Bull Run Stampede is a feature in which Buffalo fans give their take on the going in Bull Nation, the last game, and games to come. Participants include BullsFanInChiTown, UB2010, BRJACR, BC Bull, and rookie fan Buffalofan4255;
So in one day UB has their annual football lunch, its the unofficial start of Football season. Camp follows and then, oh thank you merciful Lord, the season kicks off. So eager are we to get 2010 behind us that the participants of last years Bull Run Stampede have all decided to start kicking issues around in August.
Welcome this year to B-LO (Buffalofan4255) who is making waves both here and on UB fan.
1) This weekend we learned that Davonte Shannon signed as an UDFA with the RedSkins. That puts Starks, Scott, Newton, Shannon, Cook, Roosevelt, Thomas, Willy, and Richard in camps this week. Which of these players make the roster, who is destined for the practice squad and who just won't make it.
2010
The Good: James Starks will be a change of pace back and will have a great season.Mike Newton is going to be the surprise of the season. Expect Mike to have a strong season and make a name for himself.
The Still Very Good:Willy is a third string QB who is cheap, seeing Drew in a green uniform in OP. Josh to make the Cowboys but a special teamer only. Richard again to be a great option for Colts.
The Bad: Naaman will be demoted to the practice squad and may not be surprised if he does not make any part of the team.To many WR's. Cook will be an early cut casualty. Personally, I hope that Shannon makes the team. He is a player! I have a bad feeling he is a hard luck cut right at the very end. I sure hope that I am wrong.
I hope that Scott’s is back to his old self after the back surgery, backs are very tricky.
Chi-Town:
With the lockout, and missing all of the OTAs and mini-camps, and missing out on being able to sit down with coaches to "chat", the rookies will have a tough time breaking into the active roster. Cook may make the Bills practice squad, but I don’t think Shannon will stick with the Redskins. Honestly the one thing that I think has always scared the NFL away from Shannon is his lack of speed, but even at that, he has a nose for football. Thomas will probably stick with Dallas, not sure where, but they invested a draft pick on him so Im sure they dont want to throw it away by not giving him a couple seasons to prove himself. Willy, I'm afraid, and its not fair, has settled into the roll of being a "training camp arm." Maybe he'll make it as the 3rd stringer. This year, because of numbers at WR on the Bills Roster, Naaman, unless he can become one of Fitzpatrick's favorites in camp, at best makes the practice squad. Scott, Newton, Richard are all valuable depth players for their respective teams, they are safe. As for Starks, no worries.
BRJ:
- First off, its really good to hear that Shannon at least was given a chance to compete in the NFL. He is one of the few MAC players ever to get first team All-MAC every single year. There would have been no reason for a team to at least give em a shot. With that said, here are my predictions for these players
- Starks - Lock to make the team, and see a fair amount of action. If any Packers RB is injured, it is clear that the Packers staff has a ton of confidence in James, and will give em the bulk of the carries.
- Scott - A lot depends on how he is recovering from his injury. If healthy, he has definitely proved to be a quality LB in the league.
- Newton - I can see Newton making a strong push to make the roster, but at the very practice squad. The Colts seem to like him a lot.
- Shannon - I think he will struggle to make the roster, but I bet he ends up on a practice squad somewhere.
- Cook - With the recent news of his injury, he will probably not make it.
- Roosevelt - I see Naaman making the roster this year. With a year under his belt, and the backend of the Bills WR core still questionable, Naaman has a real shot.
- Thomas - I think he will make the roster
- Willy - I really really hope Willy makes the roster, as he really deserves it but I dont know. I see practice squad
- Richard - Definitely will make the team. He has proven to be a reliable backup OL in Indianapolis
BC Bull:
I expect Starks, Scott, and Richard to once again make their rosters and contribute this season. Newton and Roosevelt have the benefit of knowing their teams' systems, but the same injuries that got Naaman some playing time last year also allowed just about every Bills receiver to show off a bit. I expect him to land on the practice squad but wouldn't be too surprised if he doesn't. I think Newton will stick once again with the Colts. Of the rest, I think Josh Thomas has the best chance of sticking, and I think Davonte's worst case scenario is the practice squad in Washington. Cook and Willy should be for practice squad at best.
