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The fourth official depth chart for the 2015 season was unveiled today. Have a look:
WILDCAT OFFENSE | ||||||||
POSITION | NO. | PLAYER | NO. | PLAYER | NO. | PLAYER | ||
Wide Receiver | 6 | Deante Burton | 12 | Stanton Weber | 13 | Steven West | ||
Left Tackle | 55 | Cody Whitehair | 76 | Ajahne Brager | 78 | Bryce Fitzner | ||
Left Guard | 77 | Boston Stiverson | 56 | Terrale Johnson | 69 | Reed Bergstrom | ||
Center | 71 | Dalton Risner | 69 | Reed Bergstrom | 67 | Reid Najvar | ||
Right Guard | 68 | Luke Hayes | 70 | Will Ash | 59 | Jason Lierz | ||
Right Tackle | 65 | Matt Kleinsorge | 64 | Aaron Bennett | 75 | A.J. Allen | ||
Tight End | 80 | Cody Small | OR | 88 | Dayton Valentine | 84 | Zach Heiman | |
Quarterback | 8 | Joe Hubener | 9 | Jonathan Banks | 18 | Zach Davidson | ||
Fullback | 48 | Glenn Gronkowski | OR | 38 | Winston Dimel | 39 | Austin Katsorelos | |
Running Back | 24 | Charles Jones | 32 | Justin Silmon | 3 | Dalvin Warmack | ||
Wide Receiver (Slot) | 19 | Kody Cook | 81 |
Kyle Klein | 15 | Zach Reuter | ||
Wide Receiver | 4 | Dominique Heath | 2 | Andre Davis | 31 | Taylor Hilgers | ||
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WILDCAT DEFENSE | ||||||||
POSITION | NO. | PLAYER | NO. | PLAYER | NO. | PLAYER | ||
Defensive End | 75 | Jordan Willis | 93 | Davis Clark | 51 | Reggie Walker | ||
Defensive Tackle | 95 | Travis Britz | 92 | Matt Seiwert | 94 | C.J. Reese | ||
Defensive Tackle | 60 | Will Geary | 97 | Demonte Hood | 99 | Trey Dishon | ||
Defensive End | 45 | Marquel Bryant | 34 | Tanner Wood | 90 | Joshua Little | ||
Weakside Linebacker | 9 | Elijah Lee | 58 | Trent Tanking | 47 | Myles Copeland | ||
Middle Linebacker | 35 | Will Davis | 41 | Sam Sizelove | 59 | Jayd Kirby | ||
Strongside Linebacker | 52 | Charmeachealle Moore | 57 | Colborn Couchman | 36 | Logan Thompson | ||
Nickelback (Cat Safety) | 10 | Donnie Starks | 24 | Nate Jackson | 28 | Nate Guidry Jr. | ||
Cornerback | 33 | Morgan Burns | 13 | Ryan Mack | 5 | Jesse Mack | ||
Strong Safety | 22 | Dante Barnett | 24 | Nate Jackson | 21 | Kendall Adams | ||
Free Safety | 4 | Kaleb Prewett | 29 | Sean Newlan | 18 | Brogan Barry | ||
Cornerback | 7 | Danzel McDaniel | 23 | Cre Moore | 24 | Nate Jackson | ||
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WILDCAT SPECIAL TEAMS | ||||||||
POSITION | NO. | PLAYER | NO. | PLAYER | NO. | PLAYER | ||
Place-Kicker | 16 | Matthew McCrane | OR | 3 | Jack Cantele | 40 | Ian Patterson | |
Punter | 14 | Nick Walsh | OR | 9 | Mitch Lochbihler | 40 | Ian Patterson | |
Punt Returner | 4 | Dominique Heath | 12 | Stanton Weber | 33 | Morgan Burns | ||
Kickoff Returner | 33 | Morgan Burns | 4 | Dominique Heath | 12 | Stanton Weber | ||
Kickoff Specialist | 40 | Ian Patterson | 8 | Dillon Wilson | 16 | Matthew McCrane | ||
Holder | 23 | Collin Sexton | 12 | Stanton Weber | 14 | Nick Walsh | ||
Long Snapper | 46 | Dalton Converse | 43 | Drew Scott | 38 | Dalton Harman |
By way of analysis, I'll hit the high points for each major position grouping.
Offense
My attempt to sort out the wide receiver depth chart becomes harder and harder every week, but this is my best try.
Despite Davis' start against Louisiana Tech, I will follow the official chart and keep Heath as a starter because (1) Davis had no statistics against the Bulldogs, (2) he allegedly was injured in the first overtime, and (3) Heath has played in one more game and has a touchdown, while Davis does not.
Beyond that, it flows something like this:
- Burton: 3 games, 3 starts
- Cook: 3 games, 2 starts
- Heath: 3 games, 1 start
- Davis: 2 games, 1 start
- Klein, Weber and Reuter: 2 games apiece
- West, Hilgers and Munds: 1 game apiece
Since Klein did not play against Louisiana Tech, I suspect he either is not performing or he is banged up again. My guess is Reuter has replaced Klein as Cook's backup in the slot, but I have seen him in a lot of four-wide sets, too.
Delton still is listed on the official depth chart as Hubener's backup, but that's just Bill Snyder being coy. All indications are that Delton is done for the year, or at least most of it, but let's hope we don't have to see Banks soon.
Stiverson has been suited up and in pads the last two games, so hopefully he makes his 2015 debut on Saturday. If he does, I pray the coaches move Johnson to the right side and force either Hayes or Kleinsorge to earn his spot.
Finally, I'm removing the "OR" between Silmon and Warmack. That debate's been settled. The true debate is whether to put one between Jones and Silmon, but that would require that the coaches actually stop being stupid.
Defense
This has got to be one of the most boring defensive depth charts in history. Other than Barnett, each of the starters has played most of the way in all three games. There's just really nothing to change week to week.
The backups have played their appropriate time, too, with only Clark missing a game (against Louisiana Tech).
I did amend things on the safety front. Assuming Barnett will be out for a while, I thought Jackson had to be at least second-string at that position since he has two starts there and the coaches clearly don't trust Adams to start.
Other than Adams and Newlan, Ryan Mack is the only backup to play three games in the secondary, but that's mostly been on special teams, so I left the cornerback spots the same for now.
Special Teams
The addition of "ORs" at place-kicker and punter are the closest admissions we will get from Snyder that McCrane is going to miss significant time and that Walsh is playing himself out of a starting job with poor consistency.
What are your thoughts on the fourth depth chart of the season? Let's get some discussion going in the comments!