PRESEASON!!

All the summer training is over, its time to get those schedules, redshirt those players, and find out who is enrolling in your school next year.

Lets start with our 2010 roster, and see how we fare this year.

We are expecting our senior receiver and offensive captain Darrel O'Brien to not only help lead this team, but get it some wins. But I think the responsibility still lies in the hands, or maybe the arm of our right handed sophomore Ben Burch. Can he get O'Brien the ball, will the offensive line be able to protect our young QB from the defense, just many questions that will only be answered on the field.

Now after taking a short look at our roster, I found out that we are not very good, actually we are bad, and It is going to take a team effort to put together some wins and maybe win the Sun Belt Title. It's also going to put some pressure on sophomore kicker Marcus Kirk, who I think will be called upon in some very tough situations this season. Hopefully our defense can make some key stops while being lead by another sophomore, Dion Barry LOLB #56. Hopefully he can make some impact plays and stop some of the offensives we will play from shredding our defensive secondary.

Now on to the Redshirts. These are the following players who will sit out this season unless called upon to play, hopefully they will return next season with more practice, and knowledge of the game.

#36 RB Freshman- Dan Atkinson
#11 WR Freshman- Alan Keenan
#84 WR Sophomore-Ricky Blanco
#75 LT Freshman- Nick Blair
#90 RE Freshman- Michael Wolfe
#92 DT Freshman- Mark Fox
#30 SS Sophomore-Lamar Workman

Now on to our Depth Chart, and the real question is where do we start? Of course every great team needs a great leader, and what better position to lead a football team from than the Quarterback position. Now our QB's are not very good so it is going to up to starter Ben Burch to really carry the load. I would like to take this time to evaluate 3 key players who will have a definite impact on how we play, and if we win.

*First* Ben Burch, Quarterback #10 Sophomore(RS) 6'5" 215 LBS- I mean, he is the QB, the field general, so we need this young guy to pull through for us in the clutch and march his team down the field on every possession. Hopefully the running game will get going enough to take a lot of the pressure off of the passing game so he can make some plays. But if the owls plan on getting anything done this season, it starts will this guy.

*Second* Dion Barry, Left Outside Linebacker #56 Sophomore 6'0" 185 LBS- This guy is small for a linebacker, and I don't think he has the swagger to strike fear in the heart of any quarterbacks or running backs. But he is quick on his feet and he had a very good off-season. This teams game plan is going to have to stop the run first, and force the pass. Now I know what you guys are saying, our secondary is weak, we can't stop the pass on any down. Well that is true, but this guy can at least get in those passing lanes, cover Tight Ends, and backs coming out of the backfield on screen plays. The short passing game goes through him first.

*Third* Andrew Dahl, Cornerback #18 Senior 5'10" 174 LBS- The passing game is weak, this guy is not a stud, but who is on this defense? BUT, he is a great player, a tough guy, and possible the only corner who will be able to stop his man on a constant basis. He is going to have to get used to being stranded on a island by himself a whole lot this season if he expects his team to win. It's going to take safety help to assist the other corners on covering their guys, and stopping touchdowns as much as possible. Will he be able to step up to the play and at least cover his man 1v1?

Last but not least, our 2010 Schedule.

WEEK 1- OPEN
WEEK 2- Vs Wyoming
WEEK 3- Vs Hawaii
Week 4- At Kansas
Week 5- At Air Force
Week 6- At FIU
Week 7- Vs UL Monroe
Week 8- Vs UL Lafayette
Week 9- Vs North Texas
Week 10-Vs Florida Atlantic
Week 11-Vs Mid Tenn State
Week 12-At Troy
Week 14-Open
Week 15-Open

Strength of Schedule: F

Well im actually happy we have a F schedule this season, because we are not going to do much better than that, But I think we have most of our Conference games, at least 80 percent of them. Toughest game of the season: Week 12 @ Troy.

And again, lots of preseason questions, but they will soon be answered come week 1 on the regular season. We will report back to you at week 1 on recruit status, and other sun belt news. Week 1 of the schedule is a bye week for us, so make sure you are at the game in largo on week 2 against Wyoming.