Will Auburn be the Dark Horse this year?

[VipersStrike1 230]

the LBs are the biggest question mark, but the talent level is deep here. Unfortunately, the experience is not. Paul James IIII is a monster.

Paul James played DE in the Spring game. At 271 lbs, doubt he'll play LB anytime soon.

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

The trio of Smith, Stevens and Marcus Davis aren't bad. The corps in general will look a lot better with the newcomers, getting Truitt back healthy and the addition of finally using the TE's again.

Also, don't sleep on Darius Slayton and Ryan Davis either.

Smith has great speed. Hands are suspect. Needs to be our primary "McCalebb/Grant" Speed Sweep guy.

Stevens makes the tough catches & drops the easy ones. A hair-puller.

Love Marcus Davis. Catches nearly everything. Great hustle. But yet to show he's dynamic. Only used as a possession receiver.

Unfortunately, that trio reminds me of what Cox had available to throw to in 2007...very average talent. And I'd take Rod Smith over any of them.

Hearing good things about Slayton. He and Ryan Davis need to step up.

No legit SEC defense is shaking in their shoes about this trio of WR's. No offense to the three but it is what it is. Look for the AU freshman to play early and often.

the LBs are the biggest question mark, but the talent level is deep here. Unfortunately, the experience is not. Paul James IIII is a monster.

Paul James played DE in the Spring game. At 271 lbs, doubt he'll play LB anytime soon.

James is a DE all the way.

[VipersStrike1 230]

the LBs are the biggest question mark, but the talent level is deep here. Unfortunately, the experience is not. Paul James IIII is a monster.

Paul James played DE in the Spring game. At 271 lbs, doubt he'll play LB anytime soon.

James is a DE all the way.

Some folks still believe Jeff Holland is and will play LB because the official AU site lists him as such...when Holland has never lined up 3 yards behind the D-Line.

It's the same for Paul James...listed as a LB...plays DE.

I could be wrong but it's my belief Holland & James are listed as a LB so that they can show DE recruits our DE numbers.

[WarEagle1983 2,187]

We have elite talent that is for sure. We won the title in 2010 and played for it in 2013 with two SEC titles. I'm not sure what you consider elite but I can't think of another team besides Bama and Ohio state that can say the same things in the past 6 years. Like I said we are a qb away from the title atm. Can JF3 be that guy we shall see. I don't believe we can win a title with SW. I am not saying SW is not a good football player because he is, he is just not the type of player we need to be able to win a title at qb. IMO our ceiling with SW is 10 wins including bowl, with JF3 our ceiling is a SEC title and title contender. Again that is just my opinion.

This is how i feel about both QBs as well. I certainly can be dead wrong and maybe i'm looking at JF3 as NM 2.0 but IMO if he can just give us consistent decent passing i agree the sky is the limit with this team unless we have a top 5 defense with SW as the QB. Just feel like JF3 can open up a lot of things on offense for us but as you stated that certainly doesn't take away what SW can do b/c if we can put in a good offensive plan around him i do think we can win a lot of games.

[WarEagle1983 2,187]

^No guarantees, but we've seen in recent years that WRs can start as true freshmen if they have the talent. I think one of them (most likely Davis) could start and do very well. The WRs and DL come 2018 could be SCARY (to our opponents )

Also, the OL, aside from right tackle at very least, should be solid. If we're going to be young on the OL next year, we'd better have a strong unit this year.

I'm honestly not worried about our WRs. Only aspect that i question about the newbies is can they handle some of the big moments in SEC play. If they can do that i'm not worried at all. Kyle is physically ready to play and i don't think it will take Nate much time to adjust (guy just is a gamer IMO). I'm beyond excited about the WRs b/c i feel like from a technique standpoint they're already ahead of the curve. I just love the fact we have more pure WRs than guys we're turning into WRs. Marcus Davis brings experience. Ryan Davis or Truitt could possibly play some of the role that was meant for Roc. We don't know much about Slayton. Jason has good speed but i wasn't impressed overall. But we shall see.

[VipersStrike1 230]

^No guarantees, but we've seen in recent years that WRs can start as true freshmen if they have the talent. I think one of them (most likely Davis) could start and do very well. The WRs and DL come 2018 could be SCARY (to our opponents )

Also, the OL, aside from right tackle at very least, should be solid. If we're going to be young on the OL next year, we'd better have a strong unit this year.

I'm honestly not worried about our WRs. Only aspect that i question about the newbies is can they handle some of the big moments in SEC play. If they can do that i'm not worried at all. Kyle is physically ready to play and i don't think it will take Nate much time to adjust (guy just is a gamer IMO). I'm beyond excited about the WRs b/c i feel like from a technique standpoint they're already ahead of the curve. I just love the fact we have more pure WRs than guys we're turning into WRs. Marcus Davis brings experience. Ryan Davis or Truitt could possibly play some of the role that was meant for Roc. We don't know much about Slayton. Jason has good speed but i wasn't impressed overall. But we shall see.

I'd LOVE to see a 2002 @ USC repeat v Clemson by having Kyle Davis and Craig-Myers start on the outside. Like Obomanu & Aromashodu, give them supreme confidence and they'll blossom sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately, that won't happen. We'll keep throwing to 2nd teamers with butterfingers.

[WarEagle1983 2,187]

^No guarantees, but we've seen in recent years that WRs can start as true freshmen if they have the talent. I think one of them (most likely Davis) could start and do very well. The WRs and DL come 2018 could be SCARY (to our opponents )

Also, the OL, aside from right tackle at very least, should be solid. If we're going to be young on the OL next year, we'd better have a strong unit this year.

I'm honestly not worried about our WRs. Only aspect that i question about the newbies is can they handle some of the big moments in SEC play. If they can do that i'm not worried at all. Kyle is physically ready to play and i don't think it will take Nate much time to adjust (guy just is a gamer IMO). I'm beyond excited about the WRs b/c i feel like from a technique standpoint they're already ahead of the curve. I just love the fact we have more pure WRs than guys we're turning into WRs. Marcus Davis brings experience. Ryan Davis or Truitt could possibly play some of the role that was meant for Roc. We don't know much about Slayton. Jason has good speed but i wasn't impressed overall. But we shall see.

I'd LOVE to see a 2002 @ USC repeat v Clemson by having Kyle Davis and Craig-Myers start on the outside. Like Obomanu & Aromashodu, give them supreme confidence and they'll blossom sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately, that won't happen. We'll keep throwing to 2nd teamers with butterfingers.

Well if true that just sucks and killed my excitement! lol. I don't see why. Play the best players. I get maybe not throwing the freshmen into starting spots game 1 but by game 3 or 4 they def. should be there if they're performing better than the others. I already think the young guys are better than Stevens and Smith.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,992]

I literally think it comes down to if JF3 is good or not. Auburn pretty much has everything in place to be a national title contender except a QB that Malzahn can do anything with

[War Knight 514]

When we win against Clemson with JFIII heads will be spinning on this board. Beating the #2 ranked team in the nation will be very enjoyable to open the season.

I'll have what he's having.