Rate each position group

[95bcfb]

I have been thinking about the influx of talent to this team and what it's impact will be for next year. First I have to say I am super impressed with what the coaches have done in requiting.

QB - This to me is the big question mark. Enough has already been said but if we get better here we are going to be really good - in my opinion. The coaches have done a good job trying to address this issue and now it is to these guys to compete.

RB - I am not sure what I think about this position. If Andersen plays RB (and I think this will be his primary position) we will be pretty good but other than Andersen we have a big pounding back who is more of a situational player (again in may opinion) and a lot of unproven talent. If Andersen can stay healthy he should be one of the best in the conference.

WR - I think that we will be solid at this position. The new additions will help. I don't think that we will have a top of the conference group though.

OL - I think that this group will be one of the best in the conference.

Secondary - Again the coaches have done a great job in bringing in talent to this position and I would rate this group in the top half of the conference or even the top several.

LB - This group is going to be very good and I would put them in the top of the conference.

DL - Again the coaches have brought in a ton of talent and this group should be very good.

This is just my poor attempt to make a stab in the dark at where each position group will compare with the conference. I keep hearing about how much talent we are bringing in and it got me thinking about why we don't think that we will be able to compete for the conference title. The only way I see us not being super good next year is if we get hit hard with injury or if our QB doesn't improve. I like our chances.

[mslacatfan]

Should also add the TE and kicking groups

[catatac]

I have been thinking about the influx of talent to this team and what it's impact will be for next year. First I have to say I am super impressed with what the coaches have done in requiting.

QB - This to me is the big question mark. Enough has already been said but if we get better here we are going to be really good - in my opinion. The coaches have done a good job trying to address this issue and now it is to these guys to compete.

RB - I am not sure what I think about this position. If Andersen plays RB (and I think this will be his primary position) we will be pretty good but other than Andersen we have a big pounding back who is more of a situational player (again in may opinion) and a lot of unproven talent. If Andersen can stay healthy he should be one of the best in the conference.

WR - I think that we will be solid at this position. The new additions will help. I don't think that we will have a top of the conference group though.

OL - I think that this group will be one of the best in the conference.

Secondary - Again the coaches have done a great job in bringing in talent to this position and I would rate this group in the top half of the conference or even the top several.

LB - This group is going to be very good and I would put them in the top of the conference.

DL - Again the coaches have brought in a ton of talent and this group should be very good.

This is just my poor attempt to make a stab in the dark at where each position group will compare with the conference. I keep hearing about how much talent we are bringing in and it got me thinking about why we don't think that we will be able to compete for the conference title. The only way I see us not being super good next year is if we get hit hard with injury or if our QB doesn't improve. I like our chances.

I'm not sure how many people think this, other than Grizzly fans. Most knowledgeable Bobcat fans believe with this coaching staff and the fact that in the 3rd year the locker room finally looks how Choate said he wanted it to look when he got here, this is the year when we should expect to compete for the Big Sky title. What's that stat, when Choate got here he started 0-6 in leagues games but now is 7-3 over the last 10 league games.

[Cledus]

7-3 is exactly the stat, with a whisker away from 8-2 (referring to the NAU game).

[sheridancat]

I think the RB are going to surprise all of us. The speed and size has increased and the youth wont hurt us. Speed to spread the field will open seams for the passing game

[gtapp]

The only defensive position of concern is LB. Other than Hill we have no experience and unknown talent. On offense we look weak at RB (even if Anderson plays there). He is our only proven back. Exact same for WR and we have no idea what we have at QB outside of Murray. We have stacked the D but this offense could range from ok to one of the worst in 15 years.

[mslacatfan]

The only defensive position of concern is LB. Other than Hill we have no experience and unknown talent. On offense we look weak at RB (even if Anderson plays there). He is our only proven back. Exact same for WR and we have no idea what we have at QB outside of Murray. We have stacked the D but this offense could range from ok to one of the worst in 15 years.

I bet Troy Anderson is an all big sky RB.
WR got a major boost from the Arkansas transfer.

[arvcat2]

The only defensive position of concern is LB. Other than Hill we have no experience and unknown talent. On offense we look weak at RB (even if Anderson plays there). He is our only proven back. Exact same for WR and we have no idea what we have at QB outside of Murray. We have stacked the D but this offense could range from ok to one of the worst in 15 years.

I bet Troy Anderson is an all big sky RB.
WR got a major boost from the Arkansas transfer.

