It's that time of year again! Peruse depth charts for potential useful information, find none, move on. And there it is.
So I decided to look at interesting depth chart notes from each conference member. I was unsuccessful, so I went with whatever I spotted first.
Click on the school names in bold for official depth charts (some PDFs, some not. You get to guess!).
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Arizona: Offensive line. No seniors plus redshirt freshman tackles. I don't see what could go wrong.
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Arizona State (no official depth chart yet): Whichever defender gets injured today. Spin the wheel, and it's Devan Spann, come on down! Seriously though, ASU needs the regular season to start soon, so they can at least get hurt the real way.
- Cal: Outside linebacker. You have a redshirt freshman in Dave Wilkerson starting at one spot, a walk-on sophomore at the other, a senior who's played sparing minutes in his previous seasons with the team behind both of them, and then two other talented but green freshman factoring into the mix. The Bears might be a better unit outside, or they could be very very confused. I'm going with confused, because Cal OLBs haven't really played that consistently on both sides since Zack Follett graduated.
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Colorado: Cornerback. From Jimmy Smith and Jalil Brown to freshman Greg Henderson and punching bag Travis Sandersfield. I can guess what the first playcall will be this fall against the Buffs!
- Oregon (no official depth chart yet): Wide receiver. Josh Huff is really needed badly for the season opener, lest the Ducks are ready to put running backs in the slot on every down in their shotgun spread packages. Huff at least gives the men in black three solid receivers (along with Tuinei and the tight end David Paulson) they can rely on. His absence would cause a huge personnel problem against LSU.
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Oregon State: EVERYTHING. Are they practicing guerrilla operations at Corvallis training camp? Why does every report from camp read like a script from E.R.?
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Stanford: Defensive line. No more Sione Fua to anchor the 3-4 could cause all sorts of problems for opponents. Thomas Keiser decided to leave early too, the smartypants. Now the Cardinal will have to again worry about teams gashing them in the short game like they did in 2009. While Stanford's defense shouldn't drop to those levels, they probably aren't going upward either.
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UCLA (no official depth chart yet): Quarterback. This is more of a black hole than an actual hole. Kevin Prince and Richard Brehaut battle and battle and battle, and it's not looking like it's getting anywhere. Their performances appear to be converging rather than diverging, which will probably force Rick Neuehisel to play them both at the same time (his current line is two days).
- USC: Running back. Who's going to take this? The Trojans have FOUR tailbacks (Dillon Baxter, Curtis McNeal are the likely candidates) still competing for the starting spot, including two (Amir Carlisle and D.J. Morgan) who haven't even taken a snap with this offense. Marc Tyler may have troubles with everything else in his life, but Lane Kiffin could sure use his pass protection right now to steady things up.
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Utah: Griff McNabb is returning punts. Griff McNabb is 5'7", 160 pounds. Are they planning on giving him body armor too?
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Washington: Chris Polk is listed as the starter. But Chris Polk might not start because Chris Polk might not be needed. Chris Polk can eat a seafood lunch and watch Washington hammer Eastern Washington. He could also play and be part of Washington hammering Eastern Washington. And the world keeps on turning.
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Washington State: I look at this team and I don't look away in horror. This is a marked improvement from previous incarnations of the Cougars.