Is 2017 THE year?

[bennyl08]

QB: 2nd year starting of whoever wins the battle this year.
RB: RW3 as a junior and Whaley as a sophomore, with potentially a senior in duwop (unless he moves again) as a backup as well as Hammonds (unless he changes position), Day, Evans, and new recruits.
FB: Chris Jones as a senior or Hayden Johnson as a sophomore/RsFr.
TE: Gragg, Cantrell, and O'Grady will all be RsSoph's.
WR: We take a big hit here, but we still return senior in Corneliius, along with Stewart, Pettway, and Jones to round out a very talented top 4 along with Boateng coming a likely redshirt season and whoever we add into the mix.

At tackle, we lose Skipper, but return at least one starter there along with non-green other players from a pool of Wallace, Jackson, Ramirez, and possibly Heinrich and Merrick.
Guard: Unless Ragnow declares early which is possible, we'd return the whole group there.
Center: Same. Ragnow could be a senior starting center or possibly Rogers would be in his second season starting. In short, Skipper is likely the only departure.

The offense should return an immense amount of talent for 2017. The only departures would be Walker, Sprinkle, Skipper, and most of the receiving crew of Hatcher, Reed, and Morgan. Though we return some really exciting players there too. How about defense:

DE: We lose Wise Jr and Ledbetter at DE, which will hurt. However, returning would be a senior in Beanum, with Agim going into his sophomore season no longer green likely headlining the other position with Hall, Bell (if he gets his grades in order), and Marshall providing depth along with whoever new we sign. Lacking some depth, but ample talent at the top for sure.

DT: Bijhon and Marks will be seniors. Bihon hasn't yet made the impact people were hoping for, but Hodge never fully came on as  a player until his senior season either and Bijhon could be a favorite to man the other position. Marks came in as a very raw player with great speed/strength combo. Hopefully he will be refined to play as a junior this year and could be a formidable senior. If not, Daytreon Dean and TJ Smith (who could also play DE for us) are more than talented enough to play, and I'd be pretty surprised if TJ isn't starting somewhere in 2017. Further, Watts will be a good junior and we will have Capps and Guidry roaring to go coming off of likely redshirt seasons.

LB: We will lose Ellis and Williams. However, Greenlaw will be a junior, Hackett and Eugene will be seniors, Kendrick will be coming off his first full season as a LB going into his junior year, and then the new cohort of Harris, AJB, Walker, and LeFrance will no longer be rookies either with Harris and AJB IMO likely to play or even start this year for us. Given that Williams might not be able to play, that gives us 2/3 returning starters and basically none of the depth is gone either.

CB: Losing Dean and Collins will hurt, but Toliver who has done nothing but make plays as our third corner will be a senior, Pulley and Floyd will be juniors, and Dalton will be a 3rd year sophomore.

S: Don't look to lose anybody here. Richardon, Liddell, and Ramirez will all return with the first two and Coley all being seniors. Micah Smith will be forcing his way into some playing time as well.

In conclusion on defense: We lose some key starters at each position there such as Wise, Ellis, Taiwan, Dean, and Collins. However, we are still looking at having at least 1 senior starter at each level of the defense and this year's recruiting class has some absolute studs in it who will no longer be green next year, read, Agim, possibly Capps, Harris, Micah. Unlike the 2015 season where we lost all of our key playmakers, our defense should remain very good in 2017 and we are primed to reload and not rebuild.

We need to shore up potential depth issues at receiver, DE, and corner in next years class and we are always looking to add more OL players, but returning virtually all of the offense sans some receivers should be a formula to have an offense of similar potency to what we saw this year. I think this coming season's defense will show shades of 2014 and the departures for 2017 look to be much more forgiving than what we had this year. 2017 purely from the depth chart, looks to be the year that we genuinely have a chance to challenge for the west. Reasons to be wary, a lot of this is making assumptions about what we will see from guys in 2016. Maybe Agim disappoints. Maybe we decide it is best not to start the same guy in 2017 at qb as 2016. There are also the other teams we have to look at. For example, if Les's seat get hotter next season, we could be looking at a new coach in the bayou and similar at the ag school. Recruiting violation smoke has been rising from Ole Miss sho who knows what 2 years could bring there.

