2022 G5 Preview: How Much Is Ball State's Stability Worth?
In a league of constant upheaval, what does it mean to have so little in the way of continuity?
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Ball State’s patience in Mike Neu paid off in 2020. After four seasons of building, the Cardinals broke through behind a smothering defense and a capable offense to win the MAC, rattling off a 7-1 record. For a school without much in the way of historical success, that season sure looked like a major turning point, upon which Neu could build a sustainable competitor in the MAC West. Nearly every big piece of the 2020 team was slated to return for 2021, none more important than quarterback Drew Plitt, and Ball State was projected as a candidate to repeat or at least to win the West.
Instead, the story leaving 2021 is of competency at Ball State, but of a severely lowered ceiling that extended no further than competence. After getting just about every one-score game to go in their direction a season ago, the Cardinals came back to Earth, dropped a pair of close ones against Miami (Ohio) and Northern Illinois and fell all the way to the bottom of an extremely tight West race, tied with Eastern and Western Michigan at 4-4 a piece.
For a team that rallied around “running it back” in the offseason to return so many pieces, the issues that cropped up throughout the season for Ball State were surprising. Plitt took several steps back as a passer, despite the presence of superstar wideout Justin Hall, one of the most prolific playmakers in league history. The defense followed suit. The offense, which had done just enough to support its defense last season, suddenly couldn’t create the big plays it needed to make up for a lack of efficiency on the ground. Ball State just couldn’t do what it did in 2020 anymore.
“Every year is a new year,” Neu said. “Just because you're good at something a year ago doesn't automatically guarantee that you'll be good at it again. You just have to start the process all over.”
Now, Ball State is really starting the process over again, meaning that it’s time to test just how sturdy the program Neu spent years building is. Plitt, Hall and star safety Bryce Cosby are at the front of nearly 30 departures from the program this offseason, nearly all of them to graduation or the draft. Four players have entered the portal, but this is not a program collapse situation as much as it is a max exodus of an era.
“I’ll be forever indebted to them for everything they’ve given to our program,” Neu said. “All the blood, the sweat, the positive attitude, the work ethic. Our young players in the program will benefit from the leadership of those men. I know it’s tough tonight, but the legacy that they’ve left over the years has definitely left our program in a better place. It stings tonight, but once I step back and reflect on the body of work, I couldn’t be more proud of them.
“I believe in our young players in the program. Some of them played this year and did a remarkable job playing probably a little bit faster than they were ready (for) because we had some injuries, and they did a great job. We’ve got a lot more experience than it probably looks like on paper. We brought in a significant class that we just signed and I love the young players in our program. I told them to be ready to go to work and they're all going to be ready to go to work once they get a little bit of a break.”
Those young players will need to be ready early, and that’ll start in Plitt’s vacated quarterback spot. John Paddock is the internal pick after serving as the primary backup this season. Ball State liked him enough to start him in place of Plitt for the second half of a blowout loss to Wyoming, but he only has 34 collegiate passes to his name across four years. Rising sophomore Kiael Kelly and true freshman Kaden Cobb were both top 1,000 recruits and should factor into any QB competition as well.
Whoever wins that job should be able to grow into it without being asked to do too much early on, because tailback Carson Steele, who led the team in rushing in 2021, is set to return. He’s not a big play threat, but was able to grind out yards as a freshman and absolutely has the frame to be a workhorse.
His line is a much bigger concern, because it really struggled at times in 2021. Three starters return, but guards Curtis Blackwell and Anthony Todd were the best part of the line and will leave big shoes to fill.
Out wide, Ball State really only used three pass catchers with any kind of consistency, and two of them – Yo’Heinz Tyler and Jayson Jackson – appear to be set to return. The former’s usage dropped a bit with the arrival of the latter from Cincinnati in 2021, but he’s freakishly athletic at 6-3 and will hold court as WR1, opposite Jackson.
Hall’s slot is much harder to find a plug-and-play fit for, and could require some portal gazing. Jackson could do it, but that isn’t ideal unless someone really steps up on the outside or if the portal is without any suitable offerings. Tight end Jordan Williams departs as well, but Ryan Lezon should be ready there.
The other side of the ball is where graduation is going to do some real damage. Ball State started nine seniors on defense in the Camelia Bowl against Georgia State. Tackle Jordan Ward, end Chris Agyemang and cornerback J.T. Wahee were all graduate students in 2021 and are presumably departing, along with extra-year seniors Brandon Martin at inside linebacker, outside linebackers Christian Albright and Jaylin Thomas and safety Brett Anderson II.
We know Cosby is gone too, leaving defensive end Tavion Woodard, outside linebacker Clayton Coll and cornerback Amechi Uzondinma II as the only starters that even have the potential to return, barring COVID eligibility for any of the fifth-year or graduate players that, frankly, is just impossible to track down.
Woodard is back. A redshirt sophomore in 2021, he’ll be tasked with leading the line into 2022. His early results are fine. He wasn’t spectacular in 2021, but he also wasn’t really asked to be. He’s the only returning starter up front, though Kyle King is here from Michigan State and should immediately start in the other end spot.
Ward’s vacancy is without an obvious replacement, though John Harris looks to be next up. He rotated in plenty in 2021 and though he would complete a very, very small line (average weight at 264). King is big enough that he could move inside if needed, though there’s nothing proven at end outside of Woodard. Perhaps a swap between King and Harris is in order, because Harris is only 264 pounds. King is 270. Josh Tarango is primarily just “The Big Guy, Who Is Big” but will have a role here as well.
The four-man linebacker room has an obvious star to prop it up in Clayton Coll, surrounded entirely by a whole lot of not much. Coll was fabulous in his first season as a starter, racking up 104 tackles. If you’re building a defense around Ball State players from 2021, you could do a whole lot worse than him.
But, those other spots are a lot more problematic. Albright and Thomas depart on the outside and Martin leaves Coll’s side. There’s an easy fix there, at least, because Cole Pearce filled in for an injured Martin for much of the season and was servicable.
The outside spots are a complete mystery. Depth piece Anthony Epke is gone too, and the only other player on the team with much of any experience at LB is Jimmy Daw, who could very easily be departing from the team. Even if he isn’t injuries sidelined him for much of 2021, and he’s more of an inside linebacker. Pearce could kick outside, but there’s still another spot to fill. One of Keionte Newsome or Brandon Berger is going to have to fill it, but both were largely special teams guys in 2021.
Uzondinma is almost certainly jumping to the NFL, so the back end of the defense is entirely new. Ben Egenolf, Nic Jones, Derin McCulley and Jordan Ridley-Scott all seem to be in line for starting roles, but where they’ll actually land is tricky. Right now, McCulley and Ridley-Scott at cornerback and Egenolf at safety, next to Iowa State safety transfer Jaquan Amos seems like a fairly safe bet, but Jones was good enough in brief time to cause some problems for either of those corners.
That’s roughly 14 new starters, from a team that went only 6-7 a season ago. Neu believes in his culture, he believes in the program he’s built, and Ball State certainly believes in him. A down season this year would not be a death knell, but signs of growth for a young team sure would make everyone feel a whole lot better about the 2021 disappointment.