Sweet, so far I am the only sunshine pumper.
My reasoning for the o-line doing well hinges on Ryan Miller. If he is healthy, and stays at right guard for the entire season, then I think the o-line will do great.
The start of last season was terrible, and I would say 60% of that was due to line play. I blame part of this on the philosophy of trying the get the best 5 guys on the field. We had Itilis learning a new position, Miller learning a new position, and Givens playing without any college experience. Then we spent most of the time trying to find a LG. In the 09 off season we had to replace 3DL starters, and the only guy with experience (Herrod) practiced against Solder. The rest of the DL was green and trying to learn their roles. Pericak was leaning a new position, and how to work with the guys around him. The DL was trying to learn their responsibilities and did not challenging the o-line, and vice versa. In the beginning of the season the o-line couldn’t handle a stunt, had more missed assignments then you can count, and didn’t know how to trust the guy next to them since 4 of the 5 were trying to figure out what they were supposed to do. By the end of the year Miller made the second team All-American sophomore team for college football news, due in large part to how he handled Suh in the last game. That is also why he is on the Outland trophy list, and Phil Steel’s 1st team Big 12 at RG. Against NU we only gave up on sack, far fewer than our 4.4 average for the season. If Miller stays at RG, and RT is handled by Givens/Harris/Tau that will help to develop continuity on the line. Stevens seems to have the center position figured out, and is on the watch list for the Rimington Award (best center in the country). I think the LG position will no longer be a weakness as we have Itilis with experience, and MTM, Adkins, Daniels, & Handler to fight for time. Also, all of these guys have experience in the system, and playing with one another. I do feel they will continue to improve, and will own the line the majority of the time.
On a side note, how weird would it be to see Speedy change from making his first move 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage to a yard in front?
The defensive line will be much improved as well. I did select they will be dominant, but even for me that is a stretch. Will Pericak made Phil Steel’s 4th line in the Big 12 at DT, and he was the highest ranking guy we have on the line. He did make the All-American freshman team in 2009, which isn’t bad for a guy who was a red-shirt freshman at a new position. Other than the potential in Pericak, no one else on the line has made a pre-season watch list. Herrod is a senior who has spent the last two years battling against Solder, which should help him get improve. The question for me will be how do we use Kasa? Is he second string to Herrod or does he go to the other DE spot? Getting pressure on the QB from the end without blitzing will be key for our defense. If Kasa or Herrod require a TE/RB to stay in and help block, then the rest of the defense will only benefit from that. The other big question will be who is the guy next to Pericak? Does Cunningham hold the spot, even if he is a little undersized, or is Bonsu going to be healthy for the season. Will Gore ever step up, or will Obi show with his new girth that he can help clog the middle. If the two big questions get answered in a positive way, then the DL will really help out the defensive unit.
The last thing that will help both OL and DL is the fact that Taj Kanyor was the only player to graduate from either side of the ball. Each of our players will be more experienced than last year, which will only help.