Come on lads, it's not like Troy's last name is Samoan, Chinese, or Martian

[TomCat88]

The only defensive position of concern is LB. Other than Hill we have no experience and unknown talent. On offense we look weak at RB (even if Anderson plays there). He is our only proven back. Exact same for WR and we have no idea what we have at QB outside of Murray. We have stacked the D but this offense could range from ok to one of the worst in 15 years.

Brayden Konkol also returns at LB.

[seataccat]

The only defensive position of concern is LB. Other than Hill we have no experience and unknown talent. On offense we look weak at RB (even if Anderson plays there). He is our only proven back. Exact same for WR and we have no idea what we have at QB outside of Murray. We have stacked the D but this offense could range from ok to one of the worst in 15 years.

How in the eff could you predict that out offense could be the worst in 15 years? Stupid BS.... We have what looks like a great offensive line, Troy Anderson at rb and a three year starter at qb. Just wait until the Hanser kid sees the field at WR our offense will be fine.

[arvcat2]

The only defensive position of concern is LB. Other than Hill we have no experience and unknown talent. On offense we look weak at RB (even if Anderson plays there). He is our only proven back. Exact same for WR and we have no idea what we have at QB outside of Murray. We have stacked the D but this offense could range from ok to one of the worst in 15 years.

How in the eff could you predict that out offense could be the worst in 15 years? Stupid BS.... We have what looks like a great offensive line, Troy Anderson at rb and a three year starter at qb. Just wait until the Hanser kid sees the field at WR our offense will be fine.

Yet another that can't spell Troy's last name....at least you got Peyton's last name right

[catsrback76]

The only defensive position of concern is LB. Other than Hill we have no experience and unknown talent. On offense we look weak at RB (even if Anderson plays there). He is our only proven back. Exact same for WR and we have no idea what we have at QB outside of Murray. We have stacked the D but this offense could range from ok to one of the worst in 15 years.

How in the eff could you predict that out offense could be the worst in 15 years? Stupid BS.... We have what looks like a great offensive line, Troy Anderson at rb and a three year starter at qb. Just wait until the Hanser kid sees the field at WR our offense will be fine.

The WHOLE offence rises and falls on who our QB is. We have hashed this out for 2 years now and it hasn't changed enough for the Coaches to not work to bring in a passer who can run. If Murray can transform himself in the game situations we'll be fine, if not, we will struggle.

[iaafan]

The whole offense doesn’t rise and fall based on who the QB is. MSU was 2-2 in games Murray had a QB rating of 140 or greater. 3-3 when 122 or less. No correlation. MSU won a game when it was 8.4.

The strongest correlation to success was when the defense played well. In games MSU held teams under 400 they were 3-1. All others 2-5, and the two wins were when (vs psu and um) MSU gave up a lot of yards in garbage time. So probably more like 5-1 in games defense plays well and 0-5 when it doesn’t.

[seataccat]

The only defensive position of concern is LB. Other than Hill we have no experience and unknown talent. On offense we look weak at RB (even if Anderson plays there). He is our only proven back. Exact same for WR and we have no idea what we have at QB outside of Murray. We have stacked the D but this offense could range from ok to one of the worst in 15 years.

How in the eff could you predict that out offense could be the worst in 15 years? Stupid BS.... We have what looks like a great offensive line, Troy Anderson at rb and a three year starter at qb. Just wait until the Hanser kid sees the field at WR our offense will be fine.

The WHOLE offence rises and falls on who our QB is. We have hashed this out for 2 years now and it hasn't changed enough for the Coaches to not work to bring in a passer who can run. If Murray can transform himself in the game situations we'll be fine, if not, we will struggle.

If we struggle do you see our offense as the worst in 15 years?

[catsrback76]

The only defensive position of concern is LB. Other than Hill we have no experience and unknown talent. On offense we look weak at RB (even if Anderson plays there). He is our only proven back. Exact same for WR and we have no idea what we have at QB outside of Murray. We have stacked the D but this offense could range from ok to one of the worst in 15 years.

How in the eff could you predict that out offense could be the worst in 15 years? Stupid BS.... We have what looks like a great offensive line, Troy Anderson at rb and a three year starter at qb. Just wait until the Hanser kid sees the field at WR our offense will be fine.

The WHOLE offence rises and falls on who our QB is. We have hashed this out for 2 years now and it hasn't changed enough for the Coaches to not work to bring in a passer who can run. If Murray can transform himself in the game situations we'll be fine, if not, we will struggle.

