I agree, Twanger. The problem is that SOOOO many things have to happen to be decent in 2021 that it would take unprecedented high quality transfer recruiting and player development to get there. I've seen little from Lovie prep recruits to expect championship competitive play from them, and if they COULD contribute now, they would considering our lack of depth.
The biggest problem is QB after Peters leaves in 2021 or if he's injured (I'd take odds that he will miss several games again in 2020), and the fact I haven't seen anything from the other QBs on campus that infers they can be effective B1G QBs. IW I clearly not ready and has durability problems. Unlikely he'll gain the accuracy and timing as a passer to come close to Peters in two years or compete against the top half of the B1G by 2021. By now he should have shown flashes, but I haven't seen it. Maybe he'll take a step in Spring. Hope so.
I think RB production will drop off a cliff next year, let alone 2021. Bonner isn't a feature back and doesn't have breakaway speed or moves. If we get anything from Epstein it's a bonus given his injury history. Love will be coming in after a broken ankle. Dicey. Sorry, but Norwood and Sims are simply not feature backs in a running offense. Brown MAY be decent, but there's a reason he wasn't recruited to P5. We needed a healthy RB recruit in this class. Didn't get one.
I'm not at all comfortable with our overrated (IMHO) OL. I think Lowe, Palcho, Green, and Kramer have maxed out, and as we saw many times this year they can't get to the second level in a stacked box and unless we have a REALLY dangerous deep passing game they're easily shut down, and I don't see the passing game pieces in place right now, but there is hope with Barker, Ford, Thomson, Navarro and Frenchie. I don't see any BheBhe 50/50 deep threats coming on the roster, and we need them to relieve pressure up front.