I give that article a B+, and agree with most of what you wrote.
The strongest parts of that article that I read were: (1) Don't put the weight of the team and season on Brad Kaaya's shoulders; (2) Exploit mismatches with the tight-ends and H-backs; and (3) Stop playing so many freshmen in limited minutes and blowing redshirts. With respect to (1), there is no reason that the coaching staff should have to put the weight of the team and season on Kaaya's back. I completely agree here- there is simply too much talent on offense, especially at the RUNNING BACK position, to have to rely on Kaaya to do everything himself to win games. After all, the young man is ONLY a TRUE SOPHMORE. I think that offensive line can be better than a lot of people think, so I expect our ground game to be consistent and controlling down and distance for the offense. I think that some people are expecting this offense to consistently be in the high 30's to mid 40's every week. We will see games in which this team puts up 35-45 in a game, but I think that this offense will try to have more of POWER RUNNING identity, with an emphasis on putting Kaaya and the offense in BETTER THIRD DOWN situations where we can convert on a more consistent basis. Yearby, Walton, Gus- this trio of running backs is as good of a trio as we have had in a long time, in my opinion. So, I see this offense averaging right at 30 points per game, probably in the 28-31 range, and while that may not be a lot by today's college football standards, in a weak Coastal Division, scoring 30 points per game should give us plenty of room for the defense to get the stops.
With respect to (2), this is 100% Dead-On-Balls Accurate, and has been my BIGGEST criticism of Coley over the last two seasons. In the old days, we used to throw the ball out of the backfield on these "flare"/"swing" type passes to guys like Davenport, and Kobia, and Quadtrine, and these other type of Fullback/H-Back type players. I can remember the blitz and pass rush flying in the backfield and Dorsey would almost "lob" the ball over everyone out to a wide open Fullback/H-Back for an easy 7-9 yard gain... Like clockwork. I suppose everything worked well on offense when Ken was Quarterback, but I think the point is still well taken. As far as tight ends, we simply don't use the Tight End as a size weapon in the middle of the field on these 10-15 yard square-ins/button hook routes. Guys like Jeremy and Kellen used to OWN the MIDDLE OF THE FIELD against linebackers and safeties. I remember Kellen running 17 yards down the middle of the field on 4th Down against West Virginia late in the 4th Quarter when were losing at home and catching that 4th Down pass to keep the drive alive- we wound up winning the game. Kellen had that "this is my area" mentality with respect to the middle of the field. If these tight ends on our roster are as good as everyone seems to think, then Coley needs to do a better job using their size and ability to work the middle of the field- everything can't be either a bubble screen or a vertical bomb down the sideline to Coley...
With respect to (3), burning redshirts has been a HUGE problem for this program since Golden arrived, but I can NOT completely blame Golden for all of it. During his first two seasons, the depth was a disaster and there was no doubt the NCAA Investigation impacted our INABILITY to redshirt more players than what we did. However, the LAST TWO YEARS, a few guys could of, and should of been redshirted, and hopefully we will see more players not have a potential redshirt wasted on 7-10 relatively non-important plays. Trayone Gray is a TEXTBOOK example of a player who needs to be redshirted, and I have posted my thoughts about Gray several times. I understand that Golden needs to win NOW and that the coaching staff will do what it needs to do to give us the best chances to win (hopefully)- that isn't the point so I don't need any spin rebuttal from the Golden loyalists on this point. It is obvious that everyone can't redshirt and no reasonable fan would expect that from ANY coaching staff, let alone Golden. The REAL ISSUE is that if we're going to have proper player development, then we have to have more of a commitment to redshirting MORE of the true freshman who arrive on campus their first year. There is a reason that prior to the "Marshall Rule" (see the movie "We Are Marshall"), freshmen were NOT allowed to even play- that is because it takes time for an 18 year old to mature (both physically and mentally) and learn.
Your points about "hoping" the team gets a break and there didn't make much sense to me. Good teams CREATE their OWN breaks, so if this coaching staff evolves in its approach to game plans and halftime adjustments, and if the players execute, then this team will create its own breaks. The one thing I think you should have included in your 10-point checklist, so to speak, is SPECIAL TEAMS. Football is a THREE PHASE sport, and SPECIAL TEAMS makes up one of these phases. Our special teams has been dogshit for the most part under Golden, so an overhaul to conservative approach and a commitment to being more aggressive on Special Teams is what is needed in order for this team to have a chance at a 9-3 season. We're not winning the Coastal Division unless the Special Teams phase of this football team SIGNIFICANTLY improves this year, because it has been as bad as any Miami Hurricanes Special Teams I can remember going back to the mid 1980's when I was a kid.
Overall, SOLID article and again, I thought it was a B+ article, with you making some EXCELLENT points.
