aPaladin Negative Nancy Thread for the 2025 Football Season

[FUTex]

Quick update for the 2025 football season:

There are no possums in Northern Ireland, at least around the Belfast metropolitan area, as far as I could tell. To add to the evidence, the Rector at St George's Church, The Reverand Stewart, did not mention possumry in his homily.

I was attacked by a leprechaun. Well, maybe attacked is too strong of a word for it. But I was severely menaced. It could have been a fairie instead of a leprechaun, for it was dark. There was a lot going on that evening.

Good news / Bad news to report - They built a huge ship in Belfast back in 1912, but it sank on its maiden voyage. Really a sad story, and you'd think they'd move past it, but they went a done built a huge museum about it. Just sad.

[FUBeAR]

Am it a really, really big ship?

[PaladinGooner]

We will finish 6-5 or 5-6 next year with many games coming down to the wire.

[FUATT]

12 games.

W&M is losing a lot and we get them at home. We beat PC and NCA&T. I like us at 3-1 in the OOC.

We will beat Citadel and VMI. That's 5 right there. That leaves Mercer, Chatt, ETSU, Wofford, Western and Samford.

We will win at least two of those for sure, likely Samford and Wofford. So I think 7-5 is the floor.

How we do v. Mercer, Western, Chatt, ETSU are the key. We went 1-3 this year. If we can split them next year, that's 8-4. That's progress, but not where we want to be.

[MidlandsPaladin]

We will win at least two of those for sure, likely Samford and Wofford. So I think 7-5 is the floor.

I can’t believe we are beating Wofford until we actually beat Wofford. Sad, but that is where we’re at.

[apaladin]

12 games.

W&M is losing a lot and we get them at home. We beat PC and NCA&T. I like us at 3-1 in the OOC.

We will beat Citadel and VMI. That's 5 right there. That leaves Mercer, Chatt, ETSU, Wofford, Western and Samford.

We will win at least two of those for sure, likely Samford and Wofford. So I think 7-5 is the floor.

How we do v. Mercer, Western, Chatt, ETSU are the key. We went 1-3 this year. If we can split them next year, that's 8-4. That's progress, but not where we want to be.

Very optimistic. Not sure we beat Citadel. Was very lucky to win this year and they played better down the stretch. Samford and WC? Both on the road, not likely. I think 6-6 would be more likely.

[FUATT]

It is optimistic and you both raise valid points.

I just feel like, and I may have done this in another thread:

1. We are going to be better at QB. With a year under his belt, Hedden will make far fewer WTH plays. Again, take away the fumbles at VMI and Chas So and we are 5-6 instead of 3-8. Joes is a great backup, and if Nehuel stays we have a good third option.

2. Assuming we stay "portal clean" there (I like this new term I just made up and I intend to use it more often), we will be as good or better at WR and TE. Entire two deep back with same QB.

3. We are going to be better at OL. Last year, we had 3 guys start at Ole Miss who had never started, and then Petit and Hundley who had a handful of starts. Same for the 2s. This year, we are looking for a RT in the portal and that is critical, would love to get the VMI guy. But the rest are back and they will be better.

4. RB - Immediately better with Jayquan back up and Hall with a year. Nettles adds a dimension. Grant, if he comes back, depth. Could get one in portal too.

5. K/P - Ian is back.

6. DL - We need to figure out the Ends, DE and BAN with Maier and Clark and JJ gone. Not sure if we are working portal. Schuck looked good in the late games but is young and needs some pounds on him to hold up in run game. Same for Chiedo. Harrison could slide over to DE and Stoneking could help there. Getting the Medical for X is a big deal inside, and Bussey looks like a starter with Dudek and Kaserud coming on. We have the bodies, but need to figure out who goes where and until that is clearer we some challenges here.

7. LB - No one can replace Dimaggio. Finding the best answer here is critical. Herbert and Earl pulled a lot of snaps at Will. Could maybe slide one of them to Mike and start the other at Will. Achina and Babin have played a lot at Spur and will will be strong there. We need depth Inside though. Similar deal, we have experienced bodies but need to put them in the right place.

8. CB - Moson, Dalton, Perkins, Coleman now have a year of sometimes hard lessons. We appear to be offering in portal. Will be better here. So much more experience.

9. S - McLeod, Williams and Burrell return, along with Lewis. and Gummer. McLeod was actually the 2nd leading tackler behind Dimaggio. So we have a whole two deep of solid experience here. Just have to get better.

10. KR, LS and Holder all return. Assume Smith can handle short snaps so fine.

In short, this team needs a starting RT, DE, Mike and Bandit. Those are the four spots to me that are the biggest question marks. If Earl (or Herbert) slides over and can handle Mike that answers one of them. I think RT is coming out of Portal. DE again may be a slide of a current player. Bandit... need Shuck or Short to step up or move someone or portal. Need Jayquan to be fully recovered and someone to emerge as RB1. Literally, everything else is back, with experienced depth, headed to the weight and film room with a year of experience and a year of snaps.

So that is the primary reason for my optimism. Now we need to get all our recruits, retain the staff, keep everyone else out of the portal and have an injury free Spring and Fall and we will be good to go.

[Davemeister]

Now we need to get all our recruits, retain the staff, keep everyone else out of the portal and have an injury free Spring and Fall and we will be good to go.

You don't ask for much, do ya?

[FUwolfpacker]

It is optimistic and you both raise valid points.

