The House of Blue

Not to be picky, but staying under 85, and finding 25 scholarships for this year, are really one in the same. In any event, let's use your math, and start with 17. Given both a totally new offense and defense, I think there are easily 8 current players, who either do not fit the new scheme, don't make grades, or won't be happy sitting.

The cold reality is, you are good enough to play in the SEC, or you are not. Life is not always fair. Neal Brown himself, transferred out of here. Think he is going to be sympathetic? I would suggest, you start with the underclassmen who would still have 2 or more years to play somewhere else. Two years from now, after a couple of losing seasons, no one is going to credit this staff for being fair to the current roster. They are going to be evaluated with progress, and that starts now, fair or not.

The problem with taking away mostly Srs or Jrs is then the next 2 years numbers really get skewed and cut down on what you can add for 2014 & 15.. I think the only way to do it is by looking at your roster position by position and spots where we're over stocked, then someone has to go and it needs to be the ones that aren't likely going to play or simply aren't SEC caliber guys. Alot of our recruits from the previous staff were stretches and in saying that I mean they may have been recruited more on potential than actual ability and some have worked out and some haven't. For instance, we have a real shortage of DEs, CBs and WRs, so, those are positions you can't afford to lose someone.. Then you have a stockpile of TEs, Safetys and LBs, so, you may evaluate these 3 spots and recommend 1 or 2 at each of those spots look for something else.. 3 QBs is fine, but, as we all saw last year, we needed everyone of them and, at times, held our breath that one didn't go down or we'd have really been in a pickle, so, you can't take any of those guys.. In the 4-3 D, you need at least 5-6 solid DTs, so, you may can cut a little fat there, but, not much.. We have a stockpile of RBs, but, in the SEC, you better have 4-5 really good ones because the season is a grind and this is a spot where alot of injuries occur, so, I can't see us cutting anything there, unless it's a FB possibly, because not sure if Browns system utilizes the FB much, if at all.. With all this, you probably have 4-5 guys who'll be evaluated and asked to pursue other opportunities, then, as is always the case, you'll have 3-4 guys who'll either quit, not make there grades, get injured or whatever else which will open up 7-9 spots, so, that 17 spots we have now turns into 24 to 26 spots.. With so few srs next year, I think the staff would love to only sign 22-23 this year to leave a couple of extra for next year, however, right now, there's a buzz and excitement surrounding the program, so, you may want to strike all you can while the iron is hot and while some of our close rivals like Cinci & Tenn are in a transition period.. However it goes, it is exciting to see how things will all shake out and what the future of the program has in store for us..

Another issue, how many guys do you see on the roster that can play center?

That's because these guys replaced Ross Bogue, Mo Ginter, and TC Drake who were all TEs in the same class.

Numbers always have a way of working out. Once the staff has spring practice to evaluate personnel, some players will see the writing on the wall and leave the program. It isn't unusual to see up to10 guys leave a program when a new coaching staff takes over.

With 6 scholarship and one walk-on WRs, got to wonder how many of those would get significant PT on other SEC teams (other than Vandy and the Mississippis).

The scariest thing about this is two guys that reportedly not cutting it in the class room (Sweat and Caffey), are at positions that are extremely light as is and both would contribute heavily. The other one (Kendrick), is one of the many TE's we have on the roster, so while he may not be an idealmcut, it at least is at a fat position.