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[In looking forward to the Grove Bowl this weekend, [Juco] approached [me] about doing a sort of mock draft of our spring roster. Essentially, we did what we hope the coaches will do for this Saturday - draft two teams and duke it out with them. We ultimately prefer this greatly over seeing how our scholarship players can decimate walk-ons who had great MPSA careers, because this is a great way to see how and why we value certain players the way we do.
A brief note on eligibility: any player on roster who will be healthy for the game was eligible. Senquez Golson was not since he is not playing in the game to the best of our knowledge.
Before anyone asks, "is this dorky?" Yes. Yes it is.]
Juco's team is super lame. Mine is awesome. You see that and, upon seeing that, be hard pressed not to vote for my team in the poll you'll see at the end of this post. As far as my starting lineup goes, here it is, with my analysis thereafter.
| QB | Bo Wallace |
| HB | Jeff Scott |
| WR | Donte Moncrief |
| WR | Ja-Mes Logan |
| WR | Philander Moore |
| TE | Ferbia Allen |
| LT | Aaron Morris |
| LG | Justin Bell |
| C | Evan Swindall |
| RG | Jared Duke |
| RT | Mitch Hall |
| LE | CJ Johnson |
| NT | Gilbert Pena |
| DT | Woodrow Hamilton |
| RE | Carlos Thompson |
| LB | Serderius Bryant |
| LB | Ralph Williams |
| Husky | Denzel Nkemdiche |
| CB | Wesley Pendleton |
| CB | Cliff Coleman |
| FS | Frank Crawford |
| SS | Cody Prewitt |
| K | Andrew Ritter |
| P | Andrew Ritter |
| KR | Korvic Neat |
Overall
First things first, I had to get Denzel Nkemdiche with the #1 overall pick so I could get in good with his little brother for next year's Grove Bowl Draft. I then picked up Donte Moncrief and decided that my offensive philosophy would be structured around more consistent skill players. My defense would be built around speed and perceived pass rush abilities, even though "pass rush abilities" aren't something to be found in spades on the Rebel defense.
Offense
Moncrief and Ja-Mes Logan are easily the most consistent wideouts on the Rebel offense, and Philander Moore has allegedly looked the part of a slot receiver in practice. I figure with quarterbacks, it's a wash between Brunetti and Wallace. Juco apparently felt the same way, because neither of us picked a quarterback until laaaaate in the draft. I guess we figured we'd just pick whoever the other guy doesn't. Jeff Scott's the returning Rebel rusher, so that's a no brainer. Scott is also a dangerous weapon in the receiving game. Basically, I've got four sets of hands which are dangerous either 1-on-1 or in space. I'm fine with that.
On the line, the Rebels are thin all around, so I got some younger, athletic guys, and mixed them in with guys with some legitimate game experience. Really, in this draft thing, neither Juco nor I are going to have a kickass offensive line because there just aren't many kickass linemen to go around.
Defense
Juco's giving himself too much credit for his defense. If Pena and Hamilton (who, by the way, is starting to look the part of an SEC defensive lineman) can just eat up space, I'll be able to generate enough of a pass rush out of CJ Johnson, Carlos Thompson, Bird Bryant, Denzel Nkemdiche, and Cody Prewitt to keep it interesting. Bryant and Williams looked to be some of the more consistent tacklers on this team last year (oh how we'd kill to have DT Shackelford), and, um, the cornerbacks aren't terrible. One of them, Wesley Pendleton, was even a starter at one point, right?
Special Teams
It's all Andrew Ritter all day every day.
P.S. My last pick (the one for the lulz) was Sam "Slob On My" Noblin. He'll rip it up in special teams, y'all.