Your pick for breakout 2017 player?

Benning reminds me of Mathis a little. He's a popular break out pick and it could eventually happen for him, but I don't think it's this year. There were high hopes for Mathis his Junior year and then he didn't end up doing much. I see another year as a rotational guy for Benning. I like Tevis better.

A DB or even multiple DB's will break out. Murphy is my pick. Harris and/or Twattenberg on the OL. Harris is going to be great if he puts on proper size. Hopefully his ceiling is higher than a pretty good, but undersized player. One of the freshman WR will end up being the #2 or 3 guy behind Pettis and Chico.

FKA_Mousecop said:

RoadDawg55 said:

Benning reminds me of Mathis a little. He's a popular break out pick and it could eventually happen for him, but I don't think it's this year. There were high hopes for Mathis his Junior year and then he didn't end up doing much. I see another year as a rotational guy for Benning. I like Tevis better.

A DB or even multiple DB's will break out. Murphy is my pick. Harris and/or Twattenberg on the OL. Harris is going to be great if he puts on proper size. Hopefully his ceiling is higher than a pretty good, but undersized player. One of the freshman WR will end up being the #2 or 3 guy behind Pettis and Chico.

I agree with this. Benning looked okay, but he didn't look only a year away. 2018 could truly be his year.

I completely agree. He needs to vastly improve his technique especially with his hands. 2018 will be special.

droggins said:

Gaines is my hope to be the breakout playa.

Might be whooshin' , but he's already broken out.

Benning has all the potential to take the leap in 2017 ... he was showing strong flashes at the end of 2016 ...

He's got rare physical skills ... he's likely relied on them for most of his playing life.

In an ideal world, what you want to see out of our DL and LB recruits is for them to redshirt their first year and then work themselves into depth in their second year. If there's opportunity they take the advantage of the situation their third year and go forward from there.

Benning showed SIGNIFICANT growth from the beginning of 2016 to the end of it ... I was very critical of him early in the season for trying to do more than his job ... by the end of the season he was way more balanced in doing his job. For the defense to perform at or above it's 2016 level, a big component will be in Benning (or somebody else) moving over to the BUCK position and making a significant impact.

As for any of the DBs, the reason that I don't really call them out is that at this point it's like a factory there. I expect Joyner will find a role. Byron Murphy isn't a breakout player to me because the only reason he didn't play last year was because of our depth ... he will be a good one.

Tevis would probably be my #2 player as I do think that he's got a chance to have a very, very strong year.