Question: Fall Camp: Which new players will make an impact?

rgw

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Sanders strikes me - simply by the depth chart situation - as the Very Good Prospect who doesn't have a huge freshmen year and people start wondering "hey, what's wrong?!" around midseason.

Derrick Henry was in a similar situation in 2013. He came in with at least two other highly sought after backs and TJ Yeldon and Kenyon Drake were already at the top of the depth chart before any of them arrived on campus. I know I wondered aloud where he was all season after his big Sugar Bowl performance in a loss. The reality is he probably progressed a lot in the period between the Iron Bowl and Sugar Bowl where a mini-camp made up most of their practice time. He probably wasn't one of the better options until that extra time given to fundamentals. Najeh Harris is probably similar to some extent in 2017 when Scarbough was not as effective and Damien Harris' limitations as a workhorse back well understood by that point. Again he ended up getting on the field and being a huge factor in the CFPCG against Georgia. People probably wondered where he was all season but the reality is the extra practice was likely key.

I happen to think Brian Robinson is better than his meaningful playtime indicates so the likelihood Sanders beats out two incumbents is pretty low. The times where a true freshmen got into the rotation the second option was a weaker incumbent (Mark Ingram v. post-hip injury Terry Grant), a niche role incumbent (Yeldon v. Jalston Fowler, an old school bruiser who also got injured early in the season after Yeldon already came on strong out the gate), or purely a vacancy as with Trent Richardson in 2009.
 
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rgw

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As for who will make an impact: look to the needs. We need interior defensive positions: ILB and DT/NT. If we have a good season a freshman will probably be filling those needs. Also plainly OL only on the offensive side. Top 5 WRs, top 2 RBs, and QB are settled I imagine.
 

4Q Basket Case

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As for who will make an impact: look to the needs. We need interior defensive positions: ILB and DT/NT. If we have a good season a freshman will probably be filling those needs. Also plainly OL only on the offensive side. Top 5 WRs, top 2 RBs, and QB are settled I imagine.
DJ Dale at NT got raves in the spring, and Shane Lee at ILB had a good ADay. If they continue with the process over the summer, you might get your wish.
 

gtgilbert

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With Anoma out, we could see someone like eboigbe, k. Harris or mwikuta play a role for depth in some of the pass rush sub packages
 

TiderJack

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I have been saying since spring to keep an eye on true freshman OL Evan Neal. He will be our future LT after Leatherwood moves on but he is a threat to take one of the guard spots this year.
 

TheRealPokeChop

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every freshman linebacker and defensive Lineman has a chance to. Dale, Sophser, Lee, Alfano, C Harris, Ingrahm, Eboigbe

with Anoma gone K. Harris may have a very good opportunity to be a role player this year.
 

Blindside13

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Alfano, Lee and or Harris. I could see Sanders making a littlie noise as far as Metche goes he is a heck of a player but I think the depth chart at wr is going to keep him from seeing the field to much.
 

JustNeedMe81

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Normally, in the recent years, I would focus more on Offense and see who would likely to contribute and etc. But this year, I'm more focused on 3 areas for the fall camp:

RB- I'm curious to see who will back up Najee this year. Will we use 2-RBs or 3-RBs? Where will Townsend fits in on Offense. Dude is very talented.

LBs- Who will play along Moses and who will back up the key LBs? Can they fix the communication issues that they had last year? Will we see a rotation at LB? MCMillian and Lee splitting part time at LB next to Moses?

CBs and DB- I think we will see some moves there in fall camp.... I'm curious to see who will be the top key players back there.
 

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