We know what this team didn't do well last year and what needs to improve. We won't get a great read on it all this week or next (Bama A&M) due to the inferior competition, but we need to see a few things:
-- Pass Rush: Can we get 3 sacks and consistent pressure?
-- CB coverage: Not only should we shut down their WRs, but we should actually get (gasp!) an interception from one of our CBs.
-- TE: This might have gone from one of our most solid spots with Bres and Schoenwald last year to our worst overall position. How do we mask that or do Ball and others step up?
-- Cheeks: How does Patrick Smith play so well that we all start actually caring why his nickname is Cheeks, or do we just hand this over to Gillespie or one of the freshmen? We lost our best overall offensive engine in Ray Davis, so someone has to step up here or it will be a long season.
-- Field Goals: Said this 100 times and it's not original, but we're just good enough that if we make all of our field goals we will be in the winnable games against teams like Missouri, South Carolina, Kentucky, etc. Teams that are all good but not great. We just don't have the margin of error to miss FGs, and we didn't excel in this area last year overall. Who wins the kicking job, and can they be special?
-- Pass Rush: Can we get 3 sacks and consistent pressure?
-- CB coverage: Not only should we shut down their WRs, but we should actually get (gasp!) an interception from one of our CBs.
-- TE: This might have gone from one of our most solid spots with Bres and Schoenwald last year to our worst overall position. How do we mask that or do Ball and others step up?
-- Cheeks: How does Patrick Smith play so well that we all start actually caring why his nickname is Cheeks, or do we just hand this over to Gillespie or one of the freshmen? We lost our best overall offensive engine in Ray Davis, so someone has to step up here or it will be a long season.
-- Field Goals: Said this 100 times and it's not original, but we're just good enough that if we make all of our field goals we will be in the winnable games against teams like Missouri, South Carolina, Kentucky, etc. Teams that are all good but not great. We just don't have the margin of error to miss FGs, and we didn't excel in this area last year overall. Who wins the kicking job, and can they be special?
