Let's look now at the guys that will be catching the ball. No doubt, recruiting and practice reports have us excited about what we can see out of our tight ends and wide receivers, but they'll need to prove it on the field.

The tight end/H-back position is the one that will see more time on the field in lieu of the fullback. In fact, as of last year, it essentially replaced the fullback. Derrick Catlett showed flashes last year. Brought in as a pass-catching tight end, it's arguable that he made his hay last year as a blocker out of the backfield. He's pretty good at catching the ball, but it's safe to say that Collin Franklin is the better receiving threat. Franklin gives ISU the ability to try out the occasional two tight-end set, and he will be a guy to follow this year. It's a little disappointing thus far that he hasn't really showed up in practice reports, but tight ends coach Scott Fountain has gone so far to say that if he was as experienced as Catlett is, he'd be the better player. Patrick Neal shouldn't see much playing time.

Receiver was one of the hardest positions to analyze on the team. I honestly think that Marquis Hamilton is the best receiver on the team, and I listed him at #1 because I think he's our biggest threat. RJ Sumrall will be a solid number two, and should have a nice senior campaign. He kind of reminds me of Jack Whitver. Provided Sedrick Johnson is all he's hyped up to be, I find it hard to believe he won't be on the field a lot. I would imagine a guy like Sumrall would line up in the slot with Sedrick on the outside. Burner Jason Carlson should see some snaps as well, to be used much in the same role that the Iowa Hawkeyes use with their screens that they happen to use every other play. Darius Darks has been one of the biggest surprises of fall practice. WR coach Jay Rodgers says he will play, and, while I don't think he's better than the 4 guys in front of him, he'll probably be part of a rotation. It's hard to slot Wallace Franklin til he comes back from suspension, but I imagine he'd be little more than a rotation guy. Euseph Messiah and Houston Jones will be looked at to rotate in and out to give the other guys breaks. Messiah showed decent flashes last year, but his size hurts him. It's tough to tell what to make of Jones at this point, as the former quarterback still seems to be adjusting to receiver.

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.