Wake Forest’s 2016 fall camp began today, and it began with some unfortunate news. Zack Wary, a redshirt sophomore linebacker out of Arkansas, will no longer play football after listening to the advice of doctors. Les Johns, now of Demon Deacon Digest, was at practice this morning and announced the news via Twitter. What does this mean for the linebacker unit?

Zack Wary was a member of the 2014 recruiting class, which was Dave Clawson’s first at Wake Forest. He was a consensus top-40 inside linebacker in the class, and chose Wake Forest over Arkansas and Boise State. He played 185 snaps last season over 8 games and accumulated 12 total tackles. I was expecting Wary to take on a greater role with the defense this season, given the departures of Brandon Chubb and Hunter Williams.

Look for Jaboree Williams and Marquel Lee to be definite starters, with Grant Dawson and possibly Kalin McNeil being the backups. Thomas Brown and Demetrius Kemp should compete for the starting rover job. Overall, Wake should be faster at linebacker and rover than they were a year ago.

We wish Zack the best, and respect that he made the best decision for his long-term health.

In 2015 we were so thin at linebacker that we were moving players over from the safety position to be our starters. That was, of course, the result of Junior Sammy Douglas’ season ending injury and Freshman Victor Mike Freeze’s decision to take a leave of absence from the team. Both of these things happened during, or immediately following, the opening game of of the 2015 season on the road at Minnesota.

By the end of the season, the linebacker group grew into their role and became a cohesive playmaking unit in some crucial games down the stretch. Ty Summers set the record for most tackles in a game during the Patterson era with 15 against Baylor. A game in which he also made the key tackle for loss to stop Baylor on fourth down in the 2nd OT and win the Monsoon Bowl in Fort Worth to finish the regular season. Travin Howard led the team with 105 tackles, earned an honorable mention All-Big 12 selection, and finished the season by being named the 2016 Valero Alamo Bowl Defensive MVP.

The growing pains that TCU experienced in early 2015 should pay dividends this Fall. The Frogs currently have 11 players on the roster listed as linebackers, and eight of them have significant in-game experience. TCU released a two-deep roster at the conclusion of Spring practices, and here’s what it looked like:

The first and second team are as TCU listed them at the conclusion of Spring ball, and the third string shown above is simply a guess at this point. Tyree Horton was listed as the No. 1 JUCO linebacker when he signed with TCU in February. He chose TCU over programs like Alabama and Florida State, and although he wasn’t able to be on campus this Spring, he still figures to be a big part of the linebacker corps this Fall- especially once he has time to get comfortable with the playbook.

Travin Howard and Montrell Wilson are set to return to the top of the depth chart after making 18 combined starts in 2015. Over the summer both of them have been able to pack on an extra 10-20 pounds according to the roster. That should make them more effective against the run, which was most coaches preferred way to attack the Frog’s defense last year. Ty Summers, who made five starts of his own last year, will add another experienced man in the rotation.

Sammy Douglas is one of the most gifted athletes at the position. He was expected to have a break out season last year before losing his season to injury after just one game. If he is fully back physically and mentally to start this season, he could end up challenging for starts as well.

Paul Whitmill has seen action in 25 games at TCU, and I expect him to start the season as the sixth man in the rotation. Another player to watch is redshirt freshman Semaj Thomas. He was a four star recruit out of high school, and at 6’2”, 230 lbs, he has the size to make immediate impact at the position.

Depth like this at linebacker is something we haven’t seen at TCU since the Rose Bowl days. Paul Dawson and Marcus Mallett were amazing back in 2014, but that team didn’t have the ability to rotate so many high caliber players with such little dropoff in their ability and performance, other than primary backup Jonathan Anderson. Its going to make for a unit that can stay fresh, play fast, and do so behind a defensive line that features arguably the best pass-rushing duo in the conference.

Alec Dunham, Davis Devereaux, George Cullen and Caleb Garrison will also be competing for playing time. With so many bodies to choose from it will allow TCU to utilize some of their best tacklers on special team, which as we all know Patterson is very keen on. It’s definitely an exciting group, and so much talent and depth on the defensive side this year, it’s easy to see why Patterson seems to have that twinkle in his eye going into fall camp.

