The "missed assignments" issue

[Lee]

Errin Joe played a lot slower this year than last year. He just didn't get people cut off with angles and he was slower coming off the ball. It was quite noticeable. I think he looks more fat this year, to be truthful.

I felt the same way about him (Joe) and thought he was a liability this year which is surprising because he played really well and with some fire at the end of last year.

You seem to watch a lot of film and have a pretty good grasp on line play. Can you comment on why you think Joe was playing so much more than Shamire late in the year. Was Shamire playing that poorly when he actually did get in or was it just that he was a senior and PJ trusted him more IMO? I think we would've been better off with Shamire in there with as much as we struggled establishing the dive, but again, that's my opinion based on what I saw from my seat. The VT game was especially frustrating for me. I watched 92 whip Joe the whole game and it seemed like Shamire didn't even get a shot to play.

 

[1979jacket]

What defenses did was shift around late a little more, presumedly after our line calls, and bring more bodies forward and blitz certain areas of the field. It is not that we haven't seen it before, but we just saw more of it because, like Whiskey says, it was working. Just like CPJ does as an OC, he keeps going with something until you show you can stop it. Well......DCs do the same thing on their end. Getting burned tends to change one's tactics. We didn't do a lot of burning so we had to deal with more bodies up close.

The reasons why we didn't do as much burning? Inexperience has been talked about a lot and deservedly so, but we were also slower as a team. We were physical enough up front, but we were slower. There is no denying that. I cued up some old film from last year and watched the OL play closely just trying to look for differences. Shamire is slower than Mason. He just is. He will move you, but if you shift against him and make his angle more difficult, you can beat him sometimes. Errin Joe played a lot slower this year than last year. He just didn't get people cut off with angles and he was slower coming off the ball. It was quite noticeable. I think he looks more fat this year, to be truthful. Then you factor in the rookies and their mistakes and you get what we got. The skill position blocking? Night and day different, although it was improving somewhat as the year went on.

Interesting analysis and you watch a lot of film and I'm sure you are right about the speed and quickness. That's probably why we went with Bryan and Klosk to improve quickness. However it did appear at times it wasn't always quickness but confusion as well. What do you attribute the confusion to? I thought Devine could move some people and kind of feel sorry for him. In a pro offense I think he might be really good where you basically wrestle with the guy in front of you and are not required to move your feet as much. So where do you put a guy like Devine? Do you move him to tackle or defense? I am expecting some shakeups in the line and maybe go back to small and quick linemen. However 2012 line was too small and got pushed around too often so still need some meat.

maybe
t Bryan
g Burden
c Marshall
g Griffin
t Klosk

 

[iceeater1969]

Didn't feel comfortable mentioning how huge (pc word ) devine and joe looked in white uni at nd. Wife said they should not wear white.

NEWS ON HIGH SCHOOL TEAM WE PLAYED
Tulane coach fired 4 days ago - he of the "hey we only have 9 men on the field" as gt back up goes untouched for 70 yd td.

Gt Coach I meet at nd said Tulane game did us no favors. Said we have not seen big boy ball football speed yet and we have 45 gt kids making their first road trip.


In 2016 Gsu to be a bit tougher than Tulane. Gsu seems to be on way to being a big boy..
Perhaps we should think about the last play of 2014 gsu game when our TO was so so dominating?. Wait WE WON ON the jt scramble pass play to smelter at the buzzer. Same coach I saw at nd said we are going to miss smelter last year he bailed us out last year.

 

[GravyTrain]

Didn't feel comfortable mentioning how huge (pc word ) devine and joe looked in white uni at nd. Wife said they should not wear white.

NEWS ON HIGH SCHOOL TEAM WE PLAYED
Tulane coach fired 4 days ago - he of the "hey we only have 9 men on the field" as gt back up goes untouched for 70 yd td.

Gt Coach I meet at nd said Tulane game did us no favors. Said we have not seen big boy ball football speed yet and we have 45 gt kids making their first road trip.


In 2016 Gsu to be a bit tougher than Tulane. Gsu seems to be on way to being a big boy..
Perhaps we should think about the last play of 2014 gsu game when our TO was so so dominating?. Wait WE WON ON the jt scramble pass play to smelter at the buzzer. Same coach I saw at nd said we are going to miss smelter last year he bailed us out last year.

That was Deon Hill who scored that game winning TD against Geogia Southern.

