By
Pete Fiutak
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2006 Big Ten Spring Analysis
-
2007 Preseason Lookaheads -
Big Ten
Illinois
Spring Practice
Begins: March 27 Game: April 21
The early spring buzz ... It's been an interesting off-season.
Everyone is still talking about the 2007
recruiting class and the potential for
the Illini program. Even with some
openly speculating about the haul of
talent not being on the up-and-up, all
Ron Zook and his staff can do is move on
and try to start winning some games.
They'll have to do it without starting
receivers Derrick McPhearson and Jody
Ellis, who were kicked off the team
after being charged with two counts of
burglary. Throw in the merciful end to
the bizarre Chief Illiniwek halftime
ritual, and Illinois has been the
program everyone's been talking about.
The big spring question is ... When will all the young guys
play? If last year was any indication,
right away. Zook has never been afraid
to throw his young guys into the fire
both at Illinois and Florida, and he'll
put the most talented players on the
field at all times. It still might take
a while before the team has any
semblance of consistency, but it'll be a
whole bunch faster and more athletic.
The most important position to watch is ... Wide receiver.
All of a sudden, the promising receiving
corps has become an issue with the loss
of McPhearson and Ellis, but
fortunately, the team's four top
receivers are back to give rising star
quarterback Juice Williams some familiar
targets to work with. All eyes will be
on super-recruit
Arrelious Benn; don't be shocked if he's the team's
number one man right away.
Spring attitude... Just win, Zooky. All the talk of
recruiting classes and building for the
future is nice, but the program has only
won four games in two years and lost 20
of the last 21 games against D-I teams.
The talent level is now there to be far
more competitive in Big Ten play, and
now it's time to start winning some of
the close one after dropping four games
by a touchdown or less.
Indiana
Spring Practice
Begins: March 20 Game: April 14
The early spring buzz ... Is head coach Terry Hoeppner actually
turning the impossible situation around?
IU is light years away from even
dreaming about the Big Ten championship,
but there's more excitement and more
potential for the program helped by QB
Kellen Lewis, WR James Hardy, and an
offense that should be good enough to
catch fire at times. Illinois, Iowa and
Michigan State found out first hand what
the Hoosiers can do, but things won't be
appreciably better unless ...
The big spring question is ... Will IU finally start playing
some defense? There's experience in
bunches and plenty of depth, but by
design, there's little size up front and
no sure-thing pass rush. The D wasn't
even remotely close against the good
teams giving up over 48 points a game
against Wisconsin, Ohio State, Minnesota
and Michigan.
The most important position to watch is ... Defensive end.
The Hoosiers have to start generating
more of a pass rush to help out a
secondary that got picked apart after
having to defend for way too long. The D
only came up with 14 sacks led by Kenny
Kendal's three, and now he's gone
meaning Jammie Kirlew, Brian Faires and
Greg Middleton have to start using their
quickness to hurry the passer.
Spring attitude... 1994. That's the last time IU had a
winning season, and the last time it hit
the six-win mark. Had the run defense
not been brutally awful in a horrible
loss to D-IAA Southern Illinois, the
Hoosiers would've finished 6-6 last
season. The team is better, the schedule
is as good as it gets (no Ohio State or
Michigan), and Hoeppner has his guys in
place.
Iowa
Spring Practice
Begins: March 7 Game: April 14
The early spring buzz ... The team wasn't quite as bad as the 6-7
record might indicate. Fine, so things
aren't exactly going well if you lose to
Indiana and get blown out by
Northwestern and Minnesota, but as the
26-24 loss to Texas in the Alamo Bowl
proved, the team was good when everyone
was healthy. Now there are some key
position battles and some question marks
as spring ball starts, but there's a lot
of talent and a lot of potential to get
excited about. It might not take much to
be back among the league's elite again.
The big spring question is ... Who's taking over for Drew
Tate? Expected to progress and become a
Big Ten Player of the Year type of
performer, Tate pressed too much, was
hurt, and was stunningly ineffective in
his senior season. Even though the job
is Jake Christensen's to lose, freshmen
Rick Stanzi and Arvell Nelson will get
their share of reps and, at the very
least, have a chance to solidify the
number two job and the pecking order. On
straight skills, Nelson might be the
best of the three, and Stanzi has good
mobility along with nice size. Even so,
Christensen has the experience.