If we struggle do you see our offense as the worst in 15 years?

No, I didn't say that. I do however believe that I am with the coaches on this, we need to upgrade QB production in order to be a championship level team. The coaches have NOT said that about our defence, though it obvious they must play as well or better than last year, the WR group etc... because the glaring need is for MORE QB production. So, that is where I stand!

[catatac]

The only defensive position of concern is LB. Other than Hill we have no experience and unknown talent. On offense we look weak at RB (even if Anderson plays there). He is our only proven back. Exact same for WR and we have no idea what we have at QB outside of Murray. We have stacked the D but this offense could range from ok to one of the worst in 15 years.

Normally I appreciate the way you try to temper expectations and look objectively but Linebacker is not a position of concern for me at all. If you don't look at the list of players below and realize we are stacked with talent........ Our only problem at LB is figuring out ways to get all that talent on the field.

Sterk, Hadley, Andersen, Sparaco, Konkol, Kanow, Hill, Jobman, Collins, Chapman, Gilman.

The one thing I agree with you on is QB depth. That's my #1 concern right now.

[iaafan]

I think MSU will be a full grade better on defense. From a B- to an A-. That will make for significant difference in the W/L columns. I expect the offense will be about the same. The OL will once again make the RBs look good.

[kwcat]

RB- Don't we still have our number 1 from last year, Logan Jones, or did I miss something? Logan produced some tough yards last year and fast as heck. AS I stated earlier, TA and BB will produce. Young talent yet to be measured.

WR- Kevin Kassis I think was our best receiver last year in terms of not just production, but seemed to communicate better with Murray than did Johnson.(Jabarri will be missed nonetheless) Kevin also adds the threat of run pass option.

LB- lots of unproven talent. could do quite well if the football IQ and chemistry are good.

[The MICKSTER]

The only defensive position of concern is LB. Other than Hill we have no experience and unknown talent. On offense we look weak at RB (even if Anderson plays there). He is our only proven back. Exact same for WR and we have no idea what we have at QB outside of Murray. We have stacked the D but this offense could range from ok to one of the worst in 15 years.

How in the eff could you predict that out offense could be the worst in 15 years? Stupid BS.... We have what looks like a great offensive line, Troy Anderson at rb and a three year starter at qb. Just wait until the Hanser kid sees the field at WR our offense will be fine.

The WHOLE offence rises and falls on who our QB is. We have hashed this out for 2 years now and it hasn't changed enough for the Coaches to not work to bring in a passer who can run. If Murray can transform himself in the game situations we'll be fine, if not, we will struggle.

If we struggle do you see our offense as the worst in 15 years?

No, I didn't say that. I do however believe that I am with the coaches on this, we need to upgrade QB production in order to be a championship level team. The coaches have NOT said that about our defence, though it obvious they must play as well or better than last year, the WR group etc... because the glaring needing is for MORE QB production. So, that is where I stand!

Here are some Conference-Only stats from last year (2017) comparing MSU to Conference Champion WSU;
Scoring Offense;
WSU…7th…33 pts
MSU…8th…30 pts
Scoring Defense;
WSU…1st…16 pts
MSU…3rd…25 pts
Total Offense;
MSU…9th…432 yds
WSU…12th…395 yds
Total Defense;
WSU…2nd…365 yds
MSU…3rd…392 yds
Pass Offense;
WSU…11th…203 yds/g
MSU…12th…147 yds/g (up from ~78 yds/g in 2016)
Pass Efficiency;
WSU…3rd…147
MSU…10th…127 (up from 111 in 2016)

Looking at these stats MSU was VERY comparable to WSU last year except for Pass Offense, Pass Efficiency, and Scoring Defense IMHO.
Therefore, in the sense that our Passing Stats needs to improve for us to take the next step, I agree. However, I don’t believe it needs to improve dramatically to have a dramatic effect on the 2018 outcome. I say this for 3 basic reasons;
o I anticipate an improvement in Passing Yards/Game & Passing Efficiency for the following reasons;
.....* This will be Chris Murray’s 2nd year under OC Coach Armstrong and his 3rd year as a starter, along with (nothing against DM) an experienced QB Coach in Bob Cole. These factors all add up to having a better passing attack this year than we had last year.
.....* Chris Murray has shown from 2016 to 2017 that he can improve and it is logical to assume that his improvement will continue.
.....* There is a 4-star HS recruit on the roster by the name of Travis Jonsen, who came close to winning the starting job at Oregon before getting stuck behind one of the best QB’s in the Junior College ranks, who will be pushing CM to be better. (NOTE: I’m not even sure if CM will win the starting job, but what I am saying that IF he does we have every reason to believe he will be a better passer than last year, IF he isn’t the starter then I am assuming we will have someone at QB (likely Jonsen IMO) that will be better than CM), so in either scenario I anticipate our passing stats will improve.
o If we see similar improvements this year from our QB (whomever it is) we will be on par with the 2017 WSU team who was not only the Conference Champion, but a team who came within a heartbeat of being in the NC game.
o Even though we lost some defensive studs from last year, I anticipate our defense will be better this year because this is our 2nd consecutive year of very good recruiting to the defensive side of the ball, specifically immediate help (i.e. transfers & injury returns) to every level of the defense. A better defense only makes it easier for the offense to be more efficient.