 

[iceeater1969]

Good catch! Hill and gravy.

 

[flea77]

To answer the original question . Young players , live bullets . Veteran players miss assignments , they always have always will . No one grades 100. It was just multiplied with youth . When you combine that with not holding onto the ball ( 9 fumbles at Miami , 3 lost second half VT , Duke , UVA , UGA , UNC , Pitt ) If we hold onto the football , we possibly win 7 additional games this year .

 

[33jacket]

To answer the original question . Young players , live bullets . Veteran players miss assignments , they always have always will . No one grades 100. It was just multiplied with youth . When you combine that with not holding onto the ball ( 9 fumbles at Miami , 3 lost second half VT , Duke , UVA , UGA , UNC , Pitt ) If we hold onto the football , we possibly win 7 additional games this year .

All relatively true. No one is mentioning coaching. But that's a problem too and CPJ has said so publicly. So let's throw poor coaching in their too.

 

[Skeptic]

Fwiw, Qua was moved to A-Back last Fall.

Anyway, I don't think the missed assignments from the Fr in skill positions came as a surprise. I think the missed assignments on the OL were the biggest and most perplexing issue. Furthermore, these were issues of not just failure to execute well, i.e. getting beat by a better defender, but not running the right play.

I suspect, can't know for sure, that one or more of our OL has a hearing problem causing him to not hear line calls well and/or closes his eyes after he lines up causing him not to adjust to defensive line shifts. At times, it seemed to me to be that bad and inexplicable.

I thought about the closed eyes thing after recalling the video of two UF guys trying to block each other for a whle a couple of years ago.

It was hard enough keeping mine open watching some at home.

 

[bke1984]

I agree. Letting guys just fire through gaps in the line was unreal. It was not freshmen doing that. Don't know why but my guess is - Some of it was some defenses scheming to take advantage of wide gaps and we need to make some adjustments scheme wise- I think. Some of it just guys just getting beat. But most of it appeared to be a real problem with communication. I'm expecting some shake-ups across the oline and lets find a leader to probably play center to call the blocking and play guys who understand you have to make those pickups.

It may just be a perfect storm of problems...I think what we've done in the past is use rocket tosses to stop teams from shooting backers in the gaps. But I think our perimeter blocking was so bad at times this year that when we did that, the play blew up on the edge as well. Then we couldn't hit teams over the top with the pass either, so everyone just said, screw it...we'll load the box with 10 guys and shut them down entirely.

We were really bad on offense this year. People can point to all the stats they want, but my eyes don't lie. It really didn't matter how many points we gave up...we were probably going to lose because we were unable to score. All year everyone kept saying, "we're scoring points, just 10 points less than last year," well...that theory was debunked against Georgia...we only gave up 13 points and lost. We scored very late in a lot of games to make the offense look much better than it was. The defense, while not great, actually kept us in games this year where we would have been blown out in years past.

Very tough season with a lot to worry about going into the Spring. I'm hopeful we'll turn it around, but very worried that we won't. It's not very common for 3-9 teams to magically win divisions one year later...but here's hoping they prove me wrong.

 

[Scubapro]

I really hope that a leader emerges from this O line. Preferably an underclassman like Will Bryan. After the team gets few weeks rest one or two linemen leaders need to organize 'study groups' three to four times a week to work on play assignments and calls.
One thing I have wondered is if opposing teams knew our O-Line calls. Opposing D lines sure seemed to be two steps ahead of our o linemen.

 

[Skeptic]

It may just be a perfect storm of problems...I think what we've done in the past is use rocket tosses to stop teams from shooting backers in the gaps. But I think our perimeter blocking was so bad at times this year that when we did that, the play blew up on the edge as well. Then we couldn't hit teams over the top with the pass either, so everyone just said, screw it...we'll load the box with 10 guys and shut them down entirely.

We were really bad on offense this year. People can point to all the stats they want, but my eyes don't lie. It really didn't matter how many points we gave up...we were probably going to lose because we were unable to score. All year everyone kept saying, "we're scoring points, just 10 points less than last year," well...that theory was debunked against Georgia...we only gave up 13 points and lost. We scored very late in a lot of games to make the offense look much better than it was. The defense, while not great, actually kept us in games this year where we would have been blown out in years past.

