- It's tough to know what departures we'll have as we're still dealing with the fallout from covid eligibility, but looking at our seniors and graduate students we'll definitely miss Nick Eaton, Jake Parks, Jordan Ford, and Evan Tattersall. Parks and Ford have been mainstays on the offensive line for a long time and Eaton and Tattersall had productive seasons.

- The obvious and most critical returnee is Larison, but getting Chubba and Rex Connors back on the field for the defense will be big. Teddye Buchanan is another leader on the field who I expect will have another big season.

- Areas of needed improvement are with our passing offense from top to bottom (coordination, coaching, QB play, receiver talent) and special teams play.

- With Larison pounding the rock I would hope that our run game would continue to excel, but we are losing some guys on the offensive line who have been critical in opening up running lanes so I could see there being some drop off next season.

- I think Hawkins is doing... okay. The program is clearly healthier than during the Gould years and we've made the playoffs a couple of times, but we haven't been able to make the jump to being a consistent top level team (which is very difficult to do!). I do, however, think that Hawkins needs to do a better job with filling out the coaching staff. He likes to do the easy hire and promote from within (quality control --> assistant coach --> coordinator). It worked for awhile, but the offense did suffer this season from having a bland scheme and inability to get the ball downfield. I head through the grapevine that offensive play calling rights were taken away from the OC towards the end of the season (not sure for all plays or just situational). Overall I think the program is still headed in the right direction, but we're starting to plateau and some changes may need to be made.

- More talent will lead to more consistent playoff berths. Easier said than done. There are only a handful of teams that consistently make the playoffs.

- Next season the Aggies will have an absolutely brutal gauntlet to end the season with @ Montana, vs Montana State, and @ Sac State. Not to mention we're back to playing Idaho and are @ EWU (even on a down season they still have our number).

“ I head through the grapevine that offensive play calling rights were taken away from the OC towards the end of the season (not sure for all plays or just situational).”

So who was making the calls?
Regarding QBs, Hawkins has repeatedly commented that Hastings has a high football IQ and was skilled at reading the defense and calling an audible based on what he saw. Maybe that influenced him to stick with Miles? I had been hoping that Harper would get some minutes, but then i heard he was hurt in practice. But he was dressed yesterday. Moving forward we need a healthy competition for the helm and in the end a stud that can throw and scramble.

Continue to tap into UCLA and Cal for transfers. They've been key in recent years. Look at other academic powers.

Does Hawk recruit on the road?

Are our WR coach / OC developing WRs?

Why are we not making the needed halftime adjustments?

Should we send offensive coaches to a Speckman Fly camp, or have him come out for a week as a consultant?

Is there a JC QB worth adding. Is dual threat Dorian Hale (formerly w Sac State) of CCSF a candidate?

I'm assuming that Hawkins took over some of the play calling, but I'm not 100% sure on that. All I can say is what I heard and that was that the OC lost some of his privileges after the NAU game I believe it was.

I wouldn't argue with Dan on if Miles has high football IQ or not. He'd clearly know better than me. But the reality of the situation is that Miles lacks mobility and struggles to get the ball downfield. Defenses just don't have to work as hard when they know they're facing a QB who is limited to short and intermediate routes with a pretty low chance of taking off on a run. I found it interesting that down the stretch of the season we were more comfortable on offense just running the wildcat than playing traditional offense.

Why does it seem we rarely throw over the middle, unless MH has the DeSantis problem. With our current offense, opponents basically cover LL, Magic, and Hutton.

Teddye Buchanan is graduating, so I assume he is gone, So that is the entire starting linebacker group, plus reserves Frazier and Mouisset

I couldn't tell you that though I'm sure it's a combination of multiple things including play calling/scheme, lack of receivers getting open, and how Miles was reading the field post snap.

Stopping Larison was a tall order for defenses this season, but I agree with your sentiment that we needed a true #1 receiver to compliment the run game. Gbatu had some flashes, but we haven't had a true #1 receiver performance since Khris Vaughn in 2019 when he had 756 yards and 9 TDs. Very limited receiver identity since.

But does he had another year of eligibility? Could he join a grad program is what I'm saying? COVID made things weird with eligibility.

We throw short over the middle on a crossing pattern all the time, usually the pass is broken up.

I don’t recall players getting the senior day treatment with remaining eligibility that have returned, but thats not something I’ve looked into, just my impression.
Teddye is the same class as Larison, neither redshirted, their freshman year was the free covid year.
Both can graduate and try their luck elsewhere, college or pro.

Well If that is the case that is a huge loss. Buchanan has been the definition of consistent in the middle of the field.

