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Well with MLB in full swing (no pun intended), the NBA and Stanley Cup Finals in the rear view mirror and about two months until players report for camp for the 2012 season, why not get some discussion going on our teams in the Big South just like last year. So without further ado, here is the first of my hopefully now annual series of position breakdowns within the conference:

Charleston Southern
Malcolm Dixon 72-158 847 Yards 3 TD 6 INT
Derek Hatcher No 2011 Stats

Malcolm Dixon steps into the full time starter's role after splitting time with Richard Mounce in 2011, finishing second in passing. Derek Hatcher made a few appearances at punter in 2011 and will likely be Dixon's competition under center

Coastal Carolina
Aramis Hillary 148-226 1749 Yards 14 TD 5 INT
Cody Craig 6-10 40 Yards 2 TD

Hillary impressed me in 2011 (even when Liberty mowed them down in Lynchburg last year) and looks to build on a very solid 2011. Cody Craig had spot duty last year but likely will be Hillary's backup unless Logan Hall beats him out for the job.

Gardner-Webb
Lucas Beatty 59 - 110 631 Yards 2 TD 3 INT
Chandler Browning 67-134 871 Yards 3 TD 6 INT

Beatty and Browning split time under center last year with neither impressing and the running game carrying most of the load for the Runnin Bulldogs. Exavier Johnson could be a player for either the starter or backup role

Liberty

Brian Hudson 14-21 145 Yards 2 TD 0 INT
Josh Woodrum No 2011 Stats (Redshirt)

This is probably the first time that I havent felt that Liberty is a slam dunk at this position. Tyler Brennan, who was being groomed to take over for Brown prior to the departure of Danny Rocco for Richmond, and new head coach Turner Gill decided to go with the inexperienced Hudson and the dual threat product of Cave Spring High School in nearby Roanoke. It will be interesting to see how both handle themselves come training camp

Presbyterian

Ryan Singer 128 - 244 1472 Yards 8 TD 8 INT
Ellis Hammond- No 2011 Stats

Singer took a major step up in 2011 after being thrown (no pun intended) into the starters role in 2010 after splitting time with Brandon Miley. With 6 QBs battling for the 2 and 3 positions, itll be a wide open race behind SInger

Stony Brook

Kyle Essington 111-203 1919 Yards 20 TD 4 INT (2011 Big South All Conference Second Team)
Lyle Negron No 2011 Stats

After splitting time with Michael Coulter early in the season, when Coulter went down with a knee injury, Essington took over and blossomed, leading the Seawolves to their first outright Big South title and the first win for a Big South school in the FCS playoffs. With Coulter's graduation, there is no other QB on the roster with significant playing time so it will be interesting where Priore goes should Essington go down like Coulter last year. I have Lyle Negron as the backup but do not be surprised if any of the three QBs behind Essington asserts himself in training camp, or even one of their two signees from the 2012 recruiting class at the position.

VMI

Eric Kordenbrock 170-335 1792 Yards 10 TDs 9 INT
Adam Morgan 21-42 268 Yards 2 TD 1 INT

The Keydets showed improvement in their second year of a pro-style offense, with Kordenbrock showing the greatest improvement, more than doubling his totals from 2010. Morgan did well in a backup role, but look for an interesting battle for the #2 spot on the chart

With a lot of improvement everywhere in conference, it was hard to really rank the teams this year but its going to be quite a race for the 2 QB spots on all conference for 2012, that said, here is what I have:

Team Rankings
1. Stony Brook
2. Coastal Carolina
3. Presbyterian
4. Liberty
5. VMI
6. Charleston Southern
7. Gardner Webb

Individual Rankings

1. Kyle Essington, SBU
2. Aramis Hillary, CCU
3. Ryan Singer, PC
4. Eric Kordenbrock, VMI
5. Brian Hudson, LU
6. Malcolm DIxon, CSU
7. Lucas Beatty, G-W

Don't count incoming Freshman Daniel Croghan III out of the mix for the backup job to Dixon at CSU. Will be interesting to see if Mills redshirts him.

with no true "backup" (since Hatcher was the backup punter in 2011), that should make for an interesting competition between Hatcher, Croghan and Briar Van Brunt

I'm excited to see Essington play once again. I think is going to be a great season for SBU and Essington.

BJ... are you really ranking Liberty fourth behind Coastal and Presbyterian? looks like a bit of sandbagging to me...

SWF90: I think BJ's ranking is strictly in terms of QBs, not overall team play.

FWIW, I'm confident that Liberty AS A TEAM will contend for the Big South championship yet again and represent the league VERY well in their first playoff appearance.

Ryan Singer was suspended from PC for an Honor Code violation. His career at PC is over. Tamyn Garrick, a RFr. will be the starter. Certainly doesn't bring the same mobility Singer had, but he has a cannon and is a coaches kid. He'll be fine by mid-season....

SuperHornet wrote:SWF90: I think BJ's ranking is strictly in terms of QBs, not overall team play.

