RT's Bloodbath! Penn St Champs! Offseason Player Cuts!

[fretgod99]

I'm out of town until tomorrow evening. I'll jump on then.
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[RuskieTitan]

Virginia Tech Hokies Roster: 77 of 70

Player Cuts:

70 OVR Fr HB Joe Williams - #27 HB
A late recruit for the Hokies during the regular season, Williams was simply beat out by every other halfback, both the 3 already on the roster and the other 3 true freshmen.

76 OVR Fr QB Gabe Lamb - #12 QB
With a total of 6 quarterbacks on the roster following spring training, there was simply not enough room to carry them all. Lamb had one of the weaker arms, and lower accuracy, and was beat out by all the other quarterbacks.

76 OVR Fr HB Shane Washington - #14 HB
Another victim of camp battles. With the current halfbacks being two sophomores and a junior, the Hokies were willing to only carry a maximum of two more freshmen. It came down to between Derrick Turner and Shane Washington. Unfortunately, aside from size and speed, Turner beat out Washington in most other categories, including what might have been the ultimate deciding factor: The Hokies had 4 other recruits out of NC (Washington's state), while they only had 3 others from Tennessee aside from Turner.

87 OVR RS Fr P Kevin Flowers
While the Hokies would have preferred to have kept Flowers as their starting punter this season, the situation was unfortunately stacked against him. Incoming true freshman Jerome Bonds has just as equally powerful leg (Both 90 kick power), and while Flowers has more accuracy (86 vs 80) as well as speed, ultimately, Bonds provided a pipeline state (1 of 4 players from Maryland), while Flowers was the lone player out of Michigan.

77 OVR Fr C Sean Johnson - #18 C
With 13 offensive linemen on the roster and just one of them a senior, Sean Johnson had virtually no shot at playing time until late in his collegiate career, and even then only as a backup. He had a lack of strength (76) and his blocking was the lowest on the team. As the lowest ranked of 4 true freshmen offensive linemen, and coming out of Georgia (Where the Hokies had 5 other players as well), Johnson became the unfortunate victim of roster cuts.

80 OVR RS Fr Andrew Paul
In an ideal world, Andrew Paul would have been a Hokie heading into the 2014. The Hokies don't have a problem with carrying 8 safeties on the roster, but they do when they still need to make 2 more cuts. Paul possessed good size (6'1") and speed (94), as well as other solid attributes that would have enabled him to possibly fight for playing time sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, fellow RS freshman safety Travis Morgan also brings similar attributes to the table, and while his agility is lower, he possesses something greater - a pipeline state to Maryland. True freshman Aaron Clark is lower rated, but holds the key to Tennessee. Paul came from Mississippi, which was not a pipeline state for the Hokies, and with the addition of freak freshman safety Ben Johnson (Who is pushing for the starting job), Paul was the unfortunate victim of roster cuts.

Final Roster Cut:
Debate between QB Justin Smith 79 and SS Michael Cole 84
The final cut came down to redshirt freshman Justin Smith and redshirt junior Michael Cole. Both had their pros - Smith still had plenty of progression left to show what he could do, had amazing size, and could throw the ball well; Cole had been an outstanding special teams player and could fill in as depth in a pinch, as well as one of Jeff Fisher's favorite players from the former regime.

Ultimately, the odd man out was Smith. Cole provided veteran leadership and would be able to finish out his collegiate career as one of the special teams aces, as well as graduate sooner. Fisher had let both Justin Smith and Matt Shelton stay on the roster last season as redshirting freshmen, to see which player wanted it more, and Shelton progressed much more rapidly. With true freshman Michael Wilson providing much better scrambling ability as well as a cannon of an arm and being rated similarly (Only downside was accuracy, something fixable with time sitting and learning), the Hokies simply couldn't afford to hold 5 quarterbacks again this year, and Smith was the lowest one.
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^^ryknowssd^^
Supporter of the Death Penalty in CFB
FF Hunger Games I Winner

[RuskieTitan]

[RuskieTitan]

If anyone has special requests as to which users they want to play, or what CPU teams they want to play, let me know ASAP in this thread. I'll be making the schedule tomorrow immediately after I advance from cuts, so we can kick off week 1 tomorrow.
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^^ryknowssd^^
Supporter of the Death Penalty in CFB
FF Hunger Games I Winner

[fretgod99]

Throw in Colorado for me again. Played them in my bowl game and it was a pretty good match. They were like 11-3 last year. If that doesn't fit, I think Missou is my other rival.
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[RuskieTitan]

Virginia Tech roster breakdown:

7 Seniors (All RS)
18 Juniors (14 RS)
16 Sophomores (11 RS)
29 Freshmen (12 RS)

Pretty young team overall. Most of my starters are Juniors or Sophomores, though I do have a few seniors and freshmen starting.

Overall, my team is fairly set, and I do have a few candidates on my roster right now that will likely be cut come next offseason.

No positions of need... but one area I will have to address is DT. Currently have 3 RS Juniors (90, 90, 84) and 2 true freshmen (81, 76). Right now it is clearly a position of strength... but even if I bring back those top two DTs next season, the quality of depth behind them is lacking. I brought in the #1 DT of the class, who is that 81, but even he isn't all that good. Will need to load up on DTs to see who I got.

