Losing Players & Recruits

[Rodney Kent]

I saw an article that stated 7 players were transferring from Florida. This is a definite sign that some players are upset at the Head Coach. I have been following College Football since the mid 40's and the Florida and Southern Cal teams are indicators that repeats itself often.

Most likely all the losses at Florida were due to a less than stellar effort by unhappy players. The announcements of those transferring is another indicator of unhappy players at Florida. In fact, the cameramen have caught the Florida coach with an almost evil look in his expression at some of his players as they come to the sideline. It appears evident to this viewer that all is not harmonous between the coach and his players.

The same thing appeared to happen at Southern Cal while Kiffin was coach. I would assume that many of the players did not have the will to win the games for Kiffin. This appeared to be backed by the winning attitude after Kiffin was fired, and one of the assistant coaches finished the year winning most of the remaining games.

When you have good players transferring, and games lost that should have been won, you can look for problems between the players and the coaches. One of the worst mistakes by coaches is the lack of free substitution. When players lay it all on the line in practice each week, then fail to get playing time in a game, it does not sit well with the subs. Also, the starters do not appreciate giving it their all, tiring as the game progresses, and no subs coming in to replace them. It makes the first stringers look bad when they are only tired. This also affects recruiting badly. The word gets around that you bust your gut in practice, but do not get the chance to have any outcome on Saturdays.

A team, which substitutes freely, stays fresh. The bonus is that it creates good will and harmony within the whole team. It becomes a team effort, rather than a few studs playing the whole game. If you see tired players, poor recruiting, and a lack of enthusiasm from the whole team, you can generally pin point it as the lack of respect for the coach. Look at Florida and Southern Cal as prime examples this past year. Most players do not attend the school where they have the best chance of playing in the NFL. Most players attend schools where they like the coach. Any player that is good will have almost the same chance at playing in the NFl for almost any team.

 

[KlausMikaelsonTheOriginal]

Pretty good insight.

 

[CuseJacket]

I saw an article that stated 7 players were transferring from Florida. This is a definite sign that some players are upset at the Head Coach. I have been following College Football since the mid 40's and the Florida and Southern Cal teams are indicators that repeats itself often.

Most likely all the losses at Florida were due to a less than stellar effort by unhappy players. The announcements of those transferring is another indicator of unhappy players at Florida. In fact, the cameramen have caught the Florida coach with an almost evil look in his expression at some of his players as they come to the sideline. It appears evident to this viewer that all is not harmonous between the coach and his players.

The same thing appeared to happen at Southern Cal while Kiffin was coach. I would assume that many of the players did not have the will to win the games for Kiffin. This appeared to be backed by the winning attitude after Kiffin was fired, and one of the assistant coaches finished the year winning most of the remaining games.

When you have good players transferring, and games lost that should have been won, you can look for problems between the players and the coaches. One of the worst mistakes by coaches is the lack of free substitution. When players lay it all on the line in practice each week, then fail to get playing time in a game, it does not sit well with the subs. Also, the starters do not appreciate giving it their all, tiring as the game progresses, and no subs coming in to replace them. It makes the first stringers look bad when they are only tired. This also affects recruiting badly. The word gets around that you bust your gut in practice, but do not get the chance to have any outcome on Saturdays.

A team, which substitutes freely, stays fresh. The bonus is that it creates good will and harmony within the whole team. It becomes a team effort, rather than a few studs playing the whole game. If you see tired players, poor recruiting, and a lack of enthusiasm from the whole team, you can generally pin point it as the lack of respect for the coach. Look at Florida and Southern Cal as prime examples this past year. Most players do not attend the school where they have the best chance of playing in the NFL. Most players attend schools where they like the coach. Any player that is good will have almost the same chance at playing in the NFl for almost any team.

I was with you until the bolded part. I don't profess to be an expert, but I have a hard time believing recruits are put off by playing time. In fact, as it goes with A-back recruiting, I often hear one thing that hurts us is that there is no feature A-back (though this could be disputed by Orwin or Robbie). Players want to play, and they want to be featured as much as possible.

Not sure if basketball is a good analogy, but when Jim Boeheim started getting top end recruits in the 80's, one of his starters (I believe Billy Owens) told Boeheim after a game that he didn't choose Syracuse to play 30 minutes a game. He was there to play 35-40. And at least according to Boeheim, from that point forward Syracuse used a 7-8 man rotation, nothing more. It has only helped recruiting, and the results speak for themselves.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

I am not following your logic. I am not sure USC and UF are a bit alike. Kiffin caused his own problems. It appears that UF was left with a ton of bad apples plus no talent at the QB position. Lack of talent on offense to go along with a two lousy coordinators speaks volumes.

 

[Rodney Kent]

The problem with a lack of a featured playing time at A-Back is the routine used by PJ. He uses a horde of different A-Backs to send in the plays to the quarterback. I agree that this can break the rhythm afforded by having a featured A-Back, however this is the routine of PJ. Personally, I believe it would be more beneficial to keep the same players in the game on a given drive if they are not tired, but others can replace them on other drives. It is true that most players do not want to come out of the game, but it is essential to keep the legs fresh and keep fresh players in the game. Substitution works and the players do not get upset as long as the team is winning. It is when the team begins to tank that the gripes from players erupt. Winning removes most of the gripes.

 

[AE 87]

Why did the op post this in a gt football forum? If you want to make a point about gt football, make it explicit.

 

[Rodney Kent]

I have just joined the board and had noticed the problem at Florida. The same problem seemed to be apparent at Southern Cal. I saw no topics other than football to make the post. I scanned the topics and saw numerous posts regarding Auburn and many other schools, so I assumed we could post anything regarding football in general that was interesting. If it is true that no post should be on this board other than topics concerning GT, then I guess many of the other topics posted under the Football Category would have to be deleted. If it is the rule that no other team can be mentioned under the Football Category, then I will obey that rule.

 

[collegeballfan]

"He uses a horde of different A-Backs to send in the plays to the quarterback."

He can do that with just 3 A-Backs, 2 on the field and 1 waiting to go in with the next play. It is not that simple.

 

[UgaBlows]

We need someone to watch the ugag game film and document how many substitutions were made to see if this is true or not

 

[daBuzz]

I have often wondered why we don't use a different way of getting the plays in instead of running it out with players.

Even people like myself who don't care for CPJ acknowledge that the guy knows his system better than anyone else. Why not do what some of the programs (such as UGA) do and have the players line up....read the defense...then look to the sidelines where CPJ could make an adjustment if he sees something different?

Personally, I think the big flash cards thing is pretty cool because it allows all 11 players just to look over and view the play without having to huddle unless you want to do so. In 2-minute situations, this has to be very helpful as well.

 

[IronJacket7]

Why did the op post this in a gt football forum? If you want to make a point about gt football, make it explicit.

i was wondering the same thing

 

[IronJacket7]

I have often wondered why we don't use a different way of getting the plays in instead of running it out with players.

Even people like myself who don't care for CPJ acknowledge that the guy knows his system better than anyone else. Why not do what some of the programs (such as UGA) do and have the players line up....read the defense...then look to the sidelines where CPJ could make an adjustment if he sees something different?

Personally, I think the big flash cards thing is pretty cool because it allows all 11 players just to look over and view the play without having to huddle unless you want to do so. In 2-minute situations, this has to be very helpful as well.

Several teams have moved to this method. Imo, it is very effective and I wish we used it also.

 

[mts315]

I loathe the "prairie dog" offenses. Also, in my opinion this would not work for us.

We run basically six of seven different plays with various blocking schemes each game. How long do you think it would take an opposing team to figure out our code when all they have to decipher is a few flash cards?

 

[UgaBlows]

I loathe the "prairie dog" offenses. Also, in my opinion this would not work for us.

Me too, with a passion

 

[Rodney Kent]

I am not a fan of the time wasted looking to the sidelines for a play after the defense has aligned itself. In fact, they can easily line up one way, wait for us to call another play, then shift their defense accordingly. Sometimes a defense may use a false setup to fool the offense and then quickly switch to another defense. In this method, the defense is actually dictating the offensive setup and can act accordingly. I had rather get in as many plays in the game as possible by calling a play and sticking to it. If an offense is very variable such as the Auburn offense of this year, then the defense is never going to be sure of the play anyhow. The less time we use looking to the sideline, the more time for more plays in a game. Also, I am not so sure this method is not responsible for a lot of the false starts by the linemen. They may forget the count or lose concentration while waiting on all the sideline commotion. They may even start thinking about their assingments rather than acting on their natural everyday instincts from daily practices. It also slows down the game for the fans.

 

[daBuzz]

I am not a fan of the time wasted looking to the sidelines for a play after the defense has aligned itself. In fact, they can easily line up one way, wait for us to call another play, then shift their defense accordingly. Sometimes a defense may use a false setup to fool the offense and then quickly switch to another defense. In this method, the defense is actually dictating the offensive setup and can act accordingly. I had rather get in as many plays in the game as possible by calling a play and sticking to it. If an offense is very variable such as the Auburn offense of this year, then the defense is never going to be sure of the play anyhow. The less time we use looking to the sideline, the more time for more plays in a game. Also, I am not so sure this method is not responsible for a lot of the false starts by the linemen. They may forget the count or lose concentration while waiting on all the sideline commotion. They may even start thinking about their assingments rather than acting on their natural everyday instincts from daily practices. It also slows down the game for the fans.

You DO realize that using the cards actually speeds up the number of plays in the game you can run, right? It takes more time for CPJ to tell the play into the ear of the player...him to run out to the QB...the QB calls the play in the huddle...then we come to the line. And if the call is wrong for the defensive alignment, then you have to hope the QB can recognize that and check out of the play.

The "prairie dog" offense you guys despise is being used by both sides in the national championship game, by the way.

 

[gtdrew]

I think a lot of those flashcards don't even mean anything. I think they're meant to distract opposing coaches w trying to "crack the code." I had a basketball coach in middle school who just yelled out gibberish every time down the floor. Confused the hell out of the other team, and we all knew it wasn't even what was happening. That said, I don't think additional deception pre-snap would hurt anything.

 

[CuseJacket]

I think a lot of those flashcards don't even mean anything. I think they're meant to distract opposing coaches w trying to "crack the code." I had a basketball coach in middle school who just yelled out gibberish every time down the floor. Confused the hell out of the other team, and we all knew it wasn't even what was happening. That said, I don't think additional deception pre-snap would hurt anything.

You're on to something. CPJ should play to the mantra that we only run one play. We should designate a walk-on to hold up a single flashcard with one picture. The picture will be a raised middle finger.