Davis has an assistant “offensive” coach who was the OC at Willamette last year. If Hawkins took play calling away from Mike Cody he probably gave it to Trey Shimbakuro. I doubt he took it over himself. My feeling is that Cody was overtasked being the o-line coach and the offensive coordinator. O- line is a lot of people to coach, and we didnt have an additional assistant coach for that.
Buchanan is a standout athlete on his NFL style tests, so i think he’s got a legitimate shot at the pros.

Like I said, all I know is what I heard. Who knows if even that is true, but it was heard from individuals pretty connected to the program so I don't really have reason to not believe it.

FWIW TB allegedly was young when he came out of high school. What a player.

The 2021 receivers were playing at a very high caliber until a rash of injuries - most notably Hunter's concussion - impeded the flow. Play calling / quarterback play going forward further restricted what was once an effective passing attack.

Next year the committee will say that the Ags lost their last 3 of 5 games like Sac State did and keep them out.

No doubt.

For whatever reason (OC, injuries etc.), Hastings regressed to a "game management" QB. He was an impact QB last season.
Next year's schedule is tough. We need a QB who impacts the game further than managing it. Hastings can be that guy, but things have to change. Or we need a guy who can do damage with his legs.

Miles Hastings

Year Comp Att.. ... Int ..% .... Yds... TD .. Av / Gm. Rtg

2023 .. 231 .364 ... 10 .63.4 ....2380 ..14 ... 216.36 .. 125
2022 .. 256 .367 .... 6 ..69.7 .. 3048 ..20 ...277.09 .. 154

It's pretty notable that Miles was statistically worse across the board in 2023, but the question remains of how much of it is on Miles vs on the OC, QB coaching, and the receivers. If we had that 2022 stat line in 2023 I would say we win 1 potentially 2 more games.

Agreed 100%. It is a team game. There seemed to be hints that the O line had a few issues, and I'm not an expert at evaluating WRs. (I can share that a parent of a former Aggie standout WR complained that Jake Maier couldn't throw deep routes and that we had the speed.) Not giving a single handoff to Jeremiah over 3-4 games makes the QB fake to him almost meaningless. It would seem beneficial to keep them honest. Does Hutton graduate?

Now I don't have statistics on pressure rates or anything like that, but in terms of the OL Davis was actually tied for allowing the least sacks in the conference.

I know this could just be Hawkins philosophy, but the majority of teams in the league used two QBs.
Hawkins said in one of his monologues that coaches have a responsibility to get their young guys prepared to play, yet Davis was almost unique in the league in never playing a backup QB. I can’t think of any other team where the backup never got on the field. The one QB tradition in college football is an anachronism.

They did a marginally better job the last couple weeks staying away from most of the things where MH really struggles. That zone read without the read is still crazy as is that roll out. They either need to find some receivers and commit to the wide spread pass game or move on to another QB.

Agreed. Some similar patterns w tailback, one year with UG he took the vast # of carries. Same for LL.

The O line was fine

Yes, 1 more year of eligibility

OL will be even better next season IMO. Lot of experience, getting better.

With Trent Tompkins switching from QB to general athlete and Mitchell Dixon from QB to TE our QB options are actually fairly limited for the time being.

On roster:
- David Rasor
- Michael Ingrassia
- Miles Hastings
- Grant Harper

Committed, but not signed yet:
- Damon Wrighster

What I find interesting is that Dan and company put out an offer on another QB Caden Pinnick after Wrighster had already committed. Wonder if we're going to get a multiple QB recruiting class. I guess it's also possible we could look at the JUCO route if the staff really wants multiple QBs coming in.

I think that Miles would tell you that it wasn't his best year but I think that, overall, he still did a pretty good job.

I remember Hawk saying that when we lose a game the fans and the press look first to the QB and the coaches to be at fault but, he went on to explain, that there are a whole lot of moving parts for a successful pass play including: the receivers running the right route and being in the right place for the timing of the pass, the receivers actually creating some separation so that there is a window open for the pass and the line giving the QB enough time to make his reads and so forth. Also, let's not forget that defensive players can make great plays to intercept a well thrown ball too. It always looks bad when it appears that the QB just threw a terrible interception and there are some for sure but the interception can also be due to other factors which is not the QB's fault.

Miles certainly has his limitations. He's not an elusive scrambler with dual threat capability but I believe Hawk when he says that Miles has such a high football IQ, makes good reads and is a solid leader on the field. He was fantastic last year and there have been rough spots this year for sure but Hawk believes in him and has him in there for reasons he believes is best for the team and I trust that.