Well, I will give you my brief views on this subject. I think Miles is going to bring more to the table next season at QB. With much more experience and confidence. WR will be very positive as well. OL also in good shape. I think RB is the real question here as we lost probably the best player at this position in Aggie history. It will be interesting to see how Chucwudoba and Larison match up against each other. Both very different style players but they are both very good. Larison just gets bigger every year now at 199. Then there is my favorite Tompkins, also known as the Magic Man. I say put him at WR and return man as the guy is big, fearless and scary and at wildcat. I leave the defense to my more informed people. Feeling good about next year.

How we adjust after losing Ulonzo Gilliam is key. LL is great, but our lightweight backs are likely to get banged up. From what I've seen, we have Jeremiah Chukwudobe who has big upside and size. Hastings will be a great clock manager / West Coast offense, but I hope we can develop more of a midrange game to stetch the field if we want more than a one and done in a possible playoff appearance.

I don't think we'll see MH throw many deep balls. Outside of Josh Gale, I don't recall a new weapon emerging at WR. We also lose 2 talented TEs. We rely on shifty smaller WR who can turn 2 yards into 20, but durability a question. Magic is great at Wildcat but everybody has his # now. A year ago we signed 2 transfer WRs - will they emerge? Depth at QB also key.

Do we have any new playmakers?

We know Dan isn't afraid to put freshmen out there if they give us the best chance of winning. WR Mascheroni Jr. has the size, speed, and hands to be a contributor as a freshman. I wouldn't be shocked if he's a key piece of the receiving game.

Poerio was discussed in the Aggie Pro Day article, which says last year was his last season, even though he still has a year of eligibility left, so he’s moving on.

I noticed Casey Granfors was not on the roster. Is he still a part of the program. Big target.

Any news from spring training? Is there a spring scrimmage? I haven’t heard any news coming from athletics.

They ended winter practice March 4th. They don't generate any stories about the team during the off season anymore. They do have a couple of press releases, but there is no news in them.

Any news on NIL? There was an article about it almost two years ago but not much since.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2021/6/22/athletics-uc-davis-partners-with-inflcr-verified-to-prepare-for-nil.aspx

How do we interpret this? Have many players on other teams been tested? Seems unlikely that we have two linebackers tied for first in the agility test.
Teddye Buchanan really impresses in these tests and he weighs 239 lbs.

I don't know exactly what all these numbers mean either other than I think it shows that we have some very athletic athletes on the team.

Massey predicting the Aggies go 7-3 and a toss up against Montana. I think Massey, as of right now, is probably underrating Cal Poly. I know that they have been pretty dang bad lately, but Wulff seems to have injected some life and excitement into the program along with getting a big time QB transfer. I'm also not sure what to make of Sac right now. They lost their QBs that have worked so well for them, but I'm aware their fans are excited about the kid who is likely going to take over. They also had some transfers and had a LB going to the NFL not to mention the coaching change.

Opponent (predicted % chance of winning)

@ Texas A&M Commerce (93%)
@ Oregon State (7%)
vs Southern Utah (88%)
vs Eastern Washington (72%)
@ Cal Poly (90%)
vs Montana (50%)
@ Weber State (39%)
@ Northern Arizona (76%)
vs Portland State (87%)
@ Idaho State (89%)
vs Sacramento State (48%)

We only have a 39% chance if winning at Weber, a team whose QB transferred, and also lost 3 transfers to BYU?
I think our team looks solid. Lost some good players but have a guys with experience for every spot. Biggest question mark possibly tight end and receivers because we lost some good ones, but we return quite a few as well.

Yeah, Weber is in a similar situation to Sac. A good team that lost their HC and some key players to graduation/transfers. It will be interesting to see how they respond. I will also say that we do struggle playing in Ogden.

The table is truncated but if you go to the twitter page you can see CJ Hutton and Trent Tompkins. Trent is not that fast in the 40 but has the best agility score and L-drill score of any of our players.

These percentages are useless at the beginning of a season a

You took the words right out of my mouth.

I'm aware, my friend. Doesn't mean that I can't find what Massey's algorithm has come up with to be interesting though.

I'm excited to see Larison get a ton of touches this year. The guy seems to be a tough runner and has the speed to break big plays. Plus he's good out of the backfield. I don't think he's UGIII-level, but I could see a world where he gets a higher touch-share than Ulonzo ever got & posts some impressive numbers.

Who's catching balls? Top targets at TE and WR?

I would say that our top returning pass catchers are Hutton, Kraft, and Gale. That being said, I think the coaches have identified that particular area as one that needs improvement given the amount of scholarship capital they dedicated to it this last recruiting cycle. I think that freshmen will be getting on the field at WR.

Lan Larison will be a top target just like Gilliam

Chaz Davis is in the mix too.
I bet one of the JC Transfer tight ends gets playing time. Gale is light for a tight end, as are most the returning TE. Evan Bearden will likely be a tight end, but he’s never caught a pass, playing quite a bit as a blocker two years ago.

Hawkins always has a lot of WRs on the roster. Lance Babbs returns, every ball thrown his way that I saw, he caught.

Haha that's exactly why I called Gale a pass catcher and not necessarily a complete TE. He was definitely a threat last season with his height and straight line speed down the middle of the field.

Babb had a solid season a couple of seasons ago, but he just didn't produce much last season on a roster that already didn't really have a star WR to speak of. We know he has some of the tools, but I don't know if he will put it together again.

We don't know why Babbs didn't get the attempts. He had a year off, and he has a fashion line. We're not at practice.

You're not wrong. I don't go to practice and don't know the exact reason that he wasn't getting a ton of time/catches. Like I said, we know that he has the ability to perform at an impact level and he could get there again, but he simply wasn't producing last season. Our offense could be really damn good if one of our receivers could develop as a true number 1 target.

Yes, he is a light end end, and he is being covered by a slower DB. That is why most his catches go the distance. He is faster than the defender. Thus, when he is in the TE position, the defense will either have to go lighter themselves or risk getting beat for a TD. A ery fast TE makes the defense change also. So, this could go either way. But, my guess is this will slow the pass rush, just having him on the field, as the rusher will need to make contact with him rather than rush around him. Certain moves drastically alter the defensive scheme of the opponent. Likely time outs called, or they have a defensive play set for the faster TE, and thus makes a running play more effective as you have smaller faster guys on the field. These smaller faster guys I believe the small lighter TE can handle.
I see defensive lines go with 3 down lineman and 4 LBs. But, my guess is the TE is much faster than the extra LB after seeing him run after the catches last year. Maybe, go with another defensive back instead of an LB?
I am not sure, but as a defensive coach, I sure would not go with the standard defense and hope he doesn't get targeted.

Last year we had a lot of depth at tight end, and Gale was probably in there only when we had multiple tight ends. We started some games with two tight ends and played three quite a bit. With less depth at tight end will they still use as many multiple tight end plays? Probably dependent on how deep we turn out to be at wide receiver. Can Gale handle the other responsibilities at tight end well enough to be out there when we play a single tight end? Not saying he can’t, and maybe our new offensive coordinator, a former tight end, loves multiple tight end plays.

Who will playing Loose End and Walking Back ?