That's why I mentioned in my first response that I think the passing game as a whole needs to be looked at and reassessed; coaches to scheme to players... It's not just on Miles, but when you're the QB the offense runs through you.

Everything you said is fair and I've tried my best to make it clear that my gripes this season aren't meant to be a personal attack on anyone. At the end of the day these are kids and they are doing the best that they can.

Apparently Pacific Northwest writer Canzano is predicting that Cal will play Oregon State and Wazzu next year. They only have one open date.

So there is speculation that Cal will buy us out to beef up their SoS next year. Right now we're booked at Cal on Sat., Aug. 31 to open the season.

They finally put a roster up on ucdavisaggies.com.

Jehiel Budgett isn’t listed. He was a Junior last year on the roster. They’ll miss him.

OL Povey, DB Verner, and DL Amone are all Grad Students.
Verner finally got to play here last year as a senior for pretty much the first time, so I kind of thought he had missed out on a good career, He transferred from Boise a few years ago, and may have been injured. Great scores in the NFL combine type drills.

Players who started any game last year and are on the 2024 roster.

WR Hutton, Gbatu, Davis, Tompkins
TE Gale, Simpson
RB Larison, Tompkins, Fisher
QB Hastings
LT Simonson
LG Souriolle
C Povey
RG Main
RT. Nava, Meynell

DT. Bearden
NG. Toki
DE Kennedy
Rush Sarac
Nickel Verner, Calhoun
SLB. Cloyd
MLB. No one
WLB. No one
BCB. Alexander
FCB. Gardner, Cotton
BS Rex Connors
FS Shamburger, Bains

Encouraging Lineup...who's playing LB for UC Davis - that'll be the big ask this fall. No doubt we're looking for some transfer guys who are No. 3 / No. 4 on the depth chart at Boise, Nevada, Utah State, Arizona...

LB spot does look light, but do not forget, Porter Conners did get some qualify playing time at LB last year and he looked good in the spring game.

I think Porter Connors will be one of the starting linebackers. He started a game in 2022. They still have him listed as a DB, but he played linebacker after they changed his position on the roster.
Offense is solid. I think they can easily be better than 2022. 2023 was a big drop off.
Defense is going to suffer some. Losing Buchanan, Maae, Budgett all with remaining eligibility is painful. But lots of talent still here, The secondary is a strength.

Agreed that offense should be better. I am a bit concerned that the defense may not be as good as last year. Losing Maee, Buchanan, and Tattersall is concerning. Hopefully some other linebackers will step up - not sure what young guys will rise to the challenge. Defense by and large was very solid last year with the exception of some sporadic DB play. I know everyone is thinking of “shredsville” reemergence and excitement, but defense wins championships.

The shredville offense (which i like) is going to put a lot of pressure on our D. If the wide open, fast paced offense works, the D will be on the field longer.

Some of us remember this all too well. I remember listening over the internet from a hotel room in Amman Jordan. From certain victory to collapse as defense wore down.

https://buhuskies.com/news/2020/12/2/football-bloomsburg-universitys-great-comeback-20-years-later.aspx

Yeah, unfortunately, my wife and I were there to witness that meltdown. We honestly thought that this Aggie team was going be the one to finally win the D2 National Championship...

Great article. We ironically were playing an undersized, underfunded team.

there is no way to predict time of possession at this point.

A true freshman OL, Souriolle, appears to have played in five games last season, which would burn a year of eligibility. That is unfortunate. Pretty rare that he played in the first game.

Hero Sports has an early FCS Top Ten for 2024. Seven of the top ten are teams that are present or former conference opponents of Davis.

Includes Sac at number 9 and Idaho at number 7.
I don’t see Idaho being a top 10 team after their transfer and NFL losses, particularly but not exclusively on offense skill positions, where they lose QB, primary running back, and all american Hayden Hatten. On defense they lose two corners to FBS schools. I don’t think this will be the year they beat Davis for the first time.

https://herosports.com/fcs-early-2024-preseason-top-10-bzbz/

Shredville mindset is aggressive and attacking, requires a tremendous level of conditioning, both physically and mentally. Defensively, I imagine the emphasis is to create turnovers and be opportunistic.

As usual, these pre-season polls don’t reflect much serious research and are “safe” based mostly on last season results. Three teams from MVFC and three from the Big Sky in the top 10. I find it hard to believe 6 from the 2 top conferences in FCS will populate the final top 10, but it is also a bit difficult to predict the “surprises” that will certainly pop up over the season.

I have sac state at 8-4 or 7-5 (2 L from FBS) and
Idaho at 7-5 (also 2 FBS but tougher than Slac). I think both the Ags and Weber are better positioned than Idaho for success next season.

The updated bio of the transfer who started every game for us last year:
“2023: Did not see any action”
Not mentioned in last seasons position preview, not mentioned in any game box score, not mentioned in the official stats, another player given an all Big Sky Academic team award based on his playing time, now not credited with any play in his updated roster bio.

The stat keepers had a list where #70 was a different player, so they incorrectly had a defensive lineman credited as starting on the O-line, and that persisted all season, home and away.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/sports/football/roster/eli-simonson/18157

how do you know it's Simonson and not the other way around?

I watched the games. Eli stands out as a 6’6” left tackle.
Geme Notes for last year lists the starters for each game of the season and list Eli.
The box scores list his number 70 but assign the name of a defensive player Luke Roncevich to it.
Luke Roncevich who is 6’:2” seldom if ever played.

SID office has been lazy and incompetent for two decades. Much like athletic dept administration and the chancellor’s office. No leadership.

Have you emailed the SID office?

I just emailed a Dr.Collins who is listed as director of athletics communication for FB

Hero Sports ranks Larison as the top returning FCS RB

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-top-returning-2024-running-backs-bzbz/

Big Sky RB's on the Hero Sports Top 25 list:

#1 Lan Larison - UC Davis
#8 Eli Gillman - Montana
#12 Julius Davis - Montana State

Miles Hastings is #23 on Hero Sports Top 25 list for QB's:

Big Sky QB's on the list:

#5 Tommy Mellott - Montana State
#12 Kaiden Bennett - Sac State
#16 Kekoa Visperas - Eastern Washington
#23 Miles Hastings - UC Davis
#25 Richie Munoz - Weber State

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-top-returning-2024-quarterbacks-bzbz/

No Aggies made Hero Sports list of Top Returning FCS LB's.

Big Sky LB's on the list:

#25 Will Leota - Sac State (transfer from Utah Tech)
#6 Riley Wilson - Montana

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-top-returning-2024-linebackers-bzbz/

Rex Connors is a safety and will probably be recognized in that group.Porter Connors is a linebacker, but he didn’t start a game last year. He played behind all conference players,

Oh man, I had everything mixed up on that post! Thanks for the correction. I edited it.