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*** Every Tuesday during the offseason, we'll have this thread, updating the projected depth chart for the upcoming period or during the period in progress. It will alternate from offense to defense weekly, meaning that each side of the ball will be "updated" every two weeks. Since there are sure to be times when updates are not needed due to nothing having changed or no new info coming in, please think of this thread more as a place for depth chart discussion to live. In weeks where there are no updates, we can discuss changes we'd like to see, ideas we ponder when looking at the personnel and any other thoughts you may have. Of course, in some weeks there will be major changes based on events, circumstances, news and intel coming from out of the program. ***
Anwar did some great work this week with tracking down feedback about the accuracy of my initial depth chart projections for the offense and the defense, and while there were some surprising nuggets he was able to lay out (mostly on the defensive side of the football) there was really only a few small tweaks that needed to be made this week for the offensive side of the ball:
First off, Reese Leitao has been removed entirely from the offensive depth chart which should, in theory, open things up for Jared Wiley to be the primary backup to Cade Brewer in 2020 at the TE position. Traditionally, the backup TE in Herman's system doesn't get much run when there is a healthy starter who Herman loves and if we know anything, we know Herman loves Cade Brewer about like he loved Andrew Beck, which is about as much as you love your first-born.
When a player like that is hurt, though, and the starter is not at the caliber he expects, we've seen there has been a smattering of rotations and substitutions personnel-wise through games to cobble together a similar skill set out of multiple other players, using them in more specialized roles as the play-call and/or plan for the series dictates. Wiley is a good all-around TE, though, and showed through the end of last season that he was clearly the more appealing option than Reese Leitao, hence, presumably, Leitao's move to the defensive side of the ball.
Malcolm Epps is getting looks at both the TE and the edge-rusher positions this spring according to Anwar's sources, which to me means he is a guy they're just trying to figure out how to squeeze in somewhere. For that reason, I've listed Epps below Wiley on the latest edition as 1) Epps might not even end up staying on offense and 2) Wiley, at this time, seems like the more well-rounded, all-around option to step up into the full-on role Beck and Brewer have handled to this point next year.
The biggest takeaway on offense was at the LG position where Anwar confirmed what I've been projecting all along -- that Tope Imade will likely start spring as the starter, but there's no way the staff can feel comfortable with that and will be hoping against hope that competition arises. What I did not foresee is that the staff envisions the initial competition for Imade's job to come from Rafiti Ghirmai who've I've now listed as a bit of a 1b at the position.
Why didn't I expect this? Because as uninspiring as Imade's play has been, Ghirmai is 1) very inexperienced, only getting in 6 snaps on offense last season and 2) a player we've only seen in extended snaps once -- in last year's spring game -- where he performed miserably, allowing 3 pressures, 1 TFL and committing 3 bad QB/center exchanges in just 41 total snaps. In fairness to Ghirmai, he won't have to snap the football at LG, so at least we won't have fans saying "here we go again" a la Zack Shackelford, but he's still a player who you're definitely betting on the come regarding, even at guard. The good news is that, every year under Herman, we've seen one very unexpected OL step up into starting contributor-level performance - and this year's Kerstetter, Cosmi or Angilau, etc. could quite possibly be Ghirmai.
Anwar's source did confirm my projection that Tyler Johnson will also get a chance to push, but it feels like he'll only get that chance if one of Imade or Ghirmai isn't able to convincingly win a job. Based solely on what we have seen thus far, I'm not confident that either player will take a stranglehold on the starting job, though, meaning Johnson -- the player with the near-inarguable highest upside of the three -- should definitely be in the mix this spring as well.
The Absolute BEST in family and cosmetic dentistry for the Houston-Memorial Area
Now Accepting New Patients --- 281-293-9140
*** Every Tuesday during the offseason, we'll have this thread, updating the projected depth chart for the upcoming period or during the period in progress. It will alternate from offense to defense weekly, meaning that each side of the ball will be "updated" every two weeks. Since there are sure to be times when updates are not needed due to nothing having changed or no new info coming in, please think of this thread more as a place for depth chart discussion to live. In weeks where there are no updates, we can discuss changes we'd like to see, ideas we ponder when looking at the personnel and any other thoughts you may have. Of course, in some weeks there will be major changes based on events, circumstances, news and intel coming from out of the program. ***
Anwar did some great work this week with tracking down feedback about the accuracy of my initial depth chart projections for the offense and the defense, and while there were some surprising nuggets he was able to lay out (mostly on the defensive side of the football) there was really only a few small tweaks that needed to be made this week for the offensive side of the ball:
First off, Reese Leitao has been removed entirely from the offensive depth chart which should, in theory, open things up for Jared Wiley to be the primary backup to Cade Brewer in 2020 at the TE position. Traditionally, the backup TE in Herman's system doesn't get much run when there is a healthy starter who Herman loves and if we know anything, we know Herman loves Cade Brewer about like he loved Andrew Beck, which is about as much as you love your first-born.
When a player like that is hurt, though, and the starter is not at the caliber he expects, we've seen there has been a smattering of rotations and substitutions personnel-wise through games to cobble together a similar skill set out of multiple other players, using them in more specialized roles as the play-call and/or plan for the series dictates. Wiley is a good all-around TE, though, and showed through the end of last season that he was clearly the more appealing option than Reese Leitao, hence, presumably, Leitao's move to the defensive side of the ball.
Malcolm Epps is getting looks at both the TE and the edge-rusher positions this spring according to Anwar's sources, which to me means he is a guy they're just trying to figure out how to squeeze in somewhere. For that reason, I've listed Epps below Wiley on the latest edition as 1) Epps might not even end up staying on offense and 2) Wiley, at this time, seems like the more well-rounded, all-around option to step up into the full-on role Beck and Brewer have handled to this point next year.
The biggest takeaway on offense was at the LG position where Anwar confirmed what I've been projecting all along -- that Tope Imade will likely start spring as the starter, but there's no way the staff can feel comfortable with that and will be hoping against hope that competition arises. What I did not foresee is that the staff envisions the initial competition for Imade's job to come from Rafiti Ghirmai who've I've now listed as a bit of a 1b at the position.
Why didn't I expect this? Because as uninspiring as Imade's play has been, Ghirmai is 1) very inexperienced, only getting in 6 snaps on offense last season and 2) a player we've only seen in extended snaps once -- in last year's spring game -- where he performed miserably, allowing 3 pressures, 1 TFL and committing 3 bad QB/center exchanges in just 41 total snaps. In fairness to Ghirmai, he won't have to snap the football at LG, so at least we won't have fans saying "here we go again" a la Zack Shackelford, but he's still a player who you're definitely betting on the come regarding, even at guard. The good news is that, every year under Herman, we've seen one very unexpected OL step up into starting contributor-level performance - and this year's Kerstetter, Cosmi or Angilau, etc. could quite possibly be Ghirmai.
Anwar's source did confirm my projection that Tyler Johnson will also get a chance to push, but it feels like he'll only get that chance if one of Imade or Ghirmai isn't able to convincingly win a job. Based solely on what we have seen thus far, I'm not confident that either player will take a stranglehold on the starting job, though, meaning Johnson -- the player with the near-inarguable highest upside of the three -- should definitely be in the mix this spring as well.
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