Stone's Projected Two-Deep
Alright, let's do this. First time ever doing one of these (seriously) so, if my structuring is a little off, my bad.
QUARTERBACK
1. Emmett Morehead
2. Thomas Castellanos
Might be closer than I ever thought it would be this early, but it's Morehead's team for the year. Unless, he gives it away more than Castellanos takes it and sort of forces the staff to make a change.
RUNNING BACK
1. Pat Garwo
2. Alex Broome
This is going to be a committee more than it's going to be Garwo completely dominating the touches. Don't get me wrong, they're going to give him the chance to be a 1,000-yard back again with plenty of carries, but that whole room should get opportunities.
OUTSIDE RECEIVER
1. Lewis Bond
2. Joe Griffin
OUTSIDE RECEIVER
1. Ryan O'Keefe
2. Taji Gibson
SLOT RECEIVER
1. Jaden Williams
2. Dino Tomlin
Honestly, the room is so deep that you could almost put anybody anywhere. O'Keefe will be all over the place, but has already said he's a north-and-south guy more than anything else. I think Tomlin and Williams could both be outside guys - especially Tomlin - but Gibson's size keeps him outside. Joe Griffin is a go-up-and-get-it guy and healthy, he'll have a huge impact. Everyone has raved about Bond this offseason. This is the deepest room on the team and the deepest WR group I've seen since I started covering the team in 2019.
TIGHT END
1. George Takacs
2. Jeremiah Franklin
If Takacs stays healthy he could legitimately be one of the best in the ACC. Massive and has great hands. Franklin is guy Hafley talked a lot about during spring ball, interested to see if he gets more of a chance. Otherwise, we haven't really seen or heard anything about the others in the room thus far.
LEFT TACKLE
1. Ozzy Trapilo
2. Jack Conley
LEFT GUARD
1. Christian Mahogany
2. Jackson Ness
CENTER
1. Drew Kendall
2. Kyle Hergel
RIGHT GUARD
1. Kyle Hergel
2. Jack Conley
RIGHT TACKLE
1. Logan Taylor
2. Kevin Cline
I fully admit that aside from Mahogany and Kendall, I have zero idea what Hafley will actually do, this is just my gut. Conley is probably the most versatile which is why I'd have him moving around if there's injury. Same with Hergel, who talked about taking reps at center in spring ball. I think Taylor has come in and made an impact right away as well. Suddenly a very deep room that has a bunch of guys that can move around if need be. No more converting defensive guys to the offensive side. Wouldn't be surprised to see quite a bit of movement early in the season.
LEFT DEFENSIVE END
1. Donovan Ezeiruaku
2. Neto Okpala
DEFENSIVE TACKLE
1. Cam Horsley
2. Khris Banks
RIGHT DEFENSIVE END
1. Shitta Sillah
2. Josiah Griffin
Sillah and Ezeiruaku have a legitimate shot to be two of the best pass rushers in the ACC and could flip sides often. Inside, Banks and Horsley have gotten bigger. Griffin has already worked in with the one's during camp and is probably more of an inside guy, but I wanted to get him in because I do think we'll see him early. Okpala has been a name that's been mentioned a lot by coaches and teammates. Like the O-line, we're going to see a rotation early until guys truly solidify what they are in this defense.
OUTSIDE LINEBACKER
1. Kam Arnold (LOLB)
2. Owen McGowan OR Jaylen Blackwell
MIDDLE LINEBACKER
1. Vinny DePalma
2. Owen McGowan
Biggest question mark on the team is LB. The health issue with Bryce Steele obviously changes a lot of things and makes the depth chart at the position much thinner. You know what you have in Arnold and DePalma. McGowan should take a big step this year and the team might really need him to. I honestly think he starts against NIU at one of the outside spots. Blackwell played in every game last year as s redshirt freshman and started two of them. Otherwise, there's going to need to be a young guy or two that emerges if Arnold or DePalma go down.
CORNERBACK
1. Elijah Jones (Left)
2. Alex Washington (Right)
Elijah should be a top DB in the ACC while Washington has impressed since coming over from Harvard, Amari Jackson started five games at corner last year as a true freshman, but I think Washington's veteran presence carries a little more weight here. Arkansas transfer Khari Johnson is going to play a lot, as is Jalon Williams, who played in all 12 games last year. Watch out for Long Island transfer Victor Nelson too. This is another very deep group.
SAFETY
1. Cole Batson (SS)
2. John Pupel (FS)
Another pretty big question mark is the safety position, but Hafley has been practically been glowing whenever he talks about Dartmouth transfer John Pupel. Pretty loaded at corner, so I think he'll play more safety, but could do both. Batson played in 11 games as a redshirt freshman last year. I wouldn't be shocked if we see a lot of Bugg Jones early too, he's been getting a good amount of work in camp after mostly playing special teams last year. He was a standout at the position when he was playing high school ball in Virginia.
LONG SNAPPER
1. Mike Wright
2. Jackson Gugni
Wright's a transfer from Penn State and was solid there. Gugni was a swimmer who walked onto the team last season.
PUNTER
1. Loren DiLoreto
2. Sam Candotti
Total guess here. DiLoreto is a WPI transfer, but he was First Team All-Newmac last year. Candotti showed he can handle the job last year after Longman, but I wouldn't be surprised in the least if this is the other way around, just another gut feel.
KICKER
1. Liam Connor
2. Connor Lytton
I have a feeling Connor overtook Lytton. When we got to see them live both guys missed two kicks each. Lytton's also been dealing with something in camp. This still very much a question mark that may not have an answer until like Friday this week. Sam Stone could also be a factor at both punter and kicker, we just simply haven't seen enough of them live to know how it's played out yet.
Hope this wasn't too bad. Hafley wouldn't tell us when he'd have the official two-deep out, I have to think it'll be Monday before his first game-week presser. While there's certainly questions at some key spots, there's also a lot more depth at spots that they desperately needed it in.
We'll start to finally get answers about this team in just seven days. As Kramer would say...giddy up!