The most important position to watch is ... Offensive
lineman. Three talented, NFL-caliber
starters are gone with the loss of
guards Mike Elgin and Mike Jones along
with tackle Marshal Yanda. Head coach
Kirk Ferentz and his staff are fantastic
at plugging holes on the line and
developing productive players, and they
have a few good ones in tackle Dace
Richardson and guard Rafael Eubanks to
start with. However, the developed depth
is non-existent.
Spring attitude... Win the Big Ten title. Huh? Wasn't that
supposed to be last year? Yup, but the
defense is loaded with experience at
every spot by safety, RB Albert Young is
back for what seems like his 13th year,
and the receiving corps might be the
best yet under Ferentz. Oh yeah, and
there's no Michigan or Ohio State on the
schedule. Alright, fine; Iowa isn't
going to beat Wisconsin and Penn State
on the road, but it'll be good enough to
split and hope for a 7-1 season to be
enough to go to Pasadena.
Michigan
Spring Practice
Begins: March 17 Game: April 14
The early spring buzz ... While no Michigan fan was happy
with the way the season ended, from the
loss to Ohio State, to the snubbing for
a rematch, to the thumping from USC, it
was a nice season to prove that the
program really is among the elite of the
elite under Lloyd Carr. That was good;
this season needs to be better. Too much
talent returns on offense to be anything
less than one of the five best teams in
America from the start, however ...
The big spring question is ... Can anyone play defense? You don't
get better by losing Alan Branch, Leon
Hall, Prescott Burgess, Rondell Biggs,
LaMarr Woodley, David Harris and Willis
Barringer. The line will eventually be
fine with loads of talent (after all,
this is Michigan) to work around
pure nose-tackle Terrance Taylor.
Linebacker is a much different story
needing Shawn Crable to be the leader of
a young group still in need of live
bodies to create a little bit of
competition. JUCO transfer Austin Panter
has to shine right away and be the man
in the middle, while the weakside job
will be in play up until fall. In the
secondary, corner is a much bigger
concern than safety.
The most important position to watch is ... Placekicker.
Outside of the defensive issues, the
kicking game will get the spotlight
losing rock-solid field goal kicker
Garrett Rivas, who hit 17 of 20 field
goals, and punter Ross Ryan. Zoltan
Mesko will take over the punting job
full-time and be fine, but kicker is up
in the air. Jason Gingell was the backup
last year and needs to show the leg and
consistency Rivas had.
Spring attitude... National title or bust. With an offense as
good as this one, only one of four road
games to worry about (Wisconsin), if you
don't believe in Michigan State, and
Ohio State, Notre Dame, Oregon and Penn
State coming to the Big House, it's all
there for Carr to get his team into the
national championship as long as the
defense comes together by late
September. After coming so close last
year, anything less than a trip to New
Orleans will be a letdown.
Michigan State
Spring Practice
Begins: March 20 Game: April 21
The early spring buzz ... A new coach could step in for Patton,
Lombardi and Trump all wrapped up in one
and he'd still say the team has to get
tougher and needs to work harder. It's
not like Michigan State avoided the
weight room, didn't practice and spent
film sessions watching Drew Barrymore
movies, but that was the perception
under the John L. Smith regime. Mark
Dantonio came to East Lansing preaching
fire and brimstone, intensity and
toughness. Make no mistake about it; Big
Ten coaches liked Smith, they're worried
about Dantonio.
The big spring question is ... How will things be different
under Dantonio? For one thing, play time
is over when it comes to the media.
Dantonio is fine with the press, but
Smith was a quote machine. There won't
be anything flashy from the new head man
when it comes to press conferences
loaded with plenty of coaching clichés.
He has to buck a tradition of MSU being
the flakiest program on the block, and
he's going to do that by being tough,
no-nonsense, and relatively vanilla.
The most important position to watch is ... Quarterback.
