I think one of the keys to the improvements so far is that Cut's classes have fewer "misses" - players that never really made an impact on the field for whatever reason. Some of that is injury-driven, but a lot is some guys just weren't ACC-level players.
Just an informal analysis (my unscientific opinion) shows that the number of players that did not make a major contribution on the field:
2006 - 12 / 24
2007 - 12 / 21
2008 - 5 / 17 (including Mackey as a miss despite being a good player)
2009 - 13 / 27 (many discipline issues - Drew, Griswould, Putnam, Glover, Watkins)
2010 - 2 /20
2011 - too early to tell, but only a few look like they won't contribute on the field.
I think the 2010 class is one of the keys to our improvement. Very few non-contributors, which has provided quality depth. One of our biggest problems in the past is that half or more of the classes never emerged as contributors and many red-shirt juniors would not return for a 5th year, which made us younger than our competitors. I think we are now on a path where we will have more upper-class players, more guys with time to get better, and more experienced leadership. There was one year, where we had one senior. Unreal.
We don't have a huge number of seniors (12) this year, but they have been stand-outs:
Renfree, Scott, Vernon, Moore, Kurunwune, Anderson, Canty, Byas, Butler, Gamble, Foster.
Bringing back Kelby and Jeremy Cash should help, but worried about depth at Cornerback (really need Boyd to come back strong from his injury). We have some good options to replace Renfree. Who replaces Moore at Center? Who steps up at Wide Receiver? I think Blakeney and Schneider may be listed at Tight End, but will split out at WR quite a bit.
Just an informal analysis (my unscientific opinion) shows that the number of players that did not make a major contribution on the field:
2006 - 12 / 24
2007 - 12 / 21
2008 - 5 / 17 (including Mackey as a miss despite being a good player)
2009 - 13 / 27 (many discipline issues - Drew, Griswould, Putnam, Glover, Watkins)
2010 - 2 /20
2011 - too early to tell, but only a few look like they won't contribute on the field.
I think the 2010 class is one of the keys to our improvement. Very few non-contributors, which has provided quality depth. One of our biggest problems in the past is that half or more of the classes never emerged as contributors and many red-shirt juniors would not return for a 5th year, which made us younger than our competitors. I think we are now on a path where we will have more upper-class players, more guys with time to get better, and more experienced leadership. There was one year, where we had one senior. Unreal.
We don't have a huge number of seniors (12) this year, but they have been stand-outs:
Renfree, Scott, Vernon, Moore, Kurunwune, Anderson, Canty, Byas, Butler, Gamble, Foster.
Bringing back Kelby and Jeremy Cash should help, but worried about depth at Cornerback (really need Boyd to come back strong from his injury). We have some good options to replace Renfree. Who replaces Moore at Center? Who steps up at Wide Receiver? I think Blakeney and Schneider may be listed at Tight End, but will split out at WR quite a bit.