Projected starting lineup

Offense
QB: Mark Leal, 90, RS Sr
HB: Travis Austin, 84, So [Backup: Chris McCarthy, 89, RS So]
FB: Jonnie Richardson, 78, JUCO Jr
Outside WR: Demitri Knowles, 88, RS Jr
Outside WR: Keith Butler, 88, Jr
Slot WR: Mike Durbin, 88, RS So
TE: TJ Huston, 86, So
TE: Luis Patrick, 81, Fr
LT: Mike Hall, 82, So [Backup: Jeremy Forte, 87, RS So]
LG: Isaac Wood, 85, RS Fr
C: Jerome Rich, 88, RS So
RG: Caleb Farris, 93, RS Jr
RT: Justin Whitaker, 87, RS Jr


Defense
LE: Chad Coleman, 85, RS So [Backup: Dadi Nicolas, 84, RS Jr]
RE: Duan Perez Means, 88, RS Sr [Backup: Nick Yancey, 82, RS Fr]
DT: Luther Maddy, 90, RS Jr
DT: Kris Harley, 90, RS Jr [Backup: Corey Marshall, 84, RS Jr]
LOLB: Steven Jackson, 84, So
MLB: Daniel Patrick, 87, RS So
MLB: Dan Cummings, 87, RS So [Backup: Adam Hartman, 84, RS Fr]
ROLB: Kevin Burnett, 85, RS Fr [Backup: Nick Dew, 88, RS Sr]
CB: Boye Aromire, 89, RS Jr
CB: Stewart Johnson, 86, So
NCB: Ryan Robinson, 83, Jr
DCB: Howard Davis, 81, Fr
FS: Ben Johnson, 82, Fr
SS: James Doyle, 87, Jr

K: Joe Pace, 89, RS So
P: Jerome Bonds, 84, Fr



Offensively, only Mark Leal is a senior, so I have high hopes for this offense both this year and next year. Offensive line has no seniors, so it'll only get better each year (Not to mention I've got a number of talented backups who are young and will be 90+ when they take over). Going to be using quite a mixture of offenses, will line up in the I with two talented TEs and mix it up, as well as go 5 wide with my receivers (I have 7 WRs over 80 OVR).

Defensively, just one senior starting as well (Duan Perez Means), all the rest are juniors or younger. My defense will really be a mix of 4-3, 3-4, and other variety. I've finally got enough talented linebackers to do all sorts of schemes, which should be fun. I'm not quite certain that Ben Johnson will start as a true freshman (I do have a 92 OVR FS who could start), but as of right now leaning towards it. My CB depth is sick - 7 CBs who are 80 and higher. Hell, the #1 CB prospect last season is an 81, ranked 6th on my team (Pretty sure I promised no redshirt, so he'll be my dime back).

Overall, my defense is going to be absolutely sick this year... and even filthier next season. All my linebackers are sophomores or freshmen (the ones that matter, anyway), and that will just be nightmares for the opposing teams. Cornerbacks are set, same with safeties. Defensive ends are stacked as well, just gotta worry about defensive tackle recruitment.

All in all, I'll just make a list of 10 players to spend 1 hour on all season long, and just go after those. I don't need tons of recruits - won't have room for them all. I'll probably still toss a scholarship offer to any recruit that has me as #1, but in general, it'll be 10 that I'll chose to gun for.
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^^ryknowssd^^
Supporter of the Death Penalty in CFB
FF Hunger Games I Winner

[nlesthought]

TCU even with the roster set @ 70 has cut 5 players due to breaking team rules.

Rs-Soph QB J. Whitaker
Senior WR C. Guillory (2nd yr transfer)
Soph CB A. Tolbert
Fresh SS unknown (minor)
Fresh G unknown (minor)

The unofficial report is they were in the strip club with butt naked strippers and tons of narcotics. Team coaches were aware of the situation when QB Jay Whitaker called Offensive Coordinator Bubba Gump in an inebriated profanity laced tirade about his place on the current depth chart.

Coach Bubba Gump was unavailable for comment, but sources have said he's fully cooperating with school and local authorities.

With the roster now @ 65 coach nlesthought isn't concerned with the possible lack of depth. It should be noted that coach nlesthought said TCU is an institute of higher learning, and not a replication of Blue Mountain State.
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psn: nlesthought l Peppers90 on the sig

[latinoaustino]

[RuskieTitan]

Guys, a head's up:

I forgot about this, but pre-season you redshirt your players.

Whenever that bum Fret shows up to do his cuts, I'm advancing to preseason. I'll give everyone a few hours tonight, but I do want to hit week 1.

If you can't be on to do your redshirting, don't worry. If you have a player you want to redshirt, just make sure they don't appear on your depth chart at all. If they don't play a single snap (Or practice!), then they'll receive an automatic redshirt at the end of the season (Happened to my Punter that I've cut. He was the only one, but I had my 99 kicker do both kick and punt, so despite being 'active' all season long, he got a redshirt.

We WILL be heading into week 1 tonight.
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^^ryknowssd^^
Supporter of the Death Penalty in CFB
FF Hunger Games I Winner

[fretgod99]

Done.
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[RuskieTitan]

[RuskieTitan]

Setting up the new thread right now.

For conferences, TCU travels to the SEC West, and Notre Dame returns to the Big 10.

Looks like it'll be 2-2-2-2 for divisions.
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^^ryknowssd^^
Supporter of the Death Penalty in CFB
FF Hunger Games I Winner

[RuskieTitan]

Should be good to lock this up now, Fret.
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^^ryknowssd^^
Supporter of the Death Penalty in CFB
FF Hunger Games I Winner