Thanks for that.
The strongest parts of that article that I read were: (1) Don't put the weight of the team and season on Brad Kaaya's shoulders; (2) Exploit mismatches with the tight-ends and H-backs; and (3) Stop playing so many freshmen in limited minutes and blowing redshirts. With respect to (1), there is no reason that the coaching staff should have to put the weight of the team and season on Kaaya's back. I completely agree here- there is simply too much talent on offense, especially at the RUNNING BACK position, to have to rely on Kaaya to do everything himself to win games. After all, the young man is ONLY a TRUE SOPHMORE. I think that offensive line can be better than a lot of people think, so I expect our ground game to be consistent and controlling down and distance for the offense. I think that some people are expecting this offense to consistently be in the high 30's to mid 40's every week. We will see games in which this team puts up 35-45 in a game, but I think that this offense will try to have more of POWER RUNNING identity, with an emphasis on putting Kaaya and the offense in BETTER THIRD DOWN situations where we can convert on a more consistent basis. Yearby, Walton, Gus- this trio of running backs is as good of a trio as we have had in a long time, in my opinion. So, I see this offense averaging right at 30 points per game, probably in the 28-31 range, and while that may not be a lot by today's college football standards, in a weak Coastal Division, scoring 30 points per game should give us plenty of room for the defense to get the stops.
With respect to (2), this is 100% Dead-On-Balls Accurate, and has been my BIGGEST criticism of Coley over the last two seasons. In the old days, we used to throw the ball out of the backfield on these "flare"/"swing" type passes to guys like Davenport, and Kobia, and Quadtrine, and these other type of Fullback/H-Back type players. I can remember the blitz and pass rush flying in the backfield and Dorsey would almost "lob" the ball over everyone out to a wide open Fullback/H-Back for an easy 7-9 yard gain... Like clockwork. I suppose everything worked well on offense when Ken was Quarterback, but I think the point is still well taken. As far as tight ends, we simply don't use the Tight End as a size weapon in the middle of the field on these 10-15 yard square-ins/button hook routes. Guys like Jeremy and Kellen used to OWN the MIDDLE OF THE FIELD against linebackers and safeties. I remember Kellen running 17 yards down the middle of the field on 4th Down against West Virginia late in the 4th Quarter when were losing at home and catching that 4th Down pass to keep the drive alive- we wound up winning the game. Kellen had that "this is my area" mentality with respect to the middle of the field. If these tight ends on our roster are as good as everyone seems to think, then Coley needs to do a better job using their size and ability to work the middle of the field- everything can't be either a bubble screen or a vertical bomb down the sideline to Coley...
With respect to (3), burning redshirts has been a HUGE problem for this program since Golden arrived, but I can NOT completely blame Golden for all of it. During his first two seasons, the depth was a disaster and there was no doubt the NCAA Investigation impacted our INABILITY to redshirt more players than what we did. However, the LAST TWO YEARS, a few guys could of, and should of been redshirted, and hopefully we will see more players not have a potential redshirt wasted on 7-10 relatively non-important plays. Trayone Gray is a TEXTBOOK example of a player who needs to be redshirted, and I have posted my thoughts about Gray several times. I understand that Golden needs to win NOW and that the coaching staff will do what it needs to do to give us the best chances to win (hopefully)- that isn't the point so I don't need any spin rebuttal from the Golden loyalists on this point. It is obvious that everyone can't redshirt and no reasonable fan would expect that from ANY coaching staff, let alone Golden. The REAL ISSUE is that if we're going to have proper player development, then we have to have more of a commitment to redshirting MORE of the true freshman who arrive on campus their first year. There is a reason that prior to the "Marshall Rule" (see the movie "We Are Marshall"), freshmen were NOT allowed to even play- that is because it takes time for an 18 year old to mature (both physically and mentally) and learn.
Your points about "hoping" the team gets a break and there didn't make much sense to me. Good teams CREATE their OWN breaks, so if this coaching staff evolves in its approach to game plans and halftime adjustments, and if the players execute, then this team will create its own breaks. The one thing I think you should have included in your 10-point checklist, so to speak, is SPECIAL TEAMS. Football is a THREE PHASE sport, and SPECIAL TEAMS makes up one of these phases. Our special teams has been dogshit for the most part under Golden, so an overhaul to conservative approach and a commitment to being more aggressive on Special Teams is what is needed in order for this team to have a chance at a 9-3 season. We're not winning the Coastal Division unless the Special Teams phase of this football team SIGNIFICANTLY improves this year, because it has been as bad as any Miami Hurricanes Special Teams I can remember going back to the mid 1980's when I was a kid.
Overall, SOLID article and again, I thought it was a B+ article, with you making some EXCELLENT points.
Thanks for that.
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