Defense will be improved too. We have the best safety duo in G5 football + an All American FCS back-up safety in Tra Fluellen. Our DB's are very good too especially Quincy Riley. I think Jalen Jackson makes a name for himself this year too. He is so shifty and quick back there. Up front we are younger but I guarantee visibly better than last year if we stay healthy. Defense is going to be improved, possibly significantly.
Offensively we have so much talent and depth at WR it feels criminal. I'm hoping Dearmon does work in more 4 receiver sets even though I know he likes the 3 WR with 1 TE formations. We don't really have any stand out TE's at the moment which is mildly concerning, but I'm sure he will find a way to adjust. We can be great offensively if Hockman is a player for us and stays healthy. There is a big drop off at the QB position if Hockman goes down.
Special teams is probably my biggest concern. At PK it looks like Alex Usry and Zeke Rankin will battle it out but they're both unknown and unproven commodities at this point. Kyle Ulbrich is back for us and so I will assume he's the starting punter. He's about average across CUSA, maybe slightly above average. Special teams over the last 2 years just hasn't been very good for us though. Looking at Phil Steele's STR (Special Teams Rankings) we were #122 in 2019 and #88 in 2020. Special teams is so often overlooked. If you look at the top teams in conference, you see just how important special teams is. It's no coincidence they have Top 50 units. Looking at last years numbers, UAB was #42, UTSA #57, Marshall #38, even WKU #31. UTSA returns probably the best PK/Punter duo in G5. When you've got two pretty evenly matched teams (which is what you see in most CUSA conference games), special teams is often the deciding factor. We have to make significant improvements in the special teams department if we have any desire to be champions. We are not even close to being good enough to overcome missed FG's, poor punts, crappy kick-off coverage, etc.
Over the last 6 years our special teams has only broke the Top 50 once. Every other year we were bottom 1/3rd. Then you look at a team like Marshall over the last 6 years, and they've only been in the bottom 1/3rd once. They've been in the top 50 4 of the last 6 years. We desperately need someone with some knowledge and passion to take over and run our special teams unit. Over the last 6 years MT has had some of the worst special teams in the conference, if not THE worst. Teams with some of the worst special teams rankings in CUSA along with MT are: UTEP, Rice, Charlotte. Do these teams win a lot of games?
Special teams must improve, significantly.
