Socon 2011 preseason prognostications
Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 4:10 pm
I don't care if there's already a thread on this.
After reading some posts on the Wofford board, I think we'll win the Socon this year. I might be just being a homer right now, but from what I hear Tarek Odom, our highly recruited DL is going to be a stud. I won't compare him to Russell yet, pair him with Ameet Pall and the DL is going to be hard to block. Not to mention the fact that the LBs were probably the strength of the defense going into the preseason with their depth, talent, and experience. Our secondary took the (relatively) biggest hit last year by losing 2 players out of the 2 deep but I believe we've recruited well enough and are returning enough players from injury to where we have as much talent and experience to be just as well or better than we were last year. Bottom line, I think our already stellar top-2 defense should even improve.
Offensively we seem to have 2 of the 3 RB spots filled with Eric Breitenstein and Donovan Johnson, both talented and all conference caliber players. Our OL, though losing many starters from last year, appears to be embedded enough for us to be successful (like we are every year on OL). Our Wideouts should be good enough to get the job done as usual. If Mitch Allen manages the game and reads the option as well as senior QBs in the past we should have a great offense.
I think GSU will be second, Their defense will be on the same level as Wofford's defense with neither one being clearly superior (outside of stats ). I think they're offense wasn't really good last year and in a lot of cases they depended on their defense to put them in a position to win. Wofford has a step forward offensively and they have a better schedule (not leaving SC until November), so I give Wofford the edge for the conference crown
I think Chattanooga and App will fight for 3rd. I think this is App's year to be knocked off the mountain. They have lots of talent, but very few teams lose 17 starters and are on the same level as the year before, they didn't seem like they were head and shoulders above the conference either (with the exception of Wofford's annual brain fart in Boone).
Elon and Furman will fight for 5th. Too many question marks to evaluate either one on the surface. They'll definitely play spoiler to at least one of the teams ahead of them and will be competitive in every game they play.
Samford and Western should fight for the title of not being the citadel.
Citadel will finish last. Goodbye Kevin (and we're not talking about Citdog).
So overall IMO
Wofford
GSU
Chatty
App
Furman
Elon
Samford
Western
Citadel (they have not earned the "the")
The top 4 are really interchangeable, as are the bottom 3. App should be picked to win it again because they are king but I really doubt that they will. I think we will get 2 teams in the playoffs again this year for sure, with a possibility of 3 or 4. 5 may be unlikely, but there's the slightest possibility.
Discuss
After reading some posts on the Wofford board, I think we'll win the Socon this year. I might be just being a homer right now, but from what I hear Tarek Odom, our highly recruited DL is going to be a stud. I won't compare him to Russell yet, pair him with Ameet Pall and the DL is going to be hard to block. Not to mention the fact that the LBs were probably the strength of the defense going into the preseason with their depth, talent, and experience. Our secondary took the (relatively) biggest hit last year by losing 2 players out of the 2 deep but I believe we've recruited well enough and are returning enough players from injury to where we have as much talent and experience to be just as well or better than we were last year. Bottom line, I think our already stellar top-2 defense should even improve.
Offensively we seem to have 2 of the 3 RB spots filled with Eric Breitenstein and Donovan Johnson, both talented and all conference caliber players. Our OL, though losing many starters from last year, appears to be embedded enough for us to be successful (like we are every year on OL). Our Wideouts should be good enough to get the job done as usual. If Mitch Allen manages the game and reads the option as well as senior QBs in the past we should have a great offense.
I think GSU will be second, Their defense will be on the same level as Wofford's defense with neither one being clearly superior (outside of stats ). I think they're offense wasn't really good last year and in a lot of cases they depended on their defense to put them in a position to win. Wofford has a step forward offensively and they have a better schedule (not leaving SC until November), so I give Wofford the edge for the conference crown
I think Chattanooga and App will fight for 3rd. I think this is App's year to be knocked off the mountain. They have lots of talent, but very few teams lose 17 starters and are on the same level as the year before, they didn't seem like they were head and shoulders above the conference either (with the exception of Wofford's annual brain fart in Boone).
Elon and Furman will fight for 5th. Too many question marks to evaluate either one on the surface. They'll definitely play spoiler to at least one of the teams ahead of them and will be competitive in every game they play.
Samford and Western should fight for the title of not being the citadel.
Citadel will finish last. Goodbye Kevin (and we're not talking about Citdog).
So overall IMO
Wofford
GSU
Chatty
App
Furman
Elon
Samford
Western
Citadel (they have not earned the "the")
The top 4 are really interchangeable, as are the bottom 3. App should be picked to win it again because they are king but I really doubt that they will. I think we will get 2 teams in the playoffs again this year for sure, with a possibility of 3 or 4. 5 may be unlikely, but there's the slightest possibility.
Discuss
