Originally, I thought this was going to be our big year, based on all the returning players. If it weren’t for all the injuries, we could have arguably been 9-3(wins against Illinois and Nebraska). But the team that finished the season with a should have won against ranked Illinois and crushed Michigan State and beat Maryland( who were both fighting for bowl eligibility), loses very few of the starters who played down the stretch. The offense loses Monaghai, Pierce and Miller, but returns everyone else who played today, and gets back former starters Fletcher, Felter and Brown. The defense loses Hamilton, Powell, Longerbeam and maybe Dixon, but returns the other starters down the stretch and may get Toure and Bailey back. All this is before the transfer portal and the best recruiting class we’ve had in years, so we could be right back to our current level of talent, shortly. I know our schedule gets tougher, but we should have a significantly better talent level on the field next year with improvements from guys like Mascoe, Walker, Djabome, Sanders, Strong, Duff, Kaliakmanis, and some of the young OLs.
