Football Update

wbtfg · Post by **wbtfg** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 9:19 am

Sorry for the random posts last night, I spent an evening downtown and after I got home I wasn't quite ready to head to bed...SO instead I thought I'd "drunk post."

Anyway, last night I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with one of this year's seniors for about 30 minutes. He is extremely excited about this year's team, and said that they will make a run in the playoffs, and he wouldn't be surprised if we pulled an upset against OSU. Here are some of the highlights of the conversation.

Offense...

The O Line is NASTY, and the entire offense will be better than was last year.

Mike Bass just got in to town, but the guy I was talking to hadn't seen him work out yet, but the RBs will be very strong with an improved Domenic, a faster JG, and he said that Evin Groves is a mini Barry Sanders.

Wolf's career is probably over. It sounds like when they were operating on his knee, the doctors found "holes in his cartlidge"...apparently that's not good. This is the second consecutive all-conference center that we have lost early to a career ending injury (Nic Stevenson).

Birkeland will be fine at center, he and Lulay have been working on snaps basically everyday this summer, and he also said that Jim Verlanic will be a force at center in the future.

WRs. Starters will probably be Gatewood, Guinn, and Murray. Apparently we have another receiver (in addition to Murray) was WSU coming in...I'm not sure if that was announced yet or not. Also, thinks Mike Brown will be a future star.

I didn't ask him about tight ends, but it sounds like we will be running a lot of two back sets this year, rather than having double tights.

Defense....

Secondary. He thinks this will be a special group. Eddie Smith is at full strength, and will be a very good player. Apparently last year he tore his hamstring completely from the bone.

Along side Smith will be Hunter who is at full strength, and the Davis kid from New Mexico hasn't made it to Bozeman yet, but apparently could be very good.

Fuller is moving to safety and will start with Force.

Linebackers. We all know this is going to be the strength of the defense. Apparently Lowe is looking like Roger Cooper on the field. Mac and Nick are solid (to say the least), and Epi is going to be a star in this league. Also, if the Daly kid from Helena can put on a little weight, he has the potential to be a great Bobcat linebacker as well.

DLine: This is the question mark. The player I was talking to said this team will go as far as the DLine allows them to go (probably the reason for all the DL transfers). If they play well, there is no limit to what the team can accomplish this year.

He also said that he expected Mataikis to return by the first conference game...possibly even for the NDSU game. I guess Andy is rehabbing well, and starts jogging this week.

Also said that there is DT from UCLA who may transfer. He didn't know the kid's name, but is said to have narrowed his choices to MSU and Portland State.

All in all, the player I talked to last night is very optimistic, and really thinks that there is no limit to what this team can accomplish this year. There was no mention of the grizzlies, only mention of OSU, EWU, and the playoffs.

BobcatLionFan · Post by **BobcatLionFan** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 10:15 am

It's to bad about Wolf, great kid. Birkeland is a very smart kid, which helps since the center makes the blocking calls when they go to the line. Doesn't look like the OL will skip a beat. Birkeland's knee (MCL during the spring) must also be OK if he is snapping away.

gtapp · Post by **gtapp** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 11:08 am

wtbfg: You must not have been too drunk to remember all of that. Good Post!

HelenaCat95 · Post by **HelenaCat95** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 11:19 am

Great Post!!

However, I noticed that you didn't include anything on QB. Do you think we'll be ok at that position this year??

Bleedinbluengold · Post by **Bleedinbluengold** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 12:48 pm

I like the fact that the team expects to win. Man, it's been a long time since we've seen that kind of confidence.

Upset OSU, though....ummmmm, no way. But, like I said, I love the confidence.

Robcat · Post by **Robcat** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 1:31 pm

Hooray Lulay. Does that answer the QB question?

HelenaCat95 · Post by **HelenaCat95** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 2:33 pm

Robcat wrote:Hooray Lulay. Does that answer the QB question?

Ah yes.....i had forgotten about him.

BozoneCat · Post by **BozoneCat** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 6:43 pm

Here's some info on the potential UCLA defensive tackle transfer that I received through the grapevine...

http://uclabruins.collegesports.com/spo ... _cj00.html

*Edit* Oops, I hadn't read the other post yet regarding the DT's. This kid was in Bozeman a couple weeks ago, but it sounds like maybe we are better off without him.