Courtney was never having to compete for PT with a WR corp this thick either. Therefore, he simply hasn't gotten the reps up to this point. But Early has shown a bit more promise than you're giving him. He caught that ball at the end of the ASU game b/w his elbow and his abdomen, in the very corner of the EZ, and still managed to get a foot down. Perhaps you'll give him more credit when he's making mince-meat out of your secondary.:hihi:
As for the recievers.. they will make the difference this year... Buster has hands like glue, he was just banged up last year... Bowe had the drops, but he got eye surgery during the offseason and most people who have seen him say he is catching everything thrown his way... LaFell, Doucet, and holliday will each bring a different element to the #3 spot (holliday should be scary from the slot). And dont forget we hvae the mitchells and dixon coming in.. they could all play early... as far as running back goes, williams, scott, murphy, Korte, Hester.. there is plenty of depth behind Broussard, Vincent, and Jackson... untested depth.. but depth nonetheless..
I'm picking LSU to win by 10 points. I think Auburn is going to have defensive problems this season and will ultimately end up losing 3 or 4 games because of it. The LSU-Arkansas game will probably decide the SEC West.
Hired Muschamp... guy brought alot of excitement to the defense. Doesn't hurt to have 2 DE's that are noted as All-SEC favorites. Not to mention a thorpe award nominee in David Irons in the secondary. If I were you I wouldnt doubt the Auburn defense... they always seem to be consistent every year. By the way, its the LSU-AU game that will decide the west, not Arkansas.
Muschamp is probably going to be a good fit for Auburn and will have a strong defense by season's end. But he's the third DC in three years for these players and they will not likely hit the ground in game one running a new defense like pro's. As LSU found out last year, it takes a few games for players to understand what they are doing when installing a new defense and for the coach to learn his players virtues and limitations. I expect Muschamp to have some defensive issues early in the season and to have shaped it up to standards by bowl times. Just like Pellini last year.
Probably going to be a different situation. Pellini was forced to install an entirely new defense that lost it's heart-n-soul in the wake of Saban's departure. Muschamp enters a more stable situation with relatively minor defensive scheme changes to Tuberville's scheme. Granted, Muschamp will be forced to manage the changes you referenced in your post (getting familiar with personnel, etc.) , but I do not believe he will face the same level of task as that faced (and successfully conquered) by Pellini. Auburn's defense isn't really going to change that radically..... just a few tweaks. Most of those should be successfully handled well before mid-season, not Bowl season. :thumb:
I heard one of the few changes Muschamp is wanting to add to the Auburn defense is to get the LBs a little bit bigger and to blitz more often. I'm interested to see just how more aggressive our defense will be when we open up against SEC play.
Are you saying that Muschamp was brought in as DC and will NOT implement his own defense, but rather "tweak" the former DC's defense? I ain't buying that.
Guess your buying it now: http://scoreboards.aol.com/football/ncaaf/team/aub/team_news.aspx scroll down to about half the page
