The 2011 Card Chronicle Preseason All-Big East Team

by Mike Rutherford on Jul 21, 2011 11:06 AM EDT in Football

The Big East Coast Bias is organizing a Big East online media preseason poll and all-conference team in preparation for media day next week. This, as you might have already guessed, is my contribution.

As far as how the selections below were made, I think past performance always has to have more bearing than predicted performance in these types of things (unless you're stating outright that your picks are based on predicted future performance, like Phil Steele). So the bulk of what you see below is based on what these players have done thus far in their college careers, although predicted future performance was factored in on a couple of occasions.

OFFENSE

QB - Zach Collaros (Cincy)

RB - Ray Graham (Pitt)

RB - Isaiah Pead (Cincy)

WR - DJ Woods (Cincy)

WR - Van Chew (Syracuse)

TE - Nick Provo (Syracuse)

C - Moe Petrus (UConn)

OG - Desmond Wynn (Rutgers)

OG - Chaz Hine (USF)

OT - Mike Ryan (UConn)

OT - Lucas Nix (Pitt)

DEFENSE

DE - Bruce Irvin (West Virginia)

DE - Jesse Joseph (UConn)

DT - Kendall Reyes (UConn)

DT - Derek Wolfe (Cincy)

LB - Dede Lattimore (USF)

LB - Sio Moore (UConn)

LB - Max Gruder (Pitt)

CB - Keith Tandy (West Virginia)

CB - Quenton Washington (USF)

S - Hakeem Smith (Louisville)

S - Jarred Holley (Pitt)

SPECIAL TEAMS

PK - Dave Teggart (UConn)

P - Pat O'Donnell (Cincy)

KR - Jeremy Wright (Louisville)

PR - Cameron Saddler (Pitt)

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Comments

Rutherford...

You might as well get a job with Athlon. I can’t believe you are selling Vic Anderson short. 0% chance Isaiah Pead has a better year than Vic. Shame on you…

by 4715092117 on Jul 21, 2011 11:15 AM EDT reply actions

That depends on the % chance that VA ends up with injuries this season...

by 4ul4life on Jul 21, 2011 11:22 AM EDT up reply actions

Pead

will be THE man at UC. Like Todman at UConn last year or Powell at Louisville. But VA will split carries with Wright. Combined they’ll be great, but I don’t see either one leading the league individually.

by CardsRuleBE on Jul 21, 2011 11:28 AM EDT up reply actions

Bilal Powell

shared carries with VA and Wright last year and you saw how that turned out. Charlie’s going to make sure that Vic gets the majority of the carries, and we all know how dangerous a healthy Vic Anderson can be. I can’t believe you guys are sleeping on Vic Anderson. You guys must not be present for the Card March when Vic rolls in with his Louis Vuitton luggage. Guy’s a winner, plain and simple.

by 4715092117 on Jul 21, 2011 12:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Dude...

You should be applauding Mike for not picking in a biased fashion. Vic is the man but like someone said he’ll be spitting a lot of carries with Wright and probably won’t lead the league in much statistically but between the two of them, they really could potentially be a force to be reckoned with. This is going to be another year where we will see the TEAM carry us further than any individual player.

by AllHailUofL on Jul 21, 2011 11:39 AM EDT up reply actions

+1

by CardsRuleBE on Jul 21, 2011 12:45 PM EDT up reply actions

VA + JW

VA will be the guy who breaks around the corners. He just isn’t built to be a consistent up the middle rusher. Wright is much more in that mold (like another Powell). I think they complement each other nicely. If Dom is improved, he could threaten in the Wildcard formations as a third option. We all know Strong is going to run, run, run. I like having a mini-committee of VA and JW so they can go strong the entire game and because they each have different skills as runners. Louisville should be able to lead the league in rushing like last year if the OL does a decent job.

by CardsRuleBE on Jul 21, 2011 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Powell was more of an off-tackle runner.

"Marquis Teague sucks!"
-Bryce Cotten

by HorsePig55 on Jul 21, 2011 1:35 PM EDT up reply actions

OK

The point was he could take the beating in the trenches that I don’t think VA can handle. We have to establish some kind of inside running threat or everyone will just load up on the corners and blitz up the middle.

by CardsRuleBE on Jul 21, 2011 3:48 PM EDT up reply actions

ahem, LEAVE THE SHAMING OUT OF THIS!!!

read the last sentence of the preface…Mike is basing it off past performances; not potential or predictions. Pead had a monster season last year and graham had a better ‘09 season than vic; b/c of injuries. that’s all…

now, i think that vic will have a spectacular, breakout season…you can just tell he’s been itching to get healthy and now that he is, he wants to show off. I’ll hedge my bets (i have no idea what that means) that Vic shames* both of these dudes this year.

It’s going to be glorious.

by $1Kcard on Jul 21, 2011 11:59 AM EDT up reply actions

Wright as KR pick

Mike, I love Wright. He’s gonna be special in the coming years. But I don’t think I’d pick him over UConn’s Nick Williams. They were 3rd in the nation last year for Kickoff Return Yards (avg. yards per kickoff).

by CardsRuleBE on Jul 21, 2011 11:33 AM EDT reply actions

I thought I'd take Victor Anderson over Pead

Then I went back and looked at the stats from last year’s Cinci game, the guy ran all over defense.

It’s a close call. I’ll pick Anderson, but I’m biased.

Isn’t the whole purpose of preseason predictions supposed to be based future predicted performance… which I guess is also based on past performance, but still? If all we wanted to do was know who has the best stats from past years, we could look that up.

by REALISTICCARDSFAN on Jul 21, 2011 11:46 AM EDT reply actions

I like your list

but somehow I hope Scruggs, Dunn, Wright/Anderson, Benavides and Chi-Daddy end up deserving to be on this list post-season.

by Remote Cardinal on Jul 21, 2011 11:52 AM EDT reply actions

+1

for Benevides. He’s a beast, and could make first team BE and be another center drafted from LVille at the end of the year.

by CardChakra on Jul 21, 2011 12:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Benavides

is a Junior. He’s not leaving early, I don’t think. Mo Petrus at UConn is probably the consensus favorite to be the Big East’s top Center this year, but no question it’ll be Benavides next year. I actually think Benavides is potentially the most important guy on the 2011 team. If he can bring together the new faces around him on the OL into a good unit, the Cards will be very good this year. A lot rests on his shoulders in that regard.

by CardsRuleBE on Jul 21, 2011 12:48 PM EDT up reply actions