http://www.journalnow.com/sports/asu/fo ... 42333.html

For me this was the most telling comment:
“Out of the 102 that we’ll have in the fall, only 39 have played a snap. So we still have some young guys that are going to have to play. Last year and this year we are pretty young but we feel good about setting up that foundation for the future. This spring will be a big part of that.”

I think we have a lot of talent and I'm optimistic as we head into the SBC but we need to keep things in perspective. We are still a young and, in many cases, an inexperienced team. The 2014 season is likely to be a real test for our program. I'm excited about it but I'm also trying to be realistic about it.

Might not be red shirting as many as I thought we would next year

looks like the kids who redshirted last year are going to have a big season.

Well we know some of the new WRs are going to play due to need and, hopefully, ability. Looks like we'll have a need at DB as well. And possibly DT, though you'd rather redshirt most guys there to let them get stronger.

After that, barring injury, hopefully we have enough returning at the other positions that any freshmen who play do so because they are too good to sit, rather than out of necessity. Hopefully we can redshirt most or all of the linemen, esp. the OL.

Also, does anyone have an exact count on how many players are on scholarship? (Paging Moose? )

“Out of the 102 that we’ll have in the fall, only 39 have played a snap."

Hope those expecting 5-7 wins keep this in mind as we move to FBS and much tougher competition.

Kgfish wrote:“Out of the 102 that we’ll have in the fall, only 39 have played a snap."

Hope those expecting 5-7 wins keep this in mind as we move to FBS and much tougher competition.

Exactly...Obviously I want us to win all of them, but reallstically, as I have said, I'll be happy with 4 wins.

I wonder, (atleast hoping) that some of our best talent was redshirted last year in preparation for the move up, if that's the case, these kids better be ready or its going to be a long season. Im in the camp that our starters are as good as most of the other SBC teams, but we just don't have the depth, and will probably lose alot of games in the forth, the upcoming spring practice becomes more important, than maybe in past years, if for no other reason for the coaching staff to get an idea how ready the redshirts/soph are to contribute.

Hopefully Kam will make strides this offseason as it's his job to lose. There should be some good battles at WR and 2nd string RB on the offense and in every level of the defense, especially the DB's. Heard the coaches visited Duke so maybe we'll see some improvement within the coaching staff as well. What Cutcliffe has done at Duke is nothing short of remarkable IMO.

Kgfish wrote:“Out of the 102 that we’ll have in the fall, only 39 have played a snap."

Hope those expecting 5-7 wins keep this in mind as we move to FBS and much tougher competition.

My thoughts exactly!

Kgfish wrote:“Out of the 102 that we’ll have in the fall, only 39 have played a snap."

Hope those expecting 5-7 wins keep this in mind as we move to FBS and much tougher competition.

Fair and important point, but also worth noting that App returns ~30 of the players who were listed on the 2-deep for the WCU game, including 15-16 starters.

I thought its interesting that our coaches went to Duke to learn how to be better coaches, saw their recruiting rankings this year, I believe , only Wake was worse in the ACC. Cutcliffe and his staff did an remarkable job last year, but it doesn't seemed to have been a positive in recruiting, maybe in a few years we can return the favor, they can come up to Boone and we can teach them how to recruit,ha

moehler wrote:I thought its interesting that our coaches went to Duke to learn how to be better coaches, saw their recruiting rankings this year, I believe , only Wake was worse in the ACC. Cutcliffe and his staff did an remarkable job last year, but it doesn't seemed to have been a positive in recruiting, maybe in a few years we can return the favor, they can come up to Boone and we can teach them how to recruit,ha

Due to academics Duke and Wake will likely never have the football recruiting classes that the rest of the ACC has. I won't be surprised if/when we have better ranked recruiting classes than they. All the more reason to be impressed with Duke's coaching staff and their success.

goapps93 wrote:

moehler wrote:I thought its interesting that our coaches went to Duke to learn how to be better coaches, saw their recruiting rankings this year, I believe , only Wake was worse in the ACC. Cutcliffe and his staff did an remarkable job last year, but it doesn't seemed to have been a positive in recruiting, maybe in a few years we can return the favor, they can come up to Boone and we can teach them how to recruit,ha

Due to academics Duke and Wake will likely never have the football recruiting classes that the rest of the ACC has. I won't be surprised if/when we have better ranked recruiting classes than they. All the more reason to be impressed with Duke's coaching staff and their success.

What about the academic standards at Stanford (top 15), ND (top 10), and Northwestern (top 50)? If App gets into the top 50 in recruiting I will be very pleased.

From what I understand, most of Duke's class had committed before the end of their season. They expect their 2015 class to be the beneficiary of their recent success. But as someone else mentioned Duke and Wake are never likely to get a class as highly ranked as some of their brethren. I think it is remarkable the job that Cutcliffe has done evaluating the available talent and then developing that talent to win at a high level. Before him Grobe did the same for Wake. Sustaining the success was hard for Wake and it likely will be hard for Duke too.
This has been a pattern for App's success as well over the years because we don't get the highly ranked players either. This will be the challenge for our staff in my opinion, evaluating and developing the right talent for the Mountaineers to be successful over the long haul.

moehler wrote:I thought its interesting that our coaches went to Duke to learn how to be better coaches, saw their recruiting rankings this year, I believe , only Wake was worse in the ACC. Cutcliffe and his staff did an remarkable job last year, but it doesn't seemed to have been a positive in recruiting, maybe in a few years we can return the favor, they can come up to Boone and we can teach them how to recruit,ha

It wasn't recruiting advice they were seeking, it was development of what you have and better run output. I saw Duke play in the ACC Champ game, very similar offense and some great variations on plays that we can/should run. They may have also asked for the Troy game game plan (Duke beat them).

moehler wrote:I wonder, (atleast hoping) that some of our best talent was redshirted last year in preparation for the move up, if that's the case, these kids better be ready or its going to be a long season. Im in the camp that our starters are as good as most of the other SBC teams, but we just don't have the depth, and will probably lose alot of games in the forth, the upcoming spring practice becomes more important, than maybe in past years, if for no other reason for the coaching staff to get an idea how ready the redshirts/soph are to contribute.

Even IF some of our best talent was redshirted, they will still be freshmen playing against mostly vetran FBS players.

Most coaching staffs, if not all, visit others during the off-season - I wouldn't write a whole lot into it ---

With us still being short of quality bench talent can see why Satt feels we need
to develop the running game even more. That can bleed the clock pretty well late when needed.

GoApps70 wrote:With us still being short of quality bench talent can see why Satt feels we need
to develop the running game even more. That can bleed the clock pretty well late when needed.

70,

I like the strategy and emphasis on a strong running game. That would be a huge help late in games and would also help us win more of the 50-50 games that we lost most of last season.