Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Things to watch for

There are a few things of interest for me as spring football plays out.

1)Running backs - I want to see the running backs perform. I like the talent here. Tonny Glynn was a very good runner last year until he got hurt. Sure, he might not bang in between the tackles all that much, but you don't have to in this offense. He's a good fit and he should put up good numbers this year. Big yards per touch averages here.

I also think they will have some guys behind him to that will step up. I like this position here heading into spring ball.

2) Offensive tackles - There is not doubt that this is a huge spot here for this team. People can say whatever they want about the team, the offense, good or bad, whatever you feel. But everyone needs to recognize the importance of the two starting tackles. Joe Suter and David Norman will suit up and probably be the bookends. The team liked Patrick Blount a lot last year and I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the mix as well. But people forget how bad the line played two years ago and how improved it was last year. The line was probably the most improved unit of the entire team last season. And they had two seniors - Mike Martinez and James Farrelly - who were pretty steady. Ya gotta pass protect in this offense. Hope all is well here.

3) Defense - This is pretty obvious. What will this defense be this year? Will it be better? I don't want to say it won't be. But I certainly don't want to say that it will be either. They changed up the coaching staff here. They have a new system. Are they going to be better? That is the season right there. This team needs to get to the QB up front. They will blitz and have some decent athletes at outside linebacker. They will need good play in the secondary. They will need a replacement for Dante Floyd in the middle. Both of those are pretty big ifs. This defense needs to hold people to under 30 points a game. It seemed like they gave up 50 every game last year, even though that wasn't true. But they need to hold teams to under 30 points every time out. And if they do that, the Aggies will honestly win 5-6 games. No joke. Because, when healthy, the team can score. What about the D?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like your overall assesment of the team.
Not sure how effective the defense will be but, I really like the fact that Coach Dunn will blitz like a lunatic and try to make things happen.
It's been a while since I've seen a real aggresive defense and I'm just waiting for the "D" to raise some hell in the backfield!

I'm over the dissapointment of the WAC tourney.
Time to turn the page and get ready for Spring football!
We are undefeated and we have fresh hope that this will be the year!

Vic

Anonymous said...

I saw where ex-Governor, Gary Caruthers and now, NMSU Dean of Business is participating in pie toss.
I guess it costs around $50 and it's to raise money for the Business College.

Any way we can get Mumme and Menzies to participate?
For $50, I'm sure a lot of people would love to give them a face full and would raise money for a struggling athletic budget?!

Ganja Boy

Anonymous said...

One aspect of the game that everyone seams to forget is the kicking game. The kicking game can make you or break you. We could of easily won at least two more games last year if Mumme had shown just a little bit of smarts in this aspect of the game. I don't see Gerela listed as a coach for this season, did he get fired?

Teddy said...

The kicking game is a more than valid point. they need someone who can boot the ball through and someone who can knock it deep on kickoffs. Gerela, from my understanding, is gone.

Anonymous said...

I haven't heard anything about other WAC schools getting any money from Hawai'i's Sugar Bowl trip, like Boise's Fiesta Bowl season. Is there any money being shared with the conference, if so how much?