Photo by: Jason Luong
There are high hopes for the Panthers’ football team this season coming off their first ever bowl game last season. Even though they have 16 returning starters this year and a head coach coming into his fourth year with the program, the Panthers still have some challenges that could have them going into the opposite direction than what they expect this year.
Arbuckle replacement?
The Panthers had the best quarterback in school history last year in Sun Belt Conference Student-Athlete of the Year in Nick Arbuckle. With Arbuckle graduating, the Panthers have an extremely big hole to fill at the quarterback position. Sure the Panthers have weapons surrounding them with breakout receiver Penny Hart, veteran senior receiver Robert Davis, and star tight end Keith Rucker, but how do they plan on getting these guys the ball with no quarterback?
The Panthers are currently undergoing competition for the quarterback position between sophomore Emiere Scaife, redshirt freshman Aaron Winchester and graduate transfer Conner Manning. All three quarterbacks have a combined five games of Division I college football experience. The longer this competition goes on, the less reps these inexperienced quarterbacks will get as the season draws near. If the Panthers have any hope of becoming bowl eligible again, the Panthers need to name a starter fast so the team can get those reps in.
Too many Running Backs?
In a press conference head coach Trent Miles said, “We’re going to be a running back by committee because each guy has different talents.”
The Panthers have four running backs returning, and being a running back by committee essentially means everyone will get touches. Sometimes that can be a good thing, however last year it proved not to be so good of an idea. The Panthers had three running backs with at least 75 carries but no more than 89. All running backs each had less than 400 yards on the season and the team only averaged three yards per carry. The more attempts a running back gets the more the running back can establish a rhythm, however last year none of the Panthers’ running backs were able to get any type of rhythm as they only averaged 96 yards a game. What makes this year different than last year? Guess everyone will find out if the second time’s the charm.
A hole at the safety position
Last season, the Panthers had one of the best safety tandems in the conference in all conference senior Bobby Baker and graduate Tarris Batiste who had 100 tackles and four interceptions last year. Baker is returning for his senior year and was already named to the Preseason Watch List for the Jim Thorpe Award. However with Batiste graduating, that leaves a big on the other side of the safety position. Bryan Williams is expected to be the starter as he had 22 tackles and one interception last season. Williams has a big role to fill and a ton of pressure as opponents will look to attack his side of the field considering this is his first starting season since injuring his back in 2014. Look for Baker to be that leader of that secondary and try to seal that hole that Batiste has left in the defense.
