First and foremost, I want to express my hope for this team. We can still reach a bowl, but it's looking extremely unlikely. However, my hope for this team isn't confined to beating UVA or going to a bowl - it's how we can come back next year. I'm going to make a separate post tomorrow or the next day comparing many current top 25 teams to how they were doing 2-4 years ago, MANY of which were where we are today. But I digress. So here we go:

1. Eric Kumah is a better receiver than Damon Hazelton. First, DH is a monster and he's given us the surprise we needed when Cam Philips graduated. But boy oh boy does he drop the ball a lot. Granted, he gets targeted three times more than the other players combined so his sample size increases his drops...but every. single. game. He makes bad drops. The drop this past game led to an easy interception by BC. His drop ended all hopes against ODU. Eric Kumah has body control on the level of Isaiah Ford, which was the best I've ever seen at Tech. Kumah gets overlooked because Willis simply doesn't give him half as many chances as DH. If you weren't aware, DH and Willis are roommates. They sat out together last year, they're best friends, they are each other's favorite player. Kumah has 28 receptions for 357 yards and 3 TD's, and his TD against FSU and ESPECIALLY his TD against BC were nothing short of NFL plays. We see Hazelton as our All-Star receiver, but he has 9 more catches than Kumah even though he's been targeted around 30 more times. DH is a beast, no doubt. But in my opinion, Kumah is better.

2. Reggie Floyd is our best defensive player. Ricky Walker is our "bell cow" and rightfully so. He's the 6th year old soul on the team and the vocal leader. He's a great face for the program and represents us phenomenally every chance he gets - clearly he's the fan favorite and certainly got a lot of national attention last year. But Reggie Floyd is on another level. Reggie Floyd reminds me of a mix between Kam Chancellor and Aaron Rouse for those who remember them. The guy is EVERYWHERE. Last year when he won the game for us against Pitt with his ankle tackle on the 1 was when I knew he was special. Reggie Floyd is our best player on defense.

3. McClease is a better receiver than he is a running back. What I've noticed when McClease has to create yards in the backfield is that he dances and then gets pummeled. Lots of this falls on the line and certainly the play calling has been lackluster. But when McClease can catch the ball on a bootleg or even a short pass to the sidelines, he's great at picking up yardage. I'm not advocating for him to become a WR, but I'm not totally sold on him as our RB#2 in terms of running through the holes. However, McClease out in space is extremely dangerous and for the reason I'd love to see him line up in the slot more.

4. Dalton Keane is the best player on offense. I talked about Kumah and Hazelton earlier. Keane in my eyes is the best player we have, with the ball in his hands, and in blocking. And probably catching, too. Seriously, to me Keane blocks better than any of the linemen, oh and hey he gets a first down every single time he touches the ball. It takes 2 corners and a linebacker to bring him down, and if Fuente doesn't use him even more moving forward then I'm putting my name in the hat to be our new head coach. Willis should target him 10 times per game.

5. We will be ranked in the top 10 by the end of the season next year. This is my hottest take. For every discussion on this board with a negative connotation, you can have a positive one as well. Let's face it, we aren't a good team right now. But lots of this wasn't supposed to happen when looking at classes. Had nobody left early, we'd still have Tim Settle, Terrell Edmunds and Tremaine Edmunds. Obviously Tremaine was good enough to leave without question but you get my point. Then we lost Mook Reynolds and Adonis Alexander to dismissal. And then Trevon Hill was kicked off the team after game #3. So all of that was unpredictable. Now, for the season, we've lost starter Bryce Watts and backup Xavier Burke. Jarrod Hewitt may be done for the year as well. Divine Deablo has missed two and a half games. And yet, our guys are fighting and LEARNING. We get almost everyone back next year, just better and more experienced versions of them. Tell me Tre Turner won't be a stud next year. Tell me a year under Caleb Farley's belt won't help him learn better tackling techniques. Tell me Ashby and Hollifield and Rivers and Kearney won't be even better next year. Tell me a Senior Floyd isn't going to be All-ACC caliber. We get Hazelton and Kumah back. Guys, this season will light a fire so strongly in these guys' hearts in the offseason that I'm expecting us to have an extraordinarily good season next year. And to cap it all off, I genuinely think we finish top 10 next year.