SoCon next year

[FUBeAR]

Well...since the 3 of you have, apparently, voted Mercer off of SoCon Island, I’ll follow the great American Tradition and refuse to accept the results of said election.

Below is an edited version of FUBeAR’s post on the Mercer Board related to this topic...

LOSSES...
» [Starting C] David May
» [Starting RB] Tee Mitchell
» [Starting TE] Sam Walker
» [Starting WR /Starting PR] Marquise Irvin
» [Regular WR / Starting KR] Stephen Houzah

» [Starting DE] Isaiah Buehler
» [Regular DE] Austin Wysor
» [Starting OLB] LeMarkus Bailey
» [Starting OLB] Bradley Earnest
» [Regular OLB] Travonte' Easley
» [Backup, but Fairly Regular ILB] Brandon Coney
» [P/T Starting CB] Kam Lott
» [DB] Dylan Calhoun
» [Backup, but Fairly Regular DB] Brandon Gurley

» [Starting PK] Cole Fisher
» [Starting P] Matt Shiel
» [Starting LS] Steven Nixon


Looking ahead to 2019...

Returning Starters...
* C - Krieger (started 8 games in 2017 & 2 in 2018)
* OG’s - Flath, Forrestal (2nd half of 2018), Robinson (1st half of 2018; injured)
* OT’s - Sanders (All SoCon), Ellis
* QB’s - Riddle (All SoCon FR) (3), Riley (2017 SoCon FOTY),(16, 5 in 2018), Frost (3)
* RB - Devezin (3)...led Mercer in Rushing Attempts in 2018 (164)
* TE’s - Ellington & Westfall (shared multiple starts due to Walker injuries & depending upon Offensive sets)
* WR’s - Durden, Cannon, Jones (1)

NG’s - Kithcart, Cooper (a start or 2 due to injuries to Kithcart)
DE’s - Guillen, Raines (started on several occasions due to Buehler injuries)
ILB’s - Coneway, Otiwu, Freeman (several starts due to injuries to Otiwu)
OLB - None
CB’s - Bohler, Poole, Campbell (may have had a start or 2 due to injuries)
Safety - Fleming (All SoCon), Jackson, Ward (about 3 due to injury), Hall (1 or 2 due to injuries)

PK - None
P - Goupil (11 in 2017)
LS - None
PR - None
KR - Durden


Strengths...
..... * QB - 2 outstanding, experienced veterans return - Riddle & Riley
......* RB - Rushing Leader among SoCon RB’s, 5-8/233+ wrecking ball, Tyray “The Hammer” Devezin, returns to the dismay of all SoCon DB’s
.....* OL - May will be a big loss, but the OL gelled in the VMI game this year & played fairly well from that point forward. Can still improve considerably though

.....* NG - 2 vets with experience return (Kithcart & Cooper)
.....* ILB - Coneway, Otiwu, & Freeman all proved their ability in 2018
.....* Safety - Fleming & Jackson are solid returning Starters

.....* Punter - 2017 Starting Punter, Goupil, solid in 2017; can ‘reassume’ his role in 2019

Question Marks...
* Specialists positions will be a HUGE question mark for Mercer. All 5 (including Kickoff & Punt Returners) departures have been OUTSTANDING in 2018

* Replacing Walker, Irvin, and Houzah from one of the best corps of pass catchers in the SoCon will be a major challenge. Durden, Cannon, Jones, Ellison, Ellington, and Graham (if he can stay healthy)...et al, may very well be able to rise to that challenge...and, eventually, surpass even this outstanding group.

* Losing key 'edge Players,' DE Buehler, OLB Bailey, and OLB Earnest, in addition to DE Wysor and OLB Easley is another area of significant talent departure. Some younger Players will need to "rise up" to replace these 5. True FR DL McDaniel has shown promise and played some DE, but I think at 6-0, he may be more of a NG. I've also been impressed with True FR DL Perkins. Also seen promise in R-FR DL King. I think we might see some position changes to fill the large holes Bailey, Earnest, and Easley are leaving at OLB. True FR Bullard is on the 2-deep @ OLB, so he will be counted on to step up next season and, perhaps, DB's Gammage and Ward, could get a look at OLB as they are similar in size to Bailey (actually, a little bigger), who began his career at DB. I was impressed with True FR LB Brown's HS vid. I suspect he is Redshirting this year and may be in the mix @ OLB next season.

Summary...
If the Bears can effectively re-load with Specialists, Pass Catchers on O, and Edge Players on D, they should be in excellent stead to compete for the SoCon Championship in 2019 and certainly have a better than solid chance to make the FCS Playoffs.