Rational Off-season Discussion Thread

[collegeballfan]

Opinions only based on little beyond observation and history.
Techquon Marshall will be the QB starter next season.
D should be better; better pure talent available next year.
OL looses DeVine and gains Marshall. Should be about the same quality as this past season.
Johnson will be the HC and Roof the DC for the foreseeable future.
Beware the Tennessee Syndrome.
GT will not add Basket Weaving as a major to improve recruiting!

 

[LawTalkin Jacket]

First of all, this is no place for a rational discussion.

I think that it is time to change things up a bit, starting with CTR hopefully. it will cost $$ though. I think if you give TR the chance to stay as an assistant, coach his son, not require a move to another school by him or his kids, that he would consider that option. GT would need to pay a new DC some dough though, and maybe $500k - $700k. And a new ST coach?

 

[katlong]

I'm not one to quickly say, "FIRE the coaches!" but I do think there are some issues that coaches need to either get way better at or go away.

1. QB - Many people here say that TQM is not the right QB. I can't speak to reads - some of that is experience and maybe ability, but I think his passing could be helped with better coaching on timing. Several times in the season the receiver has been open but the delay in throwing it or the double pump has given information to the defender on where he is going or given time for the gap to close. Yes, sometimes his passes are over or under thrown, but if he'd get rid of it faster, I think completion rate would be better - that's coaching (and a little experience) in my opinion.

2. Receiving on special teams - ok, maybe I'm crazy, but it seems that whoever is in charge of coaching this bunch has not said that you shouldn't field the ball inside the 5 or 10. I guess if you are certain that you'll never bobble the ball or can always run it back to at least the 30 without incidence, then that seems like a good plan. So many issues happen inside the 5 and 10 yard line that change the game even with a #1 team that I cannot understand letting people field the ball inside the 10, for sure inside the 5. This week, Howard (whom I am super excited about) tried to catch the ball on the bounce inside the 5, and almost got a safety on the opening kickoff. Ok, so he made a mistake and they sat him on the bench. But when he came back in, he fielded 2 more balls at the 1 or just inside the end zone - he got to the 18 and 12 I think, and could have easily stepped out of bounds at the 3 on one of those. Stewart (who is also a favorite of mine) is pretty consistent at catching balls, but again, why inside the 5 or 10? If it happens once, then it's a mental mistake. When it's over and over again, it's coaching. Also, why do we not just charge the hole like other teams? Maybe we don't have the ability to block, but hesitating to run leaves us inside the 25 every time. Just knee it in the end zone and take the 25 yards.

3. Kicking on special teams - we do have an ability problem here, but knowing that, WHY do we kick it to the best person on their team? We know that it probably isn't going to land deep in the end zone and that we have trouble covering a kick off, so why not kick it AWAY from that guy? We did this one time this weekend, and it made me super happy that an adjustment was made - the guy bobbled the ball and we almost recovered it. If we aren't doing that, why not kick it out of bounds? 35 is better than a TD - we were better this week on KO (not punts) than we have been, but they got to the 30, and it might have been worse. Just seems we are setting ourselves up for failure when we know that we aren't strong at tackling on the KO. This is a coaching issue.

4. Defense - I think this has been covered thoroughly, so I won't waste a lot of space other than to say, why such soft coverage on the 2-min drill?

 

[Coloradojacket]

Hopefully, contributers to this thread will assume the following:

1) We aren't firing CPJ.
2) We aren't bringing in Brent Venables to run the defense.
3) "Demanding better" is not a SMART goal for improving our football program.

(I'm going to try very hard to ignore posters who don't operate under those assumptions)

Now that we've cleared those three up, I would like to discuss:

1) QB --> I think CPJ may have been surprised by the early success of TqM running the ball. The kid won the job outright, and was a warrior this season. His performance left something to be desired in the read, pitch, and passing game. Could anyone see a move back to AB with maybe some return duties thrown in, in favor of LJ taking over? Tough to unseat a senior starter at QB.

2) AB --> A CL/QS tandem might be the most experienced starting unit we've ever had at the position and should be a strength of the team. After NC, who will round out the 2-deep?

