Welcome back to college football Refugee community! As openers go, not the greatest test we’ll ever face, and that’s being polite. You can’t fault TSU for wanting a paycheck game to start the season, and you can’t fault the Dawgs for the entire depth chart playing hard. I get this was a mismatch of epic proportions, but is it alright if I get a little bit excited about what I saw? We’ve been favored by enormous spreads in the past and didn’t execute on that kind of level. All that said, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to give traditional A-F grades for a game where one team is overwhelmingly superior in every aspect, so we’ll use a slightly different grading system for this week. On to the grades…

Quarterback: Feeling Great If Gunner Stays Healthy

• Gunner looked like a guy who was perfectly comfortable running the offense. Brutally efficient from a statistical perspective and the timing on plays looked very sharp. His one incompletion was an accurate ball that was well defended, but he missed an uncovered Dandridge crossing over the middle that would have been a big gain…nitpicking. Puglisi didn’t light the world on fire with his first few throws, but it didn’t help that Barbour dropped one right in his mitts…really doesn’t help when a backup QB could use a shot of confidence. He got better and the stat line wasn’t anything to be ashamed of, but I wasn’t ready to celebrate the throw to Tyler Williams…amazing grab by Williams, but not the best decision to throw into triple coverage. I like Montgomery and he did well in limited time, very nice deep ball to Bell for six…might just be me, but feels like Montgomery has a nice poise about him when he plays. Same story for Millender, limited time, but respectable play.            

Running Back: I’m Bought In

• Nate Frazier had 4 carries for 72 yards and 3 TD’s…that’s absurd as stats are concerned. More importantly, he looked super decisive when he saw the big holes to run through and got upfield…think he’s had some cases of “happy feet” in his first two seasons. Loved that he saw the hole and hit the gas. Chauncey Bowens looked nice in that #5 with a couple of big gains in the running and passing game. My personal player crush, Dwight Lightning, did a solid job on his three carries, same with Bo Walker and Jae Lamar. Tons of depth, lots of versatility and great production on Saturday. I think our backfield is absolutely good enough to be an asset for a team with championship aspirations.      

Offensive Line: Better Than Last Year

• The grade isn’t to say they didn’t dominate on Saturday…I actually felt a little sorry for TSU in that first quarter. TSU was getting overwhelmed and destroyed on every snap. Impressive debut for Helton, Bobo didn’t appear to have any ring rust, Gaston is still an enormous human being, Greene and Glover looked great as well. Here’s what’s most promising from my point of view…we’ve played a number of teams where the talent disparity on the lines was stark, but we didn’t look nearly as dominant as we did on Saturday. We’ve had several games where we weren’t getting that same kind of push, dominance or level of pass protection we had on Saturday. I’m sure Kirby would be able to find some things I’m not smart enough to see, but we finished the day averaging 10.1 YPC and that was with three quarters of backups and going DEEP into the depth chart. If we’re going to be a run first team with some play action deep shots, this is the group we need to perform and I’m more bullish on this unit than I was on the 2025 unit.

Receivers (WR’s + TE’s): What Were We So Worried About?

• Where to begin? The Reddell offseason hype does not look oversold…I don’t want to say it, don’t let me do it, it’s not fair to anyone…but admit it, some of those efforts when he had the ball in his hands looked a lot like a certain #19. Elyiss Williams is a freak of nature, but we already knew that. Prothro looks like another lab experiment gone right. We know what we have with Luckie even if he didn’t get targeted. Loved everything I saw from Talyn Taylor and hope we continue to target him in the passing game, as well as reverse opportunities. We didn’t get to see too much of him last year due to injury, but he’s got some jets and a really unique ability to cut without losing a lot of speed…Hardman was unique that way as well. Loved what I saw out of Craig Dandridge on the two balls thrown his way…making me look a little smarter as my breakout offensive player pick. Sacovie looks like he has taken the next step and ready to emerge as a productive player. Tyler Williams had the catch of the day on a ball that should have never been thrown, so good on him. Jeremy Bell gets the send ‘em home happy award…who couldn’t be happy for that guy with what he’s been through. Tons of production all the way through the depth chart and the only thing to be critical of was the Barbour drop…better to happen in this game than a conference game. Competition level will ramp up the next two weeks before the big showdown with Oklahoma, so this group will have plenty of opportunities to gain confidence and reps before our first major challenge.       

