Back in April, I attempted to project Marquess Wilson's 2012 statline. As if that wasn't a difficult enough task on it's own, I decided to make an even bigger fool of myself today by projecting the entire group of skill players.
The biggest problem with season projections is no matter how much research you do, or how many formulas you use, you are still going to be wrong. Injuries will happen, players will rise and fall up and down the depth chart and things you could have never predicted will screw everything up.
With that said, I look forward to looking back on these projections in a few months to see just how wrong I was.
Projecting any group of wide receivers would be a challenge, but projecting a group of Mike Leach receivers is almost impossible. Not only will Leach use a lot of receivers, but with so many open spots heading into this season it's difficult to know who will slot into what role.
Wide Receivers
- Marquess Wilson: 150 targets, 101 receptions, 1,635 yards, 15 touchdowns, 3 attempts, 13 yards
- Andrei Lintz: 98 targets, 62 receptions, 842 yards, 5 touchdowns
- Gabe Marks: 89 targets, 56 receptions, 737 yards, 4 touchdowns, 2 attempts, 7 yards
- Rickey Galvin: 58 targets, 41 receptions, 451 yards, 2 touchdowns, 7 attempts, 36 yards
- Bobby Ratliff: 49 targets, 34 receptions, 434 yards, 2 touchdowns
- Brett Bartolone: 25 targets, 16 receptions, 178 yards, 1 touchdown
- Gino Simone: 23 targets, 14 receptions, 177 yards, 1 touchdown
- Isiah Myers: 11 targets, 7 receptions, 75 yards, 0 touchdowns
- Dominique Williams: 7 targets, 5 receptions, 60 yards, 1 touchdown
- Kristoff Williams: 6 targets, 4 receptions, 51 yards 0 touchdowns
- Bennett Bontemps: 4 targets, 2 receptions, 22 yards, 0 touchdowns
- Blair Bomber: 3 targets, 2 receptions, 19 yards, 0 touchdowns
Of all those names, I suspect Dominique Williams' projection will draw the biggest question. While Williams may be a fine player, he's currently stuck behind Wilson who won't come off the field much. Seven targets may seem like nothing, but playing behind a guy projected for 150 targets will do that.
Running Backs
- Teondray Caldwell: 126 attempts, 605 yards, 10 touchdowns, 62 targets 48 receptions, 372 yards, 3 TDs
- Carl Winston: 75 attempts, 315 yards, 6 touchdowns, 34 targets, 23 receptions, 133 yards, 2 TDs
- Leon Brooks: 36 attempts, 166 yards, 3 touchdowns, 21 targets, 16 receptions, 131 yards, 1 TD
With Rickey Galvin moving to wide receiver, I'm expecting a big freshman season for Caldwell. He enrolled in January which helped his cause and he's the most complete player of the top three running backs.
Quarterbacks
- Jeff Tuel: 396-589, 4,890 yards, 34 touchdowns
- Connor Halliday: 35-51, 426 yards, 3 touchdowns
Leach has said on numerous occasions he does not like a two quarterback system, so as long as Tuel stays healthy, I wouldn't expect anything but mop up reps for Halliday. In case you were wondering, Tuel's projected yardage total would break the current WSU single-season record by nearly 1,000 yards. He would also set the season record for attempts, completions, completion percentage and tie the record for touchdowns.
Well, there you have it, complete 2012 projections for every skill position player. My chances of being correct on all of these are about the same chance a shark has of beating a bear in a fight.