[Hardcore Hoggy]

We are not one of those programs that can project a good year in _______. At this point, projecting that Bielema will even be here in 2017 is as far as I'm willing to go. We're just too bipolar as a program to project much further based on the last say 12 years.

[010HogFan]

We are not one of those programs that can project a good year in _______. At this point, projecting that Bielema will even be here in 2017 is as far as I'm willing to go. We're just too bipolar as a program to project much further based on the last say 12 years.

the sky will fall before 2017!

[JackMcQueen]

If 2017 Is THE year, the schedule we'd have to navigate (from what I've gathered)

Home: TCU, Auburn, Miss State, Missouri
Road: Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina
Neutral: Texas A&M

[Hoggish1]

There's a lot of stuff on your page to deal with...

[ricepig]

the sky will fall before 2017!

No, but I hear the ground is raising at an alarming rate!!!

[tophawg19]

2017 should be the '' year of the Hog''. If we are ever going to make some noise , this is that year

[WizardofhOgZ]

It was about a year ago - spring of 2015 - that I started predicting that 2017 would be the year we were serious contenders for the SEC title (and, by extension, a berth in the CFP).

My primary reason for not picking 2016 were (a) a change at QB; even if Austin is the guy who can take us there, he needs some time actually playing in games before we can reasonably expect him to play at that level; (b) Could see even back then that we'd likely be losing both Alex and JWill at RB.  Replacements may be able to fill in adequately, but that is a big "?" at this time until we see them play; (c) defense was too far behind to reasonably expect us to catch up to "championship caliber" by 2016; (d) another year to allow CBB recruits to mature/build depth needed during a long SEC season.

This was off-set by the well known even year/odd year conference schedule which has us traveling to Alabama, LSU and Ole Miss in 2017; but a team that's good enough to win the SEC can and does win games on the road.  In other words, if we're SEC Championship worthy, we'll show it regardless of where the games are played.

All of those reasons still seem sound to me.

[RazorbackBassist]

Good thread. I believe we play above our ceiling this year and win the west. Just my thought. :razorback:

[Atlhogfan1]

If 2017 Is THE year, the schedule we'd have to navigate (from what I've gathered)

Home: TCU, Auburn, Miss State, Missouri
Road: Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina
Neutral: Texas A&M

QB: 2nd year starting of whoever wins the battle this year.
RB: RW3 as a junior and Whaley as a sophomore, with potentially a senior in duwop (unless he moves again) as a backup as well as Hammonds (unless he changes position), Day, Evans, and new recruits.
FB: Chris Jones as a senior or Hayden Johnson as a sophomore/RsFr.
TE: Gragg, Cantrell, and O'Grady will all be RsSoph's.
WR: We take a big hit here, but we still return senior in Corneliius, along with Stewart, Pettway, and Jones to round out a very talented top 4 along with Boateng coming a likely redshirt season and whoever we add into the mix.

At tackle, we lose Skipper, but return at least one starter there along with non-green other players from a pool of Wallace, Jackson, Ramirez, and possibly Heinrich and Merrick.
Guard: Unless Ragnow declares early which is possible, we'd return the whole group there.
Center: Same. Ragnow could be a senior starting center or possibly Rogers would be in his second season starting. In short, Skipper is likely the only departure.

The offense should return an immense amount of talent for 2017. The only departures would be Walker, Sprinkle, Skipper, and most of the receiving crew of Hatcher, Reed, and Morgan. Though we return some really exciting players there too. How about defense:

DE: We lose Wise Jr and Ledbetter at DE, which will hurt. However, returning would be a senior in Beanum, with Agim going into his sophomore season no longer green likely headlining the other position with Hall, Bell (if he gets his grades in order), and Marshall providing depth along with whoever new we sign. Lacking some depth, but ample talent at the top for sure.