3) WR --> I am concerned. BS is a warrior, consistent but not devastating blocker, and will no take the top off the D. Can JC become that guy? Sample size is very small. Which of Adonicas Sanders and Jair Hawkins-Anderson stayed at WR? Howell and Philpott??

4) PHIII should win the Walter Camp. So there's that...

5) IF we lose CTR, will TD follow? How bout the Swillings? I do think we've improved our D recruiting in the last couple years. How do we utilize that talent (or is it simply waiting in the wings)?

1. TM is not our QB, but that being said we need to find a guy who can run CPJs offense and complete at least 50% of his passes. CPJ had to change the offense to fit TM. Sort of like the Vad Lee year
2. I thought that Cottrell really came on with his blocking and really hard nosed running. Maybe Ponchez Mason is an A back.
3. Gonna throw an idea here. Camp and Stewart will be in here but, move Qua Searcy to WR. He has a knack for getting open and good hands. Probably will be his shot at the next level.
4. Need better punt coverage
5. If we lose CTR I don't see us losing players. Fact is Duke and some 4th quarters were let downs but where I think we are hurting is strength. We need to get the D lineman stronger. The only guy who could Bull Rush was 90 Adams.

 

[bravejason]

1) QB --> Marshall has got to improve his passing ability. It looked OK early in the season, but in the second half his completion rate fell drastically. The team needs about a 50% completion percentage or better. While the WR and AB need to help by running good routes and the OL needs to help with better pass defense, I think Marshall is the weak link in the passing game right now.

2) AB --> I'm not worried.

3) WR --> I'm not worried. A future NFL player in this position can make a world of difference, but the offense runs fine without them. Just need good blockers and guys who run their routes well, though it does mean the QB has to be better in the passing game since he can't just lob it up and tell the WR to go get it.

4) PHIII is a nice addition to the team. He'd look even better with some improved punt return defense.

5) If we lose CTR, will xyz follow? I haven't got a clue. I hope Roof is recruiting excellent players. He needs them. The players can get lined up and they look like they understand the system and what they need to do (a big huge improvement over the Al Groh era). However, Roof seems to be doing the defensive equivalent of running the "NCAA Offense", so it comes down to having good players since there isn't a decided schematic advantage happening here (Granted, it is much harder to do that on defense than on offense). My complaint against Roof is that I don't think he is good at adapting the defense to his personnel. It's like it is the same defense no matter who is out there. Maybe he does and I just don't see it. I know people complain that CPJ doesn't adapt the offense either, but on offense I can see the playbook changing as the players change (the QB, notably) even though it is the same offense.

 

[alentrekin]

1. QB should be a competition with TQ as the 1. All four of them should be given every chance to win it and at least get snaps.*
2. I hope we try to get the best 11 on the field. If that means switching a B to A or a QB to A or an A to WR, we should do that. I have a soft spot for big A's and wouldn't mind a package with Jerry at B and Kirvonte at A.
3. I was impressed with Sanders' film and all reports were positive from camp. In obvious passing downs, I would hope that we don't consider whether a WR is good at blocking linebackers.
4. PH3 is my second favorite enrolled jacket behind lammers.
5. IDK. Hope we keep both Swillings and TD.
++ We need more line depth. We were starting a walk-on at tackle who described starting as "surreal." OL is every bit as important at QB, but if we were starting a PWO at QB after depleted depth from injury/defection, there would be rational and irrational threads dissecting the problem. I agree that JUCO / grad transfers would be a huge help.

*One problem with this season being "so close to great" -- vs. great or bad -- is that we have no proven backups at QB, WR and some of the others didn't get many snaps -- Jerry Howard, Christian Campbell, Bruce, TD, Jaquan.

 

[takethepoints]

Eggsackley.

We were hurting for line depth on both sides of the ball this year, but especially on O. Losing Griffin last year to injury, Klock and Fromayen to career choices, Marshall to injury this year, and then, during the year having Stickler hurt late didn't help. That's 4 OTs out in two years then another during the year. The rest of the OL pulled together, but Will spent half the year at OT. (True, that gave Shamire a chance to play and he certainly came through, but …) On DL several players were either young (Glanton, Adams, and Saint Amour) or playing out of position (Branch).

And, again, this was a very young team. Some talked a lot here about how having people hurt in 2015 was a hidden benefit since so many freshmen got to play. True. And now they are playing as sophs. That's still young and experienced.

 

[Jacket in Dairyland]

1. Until we commit to developing an actual passing game, and I mean schematically, LJ doesn't make sense. JJ might but either way we're not moving the only QB we have with experience to another position.

2. No idea, but we have to do a better job at getting the ball to our a backs. And I'm not talking about option pitches. We need dedicated plays to get them involved.

3. Unless it's a BeBe or Smelter level WR I really don't pay attention when we lose WRs. Next guys up will block about as well and none of the WRs we had this year were significant difference makers with the way we pass.

4. Dude is a boomer.

5. Doesn't matter. Our best chance of improving next year on D is with Papa Roof. Without him, and most likely with him, our D will continue to be what it has the entire time under Johnson.

 

[Jacket in Dairyland]

In complete agreement, on every point. I would just add that If TM cannot improve his passing, including short to medium, so that patterns could be run in those ranges, then he should be asked to move to AB. He probably knows his passing is not adequate and that also affects his tendency to keep more rather than pitch. Defenses basically play man to man against all our skill positions, including a full time spy on him. He tries to do too much.

 

[alagold]

Lots of people have talked about Aback blocking but size is not mentioned.Blocking DBs is difficult but trying to block LBs and DEs giving up 50+ lbs is really ROUGH.btw--If Jarrett is the #4 Aback we would have 2 guys under 180 ,that is SMALL.Too small unless the guy has super speed and strength.

 

[Technut1990]

No matter who the QB is there has to be some serious and intensive fundamentals being stressed. TM missed a lot of wide open people, initially the passblocking was terrible I know but I think that got better as the season went on. The biggest issue the offense faced was QB accuracy. Accuracy is a function of proper form. Go back and watch film, TM needs to spend some time in the step and throw fundamentals. He has to step toward the target with his front foot and come up and over when he throws. Seriously folks, film will show that he steps forward left as he releasing, this causes him to almost throw sidearmed, definitely at a 2 o’clock release at least. This causes poor accuracy and a lofting of the ball which results in under throws to WRs who are streaking and should be hit in stride and high throws to shallower routes ( go back and watch Stewart’s “drop”against Miami - the pass was high due to form).

This is not a dig on TM it’s an observation of form. Given the importance of the deep ball in our offense we have to have a QB that throws with proper form. TM has confidence in his legs if he could gain it in his arm I think it would make him more at ease in pitching the ball and throwing it, things any QB will have to be comfortable with in our offense.

TM needs some coaching time on form, I would have him throwing through the the window every practice for at least 1 period.

I think this takes care of the AB question also.

As far as defense, it’s my opinion that no matter what your offense is doing you have to challenge the other team defensively, playing 10 yards off on third and 5 isn’t really “playing defense” , I’ll leave that as stated.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

2. Receiving on special teams - ok, maybe I'm crazy, but it seems that whoever is in charge of coaching this bunch has not said that you shouldn't field the ball inside the 5 or 10. I guess if you are certain that you'll never bobble the ball or can always run it back to at least the 30 without incidence, then that seems like a good plan. So many issues happen inside the 5 and 10 yard line that change the game even with a #1 team that I cannot understand letting people field the ball inside the 10, for sure inside the 5. This week, Howard (whom I am super excited about) tried to catch the ball on the bounce inside the 5, and almost got a safety on the opening kickoff. Ok, so he made a mistake and they sat him on the bench. But when he came back in, he fielded 2 more balls at the 1 or just inside the end zone - he got to the 18 and 12 I think, and could have easily stepped out of bounds at the 3 on one of those. Stewart (who is also a favorite of mine) is pretty consistent at catching balls, but again, why inside the 5 or 10? If it happens once, then it's a mental mistake. When it's over and over again, it's coaching. Also, why do we not just charge the hole like other teams? Maybe we don't have the ability to block, but hesitating to run leaves us inside the 25 every time. Just knee it in the end zone and take the 25 yards

Fielding punts inside the 10 drives me crazy. I'd rather them bounce and take my chances on them rolling into the endzone.

Fielding KOs, like Howard in the uga game, is a different story. After the ball travels 10 yards, it's live, and if uga gets to it first. it's their ball. Howard had to field the ball. He just needed to do it cleanly.

 

[tmhunter52]

Cutcliffe turned down Tennessee, deciding to stay at Duke. Duke has been to a bowl 5 of the last six years. Duke crushed us this year. Tennessee was winless in the SEC this year and has become, I think everyone agrees, a dumpster fire. One of Tennessee's wins was against us. So relieved this season is over...

 

[katlong]

I'm not sure why Howard ran the ball out of the end zone on 2/3 of those. I get what you are saying about the bobble, and thank goodness that call went our way (although it didn't help in the end), but the other 2 kicks could have been an easy touch back.

 

[Skeptic]

Hopefully, contributers to this thread will assume the following:

1) We aren't firing CPJ.
2) We aren't bringing in Brent Venables to run the defense.
3) "Demanding better" is not a SMART goal for improving our football program.

(I'm going to try very hard to ignore posters who don't operate under those assumptions)

Now that we've cleared those three up, I would like to discuss:

1) QB --> I think CPJ may have been surprised by the early success of TqM running the ball. The kid won the job outright, and was a warrior this season. His performance left something to be desired in the read, pitch, and passing game. Could anyone see a move back to AB with maybe some return duties thrown in, in favor of LJ taking over? Tough to unseat a senior starter at QB.

2) AB --> A CL/QS tandem might be the most experienced starting unit we've ever had at the position and should be a strength of the team. After NC, who will round out the 2-deep?

3) WR --> I am concerned. BS is a warrior, consistent but not devastating blocker, and will no take the top off the D. Can JC become that guy? Sample size is very small. Which of Adonicas Sanders and Jair Hawkins-Anderson stayed at WR? Howell and Philpott??

4) PHIII should win the Walter Camp. So there's that...

5) IF we lose CTR, will TD follow? How bout the Swillings? I do think we've improved our D recruiting in the last couple years. How do we utilize that talent (or is it simply waiting in the wings)?

Johnson, unlike Navy, never moves a starting QB out. He just doesn't. It's like being married. Marshall is the guy and will be all next season, dreadful passing, painful reads and all. We won't see much triple option, again, but all those alternate options he ran this year will be there. They are kind of fun to watch.

As for A backs and WRs, I have no clue. But as for "demanding better", I agree. What must be demanded though is effort. And those that don't give it have to be gone, no matter who they are. Duke and Georgia this year were just embarrassing to watch. And I was in my living room.

 

[awbuzz]

Cutcliffe turned down Tennessee, deciding to stay at Duke. Duke has been to a bowl 5 of the last six years. Duke crushed us this year. Tennessee was winless in the SEC this year and has become, I think everyone agrees, a dumpster fire. One of Tennessee's wins was against us. So relieved this season is over...

Smart move by Cutcliffe

 

[tmhunter52]

Anyone want to speculate how this season's woes will affect our recruiting class for 2018? For example, with Tech's passing YPG at only 84.3, and with uncertainty of TM getting any better or CPJ changing QBs, do we hang onto Malachi Carter at WR?

 

[redmule]

Johnson, unlike Navy, never moves a starting QB out. He just doesn't. It's like being married. Marshall is the guy and will be all next season, dreadful passing, painful reads and all. We won't see much triple option, again, but all those alternate options he ran this year will be there. They are kind of fun to watch.

As for A backs and WRs, I have no clue. But as for "demanding better", I agree. What must be demanded though is effort. And those that don't give it have to be gone, no matter who they are. Duke and Georgia this year were just embarrassing to watch. And I was in my living room.

Vad Lee says 'Hello".

 

[Skeptic]

Smart move by Cutcliffe

Second time he turned them down.

 

[Skeptic]

Vad Lee says 'Hello".

Shoot, he and Washington swapped so much it was hard to keep track of either.