5 yr sr's vs true frosh

[dressedcheeseside]

I've always been a proponent of CPJ's basic philosophy of redshirting as many players as possible. As coach has said so many times, a guy is gonna be better in his 5th yr than in his 1st. Now that assumes the kid makes it to his 5th yr and a lot of things can happen before then, but as we saw last season, it's well worth the risk.

Our skill positions on offense, other than qb, were loaded with 5th yr players and it made a huge difference, y0u can't deny it. Our offense is complicated, technical and requires countless repetitions to perfect. Lots of guys who many of us had written off, suddenly blossomed last year. I don't think that was coincidental, I think it was a product of experience.

A snapshot in time that simply illustrates this point is JT's 3rd scoring run in the OB. JT runs through a hole on the right side following the lead block of BJ Bostic, a RS sr who was all but hung out to dry by many of us keyboard jockies, myself included. Dadgum was I wrong about him and so many others.
1:29


I'm not against playing true freshman if they're good enough to earn their way onto the the two deep or beat out incumbents on ST's. What I am against is giving true freshman mop up snaps for the purpose of giving them experience on the field. Mop up snaps against a beaten and demoralized foe is not an equal swap for eliminating that crucial 5th yr opportunity. Little is gained while much more is lost.

 

[dhbartlett12]

That really was an excellent block. Probably Bostic's best play of his career. I don't see any freshman making that play.

 

[awbuzz]

Most 5th year players are better that year than a true freshman.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Yes, but with the number of kids graduating on time or early increasing exponentially since I was in school, you don't want a bunch of 4th or 5th year guys transfering to another program because Tech grad school won't admit them. It's a double edged sword sometimes.

 

[Architorture23]

I mostly agree but you picked out one great BJ Bostic block. BJ has been a poor to bad blocker his entire career, including his RS Sr year. Also, Bostic played as a True Freshman and redshirted the next year because of an injury.

By comparison, Dennis Andrews is a much better blocker than Bostic has ever been. (Andrews was RS'd as well, but he is obviously not in his 5th year yet.)

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

Most 5th year players are better that year than a true freshman.

A true freshman should never beat out an upperclassman. Poor evaluation of talent if that occurs. Unless it is Megatron of course.

 

[AE 87]

A true freshman should never beat out an upperclassman. Poor evaluation of talent if that occurs. Unless it is Megatron of course.

PJ Davis played ahead of some upper class LBs as a true freshman, iirc.

 

[Eastman]

Andrews did make numerous excellent blocks in the OB. He and Snoddy would make for a strong 1st string.

I think we will be talented enough at a-back and b-back next year, but will have little depth from an experience standpoint and that can mean more mistakes and turnovers. Just a couple more turnovers can turn wins into losses. If we do as well with turnovers in 2015 as 2014, I think we will have a strong season despite the tough schedule, but just a few more turnovers and missed assignments can change a season.

 

[danny daniel]

A true freshman should never beat out an upperclassman. Poor evaluation of talent if that occurs. Unless it is Megatron of course.

"never beat out" and "poor evaluation" are not always true. Some kids peak athletically faster than others, some work harder, some continue to grow in physique and skills, some not. Lots of variables in play here so its not always on the evaluators. In fact recruiting is often a crap shoot based on best judgement and experience, with no guarantees.

 

[dhbartlett12]

We'll be young at RB next year, but I gave up on last year before it began so I wont repeat that mistake.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I mostly agree but you picked out one great BJ Bostic block. BJ has been a poor to bad blocker his entire career, including his RS Sr year. Also, Bostic played as a True Freshman and redshirted the next year because of an injury.

By comparison, Dennis Andrews is a much better blocker than Bostic has ever been. (Andrews was RS'd as well, but he is obviously not in his 5th year yet.)

Completely disagree with the highlighted part of your post. He wasn't perfect, but he was much better as a senior. I'd like to hear Boomer or Longestday weigh in on this as those two guys broke down lots of film throughout the year. It's easy to remember the sore thumbs that stick out and expand that sentiment over an entire season. BJ had lots of key blocks this past year, many of which resulted in big plays. He had his misses, too, but so did they all. Blocking in space is no easy task.