DT: Bijhon and Marks will be seniors. Bihon hasn't yet made the impact people were hoping for, but Hodge never fully came on as  a player until his senior season either and Bijhon could be a favorite to man the other position. Marks came in as a very raw player with great speed/strength combo. Hopefully he will be refined to play as a junior this year and could be a formidable senior. If not, Daytreon Dean and TJ Smith (who could also play DE for us) are more than talented enough to play, and I'd be pretty surprised if TJ isn't starting somewhere in 2017. Further, Watts will be a good junior and we will have Capps and Guidry roaring to go coming off of likely redshirt seasons.

LB: We will lose Ellis and Williams. However, Greenlaw will be a junior, Hackett and Eugene will be seniors, Kendrick will be coming off his first full season as a LB going into his junior year, and then the new cohort of Harris, AJB, Walker, and LeFrance will no longer be rookies either with Harris and AJB IMO likely to play or even start this year for us. Given that Williams might not be able to play, that gives us 2/3 returning starters and basically none of the depth is gone either.

CB: Losing Dean and Collins will hurt, but Toliver who has done nothing but make plays as our third corner will be a senior, Pulley and Floyd will be juniors, and Dalton will be a 3rd year sophomore.

S: Don't look to lose anybody here. Richardon, Liddell, and Ramirez will all return with the first two and Coley all being seniors. Micah Smith will be forcing his way into some playing time as well.

In conclusion on defense: We lose some key starters at each position there such as Wise, Ellis, Taiwan, Dean, and Collins. However, we are still looking at having at least 1 senior starter at each level of the defense and this year's recruiting class has some absolute studs in it who will no longer be green next year, read, Agim, possibly Capps, Harris, Micah. Unlike the 2015 season where we lost all of our key playmakers, our defense should remain very good in 2017 and we are primed to reload and not rebuild.

We need to shore up potential depth issues at receiver, DE, and corner in next years class and we are always looking to add more OL players, but returning virtually all of the offense sans some receivers should be a formula to have an offense of similar potency to what we saw this year. I think this coming season's defense will show shades of 2014 and the departures for 2017 look to be much more forgiving than what we had this year. 2017 purely from the depth chart, looks to be the year that we genuinely have a chance to challenge for the west. Reasons to be wary, a lot of this is making assumptions about what we will see from guys in 2016. Maybe Agim disappoints. Maybe we decide it is best not to start the same guy in 2017 at qb as 2016. There are also the other teams we have to look at. For example, if Les's seat get hotter next season, we could be looking at a new coach in the bayou and similar at the ag school. Recruiting violation smoke has been rising from Ole Miss sho who knows what 2 years could bring there.

2017 is when we again give up an SEC home game and only have 3 SEC home games. 

[Supermark101]

If 2017 Is THE year, the schedule we'd have to navigate (from what I've gathered)

Home: TCU, Auburn, Miss State, Missouri
Road: Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina
Neutral: Texas A&M

Too tough, I've said it many time on here. 2018 is OUR year. We start getting the cupcakes of the east and Bama and LSU at home.

[BigoBoys]

@Alabama

[hog.goblin]

I'm going with 2024.  Indicators are bright.

[SooiecidetillNuttgone]

I agree with the OP.
2017 sets up very well for our personnel.
The schedule worries me though.

2018 might be the real year.

[Cinco de Hogo]

the sky will fall before 2017!

Is there a line on that in Vegas?

[DLUXHOG]

2016 is the year....

[lumphog]

We are not one of those programs that can project a good year in _______. At this point, projecting that Bielema will even be here in 2017 is as far as I'm willing to go. We're just too bipolar as a program to project much further based on the last say 12 years.

Beilema will be here till he wins it all ........& he will

[TNRazorbacker]

Unfortunately I think last year should really have been our up year, and it would have been a 10 win season if we'd laid a couple fewer eggs early on.

Too many question marks at key positions to predict pie in the sky success this year. We are replacing virtually all of our offensive production with  unproven players. The offense carried the team last year and we'll have the essentially the same defense that was plain ole bad much of the time last year and has been below average most of the last decade- particularly in the secondary. I see no reason to expect this to get much better.

Depending on how our newbies work out we could do well. Just a coin toss at this point. The first half of the season could be particularly tough as we finding our feet.