Very tough season with a lot to worry about going into the Spring. I'm hopeful we'll turn it around, but very worried that we won't. It's not very common for 3-9 teams to magically win divisions one year later...but here's hoping they prove me wrong.

When the offense puts up 23 points in the last two games of the season and gets less than 200 yards rushing a game, then it collapses in comparison to 2014. Or any other Johnson season I think. I get all the explanations and sympathize. But there is reality of it.

 

[cmathis]

This is a VERY VERY complicated precision offense---that's why, when its working,it is hell to stop.The DEf don't know where it strikes next.But like precision equipment ,a little sand gunks things up quickly. No WR threat starts the difficulty and it spirals from there with safeties playing up like LBs,so the blitzing possibilities are endless.Add in bad blocking and things go south fast.PJ had better figure this out fast or he will get another piddling season.

As long as the OL is better next year, especially in pass protection, it'll all be ok. Jeune especially looks good to me, so we'll be good. I just do not see the OL being near this bad next year. This year should have been a real wake-up call to CPJ to shake some things up.

 

[Mack]

There has not been a coach's call in show or a press conference this year when Paul Johnson didn't say something about the unusually high number of missed assignments. From my memory, this has never been a big issue in past years, not even the first year when it was all new. PJ has stated that some of it has to do with players who have barely practiced at the position being in games. But he's also said it was across the board this year.

So are there any theories as to why? Could it be that defenses threw different looks at us this year so that getting the right assignment was more complicated than in past years? I can't believe our coaches have forgotten how to teach, and I can't believe our players have suddenly become more forgetful than usual. There must have been more going on.

I agree...wither we are not as good as last year on OL with four guys coming back or folks havea figured out how to stop the option or poor coaching or combo of all...hard to drop from 11 to 3 wins with folks coming back.

 

[UgaBlows]

Just my uneducated opinion here but i actually agree with iceeater, my gut feeling from watching the games this season is that if tweaks aren't made to the offense/blocking then our struggles are going to continue

 

[redmule]

CPJ's first three or four years, we were playing with a patchwork OL. Walkons, Tight end conversions. Didn't we have one guy go from A Back to OL over the course of a couple of years? But we were pretty solid in the backfield and at WR. At least that's how I remember it. Many, including myself, thought that after last season AB and BB were plug and play given how well the OL we had coming back had seemed to play. Now, I'm thinking the OL might be plug and play. Last year we were deep, experienced, and talented at the skill positions. The TO ran faster, had fewer turnovers, and had a larger playbook because of the skill position attributes. They made the OL look better than they were. Maybe the Big Uglies aren't as important. Having the best offensive lineman (Mason) in at least a decade didn't hurt though. Perhaps that's why CPJ recruits so many at AB, BB, and QB. Hopefully, this was the first year of experience for the best group of skill position players we have had in a long time.

I will not allow myself to consider the obvious: Last year was so good because we had the best at both the OL and skill position.

 

[iceeater1969]

That was Deon Hill who scored that game winning TD against Geogia Southern.

Like I said good catch.

I had it wrong but was sure I remembered a particular game where we made come back to win and smelter was clutch.

It was vt, who has dominated us (bud foster) - we are 2-6 in 2008 -2015.

Last. Year Down 24-17 late in game , we made 67 yd drive where smelter made 19 yd catch on 4 th down and then a 31 yd td catch. The quick drive gave us time to stop them and kick field goal to win.

It was not against a small school like gsu. It was vt who has pretty much owned the series.
Seems like there were other clucth catches he made? Maybe Clemson?

Got to have chicken in the pot or its vegetable soup. Maybe next year

Go jackets.

 

[JorgeJonas]

I had it wrong but was sure I remembered a particular game where we made come back to win and smelter was clutch.

There's no such thing as clutch. Smelter was good all the time.

 

[redmule]

I have to disagree about 'clutch'. Yvon Joseph, Cremmins basketball center in the 80's was a much better free throw shooter in the last few minutes than earlier in the game. Godsey was a 4th quarter machine. I remember some discussion when he was playing about how much better his completion percentage was in the 4th qtr. Scott Sisson, with one exception, made every important late kick, but he missed more early. Pressure motivates some people, cripples others.

 

[B Lifsey]

Yvon Joseph...there's a name I've not heard in a LONG while!

 

[stinger 1957]

I've wondered if Will Bryant might not work into being the QB/leader of the OL going forward. Don't know if he has those abilities, but it would not surprise me if he does.