Florida State debuts its 2016 season ranked No. 4 in the preseason Coaches Poll, and five of its opponents also made it: #2 Clemson, #12 Ole Miss, #20 North Carolina, #23 Louisville, and #24 Florida. Miami came in 26th, somehow. This is one of the toughest Florida State schedules in recent memory.

But how will those teams finish when it comes time to pick the four teams to go to the College Football Playoff? This question matters since many are projecting both Clemson and Florida State to make the playoff.

Answering the question requires determining how many wins FSU’s opponents are likely to have after the conference championships are played. I consulted multiple sports books for the betting lines for the opponents on FSU’s schedule who could conceivably be ranked by season’s end to figure out a potential record, then compared that to previous seasons.

Clemson’s Vegas number is 10.5, one of the highest in the country (FSU’s is 10), and the Tigers are likely to finish with 11 or 12 wins (12 or 13 if they make the ACC Championship). A 1-loss ACC team that started the season at No. 2 is essentially guaranteed to stay in the top five.

Louisville’s Vegas number is nine. The highest a 9-3 Power 5 team has been ranked over the last five seasons is 10th (Kansas State in 2014), and it would be hard to see a situation where a 9-3 Louisville team is worse than 20th.

Ole Miss’ number is eight, and an eight-win SEC West team (a division that is the most talented in football and perhaps also overrated by some) that also played Florida State could be as high as No. 19 Auburn was in 2014. Four losses is usually a recipe to be unranked after the regular season unless one plays in the SEC. Ole Miss starting at 12th would help in this scenario. Florida’s number is also eight, so this exact same analysis applies.

North Carolina is at 8.5, and the Tar Heels getting to nine could be crucial, especially if it makes and loses the ACC Championship Game. A couple teams have finished ranked before the bowls at 9-4. It is worth noting that it would be much better for UNC and Miami (Vegas number of eight) to go in opposite directions as opposed to both winning eight games and being unranked. Pollsters and voters rarely reward teams for beating top-35 type teams, even if top-35 level is just as arbitrary as top-25.

The real sleeper here could be USF, who finished the 2015 season strong and is the favorite to win the AAC East Division. If USF were to go 10-3 (Vegas Number nine) or (gasp!) 11-2, Florida State may have a sneaky top-15 or top-20 type team on its schedule in the Bulls. Temple was No. 24 last season out of the American at 10-3, and this year the league starts with much more respect.

If Vegas is right, FSU could have a schedule with a top-five team, a top-15, three top-20s and a top-25 team. Plus three bowl teams according to Vegas in Miami, Boston College, and NC State. If FSU gets through a schedule like this at 11-1, folks projecting two ACC teams getting into the CFP aren’t so crazy if things break right in other conferences.

Name: Shyheim Cullen

Position: Linebacker

Year: (Redshirt) Freshman

Height: 6-0

Weight: 197 lbs.

Hometown: Lowell, Mass.

High School: Lowell

2015 Stats: Cullen sat out the 2015 season, and comes into this year with four years of eligibility still to his name. In high school, he was a two-time all-state player and Boston Herald All-Scholastic Selection.

2016 Projections: On the post-spring depth chart, Cullen is third down the line of weak-side linebackers behind junior Parris Bennett and senior Marquez Hodge. He could get into the game here and there on defense, but you can expect to see Cullen getting a lot of special teams reps for most of the season. He started the spring game, but that was only because of an injury to Marquez Hodge. With Hodge graduating this year, Cullen’s time to shine will potentially come in 2017.

How’d He Get Here: Syracuse was the only school to offer Cullen a scholarship. The Orange offered Cullen first, and he committed before anyone else could get a word in. He did receive interest from schools such as Miami, Boston College, Rutgers, UConn and others.

What’d The Recruiting Sites Say?: Scout, 24/7 and ESPN all gave Cullen three stars. Rivals went with two stars, but what do those guys know?

Money Quote: After the spring game, Cullen told Syracuse.com’s Nate Mink he thought he fit in with SU’s best:

“Right now I do feel like I’m up there with the ones and twos,” Cullen said. “I have a lot to work on. I’m definitely not content with where I’m at. I want to be playing and starting.”

Links of Wonder: Trying to summarize it here wouldn’t do it justice, but Cullen has quite the story to his name. Syracuse.com’s Stephen Bailey wrote this feature on Cullen’s path to Syracuse in August of 2015.

