quick early snap shot of 2020 offense-
QB: RS Jr. Dylan McCaffrey vs. RS Soph. Joe Milton - McCaffrey most likely the guy. Milton is super talented, but super raw. If Harbaugh can't develop polished high-school QB's like Patterson- how the hell can he develop a raw one? This is going to be interesting battle because: who knows what the hell Harbaugh will do. I'd be very surprised if McCaffrey isn't the guy though.
RB: Soph. Zach Charbonnet, RS Soph. Hassan Haskins, and RS Sr. Chris Evans - 3 really good backs. Charbonnet best all-around with big NFL potential. Haskins is a between the tackles, physical battering ram with initial explosion but lacks top-end speed. Chris Evans is as shifty as they come and could probably play WR full-time- he's that good at running routes and catching the ball.
WR: leading receivers RS Jr. Nico Collins and Jr. Ronnie Bell return. The trio of frosh that played last year return as well in Cornelius Johnson, Giles Jackson, and Mike Sainistril. Freshman speedsters Roman Wilson (4.33-40) and AJ Henning (4.41-40) are coming in. Don't think the freshman will be depended on that much. Nico and Bell will get most of the targets. I expect Giles Jackson and Mike Sainistril to get a lot more time working the slot. - Even with the loss of DPJ and Tarik Black transferring- it's a talented WR room returning it's #1 and #2 statistical leaders.
TE: stat leader at TE RS Sr. Nick Eubanks returns. As does Soph. Erick All and RS Soph. Luke Schoonmaker. Lost #2 stat leading TE and #1 TE in terms of snaps on the roster- mainly because of his blocking ability in Sean McKeon. Still a decent group. Eubanks has a lot of potential.
OL: Replacing 4 starters. Going to be tough thing to do. But they do have experienced depth across the line though, so it's not like they'll be starting a bunch of true freshman and redshirt freshman out of necessity. RS Soph. Jalen Mayfield (6-5+, 315+) returns at RT after an excellent RS Frosh year, could possibly even switch over to LT. RS Soph. LT Ryan Hayes (6-7+, 300+) returns after a solid RS Frosh year in which he started 3 games and played snaps in all 13. Those are the starting tackles for sure, who plays what side- that remains to be seen. And it's a damn good young tackle tandem actually imo. Both of these guys have legitimate NFL potential.
Filling out G-C-G is where the real position battles will happen, but thankfully they'll have guys with experience battling for spots. RS JR's Chuck Filliaga (6-6, 340+) and Andrew Steuber (6-7, 330+) both have experience in the blocking scheme under Ed Warriner, both are massive human beings, and both have experience starting multiple games. Those are probably the starting guards, and probably the right choices if they want beef up front. RS Sr Andrew Vastardis and RS Jr Joel Hoeningford probably going to be the back-ups. Then there are about 5 RS Frosh that could push for back-up roles or even starting roles. RS Frosh OG/C Nolan Rumler, RS Frosh OT Trevor Keegan, RS Frosh OT/OG Trente Jones, RS Frosh OG/C Zach Carpenter, and RS Frosh OT/OG Karsen Barnhart. If Nolan Rumler can snap a football, I would love to see that dude starting at center. I think the ideal line-up would be...
LT- RS Soph. Jalen Mayfield (6-5, 315+) - best athlete of all the tackles and started every game last year
LG- RS Jr. Chuck Filiaga (6-6, 340+) - experienced, terrific run block. gigantic human being. he's started multiple games filling in for injured starters.
C- RS Fr. Nolan Rumler (6-3, 320+) - absolute mauler in HS. Got high praises from coaches and players but redshirted last year.
RG- RS Jr. Andrew Steuber (6-7, 330+) - experienced, he won the starting RT job last year until he got hurt and the RS Frosh Mayfield grabbed a hold of it. He's started multiple games filling in for injured starters.
RT- RS Soph. Ryan Hayes (6-7, 305+) - started a few games and graded out well at LT last year. Not as athletic as Mayfield but taller and longer. Might be a better fit on the right.
