West Florida 2023

[Argonut]

A few notes about Argos after first week of fall practice.

Pee Wee was injured end of last season and had off season surgery to correct problems. He sat out spring practice rehabbing and word is he’s better than ever and this is his team.

LB Will Breland did not transfer and LB room is deepest and most experienced group on team. New DC was NFL LB and LB coach at Clemson who produced a few good LB.

Defense plans to play simpler, more aggressive style and will use 4 man fronts with fast DE to pressure QB. Maybe going back to early Argos sack and strip ball.

Looks like Shomari Mason is gone and CJ Wilson heads a 7 deep RB room. QB room is also 5-6 deep including ex Gator freshman Marcus Stokes.

Word also is that coach Nobles was shocked at low receiving yardage of RB and especially the TE position and that will definitely be changed for the better.

WR room has same coach Dickerson and plenty of opportunities for new players to step up and replace Durden’s production. Expect to see Leggett have a big year and maybe some new surprises at WR.

Kickers are carried over from last year and coach Nobles says he has plans for special teams, which were kind of conservative under Shinnick

Its been 100 degree heat index all week in Pensacola and next week is more of the same. Hope all coaches in GSC are smart about the heat to protect their players. Sure don’t want to start year off with sad heat exhaustion death that would wreck morale of team.

Penn Aire field has been returfed with new Astroturf as part of 56 million dollar upgrades to field house that will now have seating on both sides of all new basketball and volleyball courts. All the coaches offices and locker rooms will be gutted and rebuilt along with new trophy lobby. A new wing to medical building for all teams is starting construction at south end of football field.

Go Arrrgggooosss!!!

[UNALions]

Doesn’t look like Shomari Mason transferred anywhere. He entered the portal in May and no new team. Wonder why he’s not playing.

[Argonut]

Surprise, surprise! Guess who’s back for the Argos?QB Mike Beudry is back with Argos as graduate assistant coach after couple of years in the CFL. Coach Nobles apparently looked him up when lack of CFL offers made him available.

Liking coach Nobles as HC more and more every time he does something like this. We now have the first two most productive Argo QBs now coaching the current Argo QBs-this is way better than just passing the torch to your replacement, this is stoking a historical bonfire of institutional knowledge and success in real time. Gives Argo fans the chills about this year.

Beudry says it was a quick and easy “yes” to return to Pensacola and help the Argos once again. Beudry’s addition to coaching staff means four current Argo coaches have played professional football, including both the OC and the DC.

[West Florida]

Do you think Marcus Stokes will play or is Pee Wee set in stone as the QB? Thrilled Will Breland came back. We will miss Mason a lot although I know we have other talent at the RB position. Will will miss Durden more than anyone I think. Sometimes I can't believe we had Durden and Austin Reed on the same D2 team and didn't win a National Championship...or at least be able to beat Newberry. That's crazy.

[Argonut]

In a short fall camp video OC and WR coach Dickerson says offense will be spreading ball around to all playmakers and not just WR. Also said WR will be expected to be tough blockers as well as pass catchers. Looks like RB and TE will be seeing receiving numbers rise. Looking forward to fall fan scrimmage next week to see if these statements pan out.

[Rational Observer]

Surprise, surprise! Guess who’s back for the Argos?QB Mike Beudry is back with Argos as graduate assistant coach after couple of years in the CFL. Coach Nobles apparently looked him up when lack of CFL offers made him available.

Liking coach Nobles as HC more and more every time he does something like this. We now have the first two most productive Argo QBs now coaching the current Argo QBs-this is way better than just passing the torch to your replacement, this is stoking a historical bonfire of institutional knowledge and success in real time. Gives Argo fans the chills about this year.

Beudry says it was a quick and easy “yes” to return to Pensacola and help the Argos once again. Beudry’s addition to coaching staff means four current Argo coaches have played professional football, including both the OC and the DC.

Was Beaudry the QB that followed Nobles?

[Argonut]

Yes, Beudry followed Nobles and was the QB that led the team to the title game v Texas A & M Commerce in 2017. He got injured in the first game of 2018 and was out the whole season.

He transferred to UConn in 2019 and later to Idaho where he finished his college eligibility. He played QB and TE in CFL until Nobles called and got him to return to UWF as coach.

He’s not sure if he’s done with playing and video interview showed him slinging it to Argo receivers at fall practice. UWF starting to look like QBU of D2.

[Argonut]

Rather than one long post on 2023 roster, I decided to look at each position group one at a time. First, the QB room; which, as highlighted previously, now includes the first two QB in Argo school history, HC Nobles and GA Beudry, coaching up the current QB roster.

