Before the season started, I wrote some off-hand predictions about our football team.  I reviewed them in early October here, and now I will review them again.  Honestly, not much changed from that review and this one, but it's always fun to look back on these things.

Here were my predictions with commentary following

-Colt will throw 25 TDs and 12 interceptions

Colt had 34 TDs and 8 interceptions.  And I was always a big Colt supporter (after all, 25-12 are not bad numbers at all).  Just goes to show how awesome a year he had, exceeding the expectations of even the most optimistic fans.

-Jordan Shipley will catch 7 of those TD's, and showcase some unique white-boy speed.

Short-changed Shipley as well.  He had 11 TDs to go with two more on special teams.  So yes, he did show off his white boy speed.

-We'll have a 1000 rusher again

This didn't look like it was going to happen in October and it sure didn't happen.  Not even close.  Of course, it's not totally fair since none of our RB's got number the carries to even think about getting this amount.

-Brian Orakpo will have 10 or more sacks

Right on.  He had 11.5 despite missing time with injury.

-Sergio Kindle will hurt someone (perhaps even himself).

I don't think he hurt someone, but he had a great year, notching 10 sacks himself.

-Deon Beasley will be among the Big12 leaders in interceptions.

Wrong.  We had such high hopes for Beasley and he had a disappointing season, one of the few players on our team that actually failed to meet expectations rather than exceed them :(.

-John Chiles will throw a TD pass to Colt McCoy and vice versa :)

This was a fun one I threw out.  After Chiles failed to do a whole lot with Colt on the field, I knew this was done.  It never happened, although Ohio State did it to us (lame...).

Anyway, on to impact players at each position.  I will talk more about players who need to step up and not necessarily players that we know will be good for us.

QB:  The trainer.  He needs to keep Colt healthy.

RB:  Fozzy Whittaker.  Whittaker will probably have to take up more receiving duties to replace Chris O., and he will probably be our main back.  He's still sort of a mystery.

WR:  Malcolm Williams.  With Shipley, Collins, and Kirkendoll giving us a sharp short passing game, we need somebody like Williams to stretch things deep for us.

TE:  I would like to say Irby, but I heard he may not be ready for the beginning of next season and we REALLY need a TE.  I also heard D.J. Grant is making the move to TE, in which case... go D.J. Grant!

O-line:  Michael Huey.  More importantly, our coaches need to figure out what exactly they want to do with this group.

D-line:  Lamarr Houston.  The loss of Roy Miller is huge and we don't have as much depth at DT as we do at defensive end.  Houston is great athlete and we will really need him to be a beast up the middle, although he does need to put on some more weight.

Linebacker:  Keenan Robinson.  We more or less know what we have in Muck, Norton, and Kindle, and Kindle may be spending a lot of time as a down lineman anyway.  Robinson will see the field quite a bit.

Secondary:  Christian Scott and Aaron Williams.  Scott and Williams are young, athletic guys who have excited the fanbase, and we have big expectations for them.  Chykie is probably our most physical corner but you can make a good case that Aaron Williams is our most athletic.  Having Scott and Earl Thomas as our safeties just oozes athleticism.

However, I refuse to give up on Deon Beasley.  Come on, Beasley.  Be that fearless guy you were your sophomore year.  You can do it.  I also still like Gideon and I know he will still get his playing time even if he loses his starting job to Scott.

So long until football season again :(.