I just feel like, and I may have done this in another thread:

1. We are going to be better at QB. With a year under his belt, Hedden will make far fewer WTH plays. Again, take away the fumbles at VMI and Chas So and we are 5-6 instead of 3-8. Joes is a great backup, and if Nehuel stays we have a good third option.

2. Assuming we stay "portal clean" there (I like this new term I just made up and I intend to use it more often), we will be as good or better at WR and TE. Entire two deep back with same QB.

3. We are going to be better at OL. Last year, we had 3 guys start at Ole Miss who had never started, and then Petit and Hundley who had a handful of starts. Same for the 2s. This year, we are looking for a RT in the portal and that is critical, would love to get the VMI guy. But the rest are back and they will be better.

4. RB - Immediately better with Jayquan back up and Hall with a year. Nettles adds a dimension. Grant, if he comes back, depth. Could get one in portal too.

5. K/P - Ian is back.

6. DL - We need to figure out the Ends, DE and BAN with Maier and Clark and JJ gone. Not sure if we are working portal. Schuck looked good in the late games but is young and needs some pounds on him to hold up in run game. Same for Chiedo. Harrison could slide over to DE and Stoneking could help there. Getting the Medical for X is a big deal inside, and Bussey looks like a starter with Dudek and Kaserud coming on. We have the bodies, but need to figure out who goes where and until that is clearer we some challenges here.

7. LB - No one can replace Dimaggio. Finding the best answer here is critical. Herbert and Earl pulled a lot of snaps at Will. Could maybe slide one of them to Mike and start the other at Will. Achina and Babin have played a lot at Spur and will will be strong there. We need depth Inside though. Similar deal, we have experienced bodies but need to put them in the right place.

8. CB - Moson, Dalton, Perkins, Coleman now have a year of sometimes hard lessons. We appear to be offering in portal. Will be better here. So much more experience.

9. S - McLeod, Williams and Burrell return, along with Lewis. and Gummer. McLeod was actually the 2nd leading tackler behind Dimaggio. So we have a whole two deep of solid experience here. Just have to get better.

10. KR, LS and Holder all return. Assume Smith can handle short snaps so fine.

In short, this team needs a starting RT, DE, Mike and Bandit. Those are the four spots to me that are the biggest question marks. If Earl (or Herbert) slides over and can handle Mike that answers one of them. I think RT is coming out of Portal. DE again may be a slide of a current player. Bandit... need Shuck or Short to step up or move someone or portal. Need Jayquan to be fully recovered and someone to emerge as RB1. Literally, everything else is back, with experienced depth, headed to the weight and film room with a year of experience and a year of snaps.

I agree with pretty much all of this.

QB position has to be better. Assuming it's going to be Hedden's show, I feel pretty confident we'll see a step in the right direction with him in regard to decision making. If we can figure out the running game, that'll help him out as well.

I'm hoping for a jump in production at WR outside of Hinton. We need someone to step up there. I like all of our TE's and I think Burrell and Pryor should continue to be match up issues if we use them correctly.

I think we might be ok at DE but it wouldn't hurt to have another guy there. I thought Stoneking played well at times and if Dobbins sticks at DE, I think he could be really good. Alabi is coming off an injury and haven't seen him on the field much so no idea what to expect from him. Ideally we wouldn't want to see a lot of Dykeman next year.

If Xavier comes back, we look a lot better on the interior. I still really like what Knauber could bring to that spot in time.

Not sure what we'll do at LB. I assume they want to keep Achina there. I like Herbert and Earl a lot but not sure you want their only back ups to be be two true freshmen.

If Achina stays there. Then hopefully we'll figure out Spur next year. Maybe that's Hartwell, maybe it's someone else.

I feel like Moson will be solid at CB but we probably need to get an older guy here. The other guys still need some time to get better.

I'm not sure how to feel about what we got out of the safety spot. I know we were hit hard there with injuries. Hopefully Burrell comes back and is what the coaches expected him to be. McLeod coming of 2 years of injuries was ok. He did get passed by Billy Lewis by the end of the year which isn't exactly encouraging, but we'll see what happens there.

I agree with the portal adds. I think the staff may go OL, Bandit/Edge, DB though. Just looking my best guess on scholarship numbers, Bandit needs a guy more than DE right now I think. Now, if they were to move Dobbins to bandit then I think they would add a DE.

[FUTex]

Portal Clean. Nice one FUATT.

I am far more bullish than you guys.

First, I see no problems with our D filling the positions. The Great One, Couch Vaughn, will place the men in positions in the optimal manner. (I found it hard to determine the effectiveness of the LBs this past season, so have no comment on placing who where in Mike, Sam, and Will. It just wasn't clear enough of the time to me where their assignment was.)

Second, we have two decent QBs with many many snaps. They will improve.

The O line... I have no idea. Speaking with real linemen over the years leads me to believe the smarts and technique desired is beyond my understanding. That's to say its more complicated than power and agility. Even so, we should expect some improvement.

All those little details aside, and injury free or not, I say if we get out possumry right we go 16-0 and win all the marbles.

I'm writing a children's pop-up book about the 2024 season called "Believe". It features a cute little lovable furball named Paladin Possum who perseveres through the season come what may, his unbridled optimism and faithfulness to the team carrying him through the weeks. Then in the last chapter he gets brutally stomped to death by the cleated feet of the Mercer Defensive Line. Children need to learn that dreams just don't come true.