With fall practice heating up, the two deeps are starting to take shape. Heading into August first, here was the preliminary depth chart.

No "-OR-"s show up on the depth chart, so one has to assume that every guy listed first at any position currently has that spot, even with Coach Chizik stating that Arnaud and Bates are basically tied at QB.

Here's my early depth chart prognostications.

Obviously, the battle here is for the first spot. I'm still of the opinion that the coaches are going to use the South Dakota State game as an evaluation period to try and decide on one quarterback. If they can't, I honestly see a Leak/Tebow situation between Arnaud, the better passer, and Bates, the better athlete/scrambler. I'm still can't decide if it's good or bad that Arnaud hasn't broken away yet. He was way more impressive in game action than the limited snaps that Bates got, but as recently as the spring game, Bates seemed a bit more impressive. I still think Austen has the edge, but I don't see Bates not getting snaps as well.

The other two quarterbacks, Tiller and Bueker, are not likely to see game action. Tiller has talent, and the coaches continually talk about him having a chance at the job, but it's impossible for him to get the playbook down that quickly. He's looking at taking the helm as a junior. Bueker is one of those walk-on quarterbacks from the state of Iowa that will be a lifelong backup, provided he doesn't pull a Sage. He's not likely to play at all this year either unless we win big, or the three guys in front of him get hurt....

Runningback may very well be Iowa State's deepest position with the return of JJ Bass to the team. The pre-fall depth charts list Jason Scales as the number one, but I find it hard to believe he'll stay above Robinson and Bass, especially with Chizik talking about Robinson's work this summer. I fully expect to see all of the top 3 guys get a number of touches, if not all four. Rickey Thompson won't see any meaningful time, while Jeremiah Schwartz will likely see a redshirt this year, joining the unlisted Bo Williams. All of the top four guys have starter potential, but Robinson and Bass have thus far proven to be the most complete of the group.

The fullback is kind of an odd cat in Robert McFarland's offense. They don't run the ball, they don't catch the ball, and they rarely play, even when the Clones use a blocker in the backfield. The majority of the snaps in that situation went to H-Back/Tight End Derrick Catlett. Ekwelundu played sparingly in goal-line sets, and he'll be joined by Taylor Mansfield, who may well push for the starting spot simply due to his superior size. God knows we aren't looking at these guys to run the ball...

Next up, I'll continue looking at the offense. 

Quite a big deal.

He returns quite a bit of depth to a runningback corps that will give us a bevy of options if nothing else. One of three seniors in the backfield, it wouldn't be a big surprise to see Bass starting at some point this year if Robinson cannot parlay some of his hot play from last year. 

Bass fought through injury last year, and may have been our most complete "runner" last year in terms of power, speed (and nasty stiffarms). Robinson had a bit more elusiveness on his side and was a better target catching the ball.

I still don't completely trust Jason Scales to shoulder any sort of load, which is sad. The honest truth is that he might likely be the 5th most talented runningback on our roster. I think Bass has the most raw talent, with redshirt Bo Williams right there. Robinson has shown he can break out, while Jason Harris sits way back on the depth chart despite having flat-out speed, as well as being one of those "practice studs".

I had a feeling that we'd see about 70% Alexander Robinson if Bass did not return, but this really should result in more of a runningback by committee unless someone just breaks out. Chizik said he fulfilled all his requirements (getting his ass to class), so it's nothing but good news.

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.