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What are your thoughts?
Who are you most excited about?

It was great to see us win a couple of recruiting battles there at the end with Jela Duncan and Keilin Rayner. Out of the 20 signed only 3 were not listed a as 3 start athlete by at least one of the big recruiting websites (ESPN, Rivals, or Scout). One of those was Devon Edwards, after watching the highlight tape, I think he looked really good. I know that's a very small segment of the whole picture, but it certainly looked good to me. Again, I certainly recognize those things can be misleading. Weak competition (good/bad blocking) can make someone look really good.

I thought the best highlight film I saw was Carlos Wray. Even with an arm tackle, when he got to a ball carrier, they had an abrupt change in direction. There was no lean forward for extra yardage...

As for who I'm most excited about...the kicker Ross. We probably would have gone to a bowl game if we would've hit a few timely kicks this year, so I'm looking forward to consistent field goal kicking. I'm also hoping for more TDs.

The recruiting class is the best Coach Cutcliffe has brought in since his arrival. It's pretty well balanced in terms of strength, speed and size..... and getting better and better in terms of speed and size. We can look forward to some great results from the M&M's (Martin in this year's class; Monday in 2011 class).

There are lots of individual players to get excited about, but I'm particularly pleased with the proactive recruitment of a couple of TE's who fit the emerging prototype embodied in Jimmy Graham of the NOLA Saints. It doesn't take much researching of commentaries or watching films to understand that the emerging evolution of this position along with the recruiting of taller QB's is changing some aspects of how football is played. As a program, we're moving from primarily filling positions to anticipating trends and planning accordingly in recruiting. If we could go to a hurry up offense with these news weapons, I would be thrilled!

As exciting as this class sounds, I doubt we'll see much from them next year other then our kicker...and that's fine because we desperately need him! What I really hope is that Cut is able to have success with the guys he redshirted this year so he'll be around next year to coach this current class. I think if we have another sub .500 year there could be a possibility that these guys will be playing for someone else.

It sounds like WR Anthony Nash might be too talented to keep off the field. Skill position players typically play as true freshmen.

Bob Green wrote:It sounds like WR Anthony Nash might be too talented to keep off the field. Skill position players typically play as true freshmen.

That would not surprise me, especially with Donovan now gone. Nash sounds like he's going to be exciting to watch. Side note...does anyone know if Cutcliffe is going with an early spring schedule again? I hope not, it hasn't exactly paid off and having the spring game the same time basketball is still being played sucks.

Spring Scrimmage is March 31.

Devil in the Blue Dress wrote:Spring Scrimmage is March 31.

Sigh...

CameronBornAndBred wrote:

Bob Green wrote:It sounds like WR Anthony Nash might be too talented to keep off the field. Skill position players typically play as true freshmen.

That would not surprise me, especially with Donovan now gone. Nash sounds like he's going to be exciting to watch. Side note...does anyone know if Cutcliffe is going with an early spring schedule again? I hope not, it hasn't exactly paid off and having the spring game the same time basketball is still being played sucks.

You think we'll still be playing MBB around March 31?

I know what we all hope but being realistic...

devildeac wrote:

CameronBornAndBred wrote:

Bob Green wrote:It sounds like WR Anthony Nash might be too talented to keep off the field. Skill position players typically play as true freshmen.

That would not surprise me, especially with Donovan now gone. Nash sounds like he's going to be exciting to watch. Side note...does anyone know if Cutcliffe is going with an early spring schedule again? I hope not, it hasn't exactly paid off and having the spring game the same time basketball is still being played sucks.

You think we'll still be playing MBB around March 31?

I know what we all hope but being realistic...

After that display yesterday, I think we aren't playing MBB now.

devildeac wrote:

CameronBornAndBred wrote:

Bob Green wrote:It sounds like WR Anthony Nash might be too talented to keep off the field. Skill position players typically play as true freshmen.

