Posted the following on July 25, 2015, before the start of Fall practice:
"My major concern (and my major disappointment with Coach Stoops' first two teams) is the lack of fundamentals with which UK players try to compete.
I have seen improvement in the physicality and athleticism of our team and our level of recruiting has been improved significantly. But Coach Stoops' first two teams simply were not fundamentally sound. Specifically, I have observed way too many instances of the following:
(1) arm tackling and failure to wrap up tackles (The 10 or so missed tackles in the TD by the MSU back was the most glaring example.)
(2) failure by our DBs to look back for the ball in pass coverage
(3) dropped interception opportunities due to failure of the defender to watch the ball into his hands
(4) failure by our D linemen to get low enough to get adequate leverage
(5) failure to run to the right hole by our RBs / too quick to break the play to the outside
(6) failure by our RBs to pick up the blitz
(7) happy feet by our QBs
(8) QBs inability to look for 2nd or 3rd options on pass routes
(8a) failure by QBs to step up into the pocket to avoid rush
(9) failure by our receivers to run the right route
(11) dropped passes by our receivers due to failure to watch ball all the way to their hands
(12) failure by secondary and tertiary receivers to complete their assigned routes
(13) false starts by our O line
(14) failure of O line to get required leverage on run blocking
(15) totally missed blocks by O line on pass blocking
(16) failure to maintain lane integrity on punt and KO coverage
(17) others that don't come to mind just now
Even good, well-coached, fundamentally sound teams (Missouri is the best example I can think of off the top of my head.) have these sort of lapses occasionally. But with our last two teams these sort of fundamental mistakes happened over and over and over, game after game.
In my non-expert opinion this failure to play fundamentally sound football falls on the coaching staff as much, or more so, as on the players.
I have four questions for those posters who are much more knowledgeable than I about the game of football:
(1) Am I being too hard on our coaches and/or players with these observations?
(2) Does the blame for not being a fundamentally sound football team fall more on the coaches or more on the players?
(3) Is it realistic to expect to go from such a weak team in terms of fundamentals (2014) to a fundamentally sound football team (2015) in one year?
(4) Is it realistic to expect to move up in the SEC pecking order on improved strength, athleticism and recruiting alone?"
Will our 2016 team be any better fundamentally?
After watching this year's debacle, I'm not optimistic!!!
With the exception of a handful of players, our team is no more fundamentally sound than the teams Coach Phillips put on the field.
In fact, this team is arguable even worse than the worst of Coach Phillips' teams in terms of fundamentals.
In terms of coaching acumen, IMHO, this staff, from top to bottom, has demonstrated itself to be no better that the Coach Phillips staff.
"My major concern (and my major disappointment with Coach Stoops' first two teams) is the lack of fundamentals with which UK players try to compete.
I have seen improvement in the physicality and athleticism of our team and our level of recruiting has been improved significantly. But Coach Stoops' first two teams simply were not fundamentally sound. Specifically, I have observed way too many instances of the following:
(1) arm tackling and failure to wrap up tackles (The 10 or so missed tackles in the TD by the MSU back was the most glaring example.)
(2) failure by our DBs to look back for the ball in pass coverage
(3) dropped interception opportunities due to failure of the defender to watch the ball into his hands
(4) failure by our D linemen to get low enough to get adequate leverage
(5) failure to run to the right hole by our RBs / too quick to break the play to the outside
(6) failure by our RBs to pick up the blitz
(7) happy feet by our QBs
(8) QBs inability to look for 2nd or 3rd options on pass routes
(8a) failure by QBs to step up into the pocket to avoid rush
(9) failure by our receivers to run the right route
(11) dropped passes by our receivers due to failure to watch ball all the way to their hands
(12) failure by secondary and tertiary receivers to complete their assigned routes
(13) false starts by our O line
(14) failure of O line to get required leverage on run blocking
(15) totally missed blocks by O line on pass blocking
(16) failure to maintain lane integrity on punt and KO coverage
(17) others that don't come to mind just now
Even good, well-coached, fundamentally sound teams (Missouri is the best example I can think of off the top of my head.) have these sort of lapses occasionally. But with our last two teams these sort of fundamental mistakes happened over and over and over, game after game.
In my non-expert opinion this failure to play fundamentally sound football falls on the coaching staff as much, or more so, as on the players.
I have four questions for those posters who are much more knowledgeable than I about the game of football:
(1) Am I being too hard on our coaches and/or players with these observations?
(2) Does the blame for not being a fundamentally sound football team fall more on the coaches or more on the players?
(3) Is it realistic to expect to go from such a weak team in terms of fundamentals (2014) to a fundamentally sound football team (2015) in one year?
(4) Is it realistic to expect to move up in the SEC pecking order on improved strength, athleticism and recruiting alone?"
Will our 2016 team be any better fundamentally?
After watching this year's debacle, I'm not optimistic!!!
With the exception of a handful of players, our team is no more fundamentally sound than the teams Coach Phillips put on the field.
In fact, this team is arguable even worse than the worst of Coach Phillips' teams in terms of fundamentals.
In terms of coaching acumen, IMHO, this staff, from top to bottom, has demonstrated itself to be no better that the Coach Phillips staff.
opcorn: