Hey guys, signing in from windy DeKalb IL. Yes, it's always windy there.
A little about the team:
We have a good number of starters back, particularly the QB. He wasn't the starter at the beginning of last season, so he split time with other QBs before the season. He did well protecting the ball last season (18 TDs, 2 INTs), but completed less than 60% of the passes in an offense that has a lot of short passes. He also overthrew receivers on long passes. So the hope is that he'll still protect the ball but complete more passes. He's smart and can run somewhat (but the description of him running like a lizard running on his two hind feet is accurate) so hopefully he'll improve. This will be his first season after getting all the first-team reps in the offseason.
We lose 3 starters on the OL. We rotate a lot and the backups last year got a lot of playing time so hopefully it won't be an issue. We've generally done well in the running game though we had some issues last year on 3rd and short or 4th and short.
We lose our big back, Cameron Stingily, about 245 lbs. Replacement is Joel Bouagnon who is about 220 or so with better speed but not quite as strong. We'll rotate a few RBs though.
We lose Daron Brown, our best WR. We get back Tommy Lee Lewis, who missed last year and is small but fast and quick. If he stays healthy, a big IF, he will be valuable, as he caught 80 passes in 2013, many of them short passes. We also have Kenny Golladay, a 6'4 transfer from North Dakota who has looked good and has good speed. Juwan Brescacin is also 6'4 as a senior, but is slower, has good hands though and catches well.
On defense we lose Jason Meehan at DE, but Perez Ford, is also good, fast but light for a DE. Our DTs both around 300 lbs, return. Linebackers we lost 2 starters but our backups should be okay. One linebacker was suspended indefinitely so the assumption is he won't be playing. In the secondary we lose 1 safety, everyone else is back.
Decker threw for almost 400 yards against us last year even though we got some pressure on him, so just about anything is possible. I'm not sure if we have an answer for that or not. Generally good passers have hurt us more than good running teams, over the years.