Michigan State took a top-ten caliber
NFL draft pick in Drew Stanton and made
him a late first day guy by getting him
beaten up and not developing the talent
around him. Now he's gone meaning
junior-to-be Brian Hoyer will get the
first look at the gig. He doesn't have
Stanton's skills, but he's more than
capable of doing what Dantonio and his
staff will want him to. Kirk Cousins and
Connor Dixon will also get looks, but
neither has a lick of experience.
Spring attitude... Consistency. How do you reverse a trend of
inventing ways to lose games that appear
won? Do all the little things right and
rely on what you've practiced. Dantonio
has to change the entire mindset of the
program, and that will only happen once
the team starts winning in tight
situations on the big stage. This
spring, he has to find out which players
have the mental toughness, as well as
the physical skills, to put together the
team he wants.
Minnesota
Spring Practice
Begins: March 1 Game: April 7
The early spring buzz ... The Tim Brewster era suffered its
first setback with JUCO transfer Durrell
Clark-James suspended from spring ball
for violating team rules. With the
secondary a key issue this off-season,
the Gopher defense needed the possible
starting defensive back to be in the mix
right away. As far as Brewster, there's
cautious optimism about the curious
hire. He wasn't the splashy name many
Gopher fans wanted to provide a
kick-start to the program and he needs
to get off to a hot start. There won't
be much of a grace period, if any.
The big spring question is ... What'll be different under Brewster?
It's not like Glen Mason was a shy
introvert, but Brewster will take the
enthusiasm to another level. A
sensational recruiter who's always
upbeat and positive, Brewster is going
to add a bit of excitement to the
program and isn't going to accept any
excuses when it comes to bringing in the
top talent. That might be fine for down
the road, but right away the spread
offense has to start producing. Even
with the slightly new look under
offensive coordinator
Mike Dunbar, the running game will still
be featured.
The most important position to watch is ... Defensive back.
All four starters return to the Big
Ten's, and nation's 117th ranked, pass
defense. Was it the scheme or are the
defensive backs really that lousy? Mason
and his staff didn't give them any help
against Texas Tech in the Insight Bowl
fiasco by not making any adjustments,
and now there might be a big
improvement. This group was good at
picking off passes with 17, and it has
to still be ball-hawks while also being
more productive.
Spring attitude... The machine wasn't exactly broken. 2006
was supposed to be a rebuilding year,
but the Gophers, outside of the Iowa
win, still beat most of the teams they
were supposed to, lost to the teams they
were supposed to, and took way too much
grief for the Texas Tech loss. Remember,
had Red Raider kicker Alex Trlica missed
his bomb of a field goal to force
overtime, or had any one of about 15
things gone right in the second half,
Mason would still be the head coach. In
other words, the team doesn't need a
complete overhaul.
Northwestern
Spring Practice
Begins: March 26 Game: April 21
The early spring buzz ... Nothing can compare to the strange and
tragic turn of events of last off-season
with the death of Randy Walker and
hiring of the not-quite-seasoned Pat
Fitzgerald. Even if Walker was coaching,
2006 wouldn't have been a winning
season, and 4-8 is right around where
the rebuilding team probably would've
ended up. Now the team is loaded with
veterans, especially at key spots like
quarterback and corner, and should be
far more consistent on both sides of the
ball.
The big spring question is ... Can Fitzgerald actually coach?
From all indications, the answer is a
resounding yes. However, he'll still
need to take his lumps from time to
time. A veteran coach likely would've
stopped the epic slide in the Michigan
State loss, and would've made quicker,
more effective adjustments game in and
game out. Even so, Fitzgerald and his
staff started to figure things out over
the second half of the season and should
be far better going into this year.
Fitzgerald had to deal with all the
Walker issues. Now he can focus fully on
making Northwestern a Big Ten sleeper.
The most important position to watch is ... Running back. One
of the coaching staff's biggest mistakes
last year was not getting the ball in
the hands of its star, Tyrell Sutton,
enough. Part of it was by design to get
other players involved, part of it was
to send a bit of a message to Sutton
that he needed to do even more to be the
main man, and part of it was the offense
that featured the quarterback running
the ball in spurts. By the end of the
year, Sutton was the featured star again
and it paid off in wins over Iowa and
Illinois. This spring, he has to show
that this is his offense.
