2017 Pre-Season CFB Thread

[bdchorn]

No, but it's coming...lol

LMAO........I'd guess sooner than later.

[Chad C]

Depth Chart



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[bdchorn]

Glad they moved Duvernay. Also loving what they are doing in the slot with LJ. Not normally what I would think of as a slot guy but there's not a LB or safety in the league that can cover that dude

[Dave]

Aggie depth chart.
QB situation doesn't surprise me. We will know the starter when they run onto the field. I have also heard there may be a dedicated package for Mond to run regardless of who is the starter. I wonder which other WR will step up and take advantage of the double teams Kirk will pull.
Mack not making it into a starter role is a problem. He needs to step up and perform.

[bdchorn]

Man. Daylon Mack needs somebody to slap him upside the head. Dude has Sunday talent and seems hellbent on ruining his career before it even starts. We all have them, but I'll never understand guys that just don't give a **** about their God given talent.

[BigL]

NO doubt...what is Chuck still making, 4.7 million this year from Texas?

For the next two years. The buyout was 5.2million/year with a 50% offset for 2 years. USF is only paying him 1million/year for the first 2 years then USF pays him what they would normally pay a HC. So for 2 years they get a seasoned coach on the cheap thanks to UT.

[Burntorange Bowhunter]

Whoa whoa whoa........Hager is not starting? I saw some publications that had him 1st team all Big 12.

[bdchorn]

Whoa whoa whoa........Hager is not starting? I saw some publications that had him 1st team all Big 12.

Would suspect he gets a lot of 3rd down reps. I like Wheeler in the middle personally. Biggest surprise for me is Omenihu splitting reps with Roach

[Rush2Judge]

Whoa whoa whoa........Hager is not starting? I saw some publications that had him 1st team all Big 12.

Herman has said Hager needs to work on his run defense to get more 1st and 2nd down opportunities.

[eradicator]

Whoa whoa whoa........Hager is not starting? I saw some publications that had him 1st team all Big 12.

I didn't see many Texas games last year, but he is one guy that played with his hair on fire! Sometimes played himself out of position but I attributed it to being young, etc. I know there's been some concern with depth, but if there is enough for this guy to only play on 3rd down then I would say Texas' defensive line is fine. He's not a superstar in my eyes, but certainly has the right attitude!!

[Chad C]

I didn't see many Texas games last year, but he is one guy that played with his hair on fire! Sometimes played himself out of position but I attributed it to being young, etc. I know there's been some concern with depth, but if there is enough for this guy to only play on 3rd down then I would say Texas' defensive line is fine. He's not a superstar in my eyes, but certainly has the right attitude!!

Not trying to talk myself into "Believing" but, my paper thin depth comment is really only concerning at a few positions.

1) QB...Shane goes down, it's a true freshmen.
2) RT...The kid that won the job is out, literally 2 deep and either/or.
3) Mac Backer, I know he only trust 2 and Hager is one of them.
4) NT, Poona has got to stay healthy!

Those are really the only spots where depth becomes worrisome for me.

The TE position has to be built back up, we have a grad transfer from syracuse and he isn't even listed on the 2 deep. The 2 deep is currently a former receiver and a freshmen. Leatio (also a true fish with a unique skill set) is on the bench for the first 2 weeks and then he will be on the 2 deep without a doubt.

[Clark]

Copy and pasted and it's long, but this Stephenville kid might be special.

Legacy of disgraced coach Art Briles survives at Auburn in Jarrett Stidham
By Joseph Goodman

Art Briles is out of football, but the best of his tainted legacy now survives at Auburn University.

When Auburn opens the season on Saturday, quarterback Jarrett Stidham will appear on a college football field for the first time since playing for Briles and Baylor in 2015. A player Briles once called the best quarterback he had ever coached, Stidham will be representing more than just his new team in the Tigers' season opener. The former five-star prospect with the potential to transform Auburn into a national contender also will be a visible reminder of Briles, who is now one of the most disgraced coaches in college football history.

For those in football who remain close to Briles -- and there are many -- Stidham signifies what could be the last in a long line of elite quarterbacks developed by a coach once revered in Central Texas as a deity. For some, including his family, Stidham's moves from Baylor to a junior college and then to Auburn were made with competing emotions. Stidham isn't simply one of Briles' former players. The connection between the player and his former coach dates back over a decade, and continued after Stidham left Baylor.

"We just know that he really liked Baylor," said Rochelle Stidham, Jarrett's mother and a longtime journalist. "He liked going to school there, and he really liked the coaching that was there, and what they were about.

"So, for his sake, it was disheartening what happened. But I don't really know what to think about all that. I don't know what to say about all that. I felt like it was sad, and sad for Jarrett. I was disappointed that all came out, but I knew in the outcome of it all that Jarrett would be OK either way."

Stidham's relationship with Briles wasn't a distraction for Auburn during the preseason, and it isn't expected to become one, but the quarterback's development under Briles will be central to Auburn's success this season. Briles' expansive coaching tree began molding Stidham at a young age, and Stidham would be a different player today without that guidance.

Baylor's sexual abuse scandal forced Stidham to leave the school, and led to the quarterback's transfer to Auburn. During the prolonged controversy, Briles played a part in steering Stidham to Auburn, and the Stidham family remains emotionally connected with their son's former coach. Last season, there was a rumor linking Briles to Auburn, but Auburn coach Gus Malzahn instead hired Chip Lindsey from Arizona State to be the Tigers' new offensive coordinator. Briles' reputation remains radioactive. He was hired by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL on Monday, but, after public outcry, the league announced less than 24 hours later that Briles would not be coaching with Hamilton this season.

On Aug. 17, Briles' name formerly was removed from a lawsuit by a former Baylor student who was raped by a football player in 2012. That suit, filed in the spring of 2016, came two months before Baylor fired Briles. Two months after Briles' firing, Stidham left the school as well.

But Stidham didn't leave Briles' sphere behind when he left Baylor. From fifth grade until the day he transferred to Auburn from a junior college in Waco, Texas, Stidham was surrounded and cultivated by men who learned quarterbacking and coaching from Briles. Briles' coaching tree spreads throughout Central Texas, a high school football hotbed, and when Stidham transferred from Baylor to a local junior college in Waco, he practiced at a local high school whose head coach, Jeff Hulme, played for Briles.

Kelan Luker, Stidham's first personal quarterback coach as a fifth-grader in Stephenville, Texas, was a former state champion passer for Briles at the local high school. Briles made a name for himself in Stephenville, and so did Stidham. After blossoming into one of the nation's best quarterback recruits in 2014, Stidham was steered to Baylor by a football culture in Stephenville loyal to Briles.

At the time, Stidham's mother was the publisher of the local Stephenville newspaper, the Stephenville Empire-Tribune. A rabid college-football fan and native Texan, Rochelle Stidham appreciated and understood Briles' influence on the town. Before Briles, Stephenville's football team was a perennial loser. Briles then won four state titles there, and changed the town in the process.

Stidham's father, Juder Stidham III, who is originally from Kentucky, said "Briles was kind of like God" to the people of Stephenville long after the coach left for the college game.

"A lot of people that stayed in that community whether they were attorneys or business people or people at the college or whatever, they were very devoted with Briles and with Baylor," Juder said. "Jarrett had a lot of pressure from the get-go just to go to Baylor."

If nothing else, Stidham's association with Briles is one of the coach's remaining positive connections to college football. Briles' legacy is one of shame and corruption after overseeing a football program accused of covering up sexaual assaults by its players, but before the coach's fall he was regarded as one of the game's most innovative offensive minds. His speciality was developing quarterbacks, and Stidham was groomed from an early age to be an acolyte of Briles' system.

Stidham is a gifted all-around athlete who grew up playing basketball, baseball, football and soccer in Kentucky. His mother says Jarrett's overall athleticism comes from her side of the family, which is from San Antonio, but Jarrett inherited his height (6-foot-3) and, apparently, his arm strength from his father.

"I can throw a baseball a mile," said Juder, who is 6-foot-4.

One of Briles' most successful high school quarterbacks in Stephenville, Texas, would later hone Jarrett's skills as a natural passer, but those early years in Kentucky playing four sports formed Jarrett's athletic ability.

Being from outside Lexington, Kentucky, Juder wanted his athletic son to be a basketball player, but Jarrett's first love was always football. He could "sling a football" 20 yards as a six-year-old, according to his father. Soccer helped develop Jarrett's footwork as a passer, says Juder.

Jarrett's youth football teams dominated the area, and when Stidham's mother took a job at the Stephenville, Texas, newspaper, it was already apparent her 12-year-old son had the tools to develop into an elite quarterback. In Stephenville, Stidham began training with quarterbacks coach Kelan Luker, who set national high school passing records playing for Briles.

Luker taught Stidham the science of quarterbacking, and coached Stidham in seven-on-seven. As for throwing, that always came naturally.

"The crazy thing about him is that he hardly ever missed," Luker said. "He was very, very accurate, so that was never an issue. I remember I went and watched him his freshman year, and he rolled left, stopped and chunked it 50 yards in the air for a touchdown pass.

"It was 50 yards in the air as a ninth grader, which is phenomenal. He was better than the varsity guy as a freshman, and without a doubt. He could probably throw it as good as anyone in the country as a freshman, to be honest."

When it came time to pick a college, Baylor had a built in advantage. Stidham's high school coach at the time, Joseph Gillispie, was a former assistant for Briles, and Stidham's quarterback coach was one of Briles' former star quarterbacks.

"People around him, including me, all played for Art in the late 90s," Luker said. "We all love Art, so we didn't see anything wrong with him going to Baylor. Art was going to make him successful.

"He could go anywhere in the country, but Baylor's Art Briles can help you succeed because he does it every year. That was the advice I gave him."

Briles knew he had something special in Stidham, and affectionately referred to his star recruit as "Studham." Stidham played as a freshman after starting quarterback Seth Russell injured his neck, but Stidham's season also ended in pain when he broke an ankle against Oklahoma State. When Baylor's football program began to collapse under the weight of controversy, Stidham first pledged his loyalty to the school.

"Can't wait to get back on that grind tomorrow with my brothers," Stidham wrote on Instagram in late May of 2016. "This year is going to be different than the rest in many ways, but either way we will make a statement to everyone. Excited for the opportunity God has presented this team with to overcome adversity and become even closer as a family. Stick with us Baylor nation, we got this."

Stidham decided to transfer two months later. His decision to sit out a season was a smart one, according to his family and former coaches, because it allowed him to build his strength for the SEC. A connection with Briles helped Stidham train during that year away from collegiate football. While taking classes at a junior college in Waco, Stidham was a scout-team quarterback for a local high school coached by one of Briles' former players.

"Jarrett played for him in college and I played for him in high school, so we sort of had kind of a connection there," said Midway coach Jeff Hulme. "We got to talking and he asked if he could come out and throw against our secondary some days, and I said sure, yeah, come on."

That first day of high school practice, Stidham stretched and warmed up with his helmet on. No one knew who he was, and players on the team whispered to one another that Stidham had moved into the district to be the new quarterback. They soon discovered Stidham was just there to be the best high school scout team quarterback in the country.

"And he didn't have a locker," Hulme said. "He just showed up in his truck and when practice was over he'd put his helmet and shoulder pads back in the truck and he'd leave. It was good for him because he got to go against live competition, and obviously it was good for our guys because they were seeing it zip out at them a little bit faster than normal."

When it came time to pick a new college team, Briles helped direct Stidham to Auburn. Baylor's former coach respected Auburn coach Gus Malzahn. Stidham wanted to play for a winner, and he thought Auburn, when matched with his skills learned from years of training in Central Texas, had the best chance.

"Jarrett wanted to be in a situation where whatever team he was going to could potentially contend for a national championship," Juder Stidham III said, "and Auburn, with the defense that they always have, when they have the right quarterback plugged into their system -- they got the running game, they just got to develop the quarterback-receiver relationship.

"It was a bad situation with Baylor, and it is one that I'm glad he got away from. It seems like it just kept going and kept going. We're glad that he's found a new home."

[Chad C]

He was very likely the best QB Art Briles ever received a sign letter of intent from. He is going to be big time at Auburn.

[bdchorn]

Not trying to talk myself into "Believing" but, my paper thin depth comment is really only concerning at a few positions.

1) QB...Shane goes down, it's a true freshmen.
2) RT...The kid that won the job is out, literally 2 deep and either/or.
3) Mac Backer, I know he only trust 2 and Hager is one of them.
4) NT, Poona has got to stay healthy!

Those are really the only spots where depth becomes worrisome for me.

The TE position has to be built back up, we have a grad transfer from syracuse and he isn't even listed on the 2 deep. The 2 deep is currently a former receiver and a freshmen. Leatio (also a true fish with a unique skill set) is on the bench for the first 2 weeks and then he will be on the 2 deep without a doubt.

I'd add LT to the list. Cant afford to lose Connor.

[Chad C]

I'd add LT to the list. Cant afford to lose Connor.

Pretty much the whole line after the starters. It's paper thin depth when it comes down to developed players. He's tough as nails though.