Twitter Feed: @shycullen24

Tweets of Wonder: Cullen is ready to prove himself this season:

What’d The Coaching Staff Say: It’s not from any of the staff directly, but here’s what Cullen says the coaching staff says about him, again from Syracuse.com’s Nate Mink:

“(The coaches) definitely like the athletic ability that I have,” Cullen said. “I want to go into fall camp having them being comfortable with me starting.”

Let’s Get A Good Look Atcha:

With fall camp opening this week, Kentucky Wildcats football fans are rejoicing. It has been a long summer and there haven’t been many stories outside of some commitments and some de-commitments, which is a good thing.

Last offseason’s antics featuring Drew Barker and members of the Eastern Kentucky’s football team aren’t what fans want to read about in the summer. The coaches and the players have said all of the right things at UK Media Day, preseason luncheons and at SEC Media Days.

They are exuding a sense of confidence and optimism that may seem puzzling to some coming off another disappointing finish to the season.

With the season on the horizon, there are some issues that I feel pretty good about and some things that give me trepidation.

Reasons to be Optimistic

The New Coaches

I loved all of the hires Mark Stoops made in the off-season, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. Last season Kentucky missed a veteran, steady hand at the OC position and Eddie Gran fills that need. He’s been a part of this game for a long time and has seen a great deal of success. He has the respect and admiration of Stoops and this is the first time, I believe, that Stoops is completely comfortable with turning the keys over to another coach on offense.

Darin Hinshaw is going to be vital as Gran’s right-hand man and Kentucky hasn’t had a coach specifically dedicated to the quarterback position. Lamar Thomas is going to bring a level of swagger and accountability to the receivers that hasn’t been there in the past. Receivers are known as the biggest divas on the team, but not one of them has an ego that surpasses Thomas’.

And that is exactly the kind of coach they need.

CJ Conrad

One of the many laments of last season’s offensive game plan was the lack of a role for tight ends, specifically Conrad who is one of the best athletes on that side of the ball. On the few occasions he was featured, he did not disappoint and fans were left wondering, “Where the hell has that been all season?”

Gran has made it clear that he will utilize the tight end as more than just a blocker and his history as a coach indicates that this is not lip service. Conrad will be vital to the success of Drew Barker as he is a big, sure-handed target that won’t be far from the line of scrimmage for the most part.

If Barker needs an early confidence booster to get into a rhythm, all he needs to do is look for Conrad, drop it to him, and let him do the rest.

Running Backs

Boom Williams had a rocky sophomore campaign with some off the field issues. This season there are even greater expectations as he is getting some pre-season SEC love. He claims to have grown up in the off-season and has dealt with the loss of his sister, something that would make any of us change our perspective in life.

I think he is a good kid with great talent and he will break out to be one of the best running backs in the conference this season. Behind him is emerging star Sihiem King, who has overtaken Mikel Horton as the number three running back for now.

And of course, there is Jojo Kemp. Kemp is a senior leader and one of the toughest players on the team. I didn’t think he would be the type of player that Stoops would have taken to SEC Media Days when he was a freshman, but the young man has really made some strides in his career. There is depth and explosiveness at the running back position.

Defensive Backs

Arguably the best unit on the team, the defensive backs are poised to have a big season. Chris Westry showed us last season as a freshman that he has All-SEC caliber ability. Westry with Derrick Baity, Blake McClain, and Mike Edwards, form a young and talented group that should give wide receivers and quarterbacks fits all season long.

The Schedule

Look, it’s not that bad. The ‘Cats get Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, and South Carolina at home. Those are three of the more beatable teams in the conference, and the ‘Cats get all three of them in Commonwealth. I know they went 1-2 against these three teams last season, but the Bulldogs are going to take a step back, the Vanderbilt game on the road was the tipping point of a failing season, and they beat the Gamecocks on their field last year and that team will be a shadow of the squad from last season.

There’s also Missouri going through a rough offseason that saw them just lose two of their biggest defensive lineman. It’s probably a toss-up as to whether this or the MSU game will prove more challenging to win, but there’s no question both are now very winnable.

If Kentucky can pull off at least three wins from that group, they will definitely go bowling this season.

Reasons to be Pessimistic

The Defensive Line

Matt Elam has to have a big or the defense may be in trouble. There isn’t much depth at the defensive line and the onus will be on Elam to be the guy. We have been waiting for Elam to be the guy since he put on that Kentucky helmet on his signing day but so far he has been a bit of a letdown. The good news is he’s looked incredible at UK Media Day and no longer looks like a guy simply carrying 350 pounds of weight.

Reggie Meant and Courtney Miggins figure to be on either side of Elam and there isn’t a ton of experience between them. Offenses in the SEC are built to run over and pound opposing defenses with big offensive lines and big running backs. If the d-line fails, then that will expose the linebackers and will not allow the d-backs do their jobs.

The line has to be good. I do think Denzil Ware is going to be a monster in the d-end/linebacker combo role.

The Offensive Line

How many times have we heard the offensive line is going to be better and how many times have they not delivered? I’m not buying it until I see it from them. Jon Toth is as good of a center as there is in the country, but what does he have around him? Cole Mosier was decent in relief of Jordan Swindle last season, but JUCO transfer Tate Leavitt was brought in to be the left tackle and rumors are that he isn’t close to ready yet.

All of the starters will probably be juniors or seniors and they’ll all be over 300 pounds, but will they be up to the task against SEC front sevens?

Drew Barker

I’m very happy that Barker is knocking it out of the park in the classroom and in the film room. He certainly does look like he’s improved his attitude. But is he any good? It’s hard to answer that question with the small sample size that we have from last season, but it didn’t leave me feeling great about him.

If there is any player’s success that Mark Stoops is tied to, it’s Barker. Stoops’ success is going to live and die with his QB, but is Barker ready for the challenge? His teammates seem to love him, so that bodes well, and he’s drawn praise at every preseason meeting with the media.

But I am still not convinced that he will be the guy to lead Kentucky to where they need to go. I really, really want him to prove me wrong.

The Schedule (Flip Side)

Going to Alabama and Tennessee isn’t going to be much fun. Going to Florida and hosting Georgia will be major challenges as usual. And I don’t even want to talk about playing at Louisville. I think there are four losses we can pencil in for the ‘Cats, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia.

The Louisville game is a likely loss, so that makes five losses I think the ‘Cats will probably suffer. Missouri should be worse than last season with all of the change and turmoil surrounding that team, but it’s a road game and the ‘Cats haven’t historically been the best road team.

And that Southern Mississippi game scares the bejeezus out of me just because the implications if they lose are so dire. Once again, there isn’t much room for error.

So what do you think? Do you have more reasons to be optimistic or pessimistic? Let me know in the comments section.

Notre Dame football and head coach Brian Kelly kicked off the start of fall camp today with the annual, “about to start camp” press conference. It was a typical Brian kelly press conference (that’s a good thing) with plenty of information, deflection, jokes, and blame.

Here are some of the highlights:

Cool, Coach

Right away, Brian Kelly mentioned One Foot Down’s resident Social Media Coordinator Phil Mosey’s strong work.

While Kelly gave a shot out to Phil the other day on Twitter:

The mention today just makes the whole thing nice and laidback- OH MY GOD OUR GUARD IS DOWN. Brian Kelly the politician.

Quarterback Life

At some point the questions and hawks would start circling the quarterback competition, and for the most part, Kelly deflected most questions with the standard “competing” talk. When asked if there were any players that would side with one quarterback or the other, Kelly said, “They could care less.” The OFD commentariat can handle this one.

One really interesting nugget that he did drop was that he felt Zaire got short-changed in the spring. He stated that the plays called for Zaire weren’t exactly the right mix for his skill set. I found it a bit odd that 1) Kelly admitted to that shortcoming as a coach 2) Why this hasn’t been asked before and 3)How this even happened to begin with.

All the quarterback talk will heat up more and more, but Kelly seems committed to the process.

Leaders

Per usual, Kelly was pressed about what players stepped forward as leaders on the team. The obvious candidates of James Onwualu and Mike McGlinchey were mentioned, but the way Kelly talked about the team in general gelling and doing more of the things it needed to do as opposed to what he saw in the winter and spring was far more interesting. This team is going to need more step up, and Isaac Rochell was another guy that Kelly has pegged to do just that.

Special Talk

Besides the usual, Kelly really gave some glowing remarks for the special teams units. He really likes CJ Sanders (as do we all), but had mentioned that there is real competition for him at kick return. Justin Yoon and Tyler Newsome were given high praise, although there was no mention of Newsome’s strong short game.

Under The Bus

There was some confusion as to what position Donte Vaughn was playing.

Brian Kelly the politician, of course blamed Bertsch.

More

• Crawford seems to be one of the hotter names on Kelly’s brain.
• Plan for Wimbush is to redshirt.
• Grant Blankenship is seeking a transfer.
• Kelly is proud of Alize’ Jones for holding himself accountable.

We will have more on this press conference and some of the player interviews in just a bit.

Two days, two transfers from Alabama. In football. This time it is offensive tackle Charles Baldwin. For a line desperately needing any type of warm body, the sight of a 5 star prospect who was rated as the #1JuCo recruit in the class of 2016 is a sight to behold indeed. Baldwin will sit this year and then have 2 more years of eligibility as a Jayhawk.

Originally from Connecticut, Baldwin had 10 offers coming out of Junior College in New York, choosing Alabama over notables such as Miami, Oklahoma, Michigan State, and Georgia.

Baldwin was dismissed from Bama in May for an unspecified violation of team rules. In March, Alabama head coach Nick Saban said that Baldwin was a candidate to get reps at right tackle and is a very good athlete with a lot of ability. Clearly he will be the favorite to start as a tackle next season for the Jayhawks.

Even with the college football season inching closer, we’re still left to pass the time with preseason rankings, predictions and ridiculous hot takes.

For the most part, Phil Steele is one of the better college football writers out there. His annual magazine preview of the upcoming season is one of the most popular preseason reads every year.

But like anyone who writes about sports for a living, no one is immune to an occasional swing-and-miss on something. That’s what happened in Steele’s ranking of the best QB situations in college football.

There’s no question that quarterback is one of the biggest areas of concern for Michigan State this year. However, I think it’s safe to say there aren’t 50 teams with a better situation at QB in the short and long term. For whatever reason, Steele does not agree based on his ranking.

Steele is pretty spot on with the top QB situations with teams like Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Clemson and UCLA at the top. They all have a superstar starter and/or overall great depth at the position. To no surprise, Steele isn’t high on any of the Michigan schools, but he’s so low on Michigan State that he doesn’t even have the Spartans in his top 50.

It becomes even more laughable when you see the likes of Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and of course, Michigan, all having better situations than Michigan State.

Other teams that made his top 50 include Troy, Virginia, Georgia Southern, Marshall, Northern Illinois, SMU, Appalachian State, Illinois and Tulsa.

Sure, Connor Cook is gone, and now the Spartans must replace the man who finished his career as the winningest quarterback in school history with a 34-5 record, two Big Ten Championship Games and three bowl wins.

But the man who likely replaces Cook is not some scrub with no big-game experience. Tyler O’Connor will likely earn the starting job after helping lead the Spartans to a win at Ohio State last year when Cook was injured. Damion Terry played in that win as well, and both QBs did enough to help their team score the biggest win of their season.

And that’s not even accounting for the future of promising true freshman Messiah DeWeaver. He has the potential to be a good one for the Spartans over time, but Steele seems to be forgetting about him, and frankly the rest of the Spartans’ QBs.

I’m gonna trust Mark Dantonio’s opinion on this one more than Steele. His history of success throughout the roster, QB included, indicates that he’ll have one of the 50 best QB units this year.

To be fair to Steele, he does have Michigan State projected as one of the potential surprise teams of 2016, so at least he likes this team in general.

Back in early June we got a preliminary assessment of the 2016 NC State football team from Vegas, but now that we’re close to the start of the season, has much changed? Well … no, not really. Oddsmakers still see the Wolfpack as basically a six-win team.

These are the odds recently published by Bovada:

2016 Regular Season Wins – North Carolina State Wolfpack

Over 6½ (+150, 3/2)

Under 6½ (-190, 10/19)

And based on that, the oddsmakers find it far more likely that State will finish under 6.5 wins, which, y’know, is not unfair. Since seven wins will require a significant upset in addition to a blemish-free run through William & Mary, ECU, Old Dominion, Wake Forest, Syracuse, and Boston College. Dammit, why am I talking about this, this is not helping me maintain the appropriate level of excessive offseason optimism.

Sorry about bringing up reality, everyone. Please continue your standard offseason business.