Spring Position Battles - Offense
WoolleyDoog
Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 4,288 
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
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.
Man, you just know this group is going to be all over Spring Ball with their cautious optimism of 7-6.
Or reckless pessimism of 4-8
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.
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.
never good to juxtapose the words "Vietnam flashbacks" and "Oregon game"
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?
I hope we? win the spring game
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.
Offensively, I see everything being a little better across the board and the few games Demond got at the end of the season as the full starter and a full offseason should help. I am hoping have a QB that actually works for Jedd's offense makes a difference.
Chinned for “microfiche.”☝️☝️
I think TE should be improved at the ceiling. Decker Degraaf seems like the real deal. I gotta be honest, I'm not TOTALLY convinced on Denzel Boston. He seems like huge potential guy that just won't ever really pan out in the way that we hope. I think I'm probably just spoiled by having Rome, McMillan, AND Polk all on one team.
The OL should be improved, both by incoming players AND recruiting. We didn't lose any one of value there. I'm hopeful for the offense.
TE could be a sneaky big improvement. I've said before the Moore was the best returning run blocker on the team and got knocked out for the season in the first game. Having him could help open up DeGraaf more to focus on receiving. I can't remember which podcast it was but they pointed out that only two TEs last year, one a true freshman, had to play 100% of the TE reps all season.
Boston seemed like a guy who cooled off after a fast start and teams started to focus on him more. Will be interesting to see this year if he's a guy who can be an 1,000+ yard receiver as The Guy. I'm not convinced. Demond seemed to like to go to Giles Jackson more, which is concerning given we don't have a proven guy like that coming back.
The big thing for the OL to me is I can't imagine it could be worse and Willis and G. Hatchett should be instant upgrades over Azzopardi and Vimahi (Willis substantially). And hopefully 100% healthy McCree and L. Hatchett make big differences.
9 wins or pea patch
I completely forgot about Kade Eldridge, the TE transfer from USC. Seems like he'll ad some nice depth to the TE room. Caple also noted that he played RB in high school. Does JEdd's offense ever need a FB or H Back type of guy?
He used Voi Tunufi as a FB a few times last year. That could simply be a result of having a terrible OL.
I could definitely see them having some good wrinkles with H Backs off their play action now that they have enough healthy bodies at TE. Eldridge seems like he could be anywhere from TE 1-3. I think Naone played some H Back in high school, which could be interesting.
I got a FB in mind…🤔
I kind of like taking a tight end whose position was neglected at his previous school, where it's clear it's not about just taking a bag. This guy could be a really underrated pickup.