Spring Position Battles - Offense
We care about spring football and football still? The depth chart is way more set going into this season than it was last year, but here are the offensive battles I think will take place.
WR3/slot - WR1 & 2 seem locked in to Boston and the Pedo State transfer. The staff seems to love Arizona transfer Kevin Green Jr. so I give him the inside track who was mysteriously hurt all last year and is like 5'10 155 so I'm skeptical. Other options appear to be practice hero Audric Harris and Rashid Williams who seems like he's been here forever and who at least has made some catches in real games.
TE - Moore returning makes him the likely candidate to be TE1, but I don't think that's a guarantee since DeGraaf seems like a higher ceiling receiving threat. Three play though and I'm curious to see how they land in the rotation as USC transfer Kade Eldridge will assuredly get reps. Do we ever see Ryan Otton? Will true freshman Naone see reps?
Guard - The tackle and center positions seem relatively set. Guard is wide open though. Geirean Hatchett probably gets a spot though I was not impressed with him in 2023. The other spot seems like a battle between Paki Finau who probably has the highest ceiling of any of our OL and if someone like Henning or Azzopardi will move to/play guard. I wouldn't be shocked if they bring in a portal guy after spring too like they did Vimahi last year.
Comments
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I’d like to see Henning make a jump and perhaps take G. Hatchet’s guard spot. He was highly regarded as a true frosh in the natty year and played less than expected last year.
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Man, you just know this group is going to be all over Spring Ball with their cautious optimism of 7-6.
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Or reckless pessimism of 4-8
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I was disappointed Henning barely played in 2024, even when the OL was terrible. It felt like the previous staff liked him enough to make him almost the sixth man in the unit by the end of 2023, then he just disappeared.
I think it's possible G. Hatchett has progressed the past two years but I have Vietnam flashbacks of the first Oregon game and the ASU game.
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Again I did the whole get an overnight sitter and a hotel and go to the springfling last year. Guys like Penix or Vita showing up to this is better for the brand than getting 20-30k people fighting with Friday Seattle/Bellevue/Woodinville bullshit.
Should have moved it back to Saturday at 1.
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never good to juxtapose the words "Vietnam flashbacks" and "Oregon game"
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My hope for the OL is that they settle on a starting 5 EARLY. enough with the ridiculous rotations that last into the season last year. How can an offense get into a rhythm when you're changing out half the OL 3 times a game?
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I hope we? win the spring game
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I think Paki wins the spot at one guard. Fishy likes to say he plays young guys and Finau seems to have the highest upside of the guys competing. An opportunity to point to a young stud and prove his point seems likely. G. Hatchett was a starter for Oklahoma last year before he tore his pec. The Sooners weren't a great team so not sure what to glean off that but he has seen live bullets. McCree was listed at 290 last year. He needs a major weight redistribution. He had really skinny arms, like smaller than UW's RBs. If he put in the work, he's the most athletic of the four JAGs that are competing to play opposite of Willis. If Coleman was juking dudes out of their shoes last year with a dad bod then the idea of him playing lean and mean gives me a boner (now that he's had the greatest offseason ever, a catastrophic non contact injury is probably brewing). IMHO I think WR is going to be a strength. Williams and Harris being another year in the system should provide excellent depth and Green is very quick, I think he'll be hard to cover underneath coverages. DeGraff, Moore and Eldridge give you three proven if not in DeGraffs case, dynamic TE options. Less "if's" here than on defense but if Microfiche can solve the red zone, this offense should be noticeably better than 2024.
