Elite players missing on the roster at this point:
WR
TE
LB
DE (rush end)
Safety
Fuller and Smith back would have taken that down to three. Hopefully players will emerge.
Rush end is a real problem and we do need better play out of our safeties.
We're fine at LB, TE, and WR.
We have plenty of talented players at both LB and WR even if they are green provided they play to their talent level even if they aren't elite. Heck this team was about 30 seconds from a Playoff berth last year with Joe Schmidt at MLB.
TE on even the best teams are ancillary. It is rare to find a TE that is the driver of an offense. They benefit mostly from a great running attack.
Our biggest problem is our DC who runs a defense that doesn't allow the players to be successful.
Who was Clemson's elite OLinemen? Who was Clemson's elite LB?
You have to start the season sir...Let the players recruited do what they were recruited to do...or not do.
Not even Bama returns a great player back every season at every position...players move on at every school.
Yes, I think players will emerge. Kelly has done a good job of restocking...lets see how it plays out.
I think the overall talent-level of those units you listed has improved, but must obviously prove themselves.
That 1995 tOSU team was absolutely loaded everywhere (Galloway, Dudley, George, Pace, Vrabel, Springs, Kelly, Howard, etc), and would have been even better if Korey Stringer hadn't departed early for the NFL.
Why John Cooper couldn't win a national championship with that group is still a perplexing mystery...
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Can't argue with that...
I still remember the Citrus Bowl that year, where Cooper had a 4th and 1, the best offensive line in the nation, and certainly the best running back in the nation (Eddie George), and called for an option play to the short side of the field. Bobby Hoying wasn't chopped liver (Hell, he was a 3rd round pick by the Eagles, and had a decent season in the pros), but an option runner he was not...
Dare I say, even Tommy Rees might have been able to keep up with him in terms of foot speed.
John Cooper went 2-10 versus Michigan. It was very hard to play for a title when you lose the last game of the season under the old bowl alliance system.
Of course, I suspect a couple of his teams may have won championships under the current playoff system.