The list begins with Senior Pee Wee Jarrett, who has successfully rehabbed from off season surgery and is ready to run and throw in a simplified offense designed to get the ball to everyone.

He is followed by the same two RS Soph. from last year, D1 transfers Rich and Nezat. Rich got a lot of mop up time last year and looked good when he was running the offense.

I’m sure coach Nobles and Beudry remember very clearly the disastrous 2018 season when Beudry went out in the first game and the Argos lost the entire QB roster to injury by the end of the season. They were playing a WR as QB in a wildcat offense in the last game and they don’t want to replicate that this year.

The two Sophomores are backed up by two high school freshman: a local Pensacola Pine Forest High recruit, Wilson and the four star D1 transfer from the Florida Gators, Stokes. No word yet on if these two will be redshirted or not.

All the QB are tall (6’2”-6’5”) and big (190-245 lbs.) with freshman Stokes the shrimp of the roster at 6’2” and 190. They all have running talent and the coaches are stressing getting the ball to everyone to make plays, so it will be interesting to see the QBs run and to throw more to the RB and TE, who have been missing in receiving action since the 2017 season.

The Argos look deep and talented at QB and it will be fun to see how they do at #25 FCS Florida A & M early in the season.

[CalifOKRA]

Rather than one long post on 2023 roster, I decided to look at each position group one at a time. First, the QB room; which, as highlighted previously, now includes the first two QB in Argo school history, HC Nobles and GA Beudry, coaching up the current QB roster.

The list begins with Senior Pee Wee Jarrett, who has successfully rehabbed from off season surgery and is ready to run and throw in a simplified offense designed to get the ball to everyone.

He is followed by the same two RS Soph. from last year, D1 transfers Rich and Nezat. Rich got a lot of mop up time last year and looked good when he was running the offense.

I’m sure coach Nobles and Beudry remember very clearly the disastrous 2018 season when Beudry went out in the first game and the Argos lost the entire QB roster to injury by the end of the season. They were playing a WR as QB in a wildcat offense in the last game and they don’t want to replicate that this year.

The two Sophomores are backed up by two high school freshman: a local Pensacola Pine Forest High recruit, Wilson and the four star D1 transfer from the Florida Gators, Stokes. No word yet on if these two will be redshirted or not.

All the QB are tall (6’2”-6’5”) and big (190-245 lbs.) with freshman Stokes the shrimp of the roster at 6’2” and 190. They all have running talent and the coaches are stressing getting the ball to everyone to make plays, so it will be interesting to see the QBs run and to throw more to the RB and TE, who have been missing in receiving action since the 2017 season.

The Argos look deep and talented at QB and it will be fun to see how they do at #25 FCS Florida A & M early in the season.

That's going to be an awesome game. I'll be rooting for UWF.

[Argonut]

The QB have to throw to someone and the Argos have a history of good WR and this year is no different. Last year’s team was Durden dominant with him catching a third of the passes, the yards and TDs. That’s probably why the coaches and players are talking about spreading the ball around more this year.

The 16 player WR room loses 4 to graduation and 4 underclassmen to greener pastures elsewhere and hopefully more touches. The 8 remaining WR constitute 950 yds. and half the TDs from last year and 6 of 8 are upperclassmen.

The Argos pick up 8 (5 HS and 3 transfers) and the transfers are the #1 from Virginia Union, Jiles; the #2 from Nichols State, Franklin; and a sophomore from FCS Western Carolina, Keigley, who caught 10 for 162 yds. and 2 TDs as a freshman, which is more production than 7 of the returners from last year’s team.

It looks likes the seniors Jiles and Leggett will have big years and 5 or 6 others will have good years with a chance for a big breakout year. There are only 3 WR under six feet and there are more upperclassmen with experience on this years roster than last year. As long as the QB get the ball to the WR the Argos should be fine in the passing game and could be even better and more dangerous than last year if they spread it around more.

The fan fall scrimmage is next Thursday and it will be interesting to see who the starters will be for this year.

[Argonut]

Believe it or not, but last year the Argos ran more (501 v 341) than they passed and for more yards on the ground (3274 v 2910) than through the air. It was essentially run and throw deep to Durden. The three main RB ran 337 times for over 2,400 yards, but only caught 17 balls for 173 yards. The coaches say that the RB will see a lot more catches this year.

The Argos lose their top RB Mason (Transfer, grades, hurricane?) and their #2 Hargrove (Texas A&M Commerce) from last year’s 8 deep RB roster if you count QB Jarrett, who was the #3 rusher last year with 762 yds. and 9 TDs.