FWIW, I'm confident that Liberty AS A TEAM will contend for the Big South championship yet again and represent the league VERY well in their first playoff appearance.

I agree. Liberty is still a strong team and it wont be an easy task for SBU to defend their title. I heard a few already calling this a two-team race to the championship. I hope Coastal or another B.South team comes in and surprises a few of us to make this as exciting as 2010

gobluehose wrote:Ryan Singer was suspended from PC for an Honor Code violation. His career at PC is over. Tamyn Garrick, a RFr. will be the starter. Certainly doesn't bring the same mobility Singer had, but he has a cannon and is a coaches kid. He'll be fine by mid-season....

Thanks for the update GBH, that is a sad bit of news on Singer...he really showed well last year and he certainly has a set of wheels on him.

SWF, SuperHornet is right, I am ranking strictly on each position (except on the line because its hard to quantifiably rank line play). I'll have an overall ranking when I do my annual prognostication thread later this summer. I wasnt sandbagging Liberty, I really am curious as to what kind of play we get from the QBs because Hudson didnt throw a lot of passes last year and Woodrum hasnt even seen game action in a Liberty uniform so that's why I have them ranked where I do

I think you're right, SWF90. This is likely a two-team race in Liberty and SBU, and if ANYBODY is up to messing that up, it will probably be Coastal. I just can't see anyone else in the Big South with the guns to pull it off.

I really think itll come down to the LU-SBU-CCU set of games as it has the last couple years. CCU and SBU have experienced QBs returning while Liberty is breaking in not only a new coach but a new QB so that may set them back but LU does have weapons at the other skill positions which should help (including RB which Im working on right now)

At GW, Lucas Beatty played a great game against Coastal in the upset before blowing out his knee in the next game. He is now recovered from that surgery and I expect him to fight hard for the starting spot.

Go Runnin' Bulldogs!

gobluehose wrote:Ryan Singer was suspended from PC for an Honor Code violation. His career at PC is over. ..

Sorry to hear about Singer............glad to know someone besides VMI and The Citadel takes HC violations seriously.

bjtheflamesfan wrote: VMI

Eric Kordenbrock 170-335 1792 Yards 10 TDs 9 INT
Adam Morgan 21-42 268 Yards 2 TD 1 INT

The Keydets showed improvement in their second year of a pro-style offense, with Kordenbrock showing the greatest improvement, more than doubling his totals from 2010. Morgan did well in a backup role, but look for an interesting battle for the #2 spot on the chart

With the fine development of R-So., walk on QB A J Augustine (6'3, 200), Morgan will move to the secondary. Both of VMI's two signees: (Hayden Alford {6'3, 199}, and Tarian Ayers {6'1, 195}) will battle to make the travel squad.

kdinva wrote:

bjtheflamesfan wrote: VMI

Eric Kordenbrock 170-335 1792 Yards 10 TDs 9 INT
Adam Morgan 21-42 268 Yards 2 TD 1 INT

The Keydets showed improvement in their second year of a pro-style offense, with Kordenbrock showing the greatest improvement, more than doubling his totals from 2010. Morgan did well in a backup role, but look for an interesting battle for the #2 spot on the chart

With the fine development of R-So., walk on QB A J Augustine (6'3, 200), Morgan will move to the secondary. Both of VMI's two signees: (Hayden Alford {6'3, 199}, and Tarian Ayers {6'1, 195}) will battle to make the travel squad.

Thanks for the info kd...Id probably bump PC down to 5 and move LU and VMI up one because of the change at PC. At least Hudson has seen some game experience (limited as it may have been).

CSUBUCDAD wrote:Don't count incoming Freshman Daniel Croghan III out of the mix for the backup job to Dixon at CSU. Will be interesting to see if Mills redshirts him.

I'm still not sold on Dixon as the BEST choice for the QB position. He is talented and should be on the field for the Buccaneers, but not a QB. He should be used at WR. That is the position he was recruited to play and I believe that is the position that best suits him because of his speed.

I'm really looking forward to seeing Croghan III (C3) develop for the Bucs. I've heard he has pretty good talent. If Coach Mills is not going to use him in a significant way, he sould be red-shirted so that he would be able to (hopefully) start for four years.

I've NEVER been a fan of moving a quarterback to another position. As far as I'm concerned, the more quarterbacks you have, the better. I'm even an advocate of occasionally putting two QBs in a Double-Barrelled Shotgun. Try being the defense, having to figure out which QB will get the snap and what they're going to do with it. It'll give them fits!

SuperHornet wrote:I've NEVER been a fan of moving a quarterback to another position. As far as I'm concerned, the more quarterbacks you have, the better. I'm even an advocate of occasionally putting two QBs in a Double-Barrelled Shotgun. Try being the defense, having to figure out which QB will get the snap and what they're going to do with it. It'll give them fits!

Well in Dixons case he was moved from WR to QB. Like BJ said he was recruited as a WR and then moved out of necessity to give some depth at QB when we had a stable full of WR's. I agree with you that you should never move a QB to another position but this is a bit of a unique situation here that IMHO might be the best move for Mills to make.