Forgot to post yesterday
| #90 Western Michigan Broncos |
| #5 in MAC |
Western Michigan had to have felt like they wasted a chance in 2019, by losing the season finale at a 4-7 Northern Illinois team, whose star running back quit the team the week of the game, and costing the Broncos a slot in the conference championship game. With a senior all-conference starting quarterback/running back combo departing, 2020 seemed like a reboot season...and then they looked around at the rest of their division. Granted, yes, Toledo and Northern Illinois typically recruit well enough that you might expect them to be better than a typical MAC team coming off the seasons they are, with the returning production they have. But honestly, the only team in the MAC West that has fewer questions on paper, is a Ball State team that hasn’t been to a bowl game in years. Bill Connelly projects the entire division to finish between 5-3 and 3-5, so the margin for error is slim, that’s why figuring out that offensive backfield early is vital. That’s a big if. All they have to replace is quarterback Jon Wassink, a three year starter, and Wuerffel Award winner; and running back LeVante Bellamy, a two-time First Team All-MAC honoree, who finished second in the conference in rushing last year, and leaves Kalamazoo as the only player to be top three in both total rushing yards, and yards per carry. The running game should continue to be fine with Sean Tyler, who actually averaged more ypc (5.7) than Bellamy (5.5) last year, while finishing second on the team with 390 rushing yards. Then they add a pair of transfers in LaDarius Jefferson who was the starter at Michigan State for a time, and Jaxson Kincaide, who was Nevada’s second leading rusher in 2016 and 2017. They get to run behind a veteran offensive line that returns four starters, including a pair of All-Conference performers. The quarterback spot is a lot more dicey, with Kaleb Eleby being the most likely initial starter. Eleby played in five games in 2018, including four starters, when Wassink was injured, and actually filled in fairly well, completing 62.6% of his passes and 218.4 ypg. But he redshirted last year, so it will have been nearly two years since he’s seen any sort of game action at all. Really the only competition he has is from Purdue transfer Griffin Alstott, son of Mike Alstott, who saw a little mop up duty last year. If Skyy Moore can build upon his surprise breakout freshman season, that allows Tim Lester to fully commit to D’Wayne Eskridge playing defense. Eskridge is a two way player, who is probably the Broncos’ best athlete, but is seemingly slightly better on the defensive side. With All-MAC Patrick Lupro opposite him at corner, the addition of Eskridge on defense gives Western Michigan a chance to have the best defense in the league. They were second in scoring defense and fifth in ypp last year. But their pass defense allowed a MAC worst 67% completion rate (5th worst nationally), and relied too heavily on the MAC’s second highest interception rate. If they can run Lupro-Eskridge full time, there is zero excuse for a repeat of that.
| KEY PLAYERS |
| WR | Skyy Moore, Sophomore |
| T | Jaylon Moore, Senior |
| G | Mike Caliendo, Senior |
| . |
| DE | Ali Fayed, Senior |
| LB | Treshaun Hayward, Senior |
| CB | Patrick Lupro, Junior |
| #89 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors |
| #7 in Mountain West |
Whoever first said football is won in the trenches, probably didn’t look at the best Hawaii teams of recent vintage in making that proclamation. But for the Rainbow Warriors this year, they better hope that’s the case. Losing three of their best four receivers to graduation was planned for, but then to have quarterback Cole McDonald announce he was leaving early was not expected. Todd McShay has McDonald rated as the #174 overall prospect, the #10 quarterback, a projected borderline 5th/6th round pick. But maybe he looked at who he’d be throwing to, and decided there was no way his stock was going to be higher next year. Or maybe once head coach Nick Rolovich left he looked at basically what every Hawaii coach except June Jones and Rolovich had done at the school, and decided the odds were not in his favor. It’s now or never for uber talented, but thus far disappointing Marquise Stovall. Stovall committed to Cal over USC and Oregon, with some rankings having him as the #1 receiver in the country, and looked the part of a lethal slot threat. He had an underwhelming freshman campaign in Berkeley, then played one game his sophomore season, before being inexplicably shut down, for suspension...injury…? He then left Cal, spent a year at JUCO, then re-emerged last year at Hawaii. Through five games he had 18 receptions for 248 yards and 4 touchdowns...before being kicked off the team. But he is now listed on the spring roster, and his social media accounts seem to indicate he’s on the team. The kid is running out of chances, but in the partial season he played last year he showed that he can still be a threat, even though he’s only played in six NCAA games over the past three seasons. If he’s not lacing them up, Hawaii has Jared Smart, and not much else? The next leading returning receiver is Lincoln Victor, with 10 receptions. Calvin Turner Jr., a PFF FCS All-American transfer from Jacksonville is an intriguing option. He spent parts of his three years at Jacksonville as a defensive back, the starting quarterback, and a running back. However it seems like Hawaii might be looking at him as a receiver. No matter what, he should be a needed infusion of athleticism. So back to those trenches. Hawaii returns their entire starting line, including three All-Mountain West players, being both tackles and the center, from a line that was very solid run blocking, and top 25 nationally in pass blocking. What type of offense Hawaii will run, who knows? They’ve been known as a pass happy team, 4th in the nation last year, passing the ball 61.5% of the time. New coach Todd Graham has been all over the place in that regard, but his offensive coordinator choice, his former player G.J. Kinne. Who knows. Kinne is only 31 years old, and let alone having no coordinating experience, he has no real assistant coaching experience. Just retired from the CFL in 2016, after a 4 year run as an NFL practice squad player, and spent his three years in coaching as a graduate assistant (2017 at SMU under Chad Morris), an offensive analyst (2018 at Arkansas under Chad Morris), and “special projects,” whatever that means (2019 with the Philadelphia Eagles). Maybe he’s just there to run Todd Graham’s offense, but that hasn’t really ever been Graham’s M.O. Quite the opposite in fact. Graham’s last four offensive coordinators, going back to 2010; Billy Napier, Chip Lindsey, Mike Norvell, Chad Morris, have used the role as a stepping stone to their own head coaching job.
| KEY PLAYERS |
| T | Ilm Manning, Junior |
| T | Gene Pryor, Senior |
| C | Taaga Tuulima, Senior |
| . |
| DT | Blessman Ta'ala, Junior |
| CB | Cortez Davis, Senior |
| S | Khoury Bethley, Junior |
