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.

8/28/2011 OFFICIAL Depth Chart

Click to view full size

It's game week and we finally have a depth chart. There are quite a few surprises and changes of note, from position changes to a few unexpected starters. Let's dive in:

- Surprise! Some guy named Brandon Freeman is your starting wide out! Okay so no one really knows who this is. A transfer freshman from New Mexico State, Freeman hails from Cameron Yoe High School. Freeman stands at 5'10 and 155 lbs. That's seriously all I have on this guy. YouTube has a few videos of him, and he looks good, but it's odd that one of UTSA's deepest position has a virtual unknown starting. Brandon must have been damn impressive this fall camp.

- It's weird. For all the talk of a lack of depth, it was strangely calming for me to see the team lined up in an official two deep chart. It definitely gives the illusion of increased depth. Especially when some of the names of UTSA's bigger recruits are no where to be found on the depth chart.

- Speaking of big name recruits nowhere to be found... Josiah Monroe's name can only be found at the Holder position. Very, very surprising given how much of a task it was for UTSA to keep their hands on Monroe while SEC and Big XII schools were calling his name last year.

- Looks like we'll be seeing a lot of Brandon Armstrong this year. I was honestly anticipating Armstrong falling by the wayside this season with the additions of Josiah Monroe and Tevin Williams. Armstrong is penciled in as the starter at Slot WR, Kick Return, and Punt Return.

- Another fairly large surprise. Payton Rion (6-4, 265, Smithson Valley HS) is your starting Left Guard in Patrick Hoog's absence. I have lauded Rion's praises before on the podcast, so I'm excited he's getting a chance to shine. Rion has excellent foot work, intelligence, and work ethic. Another 30 pounds and he's an NFL prospect. Let's just hope he's prepared for Division I football at 18 years old.

- Man, UTSA has a great defensive line. There's practically zero drop off from the first and second string. The big surprise to me is to see Richard Burge (6-4, 260, Stratford HS) getting the nod over both Franky Anaya and Ashaad Mabry. Also, where is Dominique Henderson? Injured? The lack of Kristian Bryant on the two deep leads me to suspect that he's being redshirted, a move that I wholeheartedly endorse.

- Jeremy Hall is taking the backseat to Darrien Starling and Crosby Adams at cornerback. Hall is going to get plenty of burn since the CBs will be moving in and out, but this came as a small surpise to me since Hall was such a highly heralded recruit coming out of high school. I was once told that UTSA didn't "deserve" Jeremy Hall. Ha.

- True freshman Mauricio Sanchez (6'0, 180 lbs., Warren HS) is starting at Rover safety. Another player that I have spoken highly of on our podcasts, Sanchez is going to develop into a top grade player for Coach Neathery. Let's see what kind of an impression Mauricio can make before Lekenwic Haynes returns from his foot injury.

- Houston transfer Mike Sanchez has moved over to Center, backing up Nate Leonard. Good move here because before I hadn't the slightest clue who our second string Center was.

- More thoughts as they come, but be sure to check out our Mega Podcast on Tuesday. We're teaming up with Darrell from RowdyReport.com to give you an extravagant podcast worthy of commemorating UTSA's first ever football game.