For starters, I don't think the defense is playing that much better than the first four games. Not having Thomas miss time has helped but comparing when Thomas was in it feels about the same. Sure the Ole Miss game was bad. So was the FSU game.
From last year, the new defensive coaches have certainly helped, especially in the secondary. Also, imo, people also tend to overvalue week to week coaching and underrate preparation coaching. Collins having a more direct say in preparation in the offseason also probably played a role as last year it seemed like our secondary was trying to accomplish two different things a lot of the time rather than complimenting each other. To me that tracks with Collins being less hands on, on that side and getting better when he has been more hands on. Once Collins was gone, Thacker likely continued what was changed and kept it going. Good on him for learning. Keion White being available has certainly helped (I believe he missed most of last year). We're not a pug and play defense. We've seen what happens when Charlie goes out. So the addition of one really disruptive DLman makes a huge difference. I think we've also been lucky when it comes to turnovers. Similar to how 2014 was an aberration in that regard for Roof, I'm not sold what we're doing this year when it comes to turnovers is indicative of the way things will be going forward. Turnovers are just too volatile to rely on. The pressure is a better sign of improvement, and I think having White is big in that regard not only from his own production but from the attention he draws away others. That's the biggest hope for the future to me as we have some younger guys coming into their own that should help that.
The OL numbers don't make sense for the narrative that Collins forced transfers over young guys. We effectively brought in 4 OL transfers that were finished products designed to help right away. One only played in 2019 before we had any real chance to recruit. One played significantly in 2020 and 2021 and another in 2021. The last was a back up. Our other transfer OL were guys with multiple years left of development time. Meanwhile we brought in 6 freshmen in the first class. Then the story changed that Key wanted to process Johnson's OL and bring in 12 freshmen Olmen because we were good at the other positions. For one, I don't buy that nonsense anyways, but two, if true makes Key seem worse than it does Collins. Processing players is a scummy move and loading up on 12 OL when we had dire need on both sides elsewhere is just nonsensical. And this is from the same poster that was the driving force behind the "Collins had his hands in everything and is the cause of all the problems" narrative that has taken off.
Okay, let me put out a hypothetical. What if the team is playing more as a team because there is no longer two voices at the top who have differing views of the way thing should be run pulling them in different directions? Sure it could be just a terrible boss at the top keeping everyone down. It could also be a second in command who feels he knows better undermining things as well. I have no clue what was going on behind the scenes. Just the product put on the field. And the product sucked. I'm glad Collins is gone, although I think it was a mistake to fire him when we did but that's a different topic. I'm in favor of cleaning house and while I have my preference there are a number of coaches I'd be fine with (almost any of the rest talked about really). Also, I feel we should clean house but could see the argument for keeping some who were in influential in the units that helped us improve this year. However, the last position coach I would retain would be the OL coach. Now maybe he's better as a HC than OL coach or OC. Let him go somewhere and actually prove it and if we have an opening in 5 or 6 years maybe then he'll be a good choice. And no, I don't think a .500 record against a partial schedule avoiding some of the tougher opponents is proof of that. If Long had taken over and we did the same exact thing all of nobody would be calling for him to be hired.
