Northeastern State Depth Chart

Northeastern depth chart. Click to enlarge.

Found this crawl across the @CokerChronicles twitter feed. (Side note, we're on a push to reach 100 followers AT LEAST before kick off. So follow us and pass the word along.) Northeastern State has released game notes and an official depth chart for the UTSA game this Saturday. Northeastern State has some pretty big receivers on their roster, but are generally small as a team. Let's take some comparisons to our own squad.

Click to enlarge.

While there are a couple of haus on this offensive line (6'6, 270 lbs at left tackle!), it's fairly small across the board when you take the pathetic right side into account. 6'2, 255/6'0 255 is too small for 5A high school football in Texas. In fact I'm pretty sure Brandeis High's average size on the offensive line  is considerably larger. I'd imagine that NSU favors running behind the side of the line where they have size. This will allow Neathery to key in on those running lanes by blitzing a mix of Johnston and Kurfehs. Ben Beam is a monster  at 335 pounds. Obviously interior pass rushes are going to be affected by Beam's presence-- ways to play around Beam's size? A.) Loop a defensive end around through the middle to catch Beam off guard and counter his size with superior quickness. B.) Blitz a safety through the middle C.) Simply beat Beam with your first step and get into the backfield before he can get his honey hams on to you.

Click to enlarge. Yes, I know there are 12 offensive players. I didn't make the depth chart.

Feeling pretty good about the match ups here. We have our biggest lineman (Harris) on NSU's best defensive lineman (Boswell). Dirteater  is criminally small. Watch for Johnson and Glasco to pound the ball through Dirteater's running lane. Even if Dirteater manages to get through Inskeep, who has 5 inches in height and 50 pounds of weight in his favor, Dirteater is small enough that our running backs could lower their shoulders and plow through the line until they're met by linebackers. Noseguard  Te'O has good size at 6'1, 285 lbs, almost a particle-by-particle mirror of his match up, Nate Leonard. I'm going to guess that Te'O lines up as a 1 shade on the weak side since NSU only listed four defensive linemen on their depth chart. A 1-5 technique gap is quite large for the college game. If I'm Coach Bush, I come out in a pro style set, kick down on Te'O with the OG, let Leonard go after the middle backer or pull to double team the end, then throw Okotcha on the outside linebacker as a lead blocker. Speaking of which, NSU is pretty light at both outside linebacker spots. If Bush and co. are unable to establish the running game, they can easily switch or motion to a 4 WR set to pull out one of the Riverhawk's linebackers. A slot reverse with Armstrong could be killer if NSU bites on that. Pretty good size at free and strong safety for NSU. Might be tough to land corner routes against the height of Leach and Keenum.

Overall, I'm pretty encouraged by seeing this depth chart. As we all know, football is so much more than a game of size, but NSU has some pretty glaring holes that UTSA should be able to exploit. With the speed and athleticism on this young Roadrunner squad a couple of mismatches in the trenches could go a long way towards a UTSA inaugural victory. Speaking of which, tweet us your score predictions. Whoever is closest might just win a prize.

Four days until kick off.