Depth Chart

[fourthandshort]

I think we really need to spread the field against the top defenses. Putting more people between the TE positions (i.e. 2 TEs and FB) tends to clog tings up no matter how good we block .. sometimes there's just nowhere to go, as we saw at times a year ago ... and were a good run team. But we become predictable and good defenses will just stack the box and it will get real crowded inside.

I don't care who we have at WR, we have to bring them along and use them to keep defenses honest. One of the comments in recent pantagraph article talked about how little of the playbook we used last year ... partly because our new QB, and partly because our top 2 WRs and TEs were all new 1st string reps rotation. Picture August camp a year ago with Kolbe and Davis splitting reps .. Kolbe probably knew playbook insideout while Davis probably was struggling. Then season starts pretty well .. possibly because nobody knows our skill guys and those defenses were weaker early in season. Then we started playing tougher defenses that knew us better (WIU, NDSU, SDSU, UNI) and we struggled .. pass game suffered first, then run game started to struggle at times because we narrowed the play book and became predictable.

I want us to spread it out early and test our new WRs and TEs .. bring them along and give defenses something else to game plan for .. take pressure off Robinson and watch him break even more long runs.

 

[Redbird15]

DL

Dinga
Fehrmann
Lewan
McKnight
Podkulski
Powell
Ridgeway

OLB

Clark D. Jackson
Jordan
Simon
Vandenburgh
Washington

ILB

DeForest, T
Draka
Engram
Mends
Wilhoit

DB

DeForest, T
Draka
Engram
Mends
Wilhoit
Bennyhoff
I. Brown
S. Deforest Gardner
Hatfield
Haynie
Isbell
J. Jackson
Jones
KIrk
11 Taylor
12 Uphoff
13 Woods

OL

Anderson
Asche
Bones
Dav
Georgie
HimmeIman
Hirsch
Megginson
Z. Mueller
Novak
Rients
Solomon
Witherspoon

TE/FB
McCloyn
Pennirwton
Taula
Gillum
Lewis

RB
p. Brown
C. Mueller
proctor
Robinson
White

WR

Nagel
Rogers
Rutkiewic2
Blackman
Edgar
Crimes
Haley
Lombardi

QB
Davis
Baltz
Jefferson

SP
Bohlken
Bresnahan
Fenlason
Malinowski
Monaco

 

[ISUBU]

ISU has released the 2-deep for NIU - The Offense

LT 71 Drew Himmelman 67 Cole Anderson

LG 59 Gabe Megginson 77 Evan Day

C Drew Bones 72 Garrett Hirsch

RG 75 Jared Rients 79 Trey Georgie

RT 52 Adam Solomon 62 Peyton Asche

TE 87 Robert Gillum 81 Tanner Taula

WR 12 Taylor Grimes 15 Kacper Rutkiewicz

WR 4 Andrew Edgar 8 Eric Rogers

WR 13 Braxton Haley 11 Cole Blackman

QB 1 Brady Davis 5 Bryce Jefferson

RB 25 James Robinson 7 Jeff Proctor

FB 46 Timothy McCloyn II 37 Tyler Pennington

 

[ISUBU]

And the Defense

DE 8 Romeo McKnight 44 Blake Fehrmann

NOSE 99 John Ridgeway 96 Jacob Powell

DE 94 Jason Lewan 90 Steven Podkulski

JACK 6 Tuvone Clark 55 Brandon Simon

SLB 5 Zeke Vandenburgh 47 DeMarco Washington

MLB 50 Ty DeForest 56 Kenton Wilhoit

WLB 42 Dylan Draka 31 Aaron Mends

CB 9 Charles Woods 26 Jarrell Jackson

SS 24 Christian Uphoff 17 Trenton Hatfield

FS 14 Luther Kirk 21 Mike Gardner

CB 3 Devin Taylor 4 Iverson Brown

 

[ISUBU]

Nice to see some guys who've been around for a few years. Some like Draka finally cracking the lineup, and others like Rients battling back from injuries.

This is a group that may not have a lot of history starting games for ISU, but this is a team with game experience. There are a lot of unknowns from NIU with new coaches in that program coming from different places, but this is a Redbird team that should be able to adapt to surprises in Game 1.

 

[Total Red]

Not listed is Safety Clayton Isbell. Expect to see him play.

 

[fourthandshort]

just seems like a really strong 2 deep at almost every position group ... other than maybe QB. Even receiver looks ok .. and sounds like they were doing a fair amount of reps and competing during OTAs. We'll see soon enough who steps up after Edgar.

 

[DannyCooksey]

in order I have very high hopes for:

Brady Davis
Robert Gillum
Drew Bones
Jason Lewan
Romeo McKnight
Christian Uphoff
Devin Taylor

 

[fourthandshort]

in order I have very high hopes for:

Brady Davis
Robert Gillum
Drew Bones
Jason Lewan
Romeo McKnight
Christian Uphoff
Devin Taylor

Very good "high hopes" list, though Taylor has already proven himself plenty. The others should all take a notable step forward this year in their contribution level this year.

In particular, if we settle in at Center position, that will be good sign for OL group ... been a rocky 2 years there with injuiries and testing our depth chart more than we were prepared for a center position. We're very solid everywhere else on OL.

 

[MadBird]

Started some thoughts late last night and deleted them by accident so went to bed!

Our OL is huge. Three guys at 315 lbs. are the LIGHTEST! Geez. 335 lb. center. I hope they're as strong as they are big. We'll need it vs. NIU, they have two big dudes in the middle of their 4-3, 290 and 315. We have some experience in the OL and out of the 10 in the two deep, only 3 are seniors. Hope for the future.

WR will be big. Lots of opportunity there for guys to make their mark. Hopefully all the off-season working together, etc. will pay off.

Love our DL, and LB corps, deep, lots of options, lots of different skill sets. Experienced.

NIU has some size up front on D, but appears to be smaller at LB, no one will outweigh JRob.

Looking for an upset here.

 

[DannyCooksey]

in order I have very high hopes for:

Brady Davis
Robert Gillum
Drew Bones
Jason Lewan
Romeo McKnight
Christian Uphoff
Devin Taylor

Very good "high hopes" list, though Taylor has already proven himself plenty. The others should all take a notable step forward this year in their contribution level this year.

In particular, if we settle in at Center position, that will be good sign for OL group ... been a rocky 2 years there with injuiries and testing our depth chart more than we were prepared for a center position. We're very solid everywhere else on OL.

agreed

Taylor is already good. I think he could become great.