I respect the honesty
@Destiny's Child ! Gives us some real chatter here after a couple of games!
My take - If we are comparing to last year's team, yes this team is likely to come up short in a lot of areas. To keep in perspective though, last year's team completely dominated basically everyone (with the exception of that Ole Miss game), and it would appear that this year's opponents are also not stacking up to some of their former selves. So realistically, IMO - Even last year's team could have taken a step back and been a championship team. And this year there is even more room for error.
But in terms of position comparisons... If you compare to last year's team (one of, if not the best in CF history), yeah there are some groups that are definitely behind.
QB wise, Bryce is obviously going to be behind Mac. I do believe that Bryce has a HUGE upside if/when he develops his ability to run. Obviously there's a fine line when you're "the guy", but he can be a lethal threat when the play breaks down.
RB - Yeah, without Najee, there is a step back. BRob has impressed me with some subtle illusiveness before contact... He's done a nice job. But clearly he's just not the talent that Najee was, because that was a rare cat. I agree with you that the highest upside is with McLelan or Roydell, but Sanders may be a legit threat as a bell cow down the road too.
OL - Certainly some work to do here... The Owens to RT move was fairly surprising, which just means the staff likely prefers Dalcourt on the field over the RT options. If developing Latham is in the plans, I'm surprised they didn't take the opportunity to do it against Mercer. To me that means it may not be this year. Again - comparing to last year, yes, this group will struggle to meet that standard. But the one thing we've seen time and time again over the years is the OL groups almost always showing significant improvement throughout the season... So I'd expect to see that again, especially if they get healthy.
D - This group can and will be better than last year's IMO. Just from top to bottom it feels like more talent and depth. I see Henry as an absolute "alpha" and even more so than Moses... And an upgrade as a player as well. The DL appears to be even more disruptive between Young &. Mathis, and Anderson is ripe to have the best impact season we've seen in the Saban era. DB's are deep and experienced.... I'm a little concerned with the safeties ability to cover ground, but they're both experienced and aggressive. Should be fine there
Ultimately, if we compare this team to last year's team and last year's competition, there would be room for concern. But compared to the current competition and ability for some of these young guys to develop as the season goes on, there's a ton of room for upside. Looking back after that Ole Miss game last year it felt like the 'D' was going to be a mess... They improved so much over the course of the year, which is how I believe the offense may improve this year as Bryce gains experience with the OL and receivers.
Great convo from all, thanks for contributions. RTR!