B-Lo:
We've got so many Bulls going places this year. I see James Starks, Naaman Roosevelt, Jamey Richard, Trevor Scott, and Josh Thomas as being on NFL rosters without any doubt. Now for our two latest signees; Domonic Cook and Davonte Shannon, I only see Davonte making any sort of team (whether it be an NFL roster or a practice squad). On his first day at camp, Cook collapsed, and that just makes him look really bad. As for the last man on the list, Drew Willy, I see him becoming the 3rd or 2nd string Quaterback for the New York Jets. That's only if he can compete with Greg McElroy, who led the Alabama Crimson Tide to an undefeated 14-0 season in his junior year.
2) Three of last years DB's are now in NFL Camps. How ugly is the transition going to be this season?
B-Lo:
Losing 3 DB's is never a good thing, but it's really not a good thing if they were some of the best DB's in the conference. The transition of leadership and quality between last year's defense to this year's defense is definitely going to be rough.
BC Bull:
Losing Ray Anthony Long for the season hurts, in a big way. That said, even with the significant transition, I have more faith in Coach Inge than I do the offensive side of the ball. Copeland and Baugh will have to step up and lead.
Chi-Town
No doubt, the transition is going to be ugly but at the same time I believe our secondary is promising. I really think Okoye Houston is the real deal at safety and will take a huge step up this year. Lammons got a good year of experience in last year, and should be better this year. Younger guys like Sherry, Lester, and Striggles combined with some older veterans like Copeland and Hayes will have to step up. The loss of Dismuke also hurts, as he was slated to start from day one.
BRJ:
I dont want to say ugly. Welcome to college football, where your roster is always in a state of flux. You bring in these players to replace palyers that you already have and to pick up where they left off. Successful programs have this ability. Im sure there will be growing pains, but these guys came out of high school highly touted, at least more highly touted compared to where UB used to be in terms of recruiting. I think they will be fine.
2010:
The transition would be completely unbearable if we did not have the horses to bring pressure on the QB. UB fans have been spoiled for the past three years and mistakes are going to happen.
3) Chazz Anderson. Is he a game changer? How many wins does a competent QB buy the Bulls this season?
2010:
Chazz is not a game changer. This offense is going to struggle. Chazz is a small band-aid on a major problem. He is the best option for QB although I am not sitting on the edge of my seat waiting To see Chazz throw the ball around. He may move the win total up to 3.
B-Lo:
The Bulls haven't had a decent QB since Willy, and we never quite had a decent QB before Willy either. Last year we had to put up with #4 Davis who only completed 48% of his passes. I'm very happy we got Chazz this year but at the same time, he was a backup at Cincinnati. The least Chazz can bring to the table is some competition for Davis to step up and get better.
BC:
Before Chazz, I was expecting a 3, maybe 4 win season. Now I'd say 4, maybe 5. So I guess the answer is Chazz buys us one game. Far more important, however, is having a healthy and consistent O-Line, a topic probably worth a whole post in itself.
Chi-Town:
I really do think Anderson will be a game changer. I think he is going to win the starting job, and never look back. Lets remember this is a guy who practiced with a Big East caliber team the last four seasons. Some very good Cincinnati teams at that. From everything I have seen, he is more mobile then Davis and Zordich and there is no way he can be a worse passer. Anderson will give this team 2 additional wins that we would not have had without him. Like I have said before though, if our OLine can't block again then it doesnt really matter who is back there. OLine has to step up!
BRJ:
Is he a game changer? Shouldn't he be? What, with all the hype that came along with him when he signed on. I was never done with Davis or Zordich, even after last year unlike alot of people and fully expected better from each of them who ever got the nod as QB1. I saw alot of "we have to win now" as a reason for automatically handing Chazz the reigns and then the same person turns around and says 3,4,5 wins with Chazz. Umm?, what are we doing then?
