By Daniel Cohen
Get primed for this weekend with offensive and defensive grades for all eight remaining teams, based on their projected starting lineups for the divisional championship round. These lineup projections were made based on recent trends, player usage throughout the season, and current active rosters.
Indianapolis AlleyCats
Projected starting O-line: Cameron Brock, Travis Carpenter, Rick Gross, Levi Jacobs, Jeremy Keusch, Keegan North, Xavier Payne
These grades are in the context of all teams across the league, but if they were in the context of just the Central Division, Indy would be graded firmly in the A-range. This is a group that’s converted 60 percent or better in eight of their 13 games, and they’ve placed a new emphasis this year on taking care of the disc; traditional gunslingers like Levi Jacobs, Keegan North, Xavier Payne are being a lot choosier with their shots this season, which has Indy operating at the fifth-highest offensive efficiency rate in the league. Cam Brock, Rick Gross, and Jeremy Keusch continue to grind in the intermediate and deep levels, while the disc-movers of the line are content to swing sideline to sideline until 100 percent throws open up downfield.
Grade: B+
Projected starting D-line: Jeremiah Branson, Ben Close, Jacob Fella, Fletcher Hare, Nick Hutton, Will Quigley, William Wettengel
The AlleyCats D-line set an AUDL single-season record in 2022 by converting a ridiculous 66 percent of their break chances, and while they’ve come down to earth a bit this year, they still rank second in the league this year at 55.9 percent. Jeremiah Branson has been a strong addition to the D-line offense, and the unit now has a few more block-getters in rookies Will Wettengel and Will Quigley. While they still rank in the bottom half of the league in takeaways, the ‘Cats had six games this year with double-digit block totals; they had just three such games last season.
Originally posted on theaudl.com