saw it. repped him for it. thanks all around.
back to the subject at hand. i think that some UT fans are overlooking the fact that VY isn't the only guy they are replacing. they also lost five other All Americans.
Some may.
But we discussed those players a few thousand posts ago, I believe. It would seem, however, that we are spending an amount of time talking about VY that is proportional to his importance to the team.
David Thomas- second biggest loss to VY. Fast, strong, and caught everything. We'll miss him. Definite dropoff. Tweedie is servicable, a good blocker. And you saw us discussin Jermichael Finley, who's merely a freshman. By the time he's a junior, we expect him to be better than David Thomas, but obviously not right now.
Jon Scott- Very good multi-year starter at OT. His replacement, Tony Hills, has more potential (notice I didn't say "is better") and is a RS-JR. We don't expect much of a dropoff, if any at all.
Michael Huff- Little to no dropoff at SS as Mike Griffin is switching there from FS. He doesn't have the same man coverage skills, but that obviously isn't that necessary for a SS. Huff went top 10 in part because he can be lined up as corner. There will be a dropoff at FS however as Marcus Griffin will take over the starting role. How much of a dropoff, I have no idea.
Rod Wright- He was part of the rotation including Lokey, Miller, and Okam. Miller or Lokey will end up getting most of his snaps. Rod was injured for most of last year, which would explain his seventh round selection. If you gave me a choice between a healthy Rod Wright and a healthy Derek Lokey, I'd pick Rod. But obviously that was not the case last year.
Compared to last year, I don't see any dropoff in production.
Harris- I think he ended up signing a FA contract somewhere. After a big '04, he kind of disappeared last year, which is probably due to scheme. Chizik likes fast linebackers, and Harris was not one (ran a 5.0 40 at the combine). If Harris was back for another year, he'd at best split time with Bobino. I am NOT saying we're going to be better at MLB. I would LOVE to have Harris back. Just saying he wasn't all that much better than Bobino last year.
Ced Griffin- Went 3rd round, which is where Aaron Ross, his replacement, will probably end up going in the '07 draft.
Or you can go back and look for a more in-depth discussion.