Spring attitude... Go to a bowl game. The veteran team has to
start out 3-0 at home against
Northeastern, Nevada and Duke, and has
to be Indiana and Illinois to close out,
but it might be good enough to do it.
From the start, Fitzgerald said all the
right things about not accepting
anything less than the Rose Bowl for his
team. While that's not going to happen,
getting to the post-season is likely if
everything comes together.
Ohio State
Spring Practice
Begins: March 28 Game: April 21
The early spring buzz ... The buzz about Ohio State is that there's
no buzz. In fact, after the 41-14
embarrassment against Florida, the
program has laid low on the national
scale as it tries to rebuild. Even so,
this is still Ohio State and it's loaded
with next-level caliber talent. The
defense that was such a concern last
season is full of good veterans, and now
the offense is the problem needing to
replace most of the top skill players.
It's possible the Buckeyes could be
underrated going into the year.
The big spring question is ... So what exactly was
that? Were the Buckeyes fat and lazy
after such a long layoff? Did they not
take Florida seriously enough? Were they
simply not as good as everyone had it
rated? Was it the coaching? Probably all
of the above, and while it wasn't the
way OSU fans might have wanted the
season to end, it could've been the best
thing to happen to the team for 2007.
Motivation is hardly an issue.
The most important position to watch is ... Quarterback. It's
not like Heisman quarterbacks have hung
around Columbus over OSU's fantastic
history, and now
it's one of the biggest national
question marks going into the season.
Todd Boeckman is the number one heading
into spring ball because of his 6-5,
235-pound frame and practice experience,
but the job is wide open. Big-armed sophomore Rob Schoenhoft is even bigger at around 6-6 and 240,
and now he needs experience. Antonio Henton is the wild-card in
the mix as the only mobile option of the three with a nice arm. None of
them will be Smith, but the production
will be there if the receiving corps can
replace Ted Ginn and Anthony Gonzalez.
Spring attitude... There's no
reason to shoot for anything less than
the BCS. The Buckeyes will be favored in
each of the first eight games before
going to Penn State. Wisconsin and a
road trip to Michigan, along with a date
with Illinois, makes for a rough
November, but all the kinks should be
worked out of the offense by then.
Penn State
Spring Practice
Begins: March 23 Game: April 21
The early spring buzz ... Penn
State was having a no-big-deal season
winning the eight regular season games
it was supposed to and losing the four
it was expected to. And then came the
Outback Bowl against Tennessee, and all
of a sudden, Anthony Morelli looked like
a real, live quarterbacking talent, the
defense was tremendous, and the Big Ten
got a win over the SEC. That game might
have set the tone for a big year.
The big spring question is ... Is this the year Derrick
Williams lives up to his prep hype?
Arguably the nation's top recruit a few
years ago, he's been a semi-explosive
bust as a receiver (if that's possible),
but he's been a great return man. Deon
Butler has been the better receiver over
the last few years, and Jordan Norwood
was the team's number two receiver last
year. If Williams lives up to his
potential, and Morelli continues to
progress, the passing game could go from
mediocre to explosive. On the topic of
not living up to expectations ...
The most important position to watch is ... Running back.
With Tony Hunt gone and no star recruits
coming in, it might be Austin Scott or
bust. Scott was supposed to be the next
great Nittany Lion back, but it hasn't
worked out that way with an unproductive
first few seasons followed up by a knee
injury. The optimistic hope is for a
Larry Johnson situation and a blow-up
senior season. If he's not the man to
handle the workload, Rodney Kinlaw,
who's experienced, but limited, will see
more time than the coaching staff might
like.
Spring attitude... Win the Big
Ten title. The star recruiting class of
two years ago should now be seasoned and
ready to blow up, but Michigan and
Wisconsin will get the league's
preseason attention. All that was
missing from Penn State being the team
it was in 2005 was a better offense
against the top teams, and it should
have it this year. The schedule isn't
bad with Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Ohio
State coming to Happy Valley and the
only tough road game at Michigan.
Purdue
Spring Practice
Begins: March 28 Game: April 21
The early spring buzz ... Purdue
has been a big disappointment over the
last few seasons and didn't take
advantage of missing Ohio State and
Michigan from the schedule. Now the
schedule is harder, the expectations for
Joe Tiller are starting to grow, and the
program needs to progress forward.
Fortunately, the team is loaded with
veterans and should have one of the
nation's best passing games. However ...
The big spring question is ... Will they actually play a
little defense this season? After not
stopping anyone, especially the run, the
Boilermakers have to be more physical,
play tougher, and do just enough to
allow the offense to shine. Star end
Anthony Spencer is off to the NFL, and
linebackers George Hall and Al Royal are
also gone, but everyone else returns.
While there's experience, there's little
size. The front four can't keep getting
pushed around. It wouldn't be a bad
thing if the secondary tightened up a
bit, too.
The most important position to watch is ... The left side of
the offensive line. The skill players
might not be household names, but they
have the potential to crank out one of
the ten most productive offenses in
America if they have time to work. Part
of the success last year was the pass
protection allowing a mere 20 sacks in
14 games, and with tackle Mike Otto and
guard Uche Nwaneri gone off the left
side, that might be an issue for a
little while.
Spring attitude... Be the Big
Ten's dark-horse (for what seems like
the tenth year in a row). If all the
parts are clicking and Curtis Painter
uses his receiving weapons as well as
expected, no one's stopping the offense.
The defense can't be any worse than it's
been over the last two seasons, and with
eight starters back, it probably won't
be. Yeah, Michigan and Ohio State is
back on the schedule, but Wisconsin
isn't and the Buckeyes, along with Notre
Dame and Iowa, have to come to West
Lafayette.
Wisconsin
Spring Practice
Begins: March 13 Game: April 21
The early spring buzz ... Welcome
to 2007's "it" team. After going 12-1
and being, arguably, the best team not
in the BCS, and with nine starters
returning on offense and seven on
defense, this might finally be the year
Wisconsin takes that next step and is a
national title contender. The
quarterback situation should be fine
even with John Stocco gone, the defense
has the potential to be among the
nation's best, and offensive coordinator
Paul Chryst chose to stick around rather
than deal with Tony Romo as the
quarterbacks coach in Dallas. Even
though head coach Bret Bielema is only
in his second season, if this isn't a
BCS year when everything shapes up so
well, will the program ever get over the
hump?
The big spring question is ... Is the program really that
good or was the 2006 schedule just
insanely weak? Both. The non-conference
schedule was among the softest in the
country, there was no Ohio State, and
there was only one win (Penn State) over
a team that won its bowl game. Yeah, the
Arkansas win in the Capital One Bowl was
nice, but the running game netted -5
yards and Hog coaches and fans are still
wondering exactly how they didn't win
it. A good Washington State team will be
a nice test right off the bat this
season, while road dates at Penn State
and Ohio State, along with a home game
against Michigan, will show if the team
is for real.
The most important position to watch is ... Quarterback. You
might not now the receiver names, but
when Marcus Randle El is back from a
knee injury (o.k., maybe you know one
name), UW might, might, have the
Big Ten's deepest and most talented
receiving corps. There's no star number
one like Michigan has in Mario
Manningham or Purdue has in Dorien
Bryant, but TE Travis Beckum and
wideouts Paul Hubbard and Luke Swan,
along with Randle El, all have NFL
potential. Now someone needs to get them
the ball. Tyler Donovan is the number
one for now after playing well in late
season wins over Iowa and Buffalo, but
Kansas State transfer Allan Evridge will
get his chances to shine this
off-season.
Spring attitude... Act as if. The
program has to act as if it's won 31
games over the last three years and
closed out the last two with wins over
red-hot SEC teams. It has to act as if
it's a factory that cranks out star
talent that goes unnoticed by everyone
but the NFL scouts. If has to act as if
it's a national title contender, because
it is.