As far as a position group rating, the only group I’m concerned about are the receivers. We lost our best 2 receivers in Mitch Herbert & Jabari Johnson…..they will be difficult to replace and I’m not sure we have a Large-Physical type receiver on the roster to replace JJ. I think there are some on the roster that might get there down the road, but I don’t know if his physical presence will be replaced in 2018.

[catsrback76]

The only defensive position of concern is LB. Other than Hill we have no experience and unknown talent. On offense we look weak at RB (even if Anderson plays there). He is our only proven back. Exact same for WR and we have no idea what we have at QB outside of Murray. We have stacked the D but this offense could range from ok to one of the worst in 15 years.

How in the eff could you predict that out offense could be the worst in 15 years? Stupid BS.... We have what looks like a great offensive line, Troy Anderson at rb and a three year starter at qb. Just wait until the Hanser kid sees the field at WR our offense will be fine.

The WHOLE offence rises and falls on who our QB is. We have hashed this out for 2 years now and it hasn't changed enough for the Coaches to not work to bring in a passer who can run. If Murray can transform himself in the game situations we'll be fine, if not, we will struggle.

If we struggle do you see our offense as the worst in 15 years?

No, I didn't say that. I do however believe that I am with the coaches on this, we need to upgrade QB production in order to be a championship level team. The coaches have NOT said that about our defence, though it obvious they must play as well or better than last year, the WR group etc... because the glaring needing is for MORE QB production. So, that is where I stand!

Looking at these stats MSU was VERY comparable to WSU last year except for Pass Offense, Pass Efficiency, and Scoring Defense IMHO.
Therefore, in the sense that our Passing Stats needs to improve for us to take the next step, I agree. However, I don’t believe it needs to improve dramatically to have a dramatic effect on the 2018 outcome. I say this for 3 basic reasons;
o I anticipate an improvement in Passing Yards/Game & Passing Efficiency for the following reasons;
.....* This will be Chris Murray’s 2nd year under OC Coach Armstrong and his 3rd year as a starter, along with (nothing against DM) an experienced QB Coach in Bob Cole. These factors all add up to having a better passing attack this year than we had last year.
.....* Chris Murray has shown from 2016 to 2017 that he can improve and it is logical to assume that his improvement will continue.
.....* There is a 4-star HS recruit on the roster by the name of Travis Jonsen, who came close to winning the starting job at Oregon before getting stuck behind one of the best QB’s in the Junior College ranks, who will be pushing CM to be better. (NOTE: I’m not even sure if CM will win the starting job, but what I am saying that IF he does we have every reason to believe he will be a better passer than last year, IF he isn’t the starter then I am assuming we will have someone at QB (likely Jonsen IMO) that will be better than CM), so in either scenario I anticipate our passing stats will improve.
o If we see similar improvements this year from our QB (whomever it is) we will be on par with the 2017 WSU team who was not only the Conference Champion, but a team who came within a heartbeat of being in the NC game.
o Even though we lost some defensive studs from last year, I anticipate our defense will be better this year because this is our 2nd consecutive year of very good recruiting to the defensive side of the ball, specifically immediate help (i.e. transfers & injury returns) to every level of the defense. A better defense only makes it easier for the offense to be more efficient.

As far as a position group rating, the only group I’m concerned about are the receivers. We lost our best 2 receivers in Mitch Herbert & Jabari Johnson…..they will be difficult to replace and I’m not sure we have a Large-Physical type receiver on the roster to replace JJ. I think there are some on the roster that might get there down the road, but I don’t know if his physical presence will be replaced in 2018.

I agree with everything you've said.