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**bigsig50** · 12-24-2018, 02:03 PM

Re: MO S&T Offseason

One could look at S&T's senior leadership and production as an obvious reason for their success this past year....and you wouldn't be wrong. They had some outstanding performances from a very strong senior class.

One will probably also point to that as reason to expect a step back next year. Granted, the Miner's passing game takes a huge blow by graduating their 3 most important pieces, and the defense loses production at all 3 levels. I would say...not so fast my friend.

Tyler Fenwick didn't get to the level of success the Miners experienced overnight. This has been a steady work in progress to ensure strong class after strong class that buy into the program. Just take a look at the production of the underclassmen. The Miners have 11 all conference players coming back, 6 first teamers. They're scaterred throughout the team, OL's, DB's, RB's, WR's.... This team has talent coming back and I suspect they have talent coming in.

Now....QB play can be tricky and it's tough to replace the type of production that Swart had last year. But there are enough veteran pieces coming back that whoever gets the reigns for 2019 will be put in an excellent position to succeed and have every chance to lead the Miners back to a bowl berth and possibly beyond.

**S&TMinerfan** · 12-26-2018, 09:23 AM

Re: MO S&T Offseason

A few observations from this Miner fan.
(All players returning will be listed with their 2019 classifications)

Overall I believe the offense still could be very explosive!

QB position will be in good shape. It will be a 3 way battle for the reigns to lead the offense between:
Jr. Brennan Simms
Soph. Luke Hertzler
RFr. Staton King
My prediction would be that RFR. King will end up with the staring nod.
As good of a year the SR. Swart had, I believe you will not see much of a dip in statistical production at the QB position.

The Miners will miss tremendously Braxton Graham at the WR position(he could single handily change games).
Wr Justin Vaughn is gone also, his steady production will need to be replaced.

OL appears to be in good shape.
RB appears to be in good shape.

A couple offensive notes/observations/tidbits for next year:

Miner coaches are going to have to figure out how to get Soph. RB/WR Payton McAlister more involved in the offense. It could be argued by the end of the year he was the most explosive player on the field. He averaged 5.7 ypc from the RB position(a full 1.5 yards per attempt more than any other RB) and 13.8 ypc from the WR position(essentially leading all returnees for next year in the yards per catch and yards per carry categories). The Miners undoubtedly were loaded at the skill positions and the Freshman transfer from Florida Tech must have been a pleasant surprise. Next year with losing a couple highly productive Seniors it will be imperative that he see more than 6 or 7 touches a game to make up for the loss of production from Graham and Vaughn.

I believe you will see substantially more rushing yards from the QB position in 2019. Last years QB (Swart) was a big strong armed pocket passer that rarely looked to run the ball when needed. The 2019 version of QB while maybe lacking the same kind of arm strength as last year's version, will be more athletic and a better runner for sure.

You will certainly see an uptick in rushing production from this offense! With a new QB I would assume you would want to work him in slowly. A solid returning OL is a team strength. This coupled with a QB more suited to running the ball and multiple capable RB's I can see very big jump in rushing production.

I will give my defensive observations also when I get some time(gotta get back to work-LOL)

**bigsig50** · 12-27-2018, 09:42 AM

Re: MO S&T Offseason

Considering the amount of rushing production they have coming back, inserting an mobile athletic QB could keep things rolling by stressing the defense in ways that make it easier for WR's to find holes in the defense. Makes sense.

No matter what, it will hinge on OL execution, which seems like it should be strength coming back.

I think the MoST offense will be okay. I am interested in hearing about the defensive side of things. Losing the production of Brooks, Compton, and Chapman will be difficult to overcome immediately. I'd expect them to take a step back initially. I'm sure they have talent stepping in, but it'll be about getting them experience and up to speed as fast as possible.

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