A Few End-of-Season Notes:

[hawkssb04]

Home game attendance average was 8,799, the highest since 2005 in Mac’s first season. As we've learned, how athletics counts attendance is still up for debate.

Team Accomplishments:
Largest Margin of victory in WSU history (76-0 over Montana Western)
7-game win streak is the third-longest in WSU history

Trey Tuttle:
Probably just had the best kicking season in WSU history. He tied the single-season mark for made field goals (19), but did it on 10 less attempts than the other guy (Jaime Nunez: 1971). He also set the single-season scoring record for kickers by a mile with 116 (2nd is Scott Shields with 89 in 1996). His 116 points are also the most since Trevyn Smith in 2008.

Treshawn Garrett:
Despite being banged up and getting limited snaps at the end of the year, he now has 1,791 rushing yards, which is 11th all-time in WSU history. A 508-yard senior year in 2018 would move him to 5th all time. It would take 846 yards to move him to 4th. Unless he has a monster season, he won’t come close to Lee White for 3rd.

Taron Johnson:
Extended his WSU record for career pass breakups to 42. 2nd on the list has only 26.

 

[n.ogdencat]

The cupboards definitely aren't bare, but the Cats are losing a number of really good players. First and foremost on offense we will need to replace a highly efficient QB. I really wish that Cantwell could find another year of eligibility. Vollert is going to be extremely hard to replace and to make matters worse, we are losing another good TE in Satuala. But, Vollert is graduating. He was so amazing and did such a great job for the Cats. Batchelor is a good WR, who talent wise is replaceable, but as a teammate, leader, and worker, will be extremely tough to replace. He gave it everything he had all season.

On defense...Harry and Johnson are two really good corners who will be extremely tough to replace. McKay Murphy might have been one of our absolute best defensive lineman in recent history and we also lose another couple of really good lineman Cardon Malan (he had one hell of a season as a DE) and Reyshawn Henderson.

Out of this group, there are three legitimate NFL players.

 

[oldrunner]

You don't just replace a guy like Vollert. However, we have a stable of young receivers, running backs, and some potentially good quarterback candidates. I think that our offense could be better next year. On defense, we rotated some young DBs in and out and have some good line backers coming back next year. The biggest issue I see there is along the D line. Hopefully, those issues get resolved in spring ball and recruiting. :twocents:

 

[hawkssb04]

You don't just replace a guy like Vollert. However, we have a stable of young receivers, running backs, and some potentially good quarterback candidates. I think that our offense could be better next year. On defense, we rotated some young DBs in and out and have some good line backers coming back next year. The biggest issue I see there is along the D line. Hopefully, those issues get resolved in spring ball and recruiting. :twocents:

I've long preached that skill position players (with the exception of QB) are far easier to replace than linemen. I firmly believe that we were successful this season due to solid, physical play in the trenches, which enabled our QB, RBs, WRs and defensive backs to make plays. Losing Murphy, Malan and Henderson are going to hurt most. They were the core of our d-line. On offense, every starter from the James Madison game will be back (in addition to Downs and Bruce, who were injured). Satuala is the only o-lineman that saw significant playing time that will graduate, so I expect big things from our offense next year. 7 of 11 starters on defense are gone. It will be tough sledding on defense next year, at least early in the season.

 

[oldrunner]

I know that what a player looks like is much less important than how they actually play, but that Jenks kid sure looked impressive throwing the ball around on the sidelines. He looks to have size and strength that we haven't had at QB for a long time. I'm not sure how the competition for starting QB will go, but it sure will be interesting this spring.

We should also be getting some returning missionaries. I'm not certain exactly who is returning, but there are usually some linemen in that group.

We don't usually hit the JCs much in our recruiting, but this might be the year that we go after a couple of defensive linemen out of the JC ranks. I'm saying that because I have no idea what is already in the pipeline for next years D line. There could be plenty of depth there and I am just not aware.

 

[oldrunner]

I just went through our roster, and I take back what I said about needing to go to the JC ranks for anybody. We have plenty of horses in the stable. We just need a few to step up and win positions in the spring. Our recruiting classes over the past 4 years have left us with fully stocked shelves. Of course we can always find some players to make us better in this next recruiting class. Maybe there is another difference maker out there.

 

[n.ogdencat]

There is no doubt in my mind that Jay will sign a handful of JC kids, or get some drop downs. Yet, he has done an exceptional job finding diamonds in the rough coming directly out of high school. Most are red shirted, unless they are going to make an immediate impact, and in some cases, there are some that don't play for 3 years (helps them mature). To me, and I really don't know about the kids who have red shirted, coming home from missions, the areas Coach Hill needs to focus on are corners, defensive line, tight ends, and of course QB. I'm almost positive he already has a plan for each spot with backups.

 

[oldrunner]

Baby steps...

Winning season... done that

Make the playoffs... done that

Make a run in the Playoffs... done that

Next year?????? Take the next step!