I have a hunch that we are going to be good for as long as Clawson is at Wake. 8+ wins. While I am concerned about losing Strnad because he is the heart and soul of this defense, everywhere else we have depth in place to move up. We can be derailed by injuries again, but even there Clawson is using new practice techniques I don't even understand. Do you think Mack Brown is over there in Chapel Hill counting snaps, etc... in practice like we do? Add to that our facilities are now on par or better than anyone in the ACC except Clemson and probably half of the SEC (guessing, admittedly).
My point is that losing Washington and Surratt is huge. But we do have 2 4-star receivers that cannot find the field yet this year because of our depth. Washington in particular was a project at best coming in and now he is a legit WR NFL prospect. I assume we are doing something right in practice. Surratt was not a 4-star recruit. He flew under the radar a bit because he was equally focused on basketball, but Clawson, god bless him, and his Northwestern metrics is particularly keen on guys who excel at multiple sports.
Anyway, my point is that in the midst of what seems like a remarkable season, we are worried the way we were in 2006. The difference is I don't think we are at risk of losing the lightning in a ball here.
The OL - Clawson has always said kids needs three years in the system before they can excel. When we sucked, we rolled out frosh and sophs. Now, just because Jurgen may not see the field for any meaningful snaps until he is a RS-JR does not mean he is not really good. Don's ask me why it takes that long, I don't get it, but it seems to be true
WR - our system that we have not deviated from once we got the OL needed is trending towards getting legit NFL prospects at this position. While our 4star RS frosh are NOT going to come in and replace Washington and Surratt, I have been blown away by our development here. Surratt wasn't Surratt last year, I'll remind you - but for only a few games. We are workmanlike in our development (it appears anyway)
RB - Beal has 2 more years of eligibility and Walker 3. We have kids we are excited about coming in behind them
QB - Even if Newman leaves, and I think he might - along with Surratt and Boogie, we look good here for obvious reasons I won't get into.
TE - Legit concern here as I have no idea if Whiteheart is ready next year
DE - I think we lose Boogie, but I feel like we have a lot of depth here from quality recruiting the last several years. Would love for the light to click on for Allen - his body language on the sidelines always seems to be positive when I get glimpses. Johns, Francis, and McCollum (less him admittedly) have all looked legit and again at this position we have been workmanlike in our development of kids through year 1, year 2, year 3, etc... All those guys just mentioned are in year 1 or 2 in the system.
DL - everyone coming back and I feel this has been a position of strength this year when I expected it to be a weakness
LB - Strnad is not really replaceable. Do not know enough about all the younger guys not playing. We have legit pieces redshirting, out injured, etc.... but our run defense is dependent on very good LB play
DBs, including safeties - We will certainly take a hit, but we honestly don't know what we have at the corners. I have been impressed with how our safeties have stepped up.
Clawson is like the reverse Manning. I think he expected to be where we are this year LAST YEAR. Losing Elko and Clark Lea to Notred Dame set us back at least a year. I am fascinated at what the next step brings. Clawson has leveraged his 4th/5th year success at small and then mid-major programs to get promoted. He says he wants to stay at Wake and there is nothing that has happened to challenge that - I haven't seen nary a rumor of his interest in this job or that job. So ... whatever his plan to take Wake into a legit annual top 10-15 program - he hasn't done that anywhere yet because the opportunity just wasn't there at Richmond, Bowling Green, etc... Is it there at Wake? Possibly, but it is tricky. I am reminded of what happened to Skip when he began recruiting a slew of 5-star recruits (and barely missing out), and where we ended up as a result. The safe choice is to essentially keep doing exactly what we are going and just win more kids that are that borderline 3-star/4-star recruit. It would be riskier to bump up our ambition a notch and focus on 4-star kids ...