2004 Offense/Defense

[Bison_Fanatic_95]

With spring practice just around the corner, who do you think will be starting and who will be challenging for playing time?? Here's my picks for the Offensive and Defensive starters.

Starting Offense
TE Andy DelaBarre Jr.
OT Nick Zilka Sr.
OG Justin Monson Jr.
C Rob Hunt Sr.
OG Mark Sanders Sr.
OT Tim Popowski Jr.
QB Tony Stauss Sr.
FB Johhny Frank Sr.
HB Kyle Steffes So.
WR Allen Burrell Sr.
WR Travis White Jr.

Starting Defense
DE Travis Ware Sr.
NG Isaac Snell Sr.
DT Dwight Summerville Sr.
DE Cory Cambell Jr.
LB Jayd Kittelson Jr.
LB Brian Erenberg Sr.
LB Kole Zimmerman Jr.
CB Matt Gorman Sr.
CB Bobby Babich Jr.
FS Jared Essler Sr.
SS John Bradley Jr.

[roadwarrior]

Except for Steffes, all players are juniors or seniors. I think we may be surprised at the play of some of the redshirted freshmen from last season.

[Bob_Holiday]

I agree, RoadWarrior, there are several members of last years recruiting class that could make a splash in spring ball. I really don't like to single out any of the young men as being the next great one until after their redshirt year or their true freshmen year because their improvement in strength and ability can be quite marked after their first year in the program. They also decide during that first year if this is where their future is or if pastures are greener elsewhere.
That being said, I will mention a few names that seem to stand out in my perspective. Craig Dahl, Justin Frick,John Majeski, Jason DePolo, Joe Mays, Mike Dragosavitch, Cinque Chapman all seem to have the tools. With the caliber of athletes in that class, any one of them could pop up and be a factor.
Go Bison,
Bob Holiday

[Bison_Fanatic_95]

Roadwarrior,

I agree. Obviously I'm only speculating and there will be many younger players rotating in and out of the starting line up. Babich brought in a good recruiting class before he left and I think some names we'll hear on offense from that class are QB Steve Walker, WR Mike Dragosavich, and HB Cinque Chapman. On defense names like SS John Majeski, FS Craig Dahl, DE Adrian Herry, DT Justin Frick, etc. I guess we'll all know more at the end of April. Just can't wait to get this season started!

[Bison_Fanatic_95]

Looks like Bob beat me to the post button. :) At least we're thinking on the same wavelength.

[BisonMav]

And of course it is always great to have a deep roster if all the redshirts turn out to be great.

[Bisonfan1234]

I'll do you one better. Here are my picks for the 2-deeps:

TE
1- Delabarre
2- Arnt
LOT
1-Zilka
2- Adams
LOG
1-Monson
2-Erickson
C
1 Hunt
2 Medal
ROG
1 Sanders
2 Buckwalter
ROT
1 Popowski
2 Tadich
QB
1 Stauss
2 Walker
RB
1 Steffes
2 Moore
FB
1 Frank
2 Weidler
WR
1 Burrell
2 White
WR
1 Johnson
2 Weist

LDE
1 Ware
2 Kingsley
LDT
1 Summerville
2 Frick
RDT
1 Thompson
2 Frick
RDE
1 Snell
2 Campbell
LOL
1 Kittleson
2 Itterman
ML
1 Erenberg
2 Mamula
ROL
1 Zimmerman
2 Wrigley
CB
1 Babich
2 Walter
CB
1 Gorman
2 Olson
FS
1 Essler
2 Bizal
SS
1 Dahl
2 Bradley

The only place i could specifically pick a 2 deep was DT. I have Frick being both back ups, which works fine. They simply rotate 3 players in 2 spots. However, my gut says they'll go after JUCO's this summer for DL depth.

[rocky]

I see Tyler Rohl (not sure of the spelling of the last name) true freshman taking over as starting fullback by the third of fourth game of the season.

As far a Bobby Babich starting at CB...if he does get you might want to get the fire department to be on site at the dome because he will be getting burned big time by the DI-AA guys. He got burned big time against DII players last year.

[Bisonfan1234]

Whoops..i totally forgot about FB

I fixed it.

No way about roehl. He's just a freshman. Yeah, we had some freshman play a little (Dahl and Frick), but FB is not a position that is good for freshman to be getting a lot of time.

Frankly, i'm so sick of everyone putting down Bobby Babich. Out of all the CB's we have, he's the 2nd best, period. Ok? If we had someone better to replace him with, it would be done.

[Bisonguy]

1234,

Did Snell hang out with Jarrod at Subway after last season? At 274 lbs he's a little big to be a DE, that and he played NG last year. ???

[rocky]

Roel will play because of the lack of depth. He will prove to be a much bigger threat to carry the ball.

As far as Bobby. He WAS a starter (and certainly not the second best) and will be replaced. His performance against the sioux, UNO and St Cloud proved he doesn't have the ability to play with the bestter D-II teams. He was on the field last season because we had no depth. I'm not bashing him, as I do believe he works hard and puts forth his best efforts but he doesn't have the talent to play at DI-AA.

[BisonFan]

Rocky, if someone was more suited to play than position than Babich, the coaches would have them in there. Truth be told, it wasn't that Babich was bad. Babich was covering the other teams' #1 receivers and the #1 receivers made plays. Those receivers made plays against the Bison. Those receivers made plays against UNO. Those receivers made plays against SDSU. Those receivers made plays against USD. Those players made plays against MSUM. See the complete picture. Don't just "Babich hate" because that's what you are doing. Lay off the guy. He's on the field. He has a scholarship. Craig Bohl's staff put him in to start just as Babich Sr's staff did.

[Bisonfan1234]

Snell is bigger, yes.

But he is so tall that he is still lean. He might not be the quickest 40 yard guy, but he can still close hard and fast. He also is a threat to intercept the quick throw to the flats like Jamel Thomas did last year. That is one major advantage he has over Cory Campbell.

Rocky,

Roehl will only play if someone is hurt. We have 3 FB's ahead of him...so i don't think it's going to happen.

And, yes, Babich is the 2nd best CB we have. He will start. It's guaranteed. I mean look at last year for crying out loud! We tried to bring in JUCO guys @ CB and they flopped.

We actually have 4 very talented CB's, we should be fine.

[Trainer]

From what we've heard at Bison Insider the offensive line will be pretty thin for Spring drills.... OT Nick Zilka is recovering from Mono, OG Mark Sanders is having back problems, and reserve offensive tackle Adam Tadisch had foot surgery recently to repair a broken foot. And to make matters worse, OG Justin Monson will most likely miss the first half of the 2004 season because of the knee injury he sustained last year. Meaning? Your guess is as good as mine for figuring out starters on the offensive line.

The young player to watch in Spring drills will LB Joe Mays... From what we've heard this kid may be the best player out of the 2003 recruiting class. :o

It case anyone missed the BI update today.... Spring drills begin on March 26th.... Spring game is April 24th.

[Bisonfan1234]

Zilka and Tadich should be fine for the season.

I didn't know that about Monson, if it's true then that is not quite as huge as a set-back as you might think.

Buckwalter will slide into the starting position and some of the other OL will be back-up.

However, if Sanders also gets hurt, we might have problems. Erickson would be the starter which means i have no idea who would be his back-up should he also get hurt.

We might be looking to bring in some JUCO's @ OL. Who knows?

[Trainer]

It's true about Monson. The jist of my post was to point out the lack of veteran depth on the offensive line.... After Hunt, Zilka, Buckwalter, Popowski, and Sanders, the rest of the 'hogs' haven't had very much playing time.... But hopefully more reps during Spring drills will give these young kids some extra seasoning. They're talented but raw....

[Bison_Fanatic_95]

Trainer...thanks for the update on the OL. Hopefully they get healed up and are ready for battle this fall.

My only real concern on either side of the ball is the defensive secondary. We need to have CB's that can go one on one with WR's like UNC's Vincent Jackson, UCD's Kevin Freeman, Jesse Oliva and SDSU's Josh Davis, Soloman Johnson just to name a few(don't know enough about Cal Poly or SUU). If we can do that, it would leave a lot of options open in terms of the blitzing package.

The JUCO's brought in on the DL last year made a huge impact and with a few more this year they should be very solid up front putting more pressure on opposing QB's and giving them less time to find open targets.

Just my 2 cents...