I'm so excited, I'm so scared.

I realized recently how unusually excited ecstatic I am about the upcoming season, so I decided that in order to remain reasonably balanced I would force myself to write a post from a positive standpoint and a post from a very negative standpoint. This one, obviously, is from a positive standpoint, but the negative version can be found here.

It's official, the off season is over. Sure the first game is still a few days away, but at this point the focus has shifted from the season to a game. The time has come to start getting in the orange-bleeding-fan mindset, and what better way to do that than write lots of nice things about the team.

1. It's better to keep John Chiles off the field for now, we have plenty of distractions as it is. 

No. Wrong. The Double-barreled shotgun is far more than a distraction. My biggest fear this season is that the first time it is used, it doesn't work spectacularly and is summarily discarded. John Chiles is one of the best athletes on the squad, and a playmaker to boot, so there is no acceptable reason to not get him involved somehow. In my opinion, even making him a WR is a waste. Due to his level of physical ability, coupled with the fact that he is a quarterback, John Chiles is a mismatch regardless of who the opponent is. And mismatches are good. 

2. Sergio Kindle won't really make a difference. 

Having big #2 rumbling around the backfield, murdering anyone who dares touch the ball is going to be a pleasure heartily shared by every fan in burnt orange (so long as he stays healthy) (knock on wood). Even if he doesn't get to the guy with the ball every time, teams are going to have to put more than one blocker on him to keep him away. The more blockers he can attract, the less eligible receivers the young secondary has to concern itself with. Not to mention the fact that the opposing quarterbacks will be so busy trying not to defecate while Kindle chases them around, attempting to stuff them into his Magic Bullet Blender of Pain, they won't even notice our safeties trying to figure out which one of them is actually starting.

3. Every team will most likely throw 800+ yards against us because we don't have any safeties. 

We seem to be in almost the exact opposite situation as we were in last year as far as the defense goes. Last year, our premier (starting) defensive player was a safety and every other position looked uncertain. This year the rest of our defense looks solid, but all of our safeties are fresh out of the womb. There will be mistakes made by the young safeties, but a strong supporting staff will minimize their occurrence and gravity. The high level play of the linebackers this season should allow the safeties to focus most of their attention on pass defense, further minimizing their oversights.