IT'S PHIL STEELE SEASON
This month's Book Club assignment
Getting my hands on Phil Steele’s annual college football encyclopedia always feels like the official dividing line between offseason and preseason. More patient fans may wait on media days or the start of fall camp to start their final descent toward Week 1. Not me, and especially not this year.
With the jump to Conference USA just a couple weeks away, I was already speedrunning summer — even before reading Kennesaw State’s full debut (FCS issues aren’t canon, sorry) in the 2024 preview earlier this week. A true throwback, Steele’s loaded magazine is one of a select few college football institutions that have remained unchanged over the sport’s modern era.
The labor of love’s 30th edition, once estimated to have more than a million words per issue, features everything you could possibly want to know about the Owls, CUSA, and the rest of FBS. 350+ pages of stats, schedules, depth charts, ATS records — all the way down to stadium zip codes for weather-related betting purposes. It’s an information overload that has to be just as bad for your brain as scrolling Twitter, but it’s also sick to be able to give New Mexico State’s 2018 special teams ranking (#92) without fumbling around on Football Reference. Not an #ad, I promise.
Some of Steele’s trademarks absolutely kill me: The constant barrage of abbreviations, quantum realm font, “here’s how many TVs I use on Saturdays,” THE MOST ACCURATE PRESEASON MAGAZINE THAT THE EXPERTS CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT. You can’t deny the effort, though, in publishing this insane amount of detail about every single FBS program. For a program that gets zero in-depth media coverage, Steele’s sit-down with Brian Bohannon and ensuing preview gives us more info than anything outside of the Owls’ own yearly media guide.
I’ve already seen and listened to a lot of really bad, pointless 2024 previews. A few good ones, too (hello, Bud Elliott’s Summer School series and Bill Connelly’s conference previews at ESPN). There’s a natural skepticism that flares up when national or regional media does drive-by coverage, even more so when the team lacks a credible local beat, too. Regardless of publication, the consensus on our beloved CUSA newcomers seems to be “idk,” but the sheer amount of info collected by Steele can help us try to figure things out.
Here’s what we can take away from the Owls’ first real appearance in his bible:
PROJECTED STANDINGS
All chalk for Steele at the top of the league, which really tightens up as you get into the middle of the pack. Across every publication/preview, I think I’ve seen almost every permutation of places 4 through 10 in CUSA so far given the turnover in players, coaches, and teams over the past few seasons. Steele’s full guess at how the league will go this fall:
Liberty
WKU
Jacksonville State
FIU
Sam Houston
TIE - Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, UTEP
(Side note: Love the move of just putting a third of the conference tied at 6th. Saving that one for future reference.)
MTSU
Kennesaw State
PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE USA
2nd Team: LB Garland Benyard
4th Team: RB Michael Benefield, OG Ethan Newman, WR/RB/everything Gabriel Benyard, CB Tyler Hallum
CUSA UNIT RANKINGS
QB: 10th - Fair, given the lack of proven production on the roster. Davis Bryson is currently penciled in to start ahead of what will be an intriguing race to follow in fall camp. Owls QBs get enough carries to where you can almost guarantee competitive reps from multiple players, anyway. Former Louisville and Blinn College QB Khalib Johnson’s transfer announcement came just after the mag went to print. We should check to see if any previous Blinn QBs had success at the next level.
RB: 9th - Steele’s RB ranking ended up being the biggest head-scratcher to me. This is the deepest group on the team, even before you consider that the best running back on the roster will start at WR and the unique threat of Preston Daniels at his hybrid FB/TE role. PFF graded out 4 running backs higher than any other qualifying Owl on offense last year.
REC: 10th - WR is the position where I am most comfortable, in a very weird way. There’s not much of an argument on the rankings, but the run-heavy Owls don’t need to have an elite WR group to succeed on offense. You’ll rarely (never?) see 4 true WRs on the field at once, so they don’t need to be as deep here as the spread-to-throw teams. Burks/Cook will have Benyard and Tykeem Wallace all over the place in motion, catching RPOs, screens, and in the run game. They’ll just need Christian Moss or David Cole to emerge this year as another reliable, big-frame option to go along with TE Carson Kent.
OL: 6th - The biggest question mark on the entire roster, yet Steele slots them 6th in CUSA. If the Owls truly have the sixth-best OL unit in the league, they will double the 2.5 win total on the board at [insert your favorite legal or illegal sportsbook].
DL: 3rd, LB: 4th - DT Carlos Allen departs to Houston via the portal and a few other guys finished up their eligibility in ‘23. Otherwise, the Owls bring back plenty of experience in the front 6. Just one man’s opinion in these rankings, but getting both units in CUSA’s top four ahead of year one is a full endorsement on the defensive staff’s development abilities.
DB: 9th - The DB room takes a hit from Steele due to losing Markeith Montgomery, Deontre Morris, and Chance Gamble. Still a ton of talent left on the roster, especially at corner, where JerRico Washington will end up on Steele’s All-CUSA team after the year. Two new position coaches will be something to keep an eye on, though.
ST: 6th - Punting has been solid, and there are enough athletes on the squad where kick coverage should not be a problem. We may need punctuation even more open-ended than question mark to describe the kicking situation, though. An ellipsis, perhaps.
Coach: 6th - 2023 was the toughest job of Bo’s career. Until this year, where he breaks in new coordinators on both sides of the ball, a new QB, and makes the jump to CUSA. Steele gives him a top 6 nod due to FCS success, and this fall gives a major chance to earn it on a bigger stage than the light Big South schedules of Kennesaw’s early success.
No coach wants to reveal his entire lineup in the spring, but Steele’s depth chart carries slightly more weight than many publications due to his maniacal effort to meet with every coach.
OL analysis is far above my pay grade and skill level, but LT is easily the most important position battle the team. Even more so than QB, which most likely ends up being a multi-guy job. A few new additions could be in the mix as they arrive on campus, as well as guys that don’t necessarily fit the traditional FBS tackle mold. All the cross-training from 2023 could end up being a huge asset.
Sign me up for getting Daniels and Kent on the field together as much as possible. Could be everything from a two-back set to an empty look with the versatility of Daniels, and it wouldn’t shock me to see even more two-back triple option looks this year with Burks and Cook taking over the offense. Incredible work by Daniels dropping 100 pounds to get to 5-11, 165 this offseason, according to Steele.
Newly promoted DC Greg Harris has a ton of versatile pieces on defense, which Steele lists in a similar system as last year with Jamar Rucks at Bandit and Juan Silas moving from MLB to SPUR. After a season in roster management hell, Harris will love being able to put his best 11 out there on a weekly basis. On paper, the Spur role is another small difference as Owls listed that spot as Rover last season, usually played by a rostered safety. The dividing lines between 4-2-5, 3-3-5, and 3-4 get even blurrier.
Tykeem Wallace gets some love as a projected starter at WR. Based on how the Owls used Isaac Foster at the W position last fall, the former slot back with track speed is the clear choice to get a majority of reps with Benyard. Wallace’s catch and run on a bubble RPO from the spring game was the perfect example of how he can make Bryson’s life a lot easier.
The Owls will “get close to the 85 scholarship limit,” according to Steele’s overview. That’s something I’d love to see someone ask Bo about when practice resumes. Please, please, please tell me that doesn’t mean they’re considering leaving scholarships on the table.
Punt-off in camp? That rules.