[redleg]

To answer the posed question pointedly...no, 2017 will not be THE year. I think the Hogs will be highly competitive, maybe even upset someone they shouldn't.
I'm looking at 2018!
Yes, Arkansas must play at Michigan, and it's just our luck that they now have a really good coach just as we are on the verge of playing the Wolverines ... think USC when they were scheduled and when we actually played them. I do not think the Hogs will suffer horrible losses to Michigan the way they did to USC, in fact I think Arkansas can beat them in Fayetteville in 2019 and play them to the wire in 2018 at the Big House, but it just seems to work out that when the Hogs are set to play a team, said team is on an upswing, and when they roll off the schedule they seem to be on a downturn (kinda like Kentucky).
But 2018 might be playing into our hands quite nicely. Our QB will either be a returning starter (Storey or Town) or a new starter with lots of pro-style offense talent. The RB's will be Whaley and RWIII plus whomever CBB adds. Our WR's will be talented (Pettway, Stewart, Jones, Hammonds) with experience, Arkansas will be loaded at TE (Gragg, Cantrell, O'Grady), and the Line will likely be returning 3 starters along with good depth.
The 2017 defense will be depleted of 3 Line starters, Ellis, and probably both CB's...meaning it will be a rebuilding year on that side of the ball.
The 2018 defense will probably have 3 starters back on the Line (Capps, Agim, Bell), at least 2 of the 3 LB's (Greenlaw and the "17 MLB), and at least 3 of the starting DB's (both CB's and Ramirez).
Plus, Hedlund at kicker and Blake Johnson at punter after taking over in 2017.
Also, the schedule sets up pretty well in the SEC, with Alabama, LSU, and Ole Miss at home, and the Hogs play at home vs Vandy from the SEC East.
Another major key will be which coaches are still on staff.
Whatever happens, I see 2018 having the strong potential to be a very memorable season for the Hogs!
:razorback:

[redleg]

2016 is the year....

I like your optimism..but no, it won't be.  :razorback:

[Pork Twain]

I am thinking 2018 but it will be fun to watch us kick butt between now and then

[Pig in the Pokey]

2018 Devwah and Sosa and Ricky Town as the core and a whole lot of stud power football around them, Vandy or Kentucky from the East and all the tough games in Fayetteville.

2018 and NVidia Volta drops (mmmm)
2018 House/Senate goes all progressive lil birdie party

[Buff]

I won't believe it's THE year until we win a championship and then go 10 years without the NCAA stripping it from us.

[code red]

I think this year is potentially lining up as a better year.  You got bama, LSU and Ole Miss at home.  That is huge.

[bennyl08]

QB: 2016 is guaranteed to be breaking in a new qb. 2017 is very likely to have a seasoned qb. 2018 will either have a very seasoned or a brand new qb.
       Adv: 2017 is the safest bet to have the best qb play of the 3 years with 2018 due to most likely not breaking in a brand new qb.

RB: 2016 is breaking in a group of players who have never been primary ball carriers in college before. 2017 is sure to return Williams and Whaley coming into the second season as now seasoned SEC backs. 2018 will have at least a junior Whaley, possibly a senior RW3, and whoever we get in between.
       Adv: 2018. 2017 is the surest bet to have RW3 AND Whaley as both seasoned backs, but 2018 could have that as well, plus it will have the most
       seasoned Whaley we will likely see in a hog uniform with 2 classes to find the next hog back as well.
FB: 2016 has junior Jones, walk-on Carter, and true freshmen Hayden. 2017 has senior Jones and 2nd year Hayden, 2018 has Carter and Hayden +new.
      Adv: I think 2017, though an argument could be made for 18. Jones was beat out this year by a true freshmen LB, so his presence may not be as
      important, though having him as an option as well as the others is why I choose 2017.
WR: 2016: EVERYBODY, 2017 loses the big 4, but returns Cornelius and I think future studs Pettway, Stewart and Jones. 2018 has the future studs in at least their second year as being major roles in the offense plus new.
        Adv: 2016 has the adv here, but 2018 is more adv than 2017 IMO though we look solid at WR all throughout.
TE: 2016 has sprinkle and the new 3 in their first years. 2017 has the new three taking over as the top guys, and 2018 has them again on top.
       Adv: 2018.
OL: 2016 has to replace 3 starters on the OL. 2017 will likely only have to replace 1 starter. 2018 could replace anywhere from 1-3 depending on when Ragnow leaves and if Malone or Ramirez start.
       Adv: 2017 should have the most experienced OL group of the 3.

