All the discussion about new OC and QB is just so much hot air, unless

[WeepNoMore]

(1) OC and HC are on the same page. Hopefully, this time around they will be. Third time's the charm???
(2) OL improves dramatically in pass blocking. Not much to be optimistic about here.
(3) RBs are capable of and/or willing to pass block, especially in picking up the blitz. If Boom, et.al., no matter how talented they are at running the FB, can't or won't perform as blockers, then let them return kicks, assuming, of course, they can actually field a punt. And find a RB capable of being and willing to be a complete back.
(4) WRs can actually catch the FB and are capable of and/or willing to make plays for their QB.
(5) Defense can actually stop the run, defend a dual-threat QB, and get off the field on 3rd down.

No amount of OC scheming and no QB, no matter how talented, can overcome the 5 deficiencies listed above.

I hate being a Negative Nancy, and hope I'm wrong.

But nothing to-date in the Stoops Era, despite the "apparent" upgrade in recruiting, has given me any reason to believe we will be any better fundamentally in year 4 than we were in year 1.

And, as we all know so well, poor fundamentals in the SEC translates into a disaster on the field.

PS (added 1/5/15 at 1:00 pm, see complete post below): Definitely liked the interview with Gran and Hinshaw!! Like their no nonsense approach and emphasis on discipline and effort.

 

[jauk11]

Too bad you hate being a negative nancy, looks like it could be your calling. Besides, we have plenty of examples for you to pick up pointers from.

 

[Beatle Bum]

Brown and Stoops were not on the same page? They fooled me.

 

[screwduke]

Its really not hot air. Gran is a proven OC who has lots of experience, he was the actual play caller at Cincinnati too. Its all but a given that the offense will be improved, how much is to be determined. Gran runs the exact type of offense Stoops wants, there won't be any issues of them not being on the same page.

 

[uofkFTW18]

I agree that QB and O-line play have to be better or it won't matter who is calling plays. Hiring Hinshaw shows that Stoops understands the importance of improving our QB play. Hopefully it works out.

 

[Beatle Bum]

Do blocking schemes/philosophy change with new offense?

 

[hmt5000]

Do blocking schemes/philosophy change with new offense?

i was watching cincy's bowl game and they did move their o-line a hell of lot more than we did. dawson was straight up zone blocking. cincy seemed to be mostly zone but they did pull guards and roll the pocket way more than dawson did all year.

 

[Beatle Bum]

i was watching cincy's bowl game and they did move their o-line a hell of lot more than we did. dawson was straight up zone blocking. cincy seemed to be mostly zone but they did pull guards and roll the pocket way more than dawson did all year.

Thanks

 

[UKSanders_rivals37733]

(1) OC and HC are on the same page. Hopefully, this time around they will be. Third time's the charm???
(2) OL improves dramatically in pass blocking. Not much to be optimistic about here.
(3) RBs are capable of and/or willing to pass block, especially in picking up the blitz. If Boom, et.al., no matter how talented they are at running the FB, can't or won't perform as blockers, then let them return kicks, assuming, of course, they can actually field a punt. And find a RB capable of being and willing to be a complete back.
(4) WRs can actually catch the FB and are capable of and/or willing to make plays for their QB.
(5) Defense can actually stop the run, defend a dual-threat QB, and get off the field on 3rd down.

No amount of OC scheming and no QB, no matter how talented, can overcome the 5 deficiencies listed above.

I hate being a Negative Nancy, and hope I'm wrong.

But nothing to-date in the Stoops Era, despite the "apparent" upgrade