Spring Training 2021

Jacketman99

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Jim Prather said:
The only worrisome thing is that was his pattern at Temple as well. Low penalties first year and some of the worst penalty rates in the nation the next two years. Hopefully this year breaks the cycle...
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He only coached at Temple 2 years. So if what you are saying is correct 2 out of his 4 years have been bad with penalties. His first year at Tech we were actually one of the least penalized teams.
 

SOWEGA Jacket

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I like that Colllins can see and is working on his weaknesses as a coach. Here’s an easy one - find a kicker who can kick it 5hru the end zone and teach every returner to fair catch every kickoff. If we just did those 2 things like most teams we would probably see the greatest increase in net field position the country. Last year we’d field it at the 2 and it was a struggle to get past the 20. Meanwhile our opponents field it at the 5-10 and took it to the 30. And don’t use Gibbs to return kicks until we get to the ACC Champ game. Then use him thru the playoffs.
 
THWG

THWG

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SOWEGA Jacket said:
I like that Colllins can see and is working on his weaknesses as a coach. Here’s an easy one - find a kicker who can kick it 5hru the end zone and teach every returner to fair catch every kickoff. If we just did those 2 things like most teams we would probably see the greatest increase in net field position the country. Last year we’d field it at the 2 and it was a struggle to get past the 20. Meanwhile our opponents field it at the 5-10 and took it to the 30. And don’t use Gibbs to return kicks until we get to the ACC Champ game. Then use him thru the playoffs.
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We got the transfer kicker, Brent Cimaglia, from Tennessee.
 

bke1984

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CuseJacket said:
We were #9 in the country in fewest penalties per game in Collins' first season here:

College Football Stats - College FB Team Penalties per Game | TeamRankings.com

College Football penalties per game, by team.
www.teamrankings.com www.teamrankings.com

Are you adjusting based on penalties per play or something? Still not sure that would support your assertion.
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Looks like I was wrong! I remembered it being horrible at Temple too and I guess 2020 was so fresh on my mind I had just assumed 2019 was just as bad.
 

Jim Prather

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Jacketman99 said:
He only coached at Temple 2 years. So if what you are saying is correct 2 out of his 4 years have been bad with penalties. His first year at Tech we were actually one of the least penalized teams.
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You are right. I misread the AJC piece when it said that the 2016 temple team was one of the lowest penalized teams in the nation while the 2017 and 2018 teams were among the highest. I assumed Collins coached all 3 teams. He actually coached only the 2017 and 2018 teams.
 
jacketup

jacketup

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Bobby Bowden's great FSU teams were usually among the most penalized teams in the ACC. There isn't necessarily a correlation between penalties and wins.

The frustrating thing last year was pre-snap penalties. When the guy on the other side of the line is bigger, quicker,and more athletic than you are, I can see how you might be inclined to move too soon since being a fraction of a second late could spell disaster. A lot of those penalties were on Williams, a true freshman. Talent improvement and experience will take care of a lot of that, so no, it doesn't always "come down to coaching." Still, it's good to see that this issue is a point of emphasis. (A consistent theme among a lot of folks on this board is that coaching far outweighs talent and experience, and I beg to differ).

We also seemed to get the short end of the stick in officiating in the Duke game (no surprise), NC State game (also no surprise) and Pitt. The bad call on the late hit got lots of internet traffic among folks who have no connection to Tech.
 
JacketRacket

JacketRacket

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jacketup said:
Bobby Bowden's great FSU teams were usually among the most penalized teams in the ACC. There isn't necessarily a correlation between penalties and wins.

The frustrating thing last year was pre-snap penalties. When the guy on the other side of the line is bigger, quicker,and more athletic than you are, I can see how you might be inclined to move too soon since being a fraction of a second late could spell disaster. A lot of those penalties were on Williams, a true freshman. Talent improvement and experience will take care of a lot of that, so no, it doesn't always "come down to coaching." Still, it's good to see that this issue is a point of emphasis. (A consistent theme among a lot of folks on this board is that coaching far outweighs talent and experience, and I beg to differ).

We also seemed to get the short end of the stick in officiating in the Duke game (no surprise), NC State game (also no surprise) and Pitt. The bad call on the late hit got lots of internet traffic among folks who have no connection to Tech.
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I had just presumed that the penalties were mostly due to our guys playing tired (cause of lack of depth and inexperience). That may have been naive, but hopefully more experience will make it resolve itself.
 

FlatsLander

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SOWEGA Jacket said:
I like that Colllins can see and is working on his weaknesses as a coach. Here’s an easy one - find a kicker who can kick it 5hru the end zone and teach every returner to fair catch every kickoff. If we just did those 2 things like most teams we would probably see the greatest increase in net field position the country. Last year we’d field it at the 2 and it was a struggle to get past the 20. Meanwhile our opponents field it at the 5-10 and took it to the 30. And don’t use Gibbs to return kicks until we get to the ACC Champ game. Then use him thru the playoffs.
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This is something that stuck with me last year as well. With the way the rules for KO fair catching are right now, it just doesn't seem worth it to try and return any KOs. I've also never tried to execute a football kickoff, but I don't see how it's so hard to get a touchback. I understand they're traditionally trying to get as much air time as possible, but I would think you could sacrifice some airtime in order to get those extra 5-10 yards.
 

FlatsLander

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I know we're now 3 years removed from CPJ, and I think we're trending in the right direction so I'm not trying to stir the pot, but I would have liked to see Demetrius Knight as the QB in the 3O backing up Tobias.
 

SOWEGA Jacket

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You can’t use FSU as an example. Talent will overcome anything so those FSU teams with NFL caliber players across the board would have won with or without penalties, turnovers, or if Bowden just slept in on Saturdays. GT isn‘t even in the same solar system with those FSU teams. Penalties killed our field position and lost us games. We have the easiest chance of any team in the country to improve by simply doing 2 things - stop with stupid penalties and stop with stupid turnovers. We do those 2 things and we’ll be in most games. Keep doing those 2 things and games will be over by halftime.
 
TromboneJacket

TromboneJacket

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Since it sounds like Demetrius is going to be mainly a red zone QB, I would imagine his play packages are going to involve a lot of QB keepers. It might not be a bad idea for him to spend some time with Tashard getting some pointers on how to be as effective as possible running the ball.
 

InsideLB

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vespinaeGT said:
I know we're now 3 years removed from CPJ, and I think we're trending in the right direction so I'm not trying to stir the pot, but I would have liked to see Demetrius Knight as the QB in the 3O backing up Tobias.
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Agree with all above. The play in particular I was thinking about was midline option. Would have been a power option there a la Nesbitt. I like the idea of a redzone QB, although Sims is not a small dude either.
 
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