Athlon
Athlon starts by listing it's "BEST UNITS". It does not feature Nevada in any of these. In fact, the only WAC team to make any list is Boise at #10 DB's. Other Nevada opponents: ND #2 WR/TE.
How can you have two 1st team all conference RB's returning who have rushed for nearly 3,000 yards and 30 TD's the past two seasons, returning to the #3 rushing offense in the nation last year, and not be a top unit. Athlon was obviously leaning towards BCS teams when they formed that list! Other mags did get it right. We'll get to those later. Seeing ND at #2 WR/TE makes our tummies hurt a little.
Next up is the All American Teams. No Nevada. 1st team LB Sean Weatherspoon (the guy Kaepernick said almost broke his jaw) from Missouri is the only 1st teamer Nevada faces. Fresno St kick returner AJ Jefferson is on the 2nd team. Corner Kyle Wilson from Boise St is on the 3rd team.
We didn't really expect anything here. So no let downs. We were actually happy to see how few stars we have to face this year.
Next is the list (including 411) of new coaches. New Mexico St's DeWayne Walker and Utah St's Gary Anderson make the list.
Who cares! Good luck with those programs.
Finally we get to the preseason rankings. Nevada checks in at #64. BSU is 12, ND 24, Mizzou 37. Everyone else is behind the Pack.
We find it hard to believe that we will be in the bottom 50% of the nation. We also find it hard to believe that the #2 team from our conference would be worse than more than half of all schools. Athlon sucks! But if we loose to NMSU again they'll look like geniuses.
The next significant page is the WAC Conference page. Nevada is projected 2nd. Nice big picture of Kaep. (Take that Kellen Moore....yuck yuck yuck). Nevada's units are ranked:
QB 1
RB 2
WR/TE 5
OL 3
DL 2
LB 5
DB 8
1st Team Honors to:
Kaepernick
Taua
Durham
Gallett
Basped
Agaiava
Langley
2nd Team:
Wellington
Green
Moch
Michael-Johnson
Thompson
We find it fairly amazing that we have two first teamers on the D-line and a 2nd teamer and somehow aren't ranked #1. We think 7 first teamers is pretty respectable. Good job there Athlon, although we do think an O-lineman (Bender) and a safety (Amaya) should have been 2nd team.
Next up is the breakdown of Nevada. There really isn't anything new here and most of it is a recap of last year.
Boring! Nevada's offense is great. Nevada's run defense good. Nevada's special teams bad. Nevada's pass defense worst. Tell us something we don't know!
We are rated as the #8 recruiting class in the WAC and have no top 10 recruits.
Bullllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiioops!
Lastly is Athlon's fantasy football section. Here is how they rank them:
QB: Kaepernick #6 (6 overall)
RB: Taua #32 (71 overall) and Lippincott #65
WR: Wellington #35 (108 overall)
And in Athlon's staff draft Nevada players went: Kaepernick #3 overall, Taua #34 overall.
Obviously they rated them one way but when it came time to actually pick, Nevada players were a hotter commodity than anyone wanted to admit. We can't blame them! We would pick them too!
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