Fall Camp starts today: What to watch for on offense?

Sorry about the lack of writing recently, I’ve had a personal problem. I should be back up and running though. As you probably know, fall camp starts today and the football season will soon follow it. Here’s a position by position look on what to look for, offensively:


Quarterback: Kevin Riley’s development could hold the key to the year. If he has a breakout year, the sky is the limit. Accuracy and his reads will be the main things for him to improve upon. Brock Mansion and Beau Sweeney will jostle for the #2 job in camp as well. Whoever wins has an instant leg-up in replacing Riley next season.

Running Back: Vereen is entrenched as starter; the only real intrigue is how he recovers from knee surgery. However, Covaughn DeBoskie, Dasarte Yarnway, and Isi Sofele are all in the mix to spell him. DeBoskie has to be the favorite, although Sofele does present a nice speedy option and Yarnway is a good downhill runner. DeBoskie is more of a balanced runner.

Receivers: Jones and Ross are pretty well set as the starting 2; Lagemann can’t say he’s safe in the slot but he’s close. Keenan Allen, Tevin Carter, and Coleman Edmond all present incoming options that could play a part. Michael Calvin seems to have been around forever, but he’s still a junior and still has upside. Anthony Miller is still the starter and looks to prove himself as one of the top tight ends. Spencer Ladner is a better blocker, while Jarrett Sparks is a better threat in the passing game. They will compete for the second tight end.

Offensive Line: Competitions almost everywhere. What we do know: Matt Summers-Gavin is the left tackle, and Mitchell Schwartz will likely bookend him. Justin Cheadle does have a nasty talent of committing bad penalties, but he’s still the probably right guard. Chris Guarnero will start somewhere. The competition is between Brian Schwenke and Mark Brazinski; Brazinski a redshirt freshman center and Schwenke a relatively experienced junior guard. They will duke it out. I’d take Schwenke to win, with him being the LG and Guarnero being the center. Guarnero will take the LG if Brazinski plays the center spot.

Part 2 tomorrow.