Defensive Line: So Far, So Good

• Similar to the OL, I didn’t see anything I didn’t like. They completely dominated an overmatched opponent. Not a game where the DL was lighting up the stat sheet, but they were doing their job and creating opportunities for 3 sacks and 7 TFL’s. Tons of guys saw the field and that’s never a bad thing. Only nitpick was JJA picking up 2 personal fouls for hands to the face…same as earlier, would rather it happen in a 60 point win than a close conference game. We’ll learn more in the next couple of weeks.

Linebackers: So Much Quality Depth           

• If our TE room isn’t the best unit on the team, then it’s this group. Justin Williams, Raylen Wilson, Chris Cole and Zayden Walker…every one of them was a 5 star talent coming out of high school, all look scary athletic and fast on the field. PJ Dean looked fantastic in his first action, as did Khamari Brooks. Gabe Harris nearly killed TSU’s QB in the first quarter and looks to be 100% following an unfortunate late season injury last year. Ikinnagbon chipped in with a couple of tackles, while Quintavious Johnson was quiet and Linton didn’t play due to an injury. We definitely saw a pass rush yesterday, but not going to check that box as “solved” until we see it against meaningful competition. I’m cautiously optimistic.   

Defensive Backs: Probably Very Good

• Can anyone honestly say they know based on this game? TSU had 99 yards on 15 receptions. I don’t think the starters played more than a quarter, if that. I liked what I saw from Kyron Jones, dude looks like a guy who is willing to risk his body on any play to make a big hit. Bolden laid a monster hit on a TSU receiver after one of their more successful passing plays. No opportunity to hear anything from Ellis Robinson, which could be a consistent theme all year…try him if you dare. Demello should be a year better. Khalil was one of the few portal guys we invested in. This is a group we should have a lot of confidence in based on talent and experience, but too hard to say how great they might be based on an incredibly small sample size.     

Special Teams: Not A Great Start

• That first field goal attempt was pretty much a disaster…twice. Two guys with the same number to negate a made field goal, then a dropped snap on the second attempt. Sacovie showed he can be a great punt returner even if he let one bounce and roll. Dandridge also looks like a great option if needed. Drew Miller looks like he has plenty of leg strength to be a capable successor to everyone’s favorite Aussie. I’m not going to jump off ledges about some of the miscues. Our special teams play has been great to outstanding for most of Smart’s tenure, so I’m guessing this game will be the exception and not the rule.

Offensive Coaching: We Kicked Their A** Didn’t We?

• I can’t say anything negative after we put up 28 points in less than a quarter. We continued to score at will with guys who might not see the field the rest of the year. Execution looked very good from my point of view and we didn’t need to resort to anything tricky to keep drives alive. Loved that we were getting chunk plays on first and second down for much of the game. Most of all, I loved that we were getting the ball to playmakers like Taylor, Reddell, Elyiss, Frazier, etc. More to come…      

Defensive Coaching: We Kicked Their A** Didn’t We?

• Yes, we probably should have shut them out, but who really cares? The defense looked super fast, tackled well and played WAY into the depth chart. They gave up all of 109 yards and most of those came against backups. Much like all of these sections, let’s see what we get next week and the week after before we make any grand declarations.

Week One Games: We Used To Have It So Good

• It’s a shame that the supposed best game of Week One was supposed to be LSU vs. Clemson, and it clearly wasn’t a good game. Ole Miss vs. Louisville was fun, so good on them for scheduling that one. But, it’s a shame that we’re no longer getting some of those incredible non-conference matchups that Week One was so famous for prior to the 57 game season and advent of the 12 team playoff. Is what it is I guess.

Another tune-up before we get into conference play. Have a great week Refugees!