The Journey of Lenny Boggins - Part 2 - By Jack & Sledge Productions

Cameron Scarlett got his carries (459!)

But physically has he paid too much of a price?

Thanks for reading part one and joining us on part two of the Lenny Boggins journey. In this issue we cover the end of last season, finish off recruiting and tell you all about our offseason. From now on I'm going to split recruiting into a separate post so stay tuned for a year two big board update coming later on.

Ecstasy... then Heartbreak 

When you left us yesterday, we had Notre Dame in our sights. Aiming for a 100% record in rivalry games for the season, Boggins was like a man possessed in the week leading up to the game. With it being Cameron "Captain" Scarlett's last game at The Farm, Boggins was determined to ensure he got his opportunity to go out with a bang. The atmosphere was ferocious, the blackout Stanford uniform melting into the dark night and mixing with the energy of the crowd. Scarlett, much like Greg Jennings, put the team on his back and carried us to a 28-16 win with 169 yards on the ground.

Our Dogshit QB Celebrating the Bowl Win

Onto the PAC-12 conference championship game against Arizona State. You will note we beat them comfortably in game three this season so Boggins was confident he had their number. A few more passing plays worked their way into the offense to counter our staple run game from the previous meeting of the two teams. Well.... none of it worked. ASU whooped our behinds 45-20. Our sophomore QB Dylan Mills threw several picks. Our defense got torched deep and forgot how to tackle. Scarlett was solid but we couldn't catch up in time on the ground so he barely saw the field in the fourth quarter. A shot at a Rose Bowl trip was at stake and we choked. A consolation Alamo Bowl win followed over Jalen Hurts and his Oklahoma Sooners. Scarlett went over 2000 yards for the season in this game and it made us very happy he kept his NFL dream alive. He was nowhere near the Heisman voting despite this stellar showing. Looking at pictures of him early in his career compared to the one above, you can see he had to rely on more protective equipment to be able to deal with the volume of work as time went on.


Crootin - How did we do?

Really Well!

We gained the 7th best class nationally and comfortably the best class in the PAC 12. This was hinged with two 5* athletes who's position we had yet to decide. We needed to see where they best fit once we worked out which of our players would be going to the NFL. Matt West, the 300 pound monster had equal stats to play Center or Nose Tackle. With 4 beefcakes needed on the D-Line and having a Junior starting Center we made the obvious choice and took him over to the dark side. He came out at an 82 overall and gets himself in with the starters as our second defensive tackle. Wayne Staley was too good a RB prospect to not put him there. He is strong and fast and we hope he can form a three year 1-2 punch with Aaron Jones. We lost out on Trumaine Thomas but did snag gem athlete Tyrone Lacey and he ended up coming out at 79 overall. His best position was QB so we stuck him straight in with that group to compete with (and hopefully put a rocket up the ass of) Mills as the incumbent starter. Our biggest find in the recruiting class though would be at Strong Safety. We unearthed an 83 overall 4 Star Safety (insert name) who projects to be the starter come September.

What Happened to the Seniors?

The picture above shows the situation we faced during the players leaving phase. Mills was trying to jump to the NFL after a shocking season through the air, somehow projecting as a round 5 pick. We didn't think this was realistic and were keen to convince him to stay despite his poor play. We took a gamble and said we could guarantee him to be a 2nd round pick or higher if he stayed and played for us. Whether this was smart, remains to be seen. Perhaps a summer of workouts and being the #1 will help him improve. We also convinced ROLB Fox to stay for his Senior season and to finish his degree. Toohill, Scarlett and Parkinson all got drafted. Scarlett going in the 3rd round in the end. We know he can carry the load but with so much wear and tear on his body, his NFL career could be even shorter than the average NFL career. Hopefully he gets to make some money and run some people over in the big league before father time catches up to him!

4 TD's and 16 INT's? Mills was poor all year.

A brief summary of our season is on the right where you can truly see how much of a shambles our passing attack was. For those of you interested. Trevor Lawrence and Clemson played Mississippi State in the natty and MSU came away with the upset win, 30-21, carrying the #1 ranking into the next season. Aaron Jones won returner of the year on the back of 1402 KR yards and 3 TD's. He is a phenom and will be the key to our year two success.

Boggins under investigation?
 
Offseason workouts saw some miraculous results that almost seemed too good to be true. Dylan Mills gained 6 overall points and 10 pounds of "lean muscle" to bring him to a 95 Overall rating. How could he have improved so much over the summer? Aaron Jones worked on his speed to take it to 91, whereas Steve Pettiford (now having become the starting TE) showed up with noticeably bigger arms and a marginally smaller midsection. He became a surprisingly key element to our offense last year and hopefully he is beginning to put in some hard work to realise his potential. The increased size and stature of his players after their summer break lead to some questioning from the NCAA and some "random" drug testing for PEDs.

Year Two Lies Ahead

With the dark cloud of potential NCAA investigations looming over the program, we head into year two with a better roster and a refined playbook. The schedule was tough and began with a tune up game against lowly Georgia State. They were somehow preseason ranked 22, which we only realised after the schedule had been set. Could we be in for a disaster upset in week one of our ridiculously tough season that includes playing away at #3 ranked Utah and #2 ranked Arizona State? Come back tomorrow and you can found out how we do. In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for our recruiting update!