With football beginning practice Friday, there is finally some good, solid, hard news and excitement to write about. It's been a long summer, filled with plenty of laziness (or rather, not filled with much at all)... Let's just get right down to what's on my mind as camp opens.
PRESEASON TOP 25 VOTES
No big surprise here, just pretty cool to actually see it. I've got to think that if Andersen was still here, we'd have fallen somewhere in the 22-25 range, but hey... Start the season with a few wins, and Wells could suddenly be steering the ship of a top 25 team early in his first season.
Utah is going to be a tough-as-hell win to pull off, but if this team can do it, that right there might grab enough attention to climb into the top 25 if a few teams in front of USU lose/struggle.
CORNERBACKS
Yeah, thought wide receivers would be the first position tackled here, just like every-freaking-where else! Worry not... We'll get there. I look at this roster though and I feel that cornerback might be the most underrated unit on this team. Sure, there's obvious concern about who is going to replace a guy who had as great a year as Willy D had last year. But Tay Glover-Wright (a.k.a. "Tay-Swoosh", a.k.a. "The Hyphen") is one hell of an athlete, and the likely replacement for Davis.
Look at the rest of this unit though... There's obviously Nevin Lawson leading in starting experience, with Rashard Stewart providing another veteran out there. Not to mention Quinton Byrd (who I swear is nearing double-digit years in this program), providing senior leadership once again.
Then there's a few young guys who have shown some real promise already in Dre Snowden and Devin Centers (who had a great camp last year). Up there with them are a few more younger guys who were rated pretty alright in the recruiting game with Marwin Evans, Jeremy Morris, and Marquan Ellison. Ladale Jackson should fall into that category too, and he's listed in the media guide, but somehow omitted from the current roster online.
Point being, there are a lot of guys who should make this position strong, talented, and deep.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Alright, onto the juicy stuff... I'm big on Brandon Swindall. I think he's got potential to be a No. 1 receiving threat, and a good one at that. If he doesn't have to be the go-to guy, that would be fantastic, and would likely mean that one of either Ronald Butler or Travis Reynolds stepped up huge in camp. If either of those two does it, my money is on Butler. I have a tough time thinking Reynolds will make THAT big of a leap forward from a first three years that doesn't standout much at all.
Travis Van Leeuwen is a guy that I think we know what we're getting with him and Jojo Natson is bound to make a handful of exciting plays this year. The biggest X-factor though is Alex Wheat. If you read his tweets, you can tell he's not happy with being an afterthought offensively last season. He expects more out of himself, and with size and speed like that, he's capable of being an anchor of this unit.
I think the depth at cornerback should help the receivers get in some quality and competitive practice reps, hopefully improving that unit enough to adequately balance out the offense. For the first week of camp, my eyes are going to be focused on Butler, Reynolds, Swindall, and Wheat more than anyone else.
FRONT ROW NETWORK
Lastly, just want to plug this whole venture we've got going on. There are a lot of quality people on board making this all happen between the podcasts, YouTube videos (coming soon), printed article, etc. I'll be doing a whole lot with that this season, much like last year's involvement in just the Front Row Show.
Keep a close eye on everything going on here. It's going to be awesome. Come on out to practice to watch today. Football is here.
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