Tweet
Continued from here...
--2020 Training Camp--
Final cuts loom in Salt Lake City this week, as the Bees and new head coach Mike Tarr prepare to trim their roster from the 70 they took into training camp, to the 60 they'll be able to keep throughout the preseason.
Some opening moves are already afoot. 4th-year guard Max Mills has been informed of his release by team officials. The once-promising 7th rounder was being groomed behind the scenes for two years, but suffered a serious quads injury that sidelined him for the last quarter of the 2018 season and landed him on IR the following year as well. Looks like the training staff are not projecting a confident return this year, and with the four other new faces at guard for Utah, it would have been a hell of an uphill climb.
Another spot where Utah's making a transformation is at receiver. Longtime core backups Lonnie Doleman and Zach Owens are both off the team - the former released and the latter traded - and there are four new faces in this group as well, including two rookies. All eyes will be on Colin Fletcher, the ballyhooed Stanford star that Utah moved up eight spots in the first round to get. With Daluiso locked up to a longterm deal and a deal for Foley likely to come soon, it could be Al Poston, the last of the trifecta of valued core backups, that is the next casualty in this swift remake of 2nd-year-starter Randy Boone's toys. And rumors keep swirling that the Bees are not yet done making acquisitions here - whether in FA or in trade.
Six-year starter and the second longest tenured player of the team, nose tackle Don Ilardi, is being shipped off to Kalispel, the second defensive starter in two years to receive such a fate. There he'll rejoin 4th-year linebacker Johnnie Higgs, who, MUCH TO MY CHAGRIN, TOMR1962, appears to have gone +9/+9 this camp to reach 62/62. WTF, I practically gave him away in that case.
On the skill positions side, Utah is poised to pack as much punch as it has had since Quinteros and Viola last both took the field for the Bees. Darrell Boulware arrives from Gainesville and brings strength to a solid group that returns the dependable Leo Felts from the previous season, as well as Glen Plummer (two straight 100 yard, 7+ ypc games to finish the year in his only two starts), and the dynamic-but-not-yet-productive Ken Schacht.
On the less glamorous front, tight end Nate Barlow finally steps out of everyone's shadow and will get the chance to win the starting job outright this preseason. The former 7th round pick backed up a lot of players, with Dennis Hawley being the latest - but now Hawley is out of the way, shipped off to Los Alamos, and Barlow can put the much-talked-about rapport with Boone that he developed last season to use. At fullback, four-year starter Sammie Clinton was a surprise pre-camp release (he's since found a home in Charlotte), and two rookies - 6th-round pick Kerry Duran and free agent K.C. Myers - will battle it out for the starting role.
All told, the Bees have 10 rookies (9 draft picks, 1 UDFA) and 22 new FA signings (including 1 3rd-year man and 5 2nd-years) on this 70-man roster. Time will tell where the axe falls as we get ready for the preseason.
--2020 Training Camp--
Final cuts loom in Salt Lake City this week, as the Bees and new head coach Mike Tarr prepare to trim their roster from the 70 they took into training camp, to the 60 they'll be able to keep throughout the preseason.
Some opening moves are already afoot. 4th-year guard Max Mills has been informed of his release by team officials. The once-promising 7th rounder was being groomed behind the scenes for two years, but suffered a serious quads injury that sidelined him for the last quarter of the 2018 season and landed him on IR the following year as well. Looks like the training staff are not projecting a confident return this year, and with the four other new faces at guard for Utah, it would have been a hell of an uphill climb.
Another spot where Utah's making a transformation is at receiver. Longtime core backups Lonnie Doleman and Zach Owens are both off the team - the former released and the latter traded - and there are four new faces in this group as well, including two rookies. All eyes will be on Colin Fletcher, the ballyhooed Stanford star that Utah moved up eight spots in the first round to get. With Daluiso locked up to a longterm deal and a deal for Foley likely to come soon, it could be Al Poston, the last of the trifecta of valued core backups, that is the next casualty in this swift remake of 2nd-year-starter Randy Boone's toys. And rumors keep swirling that the Bees are not yet done making acquisitions here - whether in FA or in trade.
Six-year starter and the second longest tenured player of the team, nose tackle Don Ilardi, is being shipped off to Kalispel, the second defensive starter in two years to receive such a fate. There he'll rejoin 4th-year linebacker Johnnie Higgs, who, MUCH TO MY CHAGRIN, TOMR1962, appears to have gone +9/+9 this camp to reach 62/62. WTF, I practically gave him away in that case.
On the skill positions side, Utah is poised to pack as much punch as it has had since Quinteros and Viola last both took the field for the Bees. Darrell Boulware arrives from Gainesville and brings strength to a solid group that returns the dependable Leo Felts from the previous season, as well as Glen Plummer (two straight 100 yard, 7+ ypc games to finish the year in his only two starts), and the dynamic-but-not-yet-productive Ken Schacht.
On the less glamorous front, tight end Nate Barlow finally steps out of everyone's shadow and will get the chance to win the starting job outright this preseason. The former 7th round pick backed up a lot of players, with Dennis Hawley being the latest - but now Hawley is out of the way, shipped off to Los Alamos, and Barlow can put the much-talked-about rapport with Boone that he developed last season to use. At fullback, four-year starter Sammie Clinton was a surprise pre-camp release (he's since found a home in Charlotte), and two rookies - 6th-round pick Kerry Duran and free agent K.C. Myers - will battle it out for the starting role.
All told, the Bees have 10 rookies (9 draft picks, 1 UDFA) and 22 new FA signings (including 1 3rd-year man and 5 2nd-years) on this 70-man roster. Time will tell where the axe falls as we get ready for the preseason.
Comment