Each year teams are studied by fans, coaches, media, etc to predict or forecast where they may finish in the upcoming season. There are hundreds of ways to analyze rosters, stats, schedules, matchups and unknown variables that may present themselves such as breakout players, injuries or suspension. Rather than go into the stats, schedules or even matchups I wanted to identify the 5 most important position groupings of concern of weakness or unknowns I had going into this fall. These five IMO are the most impactful to not only a positive season but a championship season for this years team. Depth, talent, productivity are extremely important as well as how impactful a position is to this specific team and our season. I will list my 5 from impactful to critical to a possible title. Please feel free to post your thoughts and top 5.
#5 DB- Sure this is an area that has been on the minds of all of us the last couple of years. We have seen some great effort and play but at the same time seen numerous opportunities slip away with this grouping that could have been game changing. Your secondary is very key to success because they are the last line of defense and are the last opportunity to keep teams out of the endzone. However, we have won and won big with inconsistent DB play at times the last several years. But they have also cost us a couple games along the way that could have gone down as a win. We have tremendous talent at this position and pretty good depth even though a large portion is not game tested and may not be ready for a Saban system. I think we will see some playmakers born this year and our DB by the later part of the year will be stout. We need average but solid production out of our DB to win big.
#4 OL- Most might rank this groups concern higher for 2014. OL is where it all starts on the offensive side of the ball. You can have all world talent at the skill positions but poor OL play can neutralize it in 2 seconds after the snap. We have several returning and proven players with a few new comers who possess all world potential but have to prove it on the field. Our OL needs to be a force, they need to be nasty, they need to prove they can dominate even against top talent. For us to win big in 2014 our OL has to be better than average and create the identity for our offense.
#3 QB- I know there are some of you who just spit your coke out. How is our unknown QB not the most important concern for this years team? From how see it thats an easy answer. With the skill set and overall talent on this Bama team we do not need a Heisman QB, we don't have to have a Elite QB. I cant believe I am about to say this but all we need is a player who can play smart, distribute the ball and make the open plays. Because there will be plenty of open plays to be made throughout the year. Ball control and security will be a focus no matter who is at this position. Honestly, I think we can win Big with Average play at the QB this year and anything above Average from this postion is going to make this team dangerous to scary good. I think we have an Average QB in the line up and one who is potentially well above average as well.
#2 K- Elite success in 2014 is going to be directly tied to our production at the Kicking positions. I think a lot of people took our punting for granted last year. It was extremely important to our defense getting put in favorable field position more times than not. We need someone to step up and make punting not a weakness this year. It does not have to be a weapon but must be adequate. Now the PK position is a whole other story. Most people dont worry so much about the PK in college until its too late and you lose a big game. Just think about every championship season we have had recently. Our PK was above average or came through in some very critical situations. I dont think anyone has to be reminded of last Nov. With a confident PK we win in NOV and things could have been totally different. Sure our offense missed some plays as did our defense. But many of the big games come down to just making average FGs and being consistent. Your offense is going to shoot itself in the foot every now and then and defenses are going to make their share of big plays. So you MUST be able to take three points inside of 40 yards a high percentage of the time. Our PK this year will be the difference in us winning or losing at least 1-2 games.
#1 DL- There can be lots of finger pointing at the reasons we lost 2 games last year. But IMO it all boils down to whether or not our DL controlled the game. Several games they did but in the two loses they came up well short of that responsibility. Can we win it all with an average DL? NO. Can we bring home the trophy with an above average DL? IMO not this year. We need an Elite, top 5 and dominant DL to defeat the various HUNH teams we will face this fall. They will have to rush the passer and cause havoc as well as build a wall against the rush. We have talent coming out our ears on the DL but its not all proven and it still has to produce week in and week out. And there will be two games at least our DL will either step up and win the game or cause us and our playoff goals to evaporate. We have the talent to field an Elite DL for the first time in several years but will they answer the call?
RTR
#5 DB- Sure this is an area that has been on the minds of all of us the last couple of years. We have seen some great effort and play but at the same time seen numerous opportunities slip away with this grouping that could have been game changing. Your secondary is very key to success because they are the last line of defense and are the last opportunity to keep teams out of the endzone. However, we have won and won big with inconsistent DB play at times the last several years. But they have also cost us a couple games along the way that could have gone down as a win. We have tremendous talent at this position and pretty good depth even though a large portion is not game tested and may not be ready for a Saban system. I think we will see some playmakers born this year and our DB by the later part of the year will be stout. We need average but solid production out of our DB to win big.
#4 OL- Most might rank this groups concern higher for 2014. OL is where it all starts on the offensive side of the ball. You can have all world talent at the skill positions but poor OL play can neutralize it in 2 seconds after the snap. We have several returning and proven players with a few new comers who possess all world potential but have to prove it on the field. Our OL needs to be a force, they need to be nasty, they need to prove they can dominate even against top talent. For us to win big in 2014 our OL has to be better than average and create the identity for our offense.
#3 QB- I know there are some of you who just spit your coke out. How is our unknown QB not the most important concern for this years team? From how see it thats an easy answer. With the skill set and overall talent on this Bama team we do not need a Heisman QB, we don't have to have a Elite QB. I cant believe I am about to say this but all we need is a player who can play smart, distribute the ball and make the open plays. Because there will be plenty of open plays to be made throughout the year. Ball control and security will be a focus no matter who is at this position. Honestly, I think we can win Big with Average play at the QB this year and anything above Average from this postion is going to make this team dangerous to scary good. I think we have an Average QB in the line up and one who is potentially well above average as well.
#2 K- Elite success in 2014 is going to be directly tied to our production at the Kicking positions. I think a lot of people took our punting for granted last year. It was extremely important to our defense getting put in favorable field position more times than not. We need someone to step up and make punting not a weakness this year. It does not have to be a weapon but must be adequate. Now the PK position is a whole other story. Most people dont worry so much about the PK in college until its too late and you lose a big game. Just think about every championship season we have had recently. Our PK was above average or came through in some very critical situations. I dont think anyone has to be reminded of last Nov. With a confident PK we win in NOV and things could have been totally different. Sure our offense missed some plays as did our defense. But many of the big games come down to just making average FGs and being consistent. Your offense is going to shoot itself in the foot every now and then and defenses are going to make their share of big plays. So you MUST be able to take three points inside of 40 yards a high percentage of the time. Our PK this year will be the difference in us winning or losing at least 1-2 games.
#1 DL- There can be lots of finger pointing at the reasons we lost 2 games last year. But IMO it all boils down to whether or not our DL controlled the game. Several games they did but in the two loses they came up well short of that responsibility. Can we win it all with an average DL? NO. Can we bring home the trophy with an above average DL? IMO not this year. We need an Elite, top 5 and dominant DL to defeat the various HUNH teams we will face this fall. They will have to rush the passer and cause havoc as well as build a wall against the rush. We have talent coming out our ears on the DL but its not all proven and it still has to produce week in and week out. And there will be two games at least our DL will either step up and win the game or cause us and our playoff goals to evaporate. We have the talent to field an Elite DL for the first time in several years but will they answer the call?
RTR
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