Practice doesn't start til Monday but Doug Marrone was like "F this, I'ma get dis started right now, yaz heard???"
I'm paraphrasing.
Doug released his depth chart today. At least I think it's the depth chart, and not some kind of morse code system:
OFFENSE
U - Provo, Catalina
Y - Owen, Pratt
T - Baumbach, Speller
G - Bartholomew, Rosner
C - McKenzie, Phillips, Kay
G - Allport, Lepak, Haney
T - Meldrum, White
X - Williams M., Merkerson, Bailey
Z - Lobdell, Sheeran, Chew, Satterfield
A - Davis, Sales, Cervino, Fairchild
F - Cutler
SB - Carter, Bailey, Hogue, Collier, Jones M., Harden
QB - Dantley, Robinson, Legree, Nassib, Loeb
DEFENSE
E - Kimmel J., Stewart, Boatman
N - Jones A., Tribbey, Lowery
T - Lewis A., Middleton, Perkins
E - Marinovich, Jones C., Tucker
S - Smith D., Battles, Stevens
M - Mele, Stenclik, Vaughn, Kimmel S.
W - Cantey, Gillum
H - Scott K., Reid
SS - Suter, McKinnon
FS - Holmes, Graham, Harris
C - Scott, Mayes
P - Long
LS - Leo
K - Wallis
Donnie breaks down exactly what the hell S, G, M, C, N and the other positions are. He also share quotes from Marrone like this one:
"At the end of the day, what you'd like is for your U and your F to be the same type of guy," Marrone said. "So your U and your F are the same, OK. And really this position that's A is really coming from these two positions."
When will THEN be NOW? SOON!
Specifically looking at the most important position, Marrone has already made a couple important decisions that will shape his initial season. He's decided to stick with Cam Dantley, at least for now.
"I see someone that's going to go out there and be ready to compete," Marrone said. "He competes in everything that he does as well as Cam as well as the rest of them. Everyone understands that it is a competition. That's not just at the quarterback position. It's at all positions. The best players are going to play. It's the best opportunity for us to come in as a new staff. We don't have a biased opinion on our players. We have not been here. So someone that might have played well in the past for a certain stretch of games, we have literally started at zero. That's the best part about being new."
Andrew Robinson remains the back-up, David Legree is the #3, Ryan Nassib is at #4 and Charley Loeb rounds ouf the list. Missing from the list is Cody Catalina who has officially transitioned to tight end full-time. Don't feel bad for Cody, he didn't get pushed out, he asked for the change:
"He was the only player that came to me" and asked to change positions, Marrone said. "He felt that he could help this team at another position and I believe that one of the things at the quarterback position, if you feel you can help the team at another position, and you want to move, we will give that player the opportunity to be able to move to another position.
Some other position tweaks include Da'Mon Merkerson moving to wide receiver, Mike Holmes to free safety and Kevyn Scott to corner. Curious.
If I'm reading depth chart right, Mike Williams, Donte Davis and Lavar Lobdell begin the season as the starting WRs with Merkerson, Marcus Sales and Dan Sheeran in the secondary spots. I have a feeling that 3rd reciever slot is going to be much more up for grabs than that and Sales is going a hard push for it.
Also worth noting...the halfback depth chart. Delone Carter is the incumbent with upstart Antwon Bailey behind him. Doug Hogue starts back in the third slot with Averin "Remember me?" Collier behind him. Still probably a long way to go before this is sorted out.