The Argos keep Jarret, the #4 rusher Wilson and three carryovers from last year who had limited action. They pick up a graduate 5’6” scatback from North Dakota State, Bussey, and two bigger HS backs to round out the 8 deep roster.

Counting Jarret the Argos will have 5 big backs (5’10”-6’4”) and 3 smaller scatbacks (5’6”-5’7”). Wilson looks to up his 530 yards from last year and maybe even his 12 TDs too. Who gets more playing time behind Wilson maybe dependent upon how well they catch the ball.

Next week’s fall fan scrimmage will answer a lot of these questions: do the Argos run or pass more, are they actually going to pass more to the RB, does Jarrett carry a big running load or not, who is the backup for Wilson and do they use the big backs more or less than the scatbacks?

I suspect from their fall camp comments that coach Nobles is going to do more with the RB position than coach Shinnick did and I can’t wait to see what that is going to be.

[Argonut]

The TE position at UWF is like the sad, neglected and forgotten toy in the back of the offensive closet. In six seasons the UWF TE have caught a total of 46 balls for 400 yards and 5 TDs. Most of that was from two players in 2017 and 2021. The TE caught one (!?) pass last year and no one on the current depth chart has caught a pass in a game despite being on the team for multiple seasons.

The good news is that the coaches say this will change and it can’t get any worse than one catch, the bad news is that you may not be able to recruit good TE with this reputation for denying them the ball. Why bother recruiting a TE if you don’t throw to them, just stick in another OL if all you use them for is blocking. You really are not tricking or scaring the other teams defense when you put in a tight end; hell, the other teams probably don’t waste a man covering the Argo TE because they never throw to them.

The sad part of this is that these players were offensive weapons with monster production in high school and their talents are being completely wasted and neglected. We know this position can be used to great benefit and the Argos themselves were terrorized by the Texas A&M Commerce big TE in the 2017 title game. I have seen the entire team get fired up when a big Argo TE gets a ball and turns upfield shedding tacklers and I just don’t understand why the coaches don’t exploit this morale boost into their offense.

The Argos carryover 3 TE from prior seasons and pick up two freshman from Troy State and McNeese State. They have the height and size, but will they be used to catch the ball? Every year I get my hopes up and it’s hard to do that anymore as an Argo fan given the anemic history of the position. I have seen balls thrown to them in the spring and fall games and next to nothing during the season so many times that’s it’s hard to believe the fall scrimmage next week will mean anything. My fingers are crossed really hard.

[Larold]

That's going to be an awesome game. I'll be rooting for UWF.

Massey has UWF 3 pt favorite. This game may very well be a preview of how the 2023 season unfolds. (for numerous teams)

[Argonut]

Massey has UWF 3 pt favorite. This game may very well be a preview of how the 2023 season unfolds. (for numerous teams)

I’m truly surprised by that point spread. I would not be surprised if Florida A&M were unranked, but I figured a #25 FCS playing at home against a top 10 D2 team would favor the home team. I’m planning to drive over from Pensacola to see this one in person.

[Argonut]

Coach Nobles has stated the special teams will be used aggressively to shift field position and that would be a substantial change from the extremely conservative “don’t lose the game” philosophy of the Shinnick special teams.

The only times the Argos kicked onside kicks or faked a punt in the Shinnick era was in desperation at the end of a game when the other team knew it was coming. I never saw a reverse on a return or a fake FG and the blocked kicks and return TDs were more a result of an outstanding individual player effort than any fancy planned scheme.

Any trickeration by coach Nobles would be a dramatic change and I don’t know if we will see anything in the fall scrimmage or the first couple of games. The Florida A&M game might be where we might see something since it is a no count game for the D2 playoff calculation.

The Argos returners will be new since the main returners from last year graduated. The PK Cerra returns for his senior year and is backed up by a junior transfer from UCF and a local kicker from Gulf Breeze High.

The Argos picked up a NAIA punter who was first team all conference last year in the Sun conference and he averaged 39 yds. with many downed inside the 20 and over 50 yds. They also have another long time Argo PK/P to back up the P and Cerra. The Argos have 3 long snappers on the roster, one with experience and two freshman.

I don’t know how much of the return game we will see at the fall scrimmage since they have protected the players with little to no contact on returns in the past fall scrimmages. I really doubt that we will see any trick plays, but who knows with a new coach making his first impression with his first team. This is probably the most interesting fall scrimmage since the first real one in 2016.