Blythe at center is even better than expected for first year. Des king has done nice. Ruddock has been a pleasant surprise, as has beathard. The dl has been solid. Mike Hardy of late. Jake duzey has been better. Morris and Hitch have exceeded my high expectations. Canzeri and the rbs have been solid too.
Players who have surprised you this year
- Thread starter NCHawker
- Start date
eveningnewsteam
Well-Known Member
Mike Hardy. Since he's been the starter and gotten all the snaps, he's been great.
I couldn't agree with you more on the Rudock comments. I started out hopeful that he was our answer, as the season has progressed I am growing doubtful. It seems he has slowly regressed throughout the season. His reads are often very slow, hurting him on the deep ball and preventing him from using his feet to make more plays. By the time he decides to pull the ball down and run the lanes are closed down by the defense. I think his read progression can be improved, hopefully with this bye week ahead his leg can heal up and he can start using his legs a bit more to help pick up some first downs.
HawkeyeMcNutt
Well-Known Member
Jake's blocking has improved, but it's still nowhere near the level of CJF. Keep that in mind when making the call he's our best TE.
HawkeyeMcNutt
Well-Known Member
Oh, and you guys that think Rudock isn't our best option, did you watch CJB against Wisconsin? Heck of an arm on the kid, but you can't force throws downfield and go 4-16 with an INT. He wanted so badly to make a big play that he looked off numerous open targets that were 4-15 yard routes.
ibahawkeye
Well-Known Member
Don't forget to factor in the penalties.
So blocking edge goes to CJ.
Receiving goes to Duzey.
Dumb penalties on CJ gives duzey the edge.
tm3308
Well-Known Member
Rudock has been slightly above what I expected. But Duzey has definitely been a nice surprise. Shumpert has straight-up shocked me the last couple weeks (seriously, that guy couldn't catch a cold for the longest time), and Smith has been coming along. Overall, though, the offense doesn't have a lot of individual guys that really wow you with stats.
Defensively, almost everyone but Miller and Lowery have been pleasant surprises. King is our best defensive back right now, and definitely the team's surest tackler (that's a huge plus to know anything that gets to the outside on his side of the field isn't going to get far). Lowery has been pretty much what I expected; tons of talent, but struggles with consistency (although he's on a bit of a hot streak lately).
Morris has definitely been a huge surprise. He's always been solid, but he's taken his game to the level many thought he would when he first stepped in against MSU in 2010. Kirksey has been a little better than I thought (I came into the year thinking he was our best LB), and Hitchens has definitely improved, but he's made improvements in areas that I figured he would just through experience.
And the defensive line....wow. Really hard to pick any one or two guys there. The whole unit has stepped up in a big way this year. Everybody from Alvis, all the way down to Meier, has brought something positive to the fold. Davis has been a force up front, even when he's not getting tackles (his staying healthy is also a pretty big surprise). Can't say enough about this group.
Even Lowdermilk hasn't been too bad. His mistakes continue to come less frequently and keep getting smaller. He'll get to the point where when he gets beat, it's simply because the other guy is better than he is. I can live with that. Miller is the one that just kills us on the back end.
Defensively, almost everyone but Miller and Lowery have been pleasant surprises. King is our best defensive back right now, and definitely the team's surest tackler (that's a huge plus to know anything that gets to the outside on his side of the field isn't going to get far). Lowery has been pretty much what I expected; tons of talent, but struggles with consistency (although he's on a bit of a hot streak lately).
Morris has definitely been a huge surprise. He's always been solid, but he's taken his game to the level many thought he would when he first stepped in against MSU in 2010. Kirksey has been a little better than I thought (I came into the year thinking he was our best LB), and Hitchens has definitely improved, but he's made improvements in areas that I figured he would just through experience.
And the defensive line....wow. Really hard to pick any one or two guys there. The whole unit has stepped up in a big way this year. Everybody from Alvis, all the way down to Meier, has brought something positive to the fold. Davis has been a force up front, even when he's not getting tackles (his staying healthy is also a pretty big surprise). Can't say enough about this group.
Even Lowdermilk hasn't been too bad. His mistakes continue to come less frequently and keep getting smaller. He'll get to the point where when he gets beat, it's simply because the other guy is better than he is. I can live with that. Miller is the one that just kills us on the back end.