I've often wondered if hitting a baseball for a hit is regarded as successful if done 30% of the time, I wonder how our coaches look at open field cut blocks. I'm not even sure what criteria even constitutes a successful one. Most times if the timing and spacing is right, all you have to do is interfere with the defender's pathway for a split second, you don't even have to get him on the ground. On the other hand, I've seen guys get blown up then get up and still make a tackle for little to no gain.

 

[MidtownJacket]

That is an interesting question/point cheese.. It is hard to know everything about this offense, there are lots of times where the misdirection element or even just the gaps we use matter. For instance when a guard pulls and it looks like he missed his 1st level block, but then it turns out he is making a block at the next level that springs a TD.

 

[Architorture23]

Completely disagree with the highlighted part of your post. He wasn't perfect, but he was much better as a senior. I'd like to hear Boomer or Longestday weigh in on this as those two guys broke down lots of film throughout the year. It's easy to remember the sore thumbs that stick out and expand that sentiment over an entire season. BJ had lots of key blocks this past year, many of which resulted in big plays. He had his misses, too, but so did they all. Blocking in space is no easy task.

How would you rank the blocking of our AB's, 1-5, of Perkins, Snoddy, Andrews, Zenon, and Bostic?

 

[dressedcheeseside]

How would you rank the blocking of our AB's, 1-5, of Perkins, Snoddy, Andrews, Zenon, and Bostic?

Going purely on memory, I don't think any really stand out as better or worse. I'm sure the coaches have a grading system, it would be very enlightening to see the results of that.

 

[alaguy]

How would you rank the blocking of our AB's, 1-5, of Perkins, Snoddy, Andrews, Zenon, and Bostic?

Another big advantage we had with all the depth at Aback is that we had fresh guys blocking.This is extremely important in "open space" blocking where it takes great approach , timing, and effort to get a guy down.esp for the smaller guys..
Not only were we experienced but were fairly fresh normally which meant much better success.In fact, we had so much depth,guys at first on 3rd string were maybe "not up to speed" when they first went in.
I think there will be a big drop-off in blocking due to just the experience factor.I think back on our Srs when they were young and remember how many blocks they missed.

 

[Architorture23]

For me, Perkins and Andrews stood out clearly above the other 3.

Edit... forgot Deon Hill. Would put him above Snoddy and Bostic.

 

[Architorture23]

didn't mean to hijack the thread. I thought all of the AB's were much improved blocking on the perimeter this year.

and in general, I agree that we should redshirt whoever we can.

HOWEVER, you have to weigh the benefits. If a guy can help you win now then you've got to look hard at playing him. If he only gives you a very slight upgrade, then you try not to.

 

[Eastman]

These are great points. There may be a positive that I haven't seen mentioned before regarding the apparent upgrade in speed we may getting at a-back with the freshman and that is a better pitch relationship. I may be wrong, but it seemed to me that JT was getting to the edge a little ahead of the a-backs at times, especially in the early games last year. I didn't see it as often in later games, so maybe JT or the a-backs adjusted somehow. Regardless, if my observation is correct, having a-backs with similar speed to JT may help that aspect of the option.

On the other hand, I may be totally wrong.

 

[Henrymcg]

"Andrews rocking the defender's world!" -longestday

 

[iceeater1969]

I think we all agree that the ability to read changes in the rush, man up, and run more complex plays are better with a much more experienced player than with a true freshman.

I am not sure how we got to a point where we had 2 senior BB and a bunch of seniors at AB and hope we can have a good mix of experience and youth in the future . With this big group leaving I feel we need to get a bigger than normal boost from the freshman to get this back on balance.

For the season record I am hoping we do very well this year and get MUCH better in the following year when JET is a senior - like i believe we have a real chance to be great. I would hope that we can get going early next year and give several of the AB kids with potential some "called plays" like we did early this past year and a lot in the previous year for VAD. What a game changer it would be if our AB could break some long runs and catch some long passes. I am not for just putting any freshman on the field but if we can add significant speed at AB I believe we should mix in some kids so that in 17 we are ready to roll.

As to the blocks made at the orange bowl and the ACC - watching from the sideline it was amazing to see JET accelerate away from pursuit and cut back to open lanes and then slash behind blocker. His speed makes everybody's blocking look better. Adding speed on the edge (yes they need to block) will give JT more room on the slant.