That would not surprise me, especially with Donovan now gone. Nash sounds like he's going to be exciting to watch. Side note...does anyone know if Cutcliffe is going with an early spring schedule again? I hope not, it hasn't exactly paid off and having the spring game the same time basketball is still being played sucks.

You think we'll still be playing MBB around March 31?

I know what we all hope but being realistic...

WE might not be, but it's still basketball season..and barely Spring.

Today we were trying to figure out our schedule for the ACC tournament and I was wondering if we need to plan to be there on Thursday. What a depressing thought.

Cheermom wrote:Today we were trying to figure out our schedule for the ACC tournament and I was wondering if we need to plan to be there on Thursday. What a depressing thought.

SFD........... That's a "Disappointing" thought.

It's more fun to see the basketball team dominating, but we've also gone home early with dominate teams. The senior season of JJ Redick & Sheldon William and Jason Williams & Carlos Boozer didn't end with ticker tape. I mean think about it, most anyone would've taken those teams chances over Scheyer, Singler, and Zoubek. Getting hot at the right time is fairly important. Coach K has been tweaking things all year. Unless we get blown out tomorrow, which I doubt, I think we'll be okay. Getting to the Elite Eight and Final Four is still possible and then it's all about the match ups.

As for the Spring Game. I'm okay with it being early. I don't think we can say the spring game being early is behind the 3-9 record. As I mentioned before, a few kicks going through the yellow bars makes this season a lot better. A little better play calling at the end of a few games probably changes the outcome of the season too. Despite those frustrations, I'm still fully behind Coach Cut. Improvements have been made while he's been here. We've got record setting players for the first time in a long time. That's progress. I think the real reason Coach Cut does the early Spring game is to allow more time for recruiting when other coaches are busy with their Spring game. I think it also allows him more time to figure out what players need for development over the summer. The other advantage in my mind is time to heal from injuries sustained in the Spring. It also prevents some with major surgeries during the season from trying to come back too early.

In the press conference on signing day Coach mentioned changing things up with positions. Crowder seemed heir apparent to Donovan's slot, but it sounded like they were considering moving Snead to a WR/slot type postion. Crowder has some big play potential, so I can't imagine him not being on the field. Nash did sound good from Coach Cut's comments, but wonder where he goes. So, I'm looking forward to practice starting in late February.

quick correction...oops...Jason Williams was a junior...but still, everyone knew it was his final season.

The Football Fan wrote:
As for the Spring Game. I'm okay with it being early. I don't think we can say the spring game being early is behind the 3-9 record. As I mentioned before, a few kicks going through the yellow bars makes this season a lot better. A little better play calling at the end of a few games probably changes the outcome of the season too. Despite those frustrations, I'm still fully behind Coach Cut. Improvements have been made while he's been here. We've got record setting players for the first time in a long time. That's progress. I think the real reason Coach Cut does the early Spring game is to allow more time for recruiting when other coaches are busy with their Spring game. I think it also allows him more time to figure out what players need for development over the summer. The other advantage in my mind is time to heal from injuries sustained in the Spring. It also prevents some with major surgeries during the season from trying to come back too early.

In the press conference on signing day Coach mentioned changing things up with positions. Crowder seemed heir apparent to Donovan's slot, but it sounded like they were considering moving Snead to a WR/slot type postion. Crowder has some big play potential, so I can't imagine him not being on the field. Nash did sound good from Coach Cut's comments, but wonder where he goes. So, I'm looking forward to practice starting in late February.

Couldn't agree more! Having spring practice this early is a strategy for keeping the guys working on football in intervals spread throughout the year better than having a later spring practice. The scheduling of spring practice is likely to change at the point in time when Duke goes to a bowl game... then a new interval will be used. Having longer recovery time from injuries, longer planning time to prepare for the upcoming season are good reasons for scheduling spring practice earlier.

While a later spring practice and spring scrimmage may be more pleasing for fans, that's all secondary to the preparation for the fall.

Can't wait to see which one of the recruits will big boy up first!