carpenter Lose Mose Denton
CB - Carrie, Wells, Scipio, Ray, Anderson   Lose Leftwich
CB - Shaw, Fisher, Bass, Terpin, Hairston
SS - Hughes, Kristoff, Macer
FS - Ingol, Devin Jones, Toran Davis Lose Gerald Moore
P - Venham, Teipel

Defense - The good news the secondary should be extremely good, with 8 returning starters for 5 positions. The biggest question mark is up front. The entire defensive line needs to be replaced. Crutcher, Purdum, Barber, and Branz all played a fair amount, but they have big shoes to fill. The center of the defensive line was looking pretty bare, but they signed two Jucos, McLeod and Tautaiuki, who I think should be at Spring practice, to add some immediate help. Replacing the multi-year starters at outside linebackers Woseley and Lewis, won't be easy, either, but there is some talent there to choose from.

Overall conclusion - The offense should be very good. The running game may not be quite as strong, but the passing game should be better. The defense, however, will not be as good. At least, let's say, the defense will not be as good as the defense that stuffed Penn State and ULM, but it should be at least comparable to the wounded defense that played against Ball State, Kent, and BG. Will that be good enough to win the MAC? I don't know. I do think that as the new starters gain experience, the defense will improve as the year goes along.

Barring another disasterous year for injuries, I expect Ohio to be right in the middle of the hunt for a Mac Championship.

Your ? marks BL pretty much nail the positions where someone needs to step up....somewhat like what Cochran did at the Indy bowl.  

The offense doesn't bother me as well as I look for  Powell to work at Center.....RG for Johnson and Lechner at  Lg with lots of help from Lucas and McQueen and Smith.  At TE true freshman Mason Morgan might even get a look.

The D line is the key.....gonna talk about DE Branz later on.... but he could be the key....Crutcher as well was a stud at Indy....Purdum has played some and Kendric Smith may be the surprise there at DE. At DT/DE it's also the JUCO's and maybe true freshmen Porter and Sayles if they don't decommit.

LBer Moore should stay at MLB after his Indy performance...but don't count out Russell/Schany/Edmond at mlb with Moore to OLB.

Stay tuned.

You might want to factor in the minimum 8-10 season ending injuries we seem to suffer each year.

Whatever happens later in the season injury wise, I share the thoughts mentioned above that Louisville looks like its going to be a very tough game, tougher than penn state I think. I guess in part this will depend on Terry Bridgewater making a full recovery, but he played well enough while hobbled the last couple games of the season.

The one striking thing that I find in our favor, and I must emphasize that this is based on having watch a single game (Louisville vs. Kentucky last year), was that they seemed to have small D-Linemen. Small enough that even Kentucky was able to average 6.3 yards per carry against them. That yards/carry is excluding runs/attempts by UK's QB, 3 attempts for negative 8 yards. I excluded the QB's rushing yards because (a) the long was 5 yards and (b) I think they were basically sacks, not real rush attempts (the NCAA doesn't differentiate between sack-yards and runs for loss in their official stats). With the caveat that the season long stats DO include the QB, the adjusted 6.3 yds/carry would be their highest of the season. Even using the unadjusted numbers, UK's 4.89yards/carry were their 2nd highest of the year against FBS opponents.

This is basically a long round about way of saying that I think we will be able to run against them, and make them over commit to stopping the run. This does assume that we come out of spring/summer ball healthy and with our new O-Line starters working well together.

McQueen has upside, for sure, but I don't see him displacing either of the returning starters at tackle, Prior or McGrath, both of who had decent seasons. One never knows, but I do see him starting in 2014. I know that Mike Lucas had some troubles, but charges against him seem to have been dropped as he was playing in the bowl. I don't know of any issues with Powell, but then, I'm not up to date on all that stuff.

Both Jucos are over 300 lbs, so I expect both will come in and play right away. Without them the interior would have been questionable, but with them it looks solid. There are also a lot of Freshman-Sophomore defensive tackles and defensive ends, and hopefully some of those are ready. With those positions, and at linebacker, there are a lot of players, and a lot of highly rated recruits. While I don't know who the answer will be, I expect there will be players who will step up and show they can handle it.

The front 7 on defense is the big question, for sure. How solid they end up being will determine how good next year's team will be.

JMHO but it looks like RB for the offense and LB for the defense will be 2 of OUr deeper positions.

At times last year I thought Moore should be moved to OLB.  His performance in the Indy Bowl means he can do the job at either position.  If he would move to OLB there are 3 very talented MLB's waiting to compete....Russell and Schany and Edmond.

If Moore stays at MLB we might have OU's fastest other 2 OLB's.  Grady and Javon Johnson both played some safety in high school.  Last years freshman William Johnson and Blair Brown did well in scrimmages. I never want a true freshman to lose his redshirt but the 2 verbals so far Poling and Quallen could really excel at OLB.....Poling is a ferocious hitter and Quallen could play safety.

FROM YOUR LIPS TO GOD'S EARS!!!!

Contrary to popular opinion, not every year has been horrible for injuries. I remember that 2005 was bad, but have only some approximate records for years after that. I do not make any claims that this list is complete or accurate:
2006 (2) - Jordan Meyers, Bryson Bush (also Everson hurt his ankle, but still played)
2007 (5) - Ferrainolo (back), Matt Donahue (thumb), Paul Johnson (knee), Ejike (foot), Harden (shoulder)
2008 (13) -  Jordan Meyers (back, neck, shoulder, knee), Morsillo (shoulder), Kenkle (shoulder), Mooney (knee), Shussler (knee, Foot), Gatling (elbow), Posey (ankle), Theo Scott (collarbone), Sweeney (shoulder), Harden (shoulder), Laudermilch (not sure), Michael Brown (hamstring), Michael Mitchell (shoulder)
2009 (11) - Hilton Dawson (ACL), Steven Jackson (turf toe/hip/groin), Gonzales-Santos (knee), Luchsinger (ankle), Curt Meyers (MCL), Jay Edwards (knee), Brandon Weaver (foot), Boo Jackson (shoulder), Laudermilch (broken leg), Dunlop (shoulder), Matt Brittain (back/discs)
2010 (4) - Laudermilch, Flowers, Keller, Brazill
2011 (1) - Matt Pritchard (knee)
2012 (18) - McGrath, Carlotta, Pritchard, Tanner, Thompson, Roback, Sam Johnson, Boykin, Landon Smith, Sebastian Smith, Dovell, Yazdani, Carl Jones, Huyhn, Scott, Carrie, Shaw, Hughes, plus many other injuries where people kept playing (Herman, Tettleton, Gerald Moore, etc.)

Looking at this list, it's quite clear that the number of injuries varies widely, and also is strongly related to whether the season turns out as well as expected:
2005 - lots of injuries, and after a good start, things did not finish strongly
2006 - very few bad few injuries, and turned out well, though Everson was not the same after his ankle injury
2007 - Average year
2008 - Major injury issues, season was a definite disappointment
2009 - Lots of injuries, but few were to starters.  Primarily the DE position was hit hard, losing Luchsinger, Meyers, and Weaver, but Notestine emerged as a force, and Connor Reilly and Tremayne Scott also picked up the slack, so the season turned out well anyway.
2010 - Not many injuries, but they were to key players, Keller and Brazill. Season was good.
2011 - Very few injuries, very good season
2012 - Massive injuries, disappointing finish to what could have been a great year

After last year, the Bobcats are definitely due for another year like 2006 or 2011.

I watched the Independence bowl again, and I didn't notice even one missed tackle. Why is it that the team tackled so well in this game, and against Penn State, yet so poorly in the middle of the season? Also, I didn't notice any DB's getting beaten, yet I saw that a lot during the season. I posit that it was related to the fact that the DBs were playing hurt all season long, and were a step slow.

The defense actually played really well in the Kent game too.  14 points came off turnovers and the rest were a result of horrible field position.  I came away from that game surprised at how inspired the defense played when they had nothing to play for.