Fast breakdown ...
QB (7): Ty Simpson, Austin Mack, Keelon Russell, Jett Thomalla, Tayden Kaawa, John Gazzaniga (WO), John Cooper (WO)
Take: No needs here, regardless of what Simpson does.
RB (8): Daylan Smothers, Daniel Hill, Kevin Riley, Akylin Dear, Ezavier Crowell, Traeshawn Brown, Jessie Washington (WO), Fredrick Moore (WO)
Take: Smothers probably ends our involvement here unless we lose someone.
WR (8): Isaiah Horton, Ryan Williams, Lotzeir Brooks, Derek Meadows, Cederian Morgan, Rico Scott, Ben Jackson (WO), Cooper Mollison (WO)
Take: We need a minimum of two other guys here. We've only got 6 on scholarship, which is thin even by the NFL's 53-man standards. Need a minimum of 8 to guard against injury with 9 being preferable. In addition, this year M.J. Chirgwin was quietly in our three-deep for half the year, but he was a very functional walk-on. Of the two walk-ons for '26,Mollison came here as a QB. (EDIT: I got him confused with Miguel Camboia, who is no longer on the roster.) Jackson played in a couple of games last year but he's thinner than a pencil. So if we are planning to flesh out the depth chart with a walk-on, I don't think it's going to work.
TE (8): Danny Lewis Jr., Josh Ford, Jay Lindsey, Kaleb Edwards, Marshall Pritchett, Mack Sutter, Jack Sammarco, Peyton Fox (WO)
Take: No further needs here. Even the walk-on Fox is functional. Now let's see if Danny Lewis can stay healthy for a full year, which he has literally never done before at the college level.
OL (19): Michael Carroll, Tyrell Miller, Kaden Strayhorn, Will Sanders, Jackson Lloyd, Bryson Cooley, Casey Poe, Mal Waldrep, Chris Booker, Arkel Anugwom, Jared Doughty, Bear Fretwell, Mac Smith (WO), Billy Roby (WO), Davis Peterson (WO), Wade Estess (WO), Jamison Travis (WO), J.D. Martin (WO)
Take: Need 2-3 more. One needs to be a pure tackle, one needs to be able to play center and the other needs to be able to do the VanDeMark dance between positions. As it stands now, the starting OL next year is a JUCO transfer and four underclassmen. We be young. The bigger issue to me is center. The depth chart there goes Strayhorn -> Waldrep -> walk-on Billy Roby, who weighs about 260. I think Joe Ionata is low-key one of the bigger portal losses to this point just because of his versatility. Yes, Will Sanders could move here but he'll be learning from scratch. More than one of these walk-ons will probably be cut. Nervous.
DL/Wolf (16): Yhonzae Pierre, Justin Hill, Zay Hall, Jeremiah Beaman, Isaia Faga, Steve Mboumoua, Malique Franklin, London Simmons, Edric Hill, Nolan Wilson, Kamhariyan Johnson, Jordan Renaud, Fatutoa Henry, Jamarion Matthews, Corey Howard, Lane Whisenhunt (WO)
Take: Need 4 guys, 2 OLB/end types and 2 DTs. The James Smith loss didn't surprise me; I just thought he'd go pro, not transfer. Until Kelby Collins hit the portal, we were borderline OK numbers-wise and still have decent numbers, they're just heavily freshmen. I think you have a potential James Smith replacement in Steve Mboumoua anyway. The problem is you don't have a Keenan. The other problem is Pierre was already on some draft boards. I think Keeley is our biggest portal loss and Noah Carter second-biggest at the moment, based off potential. If you get both of them back you can concentrate on getting 2 tackles, but you've got to sign 4 overall here.
LB (10): Q.B. Reese, Caleb Woodson, Cayden Jones, Abduall Sanders Jr., Darrell Johnson, Luke Metz, Xavier Griffin, Grant Johnson (WO), Jake Ivie (WO), Aiden Moore (WO)
Take: Getting Woodson gets us to a safe spot, because there's a lot of young talent here. Jones could be really good if he shakes Danny Lewis Disease and stays healthy for once. There's also a functional walk-on here (Johnson) so numbers aren't terrible.
DB (23): Dijon Lee Jr., Bray Hubbard, Rydarrius Morgan, Keon Sabb, Zabien Brown, Nick Sherman, Zavier Mincey, Dre Kirkpatrick Jr., Ivan Taylor, Chuck McDonald, Jordan Edmonds, Rihyael Kelley, Jireh Edwards, Zyan Gibson, Kolby Peavy (WO), London Hill (WO), Cole Davis (WO), Conner Warhurst (WO), Ty Roper (WO), Walter Sansing (WO), Brody McCutcheon (WO), Griffin Hanson (WO), Kyle Clayton (WO)
Take: Lot of the walk-ons are going to get cut. Good numbers otherwise. I think Kirkpatrick comes back but we will see. One of the walk-ons (Peavy) played on special teams in the playoffs and has dressed out for every game now for most of the last 2 years, so if Dre Jr. is gone then it's not the end of the world, depth-wise.
ST (5): Conor Talty (PK), Tucker Cornelius (PK), Alex Asparuhov (P), Anderson Green (P), Jay Williams (LS)
Take: I think we ride with Talty. Punter will come down to Asparuhov's injury, which was significant. Green can't be the punter, IMO. That will leave us force-taking a punter in the portal. The lone long-snapper, Williams, is tiny. I think you'll see us go get another LS in the portal.
To summarize:
Has taken already/total to take:
QB: 0/0
RB: 1/1
WR: 0/3
TE: 1/1
OL: 1/4
DL: 0/4
ILB: 1/1
DB: 0/0
ST: 0/2
TOTAL: 4/16
QB (7): Ty Simpson, Austin Mack, Keelon Russell, Jett Thomalla, Tayden Kaawa, John Gazzaniga (WO), John Cooper (WO)
Take: No needs here, regardless of what Simpson does.
RB (8): Daylan Smothers, Daniel Hill, Kevin Riley, Akylin Dear, Ezavier Crowell, Traeshawn Brown, Jessie Washington (WO), Fredrick Moore (WO)
Take: Smothers probably ends our involvement here unless we lose someone.
WR (8): Isaiah Horton, Ryan Williams, Lotzeir Brooks, Derek Meadows, Cederian Morgan, Rico Scott, Ben Jackson (WO), Cooper Mollison (WO)
Take: We need a minimum of two other guys here. We've only got 6 on scholarship, which is thin even by the NFL's 53-man standards. Need a minimum of 8 to guard against injury with 9 being preferable. In addition, this year M.J. Chirgwin was quietly in our three-deep for half the year, but he was a very functional walk-on. Of the two walk-ons for '26,
TE (8): Danny Lewis Jr., Josh Ford, Jay Lindsey, Kaleb Edwards, Marshall Pritchett, Mack Sutter, Jack Sammarco, Peyton Fox (WO)
Take: No further needs here. Even the walk-on Fox is functional. Now let's see if Danny Lewis can stay healthy for a full year, which he has literally never done before at the college level.
OL (19): Michael Carroll, Tyrell Miller, Kaden Strayhorn, Will Sanders, Jackson Lloyd, Bryson Cooley, Casey Poe, Mal Waldrep, Chris Booker, Arkel Anugwom, Jared Doughty, Bear Fretwell, Mac Smith (WO), Billy Roby (WO), Davis Peterson (WO), Wade Estess (WO), Jamison Travis (WO), J.D. Martin (WO)
Take: Need 2-3 more. One needs to be a pure tackle, one needs to be able to play center and the other needs to be able to do the VanDeMark dance between positions. As it stands now, the starting OL next year is a JUCO transfer and four underclassmen. We be young. The bigger issue to me is center. The depth chart there goes Strayhorn -> Waldrep -> walk-on Billy Roby, who weighs about 260. I think Joe Ionata is low-key one of the bigger portal losses to this point just because of his versatility. Yes, Will Sanders could move here but he'll be learning from scratch. More than one of these walk-ons will probably be cut. Nervous.
DL/Wolf (16): Yhonzae Pierre, Justin Hill, Zay Hall, Jeremiah Beaman, Isaia Faga, Steve Mboumoua, Malique Franklin, London Simmons, Edric Hill, Nolan Wilson, Kamhariyan Johnson, Jordan Renaud, Fatutoa Henry, Jamarion Matthews, Corey Howard, Lane Whisenhunt (WO)
Take: Need 4 guys, 2 OLB/end types and 2 DTs. The James Smith loss didn't surprise me; I just thought he'd go pro, not transfer. Until Kelby Collins hit the portal, we were borderline OK numbers-wise and still have decent numbers, they're just heavily freshmen. I think you have a potential James Smith replacement in Steve Mboumoua anyway. The problem is you don't have a Keenan. The other problem is Pierre was already on some draft boards. I think Keeley is our biggest portal loss and Noah Carter second-biggest at the moment, based off potential. If you get both of them back you can concentrate on getting 2 tackles, but you've got to sign 4 overall here.
LB (10): Q.B. Reese, Caleb Woodson, Cayden Jones, Abduall Sanders Jr., Darrell Johnson, Luke Metz, Xavier Griffin, Grant Johnson (WO), Jake Ivie (WO), Aiden Moore (WO)
Take: Getting Woodson gets us to a safe spot, because there's a lot of young talent here. Jones could be really good if he shakes Danny Lewis Disease and stays healthy for once. There's also a functional walk-on here (Johnson) so numbers aren't terrible.
DB (23): Dijon Lee Jr., Bray Hubbard, Rydarrius Morgan, Keon Sabb, Zabien Brown, Nick Sherman, Zavier Mincey, Dre Kirkpatrick Jr., Ivan Taylor, Chuck McDonald, Jordan Edmonds, Rihyael Kelley, Jireh Edwards, Zyan Gibson, Kolby Peavy (WO), London Hill (WO), Cole Davis (WO), Conner Warhurst (WO), Ty Roper (WO), Walter Sansing (WO), Brody McCutcheon (WO), Griffin Hanson (WO), Kyle Clayton (WO)
Take: Lot of the walk-ons are going to get cut. Good numbers otherwise. I think Kirkpatrick comes back but we will see. One of the walk-ons (Peavy) played on special teams in the playoffs and has dressed out for every game now for most of the last 2 years, so if Dre Jr. is gone then it's not the end of the world, depth-wise.
ST (5): Conor Talty (PK), Tucker Cornelius (PK), Alex Asparuhov (P), Anderson Green (P), Jay Williams (LS)
Take: I think we ride with Talty. Punter will come down to Asparuhov's injury, which was significant. Green can't be the punter, IMO. That will leave us force-taking a punter in the portal. The lone long-snapper, Williams, is tiny. I think you'll see us go get another LS in the portal.
To summarize:
Has taken already/total to take:
QB: 0/0
RB: 1/1
WR: 0/3
TE: 1/1
OL: 1/4
DL: 0/4
ILB: 1/1
DB: 0/0
ST: 0/2
TOTAL: 4/16
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