Today, looking at the offensive line we see a bit of experience, a bit of youth, and a bit of potential. Most Cyclone fans fell in love with the improvement we saw from the line last year in terms of protecting the quarterback. 

There was some thought in the spring that Hulbert might be pushing Dedrick. Well, Dedrick's back in the #1 spot, and he looks to have put on a bit of weight as well. Possibly one of the most successful of Chizik's JUCO recruits, Dedrick seemed a bit overmatched at some times while also sometimes the most dependable guy on the line. He should provide senior leadership, with the starting spot falling to Hulbert next year.

This is one of the more interesting position battles along the line. It had long been said that Osemele was one of the more impressive offensive lineman last year, despite being a redshirt. However, Stephens is a two-time letterman with the hard luck to share the same position. Both guys will play this year, but I expect Kelechi to claim the top spot.

Walk-on Mike Knapp has seized an opportunity to claim one of the weaker spots on the line at center. Despite being undersized, Knapp has the mobility that the coaches are looking for from the center. However, Alex Alvarez has shown potential and has shared some snaps at the #1 position. This will probably be determined with on-field performance.

Right guard features a battle between two returning starters in Lamaak (RT) and Johnson (C). Lamaak figures to be a better bet, being freshman All-Big 12 and all, but Johnson should be a quality backup after being somewhat overmatched at center last year.

Right tackle has been a position full of surprises. Most had planned on Lamaak holding down the fort here for the forseeable future. With the move to guard, Baysinger was tabbed to start. Now, JUCO newcomer Hayworth Hicks, he of the heartbreaking story Hicks', is slated to start before ever taking a snap. Baysinger was regarded along with Osemele to be one of the up and coming redshirts, but he'll have to find his place amongst a young line.

The offensive line has a lot of young talent that will be christened under fire, but McFarland worked some serious magic last year. Here's to him doing it again.

It's the dead period of summer, so The Ralphie Report decided to spice things up a bit. They've looked far and wide around the Big 12 blogosphere and picked out a representative for each Big 12 school that they could find. Each individual blogger was then asked to pick a given number of representatives at each position.

Defensive Back (3): S James Smith, CB Chris Singleton, CB Allen Bell

The position that has most of the the standout talent is the defensive backfield. Bell, Singleton and Smith are all potential gamebreakers. Both Singleton and Bell forced turnovers last year, and I still hold on to an undying belief that James Smith is gonna be big.

Defensive Line (3): DE Rashawn Parker, DE Kurtis Taylor, DT Bailey Johnson

Parker and Taylor were the two obvious choices. Parker adjusted quickly as a freshman, late hit at Texas notwithstanding, while Taylor will be the leader on the line. Johnson was the returning lineman who made the biggest impact last year.

Kicker (1): Grant Mahoney

Mahoney seems to be the more accurate of he and Guyer. I suppose I didn't have to pick someone.

Linebacker (2) Jesse Smith, Josh Raven

Jesse Smith was the obvious choice. Raven is my sleeper pick out of the linebacking corps, simple as that.

Offensive Line (3): Ben Lammak, Doug Dedrick, Kelechi Osemele

Lamaak was a revelation on a much improved offensive line last year, while Dedrick anchored the line at left tackle. K.O. is a big boy that should step into the starting lineup and could be a four year starter.

Punter (1): Mike Brandtner

One badass punter.

Quarterback (1): Austen Arnaud

I think he'll be the starter (or at least get the most playing time) this year.

Runningback (2): Alexander Robinson, JJ Bass

I expected Robinson to be the commander-in-chief of a runningback corps by committee. He came out of nowhere to become a big play threat. Bass may very well be the most talented of the group.

Tight End (1): Derrick Catlett

Will need to overcome a knee injury in the spring, but rapidly developed the blocking part of his game last year. Still room to improve.

Wide Reciever (2): RJ Sumrall, Marquis Hamilton

These two will lead the experienced and talented corps. Both have real big play ability - Marquis had my favorite play of the year, triple juking Aqib Talib for a big gain.

I don't expect any of our players to make the first team, simply put, but I suppose someone could surprise me....

QB: Austen Arnaud (So.)
RB: Alexander Robinson (So.)
TE: Derrick Catlett (Jr.)
WR: Marquis Hamilton (Jr.)
WR: RJ Sumrall (Sr.)
WR: Sedrick Johnson (Fr.)
LT: Matt Hulbert (So.)
LG: Reggie Stephens (Jr.)
C: Alex Alvarez (So.)
RG: Ben Lamaak (So.)
RT: Doug Dedrick (Sr.)

The readers have spoken, and this is the lineup you guys wish to see to start out the season against the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State.  There aren't any real big surprises from the readers, save maybe Reggie Stephens at left guard. It's still anyone's guess who will start at center between Mike Knapp and Alex Alvarez. And, if Sedrick Johnson is as good as advertised, it'd be hard to imagine him not starting, as guys like Jason Carlson and Wallace Franklin are still pretty much question marks.

I still have to believe many of the positions on offense will occur in a playing time by committee fashion. I fully expect Austen Arnaud and Philip Bates to split time at quarterback, while Alexander Robinson, JJ Bass, and Jason Scales will all get meaningful time at runningback.

Needless to say, if last year's offensive line improvement showed anything about Coach MacFarland's skill, and Gene Chizik's claim that he's the best offensive line coach in America - plus the fact that we're reportedly having the redshirt freshman from last year outplay the starters from last year - we're going to be able to move the ball better than we had. We saw what happened last year when we finally got ahold of the offensive system. 

The Spring Game was kind of painful to watch, but it was reportedly the worst "practice" of the spring for the offense. They'll have a smooth enough learning curve at the beginning of the year with South Dakota State, but let's hope the incoming freshmen make a bit of a push.

I got to play with the player tag function in this story. It's pretty powerful and it's going to be very useful.