2008 Offense Preview Part 1

Today begins the first in a many part series previewing the 2008 football season. As a laid out yesterday in this post, we'll spend the next few weeks examining the team the Deacs will put on the field this season and the opponents they will face.

Today is part one of the series and we'll look at the offense. We've got a lot to cover (and I don't have a whole lot of time) so we're going to do it in a couple of parts. I think we can do this fairly systematically, unit-by-unit, and in today's part 1 we'll look at quarterbacks and running backs.

Quarterbacks

Things are pretty simple here. We couldn't ask for much more than Riley Skinner as our Quarterback. He makes smart decisions, throws the ball accurately, and generally does everything right. He's the type quarterback who isn't afraid to throw a block when necessary and I've never seen him shy away from contact. Having spent two years as a starter now he's going to be the undisputed leader of the offensive unit.

Perhaps the only significant concern will be his health. The shoulder injury he suffered last season seems to be behind him, but if it or another injury were to return there would obviously be problems.

Our depth at quarterback is pretty good. Brett Hodges obviously struggled in his work as a starter last season, however watching him this spring I don't think his skills lag far behind Riley's. He just doesn't have a lot of game experience and that obviously hurts when he gets thrown into the fire. It's unlikely that we'll see Skylar Jones get many (if any) snaps this season, but if he does I worry a lot about his passing ability. He can be a great running quarterback, but from what I saw of him throwing the ball this spring he has a lot of work left to do. His motion looks a bit funny and I wasn't overly impressed by his accuracy either. All of that said, I wouldn't expect a whole lot more from him at this point and he still has plenty of time to develop those skills. I do look forward to seeing his speed utilized in other areas, perhaps as a slot receiver on occasion.

Running Backs

I'm pretty excited and optimistic about the entire offense we'll be putting on the field this year, but if there's one area that really gets me excited it's our running backs. I can't wait to see the development and improvement of Josh Adams this season. Had he not emerged the way he did last season our season would have ended much much worse than it did. I can only imagine that with that year of experience under his belt he'll be more than ready to do even bigger things this season.

Coming out of spring practices the one player I was most impressed with was redshirt freshman Brandon Pendergrass. I'd say it's even possible that he will be better than Adams. He's quick, has good vision on the field, and is strong enough to run over just about anyone.

Having two strong running backs is going to be crucial to this team's success, but we do have to be careful with injuries here as well. Past Adams and Pendergrass things drop off significantly and we'll have to be careful. We are bringing in some talent in this area, but right now an injury to one or both of these guys could cause some major problems.

Even though we don't use a fullback very much, it's good to mention that we should have a healthy Rich Belton back this season (even though he sat out the spring) and Mike Rinfrette showed some good things in the work he got this spring. I'm not too concerned with either of these guys.

As good as our running backs are going to be, they're going to need some support from the offensive line. Tomorrow we'll take a look at that issue, as well as the receiving corps as we finish the offensive preview.

I'd love for all of you to share your thoughts as well. Leave your thoughts and comments about the quarterback and running back units in the comments section and we'll get ourselves a bit of a discussion going. For those of you who subscribe to the email or RSS feeds, click on over and join the conversation, too. It'd be great to have you.