5 Burning Questions for Fall

[Virginia Redbird]

An interesting article from the Praire State Pigskin. I would agree on two of the points for sure. Can the defense overcome the loss of some talented players and will Jefferson develop into a solid QB. We will have to wait and see how the bench steps up on defense. Frankly, I am not too worried about defense. Spack knows defense and he has always put a decent defense on the field. On the other side of the ball, I really don't have much faith in Spack. Jefferson is still a yet-to-be-seen commodity. He played better as the spring went along but the offense overall is still a problem in my mind. So far he does not look like the type of player who elevates those around him but he is still a young guy. The writer points out that SIU and MSU made the playoffs in the spring but the spring was a total joke. (I know some disagree and thought it was entertaining. I have no problem with your opinion but mine is it was a joke.) It will be very interesting to see how the fall goes. Good thing the Birds play MSU in October because a later game may have ice crystal on the field and we all know how dangerous Petrino believes those to be!

5 burning questions for fall 2021: Illinois State Redbirds

Defensive tackle and homegrown talent John Ridgeway is among the players who chose to leave the Illinois State program this off-season. (Photo by Barry Bottino) In a unique spring season, the games Illinois State chose not to play became the season’s biggest headline. A wave of injuries...

www.chicagonow.com

 

[amgis1987]

An interesting article from the Praire State Pigskin. I would agree on two of the points for sure. Can the defense overcome the loss of some talented players and will Jefferson develop into a solid QB. We will have to wait and see how the bench steps up on defense. Frankly, I am not too worried about defense. Spack knows defense and he has always put a decent defense on the field. On the other side of the ball, I really don't have much faith in Spack. Jefferson is still a yet-to-be-seen commodity. He played better as the spring went along but the offense overall is still a problem in my mind. So far he does not look like the type of player who elevates those around him but he is still a young guy. The writer points out that SIU and MSU made the playoffs in the spring but the spring was a total joke. (I know some disagree and thought it was entertaining. I have no problem with your opinion but mine is it was a joke.) It will be very interesting to see how the fall goes. Good thing the Birds play MSU in October because a later game may have ice crystal on the field and we all know how dangerous Petrino believes those to be!

5 burning questions for fall 2021: Illinois State Redbirds

Defensive tackle and homegrown talent John Ridgeway is among the players who chose to leave the Illinois State program this off-season. (Photo by Barry Bottino) In a unique spring season, the games Illinois State chose not to play became the season’s biggest headline. A wave of injuries...

www.chicagonow.com

The Fall will answer many of the QB questions. I think he will have more options to throw the ball to. Bryce is the new breed of QB big, strong arm, athletic with the ability/threat to run ball. The game will slow down. When its not there do not force it. Leverage your Defense & Special teams. With a solid running game coming back thus having the ability to do play action off the run will slow defenses down some. He will have a couple additional bigger WR's and TE's plus solid slots WR's.

 

[fourthandshort]

I think our offense will be in good shape. But for first time in a while (i.e. 2013), I am worried about our defense. We lost way too much quality and depth from our DL and DB groups since 2019. We also lost a lot of depth from LB group but I think there is enough quality still here. I have no doubt Spack will rebuild the defense, but I think it may be a bit like 2013 ... very porous defense the first half of season that eventually settled down and developed into a strong enough defense.

DL .. We've lost McNight, Podkulsiki, Ridgeway, and Powell graduates ... only Lewan will return as SR. Thinking this will be our weakest group, which will be a big problem if true.

DB .. we've lost all 4 starters in 2019: Kirk to graduation/NFL, Taylor to FBS, Uphoff to NFL (hopefully), and now Woods to FBS. All were studs, IMO this was clearly our best secondary ever. All were/became FBS level players and will get shots in NFL.

LB .. we've lost Ty Deforest, Tuvon Clark, Demarco Washington, and Mends to graduation, then Draka opted out of 5th year after pandemic hit. We went 7 deep with quality in 2019. So we still have Vandenburg, Simon, and transfer Reid, plus couple strong up/comers Wilhoit and Jordan. So we should be good at LB.

Spack will figure it out, but it may be a very uneven start/season on defense this fall. Offense will need to really step up .. it is loaded with young, talented players .. time to step up and show that potential.

 

[Total Red]

I'm just the opposite. I have confidence in the defense. Less so in the offense. The D front seven will be very good. The burning questions article is clueless. We have depth on the D-Line and the quality is there too. Noah HIckcox from Minnesota should be a very nice addition. Also Deming from Montana. Jacob Powell will be back. Lewan is injured, likely for the season. Gomez, Dinga and Okolo will all play and they have shown they are quite capable. McCall adds depth. We don't know much about the youngsters but Cross could be an up and comer at DE. LB'ers Vandenburgh and Simon on the outside are talented and they haven't reached their peaks. Reid and Wilhoit are hitters on the inside. CB may be my only concern. We've been spoiled with good ones. The safeties - Isbell and Brown are good-sized and athletic. They just need to play smart.

 

[MadBird]

Yeah, I still see question marks at WR especially, and while I feel better about RB than in February, still not sure. If Edgar is back 100%, will feel better about WR. Still waiting for what I expected from E. St. Louis Rogers. Hoping the OL shows better than spring. Gotta fill #71's slot. I'm wondering about the kid from Tennessee and whether he could/will make an impact.

Agree that DL is an unknown, shall we call it. As with Rogers above, still waiting for FBS transfer Fehrman to show his stuff. Any chance they move Bussone back to DL?

 

[MadBird]

Some of you are probably already ahead of me - I just bought my LIndy's football preview today (seems ridiculous for it to come out in June) and ISU is picked 6th in the MVFC, right behind SIU and Petrino State. SDSU, NDSU, No.Dakota are top 3. We get #22 in pre-season Top 25.

Comment in the Top 25 is - "Defense should be strong, but Bryce Jefferson was shaky in spring at QB." In the MVFC preview, comment was - "Redbirds must relocate high hopes that were wiped out by COVID issues in spring." And no players named to the first or second teams.

So for now, Lindy's is in the corner with Total Red and Virginia, banking on our traditionally strong D, with questions about QB. Seems fair to me at this point. Will Jefferson take another step in his development? Or will spring's #2 - Jackson Waring from Ankeny, Iowa - step up and take it away?

 

[Virginia Redbird]

Some of you are probably already ahead of me - I just bought my LIndy's football preview today (seems ridiculous for it to come out in June) and ISU is picked 6th in the MVFC, right behind SIU and Petrino State. SDSU, NDSU, No.Dakota are top 3. We get #22 in pre-season Top 25.

Comment in the Top 25 is - "Defense should be strong, but Bryce Jefferson was shaky in spring at QB." In the MVFC preview, comment was - "Redbirds must relocate high hopes that were wiped out by COVID issues in spring." And no players named to the first or second teams.

So for now, Lindy's is in the corner with Total Red and Virginia, banking on our traditionally strong D, with questions about QB. Seems fair to me at this point. Will Jefferson take another step in his development? Or will spring's #2 - Jackson Waring from Ankeny, Iowa - step up and take it away?

I hope Jefferson does kick butt this fall but he has been inconsistent in my opinion so far and I just have not seen anything to get too excited about in regards to the offense the last few years. If someone on the depth chart leapfrogs Jefferson, I am okay with that as well. The best player should play. The competition is good. We have a few months to wait yet before we find out. I don't put any stock in preseason ratings but this seems to be fair enough. All the teams above ISU made the playoffs last spring. They should be there until someone knocks them down the list. Hopefully, that will be the Birds doing some of that knocking!