One under the radar concern re: ND's Offense next year
Is the slightness of the WR corps as it relates to personnel groupings. Guys like Fields, Jayden Thomas, etc. have given us a lot of latitude to "Declare 11, Show 12" by bringing a burly fella into the formation after the DC has made his call. Looking at Gilbert, Great house, Faison and Graham I don't think we have that luxury.
Possibly a sneaky big deal. Give opposing DCs the ability to really dial in their call sheets and the burden of execution for the offense becomes a lot heavier. You look at guys like Cam Williams or Bettis and really start to hope they can grab a role because of what they could possibly bring in this facet
Is this concern potentially answered
By having faster and more elusive receivers who can cause more problems after the catch? And what about Porter?
Aside from Porter
we're also going to have a wider array of tight ends to employ this fall than we did in 2025, when it was basically just Raridon and Washington. If he can get up to speed as quickly as I suspect, imagine for a moment what a specimen like Ian Premer could do for Denbrock as a glorified big receiver. It's clear that James Flanigan will play a significant role, too, and he is one hell of an athlete.
Even if the list of proven producers is short, the talent and depth of our skill corps on offense are getting close to "embarrassment of riches" territory.
The TEs are a true wild card
Having multiple guys that can block at a high level is probably even more important than having Rairdon-level receiving threats. Otherwise teams will be able to just take away Carr's first read every time
As successful as Love and Price were last season
Cooper Flanagan was a player whose blocking we missed in the run game. James is a well-rounded TE who should be a plus on the blocking front, too. I think we'll be well covered there to replace Raridon, who probably shouldered too much of the load a year ago, and actually enhance the unit's performance.
Definitely and Achilles Heel (no pun intended)
We just could not win in a phone booth last year, and it kinda made the offensive experience feel more white knuckle than the numbers would merit
not that it materially affected the record
by HumanRobot 
, Cybertron, Saturday, March 21, 2026, 09:07 (127 days ago) @ Mike (bart)
But taking the RPOs completely off the table after Miami probably hurt us on that front. Other teams figured out they could sit on Pauling and Faison since Fields couldn't catch a slant pass.
I was pretty hopeful for the playoffs when we hit that red zone TD slant off of PA against Stanford. What could have been!
--
Freeman's got so much riz they need to call him Aura Parseghian
Yes and yes.
by San Pedro , Saturday, March 21, 2026, 06:50 (127 days ago) @ Dallasdomer
I understand Bart’s point, but ideally the defense should be so concerned about our WR that it won’t matter much. We’ve had so many grinders incapable of separation, it’s nice to see the potential to really put some fear in the defense.
We have a ways to go on the WR front still
Faison is the only guy with anywhere near 100 career receptions. There is a ton to like as far as traits and potential but we need a number of guys to put together career best seasons for this all to work
Indeed. Graham will be critical.
by San Pedro , Wednesday, March 25, 2026, 07:59 (123 days ago) @ Mike (bart)
He's the kind of guy who can put some fear into the defense. But he and Faison can't do it alone, and some of these guys need to move from tough, good blocker to "dangerous and need to be accounted for." We could be a year away at the position.