DL: 2016 returns a lot of depth and only replaces 1 starter. 2017 5 seniors are gone, but a good mix of talent and depth remain. Probably many new faces in the lineup. 2018 will have those new faces more experienced and increased depth sans RsSoph departures.
       Adv: Same with WR.
LB: 2016 returns all the players. 2017 loses Ellis and Williams, but I think the freshmen guys will be very good and will be in their second year of playing here. 2018 has the young crop more experienced, but 6 of our 12 guys playing LB will be gone so depth could be a concern and assuming we recruit LB, the positions will be younger.
       Adv: 2017. Losing Ellis will hurt, but that year has the best blend of bodies, experience, and talent. 2018 could be up there, but questions on
       recruiting dock it (not that we can't, just that 1 in the hand is worth 2 in the bush kind of a thing).
DB: 2016 has only lost Gaines. 2017 will lose Dean and Collins. 2018 will lose Toliver, Lidell, and Richardson as well.
       Adv: 2016 with 2018 in the deepest water due to unknowns. '17 will return 3/5 starters in the back end at least, but by 2018, there will exist
       nobody on the back end who we have seen any amount of playing time.

ST: 2016 has Hedlund, Baker, Johnson, McFain, and some third kicker. 2017 loses our starting punter at least, kicker if McFain wins the competition. 2018 still has Hedlund and Johnson if he can prove he can be a starter.
       Adv: 2018? ST weren't great this past season, so it is hard to say that returning anybody is good or bad or that losing anybody is bad. 2018 gives
       two scholly guys the most time to get things together or if not provides the most time to find others who can.

Schedule: 2016 has us home vs the toughest opponents in the SEC and away vs TCU. 2017 presumably has us home vs TCU, but away vs our toughest opponents. 2018 has us home vs the toughest AND florida rotates out, but we play Mich on the road.
               Adv: 2016, with 2017 the hardest.

Tallying it all up, 2018 might actually be the best year IF you don't weight losing a starting qb too much. Based on roster alone, 2017 wins, but the schedule barely puts 2018 ahead.

[Supermark101]

Schedule: 2016 has us home vs the toughest opponents in the SEC and away vs TCU. 2017 presumably has us home vs TCU, but away vs our toughest opponents. 2018 has us home vs the toughest AND florida rotates out, but we play Mich on the road.
               Adv: 2016, with 2017 the hardest. 

Great breakdown, but 2018 is much easier. I think TCU and Michigan are a wash. It's not close on my mind because we play Vandy instead of Florida.

[bennyl08]

Great breakdown, but 2018 is much easier. I think TCU and Michigan are a wash. It's not close on my mind because we play Vandy instead of Florida.

TCU just lost every single one of their important players. Imagine what this year would have been like losing Tevin, Spaight, Flowers, Philon, AND Allen, Williams, Collins, Henry, Kirkland, Tretola, Smothers, etc...

Now, TCU has shown a modicum of sustained success, so I fully believe there will be some talented guys, but the game is early, so they will still be getting used to playing IMO. However, Jim Harbaugh is one of the elite coaches out there. Saban is at the top obviously, though Urban Meyer is 13 years younger and has nearly the same accomplishments. Safe bet IMO that Meyer will surpass Saban in national championships in the next 13 years... However, I'd put Harbaugh at the top of the next tier. He took a bad Stanford team and made them a near perennial contender. Took an even worse Niners team and made them one of the best teams in the NFL. 2018 will be year 4 for Harbaugh in Ann Arbor. Year 4 was when Stanford went 12-1 after starting off at 4-8. So, I think between the two teams, the Michigan team will be as tough a game as our Bama matchups. On top of that, we play @TCU in 2016 and @Mich in 2018. Further, let's assume the two teams are in fact equal. Ann Arbor holds 109,000 fans. TCU makes our LR stadium look big by only holding 45,000. That alone makes the two games not remotely similar in difficulty.

[Supermark101]

TCU just lost every single one of their important players. Imagine what this year would have been like losing Tevin, Spaight, Flowers, Philon, AND Allen, Williams, Collins, Henry, Kirkland, Tretola, Smothers, etc...

Now, TCU has shown a modicum of sustained success, so I fully believe there will be some talented guys, but the game is early, so they will still be getting used to playing IMO. However, Jim Harbaugh is one of the elite coaches out there. Saban is at the top obviously, though Urban Meyer is 13 years younger and has nearly the same accomplishments. Safe bet IMO that Meyer will surpass Saban in national championships in the next 13 years... However, I'd put Harbaugh at the top of the next tier. He took a bad Stanford team and made them a near perennial contender. Took an even worse Niners team and made them one of the best teams in the NFL. 2018 will be year 4 for Harbaugh in Ann Arbor. Year 4 was when Stanford went 12-1 after starting off at 4-8. So, I think between the two teams, the Michigan team will be as tough a game as our Bama matchups. On top of that, we play @TCU in 2016 and @Mich in 2018. Further, let's assume the two teams are in fact equal. Ann Arbor holds 109,000 fans. TCU makes our LR stadium look big by only holding 45,000. That alone makes the two games not remotely similar in difficulty.

We are built to play Michigan. I could play QB for TCU and they'd score 40 on our defense. They are equal in the same way Texas Tech and LSU are, when it come to use playing them.

We agree on Meyer though, assuming he doesn't "retire."

[DeltaBoy]

I just wanting us to win 9+ this coming year. 

[MJ2]

I like your optimism, but like so many years in Razorback lore, things happen and it slips through our hand.   Coaches leave, players tear ACL's, get arrested, and on and on.  You can point back to lots of years and project 2 or 3 years forward and think- it's coming!   Specific years to ponder are 1964, 1978, 2002, 2006 after the Springdale crew arrived, the year after playing in the BCS game.   You learn to expect the unexpected as a Hog fan.  Some on here even call it "Snake bit" - may be some truth to that.

[IntegrityHog]

I think 2017 could be a good year, but I've said all along that I am wittholding judgment on CBB until after 2018.  That will be the first year that he fields a team with his own red-shirt seniors (I don't count 2013, since he was handed a mess from Smiles).  That year will give us a good indication of what CBB's approach to the game can do.

[Smokehouse]

We're on a bad loop with the roster and the schedule. This past season would have been the best time to get Bama at home. I'd rather have us going to Bama/LSU/OM on the road this season while breaking in a new QB, then get them all at home again with a seasoned starter. Assuming Austin wins the job, the schedule lets up in 2018 but we're back to a new starter. Crap luck.

[LogicHog45]

I think you make some good points. 2017 will give us a tough road schedule but it is doable. We have been close with Alabama the past 2 seasons and I think we have a pretty good shot to turn that table this year so 2017 could allow us to get that big bama road win. We have proven that we can win at LSU but that is never an easy place to play.

With the very likely possibility that Austin Allen is a second year starter that could be the difference maker. I think a lot of has to do with that position as well as our entire defense stepping up. It seems that our defense steps up big in big games and plays well but seems a bit reserved and at times lazy during the games that don't have as much hype. I think having Ellis gone that year could be a blessing for us. I'm interested to see how he does in 16 and see if he improves his coverage abilities and his pursuit angles.

Another big thing that is never predictable until it happens is injuries. Its a burden but it happens as all of us saw this year with jwill and rw3 and hatcher and the list goes on. But I think we have proved to everyone that we have guys that can step up and fill a hole when called upon. and of course transfers and or disciplinary issues(although we haven't seen much of this lately)

I think 2017 has a lot of potential to be "the year of the hog" but like always we will just have to be patient and wait and see.