QB - slightly weaker

RB - potentially stronger

OL - stronger

TE - slightly weaker

WR - stronger

DL - stronger

Edge - stronger

LB - slightly weaker 

CB - weaker

S - same

Rover - stronger

@kelly_32 exactly.....imo

@kelly_32 Good summary, and I'd pretty much agree. The 2 most interesting spots to me are TE and the secondary and replacing Ponds. Part of me thinks they looked at the problems Miami presented and decided they could best compensate for losing Ponds by increasing the pressure on the opposing QB. Hence the signing of the 2 KS St DEs and Burnham. TE, is super interesting. I'm almost looking at TE as incomplete. As great as Nowakowski was, there's also the angle that he was slightly undersized and not a 5* athlete. I think the staff was comfortable with the guys coming back and that by adding Schott, they feel they have a starter and backup, so I think it's quite possible that TE will be a push compared to last year.

I’m looking for improvement in the RB room. As good as those guys were last year I think Bebe was possibly the best back before he got hurt. Add in Martin with another year of growth and Turbo, they can be quite good if they can remain healthy.

With stronger DL I think LB performance/results = last season.  Adding OL elevation and well rounded 3 RB rotation offers QB a large area for comfortable decisions.  ST's stronger this season with uptick in roster talent (many quality TE, DB, LB, WR and RB's) adding depth to rotate throughout.  LOS wins at a higher %.  Gonna be a good year to be a HOOSIER. 

Fan, Coaches, Player Confidence all up.  

@walt542 Be curious to hear if there are any first-hand reports of Beebe this spring and how he looks. He played so little last year and against weaker comp, and he did have the most yards when we went down, but I remember being as or more impressed with both Black and Hemby at that time. Hard to expect a better RB room as good as they were last year, but I do think it's possible and probably hinges on Beebe's health. I thought/hoped we'd use passes to RBs last year a little more as that was something that Hemby was noted for, as is Richard this year. If Mendoza had a weakness last year, I didn't think he saw the field and worked through progressions as well as Rourke did. Felt to me like Fernando always had a timer ticking in his head and at some point would make the decision to run it, regardless if there was pressure or not, and once he decided that, he stopped looking for receivers for the most part. I do recall (maybe Bama?) where he started to run and then made a short pass before crossing the line of scrimmage, but for the most part it seemed to me once he decided to run, he was running it, period. I think Hoover might be able to extend plays a little more and work through progressions and find receivers a little more.

Posted by: @kkott

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@kelly_32 Good summary, and I'd pretty much agree. The 2 most interesting spots to me are TE and the secondary and replacing Ponds. Part of me thinks they looked at the problems Miami presented and decided they could best compensate for losing Ponds by increasing the pressure on the opposing QB. Hence the signing of the 2 KS St DEs and Burnham. TE, is super interesting. I'm almost looking at TE as incomplete. As great as Nowakowski was, there's also the angle that he was slightly undersized and not a 5* athlete. I think the staff was comfortable with the guys coming back and that by adding Schott, they feel they have a starter and backup, so I think it's quite possible that TE will be a push compared to last year.

I think Barker is going to be an exceptional blocker.  He's a physical specimen and is said to have the best blocking techniques of the TEs.  He looked ready to go in the spring game, for sure.

Schott will most probably be the best receiver in the TE room, although I believe Barker will be very capable in that category.

The guy who is intriguing to me is Trevor Gibbs, the true freshmen.  He's short for a TE, but very athletic.  He could be a Nowakowski play-alike in a year or two.

My only concerns after watching the spring game are QB (history of being TO prone, both with ints & lost fumbles), Marsh being a bit of a flake, and, as always, the prospect of injuries.

With respect to Marsh, I feel like he'll either be tremendous in our system (70%), or a bit of a distraction (30%).

Since I observed Schott so many times in HS I'm no doubt biased but he owns athletic talent in spades.  Talent usually only possessed by RB's, WR's, DB', QB's and returners.  Incredible athlete at TE with size, power and so smooth.  Soft receivers' hands. Like the rest of the position group he needs to show it on the field to Cignetti's demands.  I concur completely. 

@kkott Beebe didn’t really participate in the area where we were staged in the sessions that were open to the public.

@kelly_32 good summary.

The biggest question for me is if this team has that IT factor that last year’s team had. 

@thehoosierhuddle Yep, that was remarkable with that group. In the era with the portal playing such a large part, that's going to be a challenge every year, but we do have a good nucleus returning and with their focus on getting the right kind of players, it gives a head start on good chemistry. I think a huge part of it was just the character that Fernando Mendoza was and had. Can't remember if it was the Rich Eisen or the other recent interview Cig did, but he went more in depth than I've heard on Fernando and he said he actually learned from Fernando in terms of prep and contingencies, etc... which, given the way Cig preps, is pretty amazing. That will be nearly impossible to reproduce and wouldn't be fair to put that expectation on Hoover. My hope is that enough of the returning guys saw it and emulated it and it will become part of the Hoosier Way. I know watching that IU Football series with a day in the life with Charlie Becker, I was shocked at the variety of work and drills he was doing in what I think was supposed to be a single day.

@kkott 

Couldn't agree more.  I contemplate as the roster gets farther away from the original JMU players does it become more difficult to fulfill the attitude.  Probably very good possibility with so many JMU staff being on board. 

@hoosier-clarion I think the JMU thing is overblown. It's really sort of comical when you hear programs like Bama, Miami and OSU talking about "yeah, but the JMU guys are running out" like that was some fountain of incredible football players... that they'd all overlooked completely. In that B10 NC review (I think!) that just got linked, Cig says, the IU guys that were here when we got here are now the JMU guys! Keeping the staff together will create a similar culture, and that was good enough to go 16-0 and win a NC. That's now the IU culture. I really think the JMU thing will become irrelevant, because it's the Cig way and he's kept the staff that created that, at JMU and before, and now at IU. Ponds, Black, Sarratt, Kamara, Fischer, and all the rest will forever be remembered as Hoosiers, which is exactly what they are!