I forget about Hamilton. He has shown some flashes. We have a talented group at TE, and I think Ray can be another special one in a long line of great Hawkeye tight ends.Alston on defense; that guy has shown a lot of ability in limited action, just sucks that he was stuck behind a very strong group of incumbents. On offense, I'll go with Hamilton. I think he might surprise us with his receiving ability now that he'll be the top guy at TE, kind of like a Brandon Myers-type.
Alot of the people being listed as surprises here really shouldn't be... Smith and Alston are going to be starters after having played quite a bit... If they aren't good that'd be bad... I agree that Willies would be a great surprise. I got to see a couple of their practices 2 wkends ago and he made some nice plays over the top of the corners covering him in jump balls on the sideline. I think he'll be in there alot. On defense I'll go with Flemming. We haven't seen much of him yet and I think he'll be a heck of a player the more reps he gets. Going back to Alston he is running with the 1s most of the time but Gilson has taken first team snaps too.. Reid has said that job hasn't been won yet. Alot of the media has already handed it to Alston as it is his to lose. But Gilson has looked pretty good and Reid has described him as the "thug" of the group... I saw two different articles saying how it's Alstons one shot at starting yadda yadda well it's also Gilsons one shot and he happens to be a walk on home grown Iowan. You think he's not hungry?? Neither has separated themselves so far and if that holds true through the spring game it won't be decided till fall camp.
Tony Danzas no joke