Man, what a year of ups and downs this football team has seen, itās been a hard year but I do believe we have improved a bit in some areas. This Team doesnāt give up and i think that in its self will help these guys going forward, think what this team could do with a half ass defense.
The Good: We have a good group of guys that trust this staff while they get this program on its feet (thank you to all the seniors that came here knowing that this would all be a struggle).
Kalif Phillips - Jesus thank you for being a wrecking ball for this team, Iām excited to see how heāll stack up against FBS competition.
Our WRās- with one more year under Duke, Bostick, and Fords Belt it will be exciting to see what they can do, especially Ford.
QB- thank you Mcneill for coming In and not sucking like most back upās would. Kids got great football IQ and will really Help Matt and Brooks in the off season. I honestly think there will be more competition for the starting spot next year which will help with how these kids develop.
The Bad: D as a whole, it will be interesting to see what changes we make with the guys coming in.
Duke - still needs a little work on his hands, lord knows how many yards/TDās he would have if he didnt drop a ball.
Matt- hoping he works on reading more WRās down field and not staring down the one youāre going to throw it to
Uh-huh Guy- he needs Jesus
Iāve seen it mentioned on here how App has turned it around in a year and I think we can do the same they absolutely sucked last year and played decent this year in some parts of the season. We arenāt going to be an ODU or UTSA but I think we have some really good building blocks that will show in 2016. Keep building this team and pushing these guys and will get our first FBS win come 9/3/15.
My expectations were 8 wins this year so I think we underachieved. Winning a few more games would have helped attendance and given us more momentum moving into next year. That said, who knows how it will affect our program 5 years from now but winning more certainly wouldnāt hurt.
We are a better team despite the same record as last year. We were only a few touchdowns and field goals from being 10-1.
Despite underachieving, Iām already excited about next year. Time to turn it up a notch!
I felt that a 7-4 record was feasible, and looking back, it was. If we win just two of those five one score games, we would have achieved it. The problem was, we couldnt stop anyone for a long stretch of this season.
the offense is about where I thought weād be, though the injury to Matt Johnson was interesting. Mattās a solid player, but I think there is more to be had overall out of the passing game. I agree that we have a QB controversy for next season, though Matt will probably be #1 on the depth chart going into the spring game. We need to get KP some help with RB carries or he will wear down fast going against FBS defenses. I very badly hope we address this in recruiting, especially now that Maetron is gone. Iād like to have Barnwell back, but you need 3 RBs in FBS football anyway.
On defense - the DL simply has to get bigger and faster, and we need much much more speed at LB and DB. Our guys play hard, but we are one of the slowest teams Iāve seen all year. I hope Wynn and Covington can collectively progress/give us some more speed and athleticism at DB. LB should be in better shape with Cook and CCM back, but they wonāt make a night and day difference. At least we developed some depth at that position this year. I am hoping we have a couple of playmakers in RS this year - Covington and Manley are possibilities. Hard to tell. The guys on the team probably know. Manley looks really big out of pads, so hopefully that translates to impact on the field.
I know how the staff feels about recruiting 4 year players and building them, and how important keeping the class balance is, but I do hope we look at JUCOS to build some DL depth, and I hope we are open to taking transfers, especially from P5 schools. Like I said, we need a lot more speed on defense.
Next year will be another developmental year for the program, āFBSā or not. What will be exciting is having lights, a full band, and better known competition. Time to build some rivalries in CUSA. I canāt wait.
I would think will be giving tall at least two more years to prove what he can do with his guys. what I would really like to see is a change in scheme to better suit the guys that we have coming in.
We were in every game this year except for one. Given where we are I am happy with that. Coach Tall will be here next season so I think everyone needs to get used to that. I want to see what he can do when he has a legit roster of schollie players and health and not playing walkons with no depth. I expect some brutal games next year, I also think we can pull out some wins. I expect to win 2 and maybe pull out 2 more. My key measuring at this point and will be for the next few years is simply are we getting better. I think we were a better team this year, so I am happy. After we hit year 6 and year 7 my expectations will go up - but for me the first 5 years were all about building a program and just getting better.
I think that is a solid expectation for the season 2015. We will beat Presby and win one FBS game. I will be pretty excited with anything more than that.
2016 will be the real test of where we are as a program. We should have a pretty deep and experienced squad, and will hopefully be closer to 5 wins.
We went 5-6, with five of those losses being by one score or less.
Losing the tight games is the hallmark of a young team. Teams that consistently lose close games are a year or two away from consistently winning close games.
I think weāll be better than many of us are willing to say out loud next year. Iām not saying that I expect us to have a winning season, but I donāt think another five-win season is an absolute stretch.
Either way, it really doesnāt matter to me. Just like NWA, I want to see steady improvement more than anythingā¦ both year over year and game over game. As long as weāre ready to take it to App in a few years, Iāll be happy.
I do not mean to hijack the thread, but I did not realize that we get a piece of the pie for football even though we were not FBS yet. http://www.herdzone.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/112314aaa.html. Great for us, but sucks for the rest of the conference.
We showed improvement, we were in the game with all the āgoodā FCS teams, but werenāt quite able to compete with the elite FCS teams. The offense is very close to FBS ready, with the questions being who is going to be QB (Iām hoping Johnson improves, but McNeil and Barden both will push him) and depth at RB.
The defenseā¦had some major problems or this would have been a 9 win team. Iām not as anti 3-4 as some of the other posters on this board, and it takes longer to build a defense than an offense as a start-up. Iām hoping that with Molby and Cook returning, and Covington and Manley being able to play, that we will see some improvement. Weād better show some improvement, because there are some dynamic offenses in CUSA.
The bottom of CUSA has improved, and Temple and Georgia State as well, so our schedule looks tougher now than it did last year. Iām thinking we can get two wins, and would be ecstatic with anything more than that. On the field, I just want to see improvement and the ability to compete with the guys at this level.
Iām very interested to see what the lights, new seating arrangements, and band bring to the game day experience. I have a feeling that the combination of these things will make the atmosphere at The Rich much better, and I canāt wait till next year.
This could be a serious problem, that seems to be going somewhat under the radar since KP has been able to carry the load so far. But by the end of the season we had zero depth at RB. Thatās really scary.
I know two RBās were dismissed toward the end of the year. I wonder if we are now back on the recruiting trial trying to find a couple of more RBās. I know we have a commitment from a guy from Mooresville HS who is suppose to be good, but we will want to RS at least one RB next year.
Will will try to increase recruiting for a few more position with some guys leaving? I had heard we were finish for the year, but we lost one kid to Vandy so I figure we would go after a few more.