I would have rather seen what the current QB's on the roster could do with a vamped up offensive line and a commitment to a running game and build on that instead of prolonging the QB situation into next season, Coach Quinn's third as head coach. I saw 5 or 6 wins with our current guys, now, I expect more if Chazz is the guy. The hype for me brings a higher level of expectation. Ideally, Chazz is an on the field teacher, and one of our current guys wins the competition.
4) Recruiting: So far only four Verbals. Last year Quinn had a dozen by the time the season kicked off is this a normal bump, will it pick up, or does Jeff Quinn have image repair to do (e.g. winning some games) before he can start to recruit at the pace of last year.
BRJ:
Winning games always helps in recruiting. But I think this also speaks highly of the fact Coach Quinn has been able to go out and add alot of depth at positions as well, lessening the need for quantity and allowing them to look for quality. Plus you have to figure in that alot of the starters this year are going to be younger players that arent going to be going anywhere after this year. I think the difference is moving away from adding bodies too adding quality.
Chi-Town:
I don't see this as a big issue personally. I think the lack of verbals up to this point could be Quinn trying to bite off more then he can chew. It seems like this offseason he has been going after some big time targets, and it hasnt paid off for him. Once the season starts, and recruits start taking some official visits, we will start to see the recruits come in.
B-Lo:
I think the 2-10 record last year hurt the Bulls in many ways, not just recruiting. The record last year said to people "We were only good with Turner, and now we will forever suck without him". Coach Quinn has a lot of image repair to do, and hopefully the repair comes this season.
BC:
This past season is not going to help recruiting. I've never been recruited, so I won't try to get into someone's mindset, but JQ's twelve recruits by the season was a first for UB football. It'd be nice to make that the norm, but I won't be too concerned yet.
2010:
Simple, needs to win. All this recruiting buzz does nothing without wins.
5) Do any of the incoming freshman surprise during camp and earn a roster spot?
2010:
If Licata is who we think he is, I would rather have Joe under center and getting his lumps and progressing. I am not a fan of Chazz starting this year. Just helps take pressure off of Quinn but does not help the team. I think that you may see Kling on the rooster and I believe he can be a starter by the end of the year.
BC:
I should hope that a small handful will make the two deep, but it's tough to really project too much based on high school highlight videos. I really hope for the sake of our pass rush that Patterson and Tammaro, and especially Cahill, who is a few years out of high school manage to make their way onto the D-line quickly.
B-Lo:
In all honesty, I only see one verbal as having a definite roster spot, and that's 3 star, defensive tackle- Corey Madlock.
Chi-Town:
Kendall Patterson will play as a true freshman. Not only because we need more size on the line, but because he is a very good player. I could also see Brandon Tammaro making a push for playing time, as he is a versatile player who can play OLB in the 3-4, or put his hand down on the line in a 4-3 situation. Khari Brown is also someone who seems to have the size, strength and toughness to compete right now. If he puts everything together I can see him contributing this year. On the offensive side of the ball, it wouldn't surprise me to see one of the incoming lineman contribute, simply because we might need the bulk up front.
BRJ:
Do any of the freshman really have to this year? Thankfully, UB isnt in a place where they have to hope a freshman can come in right away and become a starter. I can’t think of one position where the roster is really hurting for bodies going into camp. This where you need to be to start building that consistency of success. The only freshman might be the PK, Clarke. Only because Fardon (29 year old college senior, what is this post- WWII college football, LOL?) is trying his hand at place kicking for the first time and chances are Clarke will be handling those duties next season, and it seems the kicker position always sees the kicker come into a program and play as a freshman immediately. Of course all bets are off if any of the freshman show a unique ability for "COVER THE DAMN KICK."
I could not agree more... Mandatory reading for this years Coaches and Players:
