Spring Competition

Whiskey_Clear

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The Offense will be back on track this year. Elite? If a couple WR can develop as consistent play makers yes. Defense is a question mark, as always. I'd be happy as hell with top 40 performance in most D categories. ST...kicker is solid. Punter needs to be at least average. Kick coverage and return units....need a ton of improvement and I'm one that doesn't understand our struggles there. We will win 8 or more.
 

ATL1

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Whitehead
Simmons
Freeman

Can all play OLB & Leo's
Whitehead and Simmons I definitely feel are out of position and should be either a Strong Side OLB's and rush opposite of the LEO or a Weak Side OLB and still rush just over top of the LEO.
 

flea77

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Flea would know better than me. I like wb either as at guard = he goes low with out flopping and at tackle he can cut as well as block well down field= he is athletic.
If he has added weight / strength as reported he should be ready to do damage.
I would like to see the best olineman at rg. (Strong drive block a must and needs to be able to pull to lead a counter play ).

Maybe it is griffin based on drive,but wb or klock are sure fast.
I have high hopes for oline this year = faster off oline yet having some punch.
Last year after the snap, there was too much action on our side of the line of scrimmage. Hope the new ol coach teaches our guys how to legally hold!
 

flea77

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Chris can play fast around 300lbs. Will is going to be in the 285 range. Brad Morgan is a stud. He needs more reps in the offense and will get them this spring. Whitley and Marshall are healthy. Fromayan and Stickler will be in the hunt. Mums is one of the harder working linemen on the team, he will gets a lot of reps this spring w Burden out. There will be plenty of competition and I believe we will have 8 or 9 that will be in the rotation in the fall. Klock, Devine, Burden, Griffin, Bryan, Fromayan all have starting experience. Marshal has played in 22 games. 7 have real bullet experience against ACC and SEC teams. This is going to be a angry pissed off group of young men. I would not want to be a DL this spring.
 

stech81

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Chris can play fast around 300lbs. Will is going to be in the 285 range. Brad Morgan is a stud. He needs more reps in the offense and will get them this spring. Whitley and Marshall are healthy. Fromayan and Stickler will be in the hunt. Mums is one of the harder working linemen on the team, he will gets a lot of reps this spring w Burden out. There will be plenty of competition and I believe we will have 8 or 9 that will be in the rotation in the fall. Klock, Devine, Burden, Griffin, Bryan, Fromayan all have starting experience. Marshal has played in 22 games. 7 have real bullet experience against ACC and SEC teams. This is going to be a angry pissed off group of young men. I would not want to be a DL this spring.
Gald to heard we have a good group .
 

dressedcheeseside

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Chris can play fast around 300lbs. Will is going to be in the 285 range. Brad Morgan is a stud. He needs more reps in the offense and will get them this spring. Whitley and Marshall are healthy. Fromayan and Stickler will be in the hunt. Mums is one of the harder working linemen on the team, he will gets a lot of reps this spring w Burden out. There will be plenty of competition and I believe we will have 8 or 9 that will be in the rotation in the fall. Klock, Devine, Burden, Griffin, Bryan, Fromayan all have starting experience. Marshal has played in 22 games. 7 have real bullet experience against ACC and SEC teams. This is going to be a angry pissed off group of young men. I would not want to be a DL this spring.
Very exciting to hear! It's also good to know the group will get even better in the fall when Freddie gets back.

On that note, the Aback corps, which has similar numbers and competition, will get a nice upgrade when Nate comes back.
 

PBR549

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The Offense will be back on track this year. Elite? If a couple WR can develop as consistent play makers yes. Defense is a question mark, as always. I'd be happy as hell with top 40 performance in most D categories. ST...kicker is solid. Punter needs to be at least average. Kick coverage and return units....need a ton of improvement and I'm one that doesn't understand our struggles there. We will win 8 or more.
I think you're right on with your assessment of the offense Whiskey. The key to whether we are great or not will depend on if any of those receivers step it up a notch. I don't think Jeune is a lock to start and I do think any of the 8 scholarship guys could step in and play if they show ability to beat defenders. This competition is what I want to see this spring and fall.
 

dressedcheeseside

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I think you're right on with your assessment of the offense Whiskey. The key to whether we are great or not will depend on if any of those receivers step it up a notch. I don't think Jeune is a lock to start and I do think any of the 8 scholarship guys could step in and play if they show ability to beat defenders. This competition is what I want to see this spring and fall.
Not only beat defenders, but beat them down, too. We need lb's and safeties to hear footsteps because they've been crack backed into a stupor a few times. That'll make 'em a step slower in pursuit as much as a good dive will.
 

Skeptic

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The Offense will be back on track this year. Elite? If a couple WR can develop as consistent play makers yes. Defense is a question mark, as always. I'd be happy as hell with top 40 performance in most D categories. ST...kicker is solid. Punter needs to be at least average. Kick coverage and return units....need a ton of improvement and I'm one that doesn't understand our struggles there. We will win 8 or more.
I ain't going down that road again after so much confidence going into 2015. Even accounting for injuries I think most of us were wrong about the plug and play aspect, Cheese was as I remember one of the few dissidents in what became a wildly optimistic biew of replacing all the A and B backs and WRs. If anything it should be a primer on the complexities of Johnson's offense. I'm just going to sit in the weeds and cheer for the best, whatever happens.
 

Ibeeballin

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I ain't going down that road again after so much confidence going into 2015. Even accounting for injuries I think most of us were wrong about the plug and play aspect, Cheese was as I remember one of the few dissidents in what became a wildly optimistic biew of replacing all the A and B backs and WRs. If anything it should be a primer on the complexities of Johnson's offense. I'm just going to sit in the weeds and cheer for the best, whatever happens.

That plug n play n theory is debatable but I digress, but I agree it's best to sit back and let the cream rise to the top
 

dressedcheeseside

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I ain't going down that road again after so much confidence going into 2015. Even accounting for injuries I think most of us were wrong about the plug and play aspect, Cheese was as I remember one of the few dissidents in what became a wildly optimistic biew of replacing all the A and B backs and WRs. If anything it should be a primer on the complexities of Johnson's offense. I'm just going to sit in the weeds and cheer for the best, whatever happens.
I think plug and play may have been achievable on a small scale, if it was just the Abacks, for instance. But when you throw in the Bbacks, the wr's, and our top OL at the most important OL spot...... fugetaboutit.

tumblr_m4sj4vX9pK1rodz1bo1_1280.jpg
 

Northeast Stinger

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Yes, I agree. Plug and Play might have worked. We just did not know how many players we were going to have to plug in and play. Turns out that on offense it was virtually everyone but JT. Now that we know that doesn't work let's not do that again.
 

Boomergump

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On offense, it is hard to imagine JT or Burden being unseated at their respective positions. I guess they are as close to a "lock" as we have. In the next tier down from that in the "likely to start" category we have Bryan (I like him at OT) and Jeune at WR. Devine is in control of his own destiny the way I see it, but I have no idea how that will end up. He will be in a huge battle with Morgan, Griffin, Klock and the like in the next tier below that, which I will call "highly competitive".

In the "I have no idea" category we have ABs, BBs, and remaining WR. It is highly likely the ABs who played the most last year will be pushed down the depth chart. BB is a toss up. Maybe MM holds an edge, albeit razor thin. I can't pretend to know how WR battles are going.

On defense, things are even less settled in my mind. Along the line, I would say Gamble will have a major role, hopefully at SDE on run-likely downs. Freeman will have a major role, but he will be pushed more than ever before. If I had to guess, I would say Kallon will remain on the second string with somebody like Branch pushing him to the bench. In the back 7 Davis and Gray are in the likely to start category. The rest is a crapshoot.
 

CuseJacket

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This whole "plug and play has been disproved" conclusion is so shallow that it continues to strike a nerve, probably way moreso that it should.
  1. I wish we could have tested the plug and play theory with our 1st and 2nd string BB and AB last year. At least give me the rotation guys from spring practice for the majority of the season to test it out. Was anyone expecting to test the experiment with 3rd stringers, walk-ons, and midseason position changes?
  2. Have we decided freshman Clinton Lynch's performance last year proves or disproves plug-and-play?
  3. Have we decided that we prefer 4th year Summers and 3rd year Jeune more than 1st year in offense BayBay and Smelter? Or Ike Willis over 1st year in offense Roddy Jones?
Bottom line raw talent and health means something. I don't know to what degree, so in my mind as @Ibeeballin stated it's still debatable.

I can exhale now.
 

AE 87

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This whole "plug and play has been disproved" conclusion is so shallow that it continues to strike a nerve, probably way moreso that it should.
  1. I wish we could have tested the plug and play theory with our 1st and 2nd string BB and AB last year. At least give me the rotation guys from spring practice for the majority of the season to test it out. Was anyone expecting to test the experiment with 3rd stringers, walk-ons, and midseason position changes?
  2. Have we decided freshman Clinton Lynch's performance last year proves or disproves plug-and-play?
  3. Have we decided that we prefer 4th year Summers and 3rd year Jeune more than 1st year in offense BayBay and Smelter? Or Ike Willis over 1st year in offense Roddy Jones?
Bottom line raw talent and health means something. I don't know to what degree, so in my mind as @Ibeeballin stated it's still debatable.

I can exhale now.

Yeah, it's easy to forget that our starters barely played a half in each of the first 2 games and then our OL went to sleep and the injury bug set in.
 

iceeater1969

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It sure seems to me the defenses were much more aggressive. In past I heard the dc saying lots about "stay in position and focus on your assignment" .

Biggest issue we had was our wr got no respect.
We fix lots of things next year.
 

Skeptic

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This whole "plug and play has been disproved" conclusion is so shallow that it continues to strike a nerve, probably way moreso that it should.
  1. I wish we could have tested the plug and play theory with our 1st and 2nd string BB and AB last year. At least give me the rotation guys from spring practice for the majority of the season to test it out. Was anyone expecting to test the experiment with 3rd stringers, walk-ons, and midseason position changes?
  2. Have we decided freshman Clinton Lynch's performance last year proves or disproves plug-and-play?
  3. Have we decided that we prefer 4th year Summers and 3rd year Jeune more than 1st year in offense BayBay and Smelter? Or Ike Willis over 1st year in offense Roddy Jones?
Bottom line raw talent and health means something. I don't know to what degree, so in my mind as @Ibeeballin stated it's still debatable.

I can exhale now.
Okay, now take a deep breath. A spirited defense and I applaud it while pointing out the bleeding obvious. (Basil from Fawlty Towers keeps slipping in.) I defend simply on the basis of a 3-9 record. Of the inability of our WRs and Abacks to get pass route separation. And to block on the edge which closed the perimeter game. Of the Bbacks to pass block which had Thomas running to and fro helter skelter all year. And from what seemed to me in an admittedly non-scouting view, six or seven different guys going six or seven different ways some plays, and the plays were our routine plays. I concede the injuries, but yep, if we are talking plug and play then let's not distinguish between A and B unit plug and play vs. C unit. My defense of my view is oddly enough -- in my mind -- a rather rousing defense of Johnson's offense: it is not a plug and play, 1950's wing T retread, but a sophisticated and complex offense that requires a lot of reps and a lot of study. And then, a lot of experience. Our best ones seem always to have done better in the late 2nd or 3rd year, and Thomas was still very much a question mark halfway into his RS sophomore season, yet around the country freshman and sophomore QBs were starting and sometimes starring in less complicated sets. (I think Watson at Clemson is an outstanding QB and barring injuries probably headed to the NFL after this year. But it does not stop me from wondering: could he have started in this offense as a true freshman? I am not scout enough to know. I am observer enough to doubt it.)
 

takethepoints

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I think from his remarks after the season that the position Coach is most concerned about and most we;comes competition in is … BB.

I agree, for reasons already gone over at length here. We have to get somebody(s) out there who will get us 4 yards on 3 and 3 reliably. That was the biggest problem last year on O - among several others, of course. I think we will have another two-headed monster at the position and that Quaid will be one of them. (He may even end up starting; he's more the prototype size for the position.) Who the other will be is up to the fates and the players right now, but, with the candidates coming back and another year's experience, we should be fine.
 

InsideLB

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It's not a binary argument and everyone tries to oversimplify it.

WHO is plugged in and plays matters (talent level, physical maturity, practice reps, game reps, experience working with certain teammates, etc.).

Also WHEN they are plugged/played matters. How many guys are concurrently plugged and played and the performance of various units supporting plugged/played positions.

It's eaier to do your job/learn how to do your job when others are doing their job. The more chaotic things are the harder it is to understand and fit in the system.
 
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