2021 G1 NIU ATL Depth Chart

Techster

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Techster

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17,803
Perhaps Adonicas


Kyric McGowan has been really good in the slot. A good slot receiver can obliterate a defense.

Malachi Carter has all the tools...he just needs to be consistent. Hopefully being in this offense for 3 yrs now will help.

Our OL will dictate a lot of it by how much time they'll give Sims to go through his progressions. Our WRs are getting windows...the QB just needs to find them, and our OL needs to give our QB the time to do it.

 
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YJMD

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I think Malachi has an under-appreciated slipperiness. He is versatile which needs to be leveraged to create separation. One of the interviews with coach Dixon noted they were working with him to reduce wasted movement off the line and in his breaks. If that's successful, he can be a huge weapon, but a lot depends on Jeff having the protection and making the right throw. Thankfully he's got the ball skills to contest for the bad balls. Although he would still be productive just going 1:1 against DBs downfield, we'll be in much better shape if we're able to get him the ball with him creating space.
 

FlatsLander

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Man, both top WRs are injured. First Blackburn and now Blackstrain. We haven’t even made it to the first snap and they’re dropping like flies. Worried about Blackstrain, he was coming off an injury his Junior year.
I think the first commenter mistakenly said Blackstrain instead of Blackburn. Blackburn has a torn ACL or some other 12-month leg injury. I haven't heard Blackstrain is injured.
Edit: also I'm not sure either is/would be top targets game 1 anyways. They're both really talented, but the older guys at WR are probably more ready to play.
 

jacketup

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Kyric McGowan has been really good in the slot. A good slot receiver can obliterate a defense.

Malachi Carter has all the tools...he just needs to be consistent. Hopefully being in this offense for 3 yrs now will help.

Our OL will dictate a lot of it by how much time they'll give Sims to go through his progressions. Our WRs are getting windows...the QB just needs to find them, and our OL needs to give our QB the time to do it.


I thought Carter would be a star for us when we signed him. Don't know what the problem has been. Injury? Distractions? Lack of targets? Coaching?
I hope he has a break out year. He has the tools.
 

FlatsLander

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827
I thought Carter would be a star for us when we signed him. Don't know what the problem has been. Injury? Distractions? Lack of targets? Coaching?
I hope he has a break out year. He has the tools.
I think it's mostly lack of targets, maybe separation. He's got good hands when the ball comes close to him.
 

Gt2019

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I thought Carter would be a star for us when we signed him. Don't know what the problem has been. Injury? Distractions? Lack of targets? Coaching?
I hope he has a break out year. He has the tools.
Consistency has been the biggest problem. He shows flashes in some games but other games are completely opposite.
 

alagold

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I know that what with the COVID year the class status is skewed, but, Laws, our DL is young. If I had my druthers, I'd see more youth (but not much more) on the OL and less on the DL. I hope that we age quickly over there; the talent is present, if we can hold the first for a few games.

Other then that, no real surprises for me. I particularly wasn't surprised to see Tatum show up.
Yep, oddly we have 3 Srs on OL (and maybe 4 ) so we had BETTER be good.
I look for the transfer Scott to maybe break into DL just like Tatum at LB. also-I sure would like to see Edwards at Rover.-I could take 4 yrs of him...
 

UgaBlows

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TK and Makius are two very big dudes to clog up the middle, nobody can say we are undersized on the line anymore
 

UgaBlows

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I am a little worried about Juanyeh and Tariq starting at safety, they are both big- basically linebacker sized and both played not exactly great at times last season, I really hope they show out and redeem themselves but if not I feel like there may be more speed available down the depth chart….
 

Gt2019

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I am a little worried about Juanyeh and Tariq starting at safety, they are both big- basically linebacker sized and both played not exactly great at times last season, I really hope they show out and redeem themselves but if not I feel like there may be more speed available down the depth chart….
I wouldn’t be worried about it. I wouldn’t put a ton of stock into last year. Tariq was battling injuries all year and couldn’t even get into shape. He’s trimmed down a lot and is at the playing size he was in 2019. Last year was a very weird year for our DB’s since Collins couldn’t coach them hands on like he masters at and is his craft.
 

SOWEGA Jacket

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No concerns with Peery. He’s solid and Collins likes him. He hasn’t played in 2 years and is a true freshmen. And we need separation between him and Sims. So he’ll definitely redshirt since we have 2 other backups. If Sims doesn’t take that step forward this year then the QB battle will be interesting come the spring.
 

Techster

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No concerns with Peery. He’s solid and Collins likes him. He hasn’t played in 2 years and is a true freshmen. And we need separation between him and Sims. So he’ll definitely redshirt since we have 2 other backups. If Sims doesn’t take that step forward this year then the QB battle will be interesting come the spring.

Things started "clicking" for Sims more the second half. Someone posted some stats of Jeff Sims 2nd half of last season that put him in elite category...he was statistically the best QB within those parameters. Those stats were video game ridiculously good for Sims.

I posted in another thread a comparison of Sims's freshmen season versus Joe Hamilton's redshirt freshmen season, and Sims was comparatively the better QB.

There's a LOT of upside with Sims. Pair that with a much better and deeper OL this year, probably a top 10 (if not Topt 5) RB group in the nation to keep the defense honest in the secondary, and I personally think Sims will be in the discussion for one of the best QBs in the ACC after it's all said and done this season.

If Sims has the season I think he will, expect to see our QB recruiting start to take off. As I said before, GT fans need to root for Sims to succeed because he has the potential to set our program up for the highest levels after he's done playing here.
 
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