Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Vandy offense has question marks going into season


I've listened to a couple of interviews with Bobby Johnson in the past day or so, and he's been talking about question marks — or potential trouble spots, if you will — for the Commodores. Here's what he's mentioned:

QUESTION MARK #1: RECEIVERS

In his press conference yesterday, Johnson mentioned the three starters — John Cole, Udom Umoh and Alex Washington — as well as hulking former tight end Justin Green and the two true freshmen from Texas, Brady Brown and Collin Ashley. He called Brown and Ashley "accomplished receivers," saying they "caught a lot of balls in high school." Still, he called the wide receiver position "a question mark.

QUESTION MARK #2: TAILBACKS

Sure, the true freshmen are talented, and one of them might even be the man by season's end. But Johnson clearly wants to start the season with Jared Hawkins, who's still struggling to recover from a foot injury last year. "If Jared Hawkins can get healthy, I think he’s a very underrated runner in this conference and the country," Johnson said yesterday. And if J-Hawk is grounded? "Get the freshman loose and let them show what they can do," Johnson said. Right now, Zac Stacy and Warren Norman are listed as Hawkins' backups, but today on 104.5 The Zone, he was mentioning junior Kennard Reeves in the same breath as the freshmen. So if Hawkins can't go, what criteria will be choose to pick his replacement? "Mainly it’s gonna be mental — who knows what to do," he said.

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