Rebuilding Buffalo State!

Well, this is the first entry in my blog on rebuilding the Buffalo State Bengals in Leahy world. The team isn't the usual trainwreck that I am used to working with, but it is still going to be a lot of work.

In the 55 seasons of the Leahy, they have NEVER made the playoffs. In all of those seasons, however, they have only been under Sim AI control for four seasons (including the last three). They are coming off of a 4-9 record.

I want to build this team around a passing attack. I am not sure what they were running last season, but whatever it was, it was not very successful. There is some decent talent, but I need to get better players before they will be ready to contend for a playoff spot.

At QB, I am inheriting Senior Michael Wilson. He is decent, but not spectacular. He doesn't have the kind of stamina that I need from a QB in this pass-happy offense, so he'll only be working about half of the offensive downs. He is backed up by Junior Alex Young. He is also decent, but has a similar stamina issue. Finally, rounding things out, is Sophomore Vincent Brown. Brown has major stamina issues and is not a great player. He will be cut at the end of this season. With three QBs already on roster, we did not recruit any this season. We will plan to recruit two next season.

RB is not a position that we get carried away with. This can be an expensive positions, so we look to save money here. Moreover, we look for players with not traditional RB skills, but WR skills. Junior Billy Stewartlooks decent, but we recruited an even better youngster named Michael Mason. Mason will start for us this season. He's got great hands and a lot of speed, which is what we want.

At WR we have two talented Seniors: Robert Delarosa and Daniel Coates. Coates tore it up during the pre-season catching 27 balls for over 500 yards and 6 TDs in only three games. We recruited four WRs this season, the best of which is Jack Lopez, who will receive a redshirt. None of them have overwhelming skills at this point, but all have tons of potential. The other three are Richard Young, Rodney Barrera, and Herman Ochoa. Should be a talented group.

At TE, we don't have much. Sophomores Joel Perez and Robert Pope are at about the same level, not excelling at anything. We recruited a TE, Larry Miller, with excellent hands and great potential. Miller will receive a RS this season and likely start next season.

OL is another place where we skimp. With a passing attack, you are looking to score quick and don't need to grind it out. We recruited two players: Jeffrey Morrison and Christopher Petersen. Both have great blocking skills, but poor strength. They are both big on potential, though, so they should be serviceable before it's all said and done. As for this season, we have two decent seniors in George White and Jerome Larson. Should be good enough to get the job done.

On defense, first at DL, two players stand out: SR Richard Pineda and JR Steven Smith. Everyone else is a tier down from them. We're happy that Smith will return next season. This season, we recruited three players at this position: Benjamin Starr, Richard Gibbs, and Samuel Alvarez. All three are good tacklers, if just a little weak. Starr will receive a redshirt, since he has better potential than the others, even if their base-level skills are a little stronger at this point. At the end of the day, Starr should be the best of the group.

Hard to say what we have at LB. As most teams like to run, those are the skills we are looking for. Our best run-stopper at LB is going to be Sophomore Jeff Cherry, followed closely by SO George Andrews. We recruited three players at this position: Andrew Moore, Mark Melton, and Steven Reyna. None of them are knock your socks off type players, but all have good potential as run stoppers. Melton looks to be the best of the bunch.

Finally, at DB, we have a talented Junior, Kenneth Jones, as well as Sophomores Michael Brown and David Ballard. This is the position where we made the biggest splash, signing Jack McLaughlin. He is going to start as our #1 DB immediately and should be a true impact player by his Senior Season. We also recruited three more: Duane Murphy, Jonathan Keith, and Philip Miller. All have good potential, but none look as good as McLaughlin.

Overall, our team is okay, but will still not win all that many games. I project a 4-9 season this time around. We start off with two ranked teams, and then get two more ranked squads in conference play. Hopefully our young guys will improve and we'll be more competitive next season. I've scheduled a soft non-con schedule for next season, so that should help us get closer to 10 wins (my goal).

That's all for now. I hope to check back in once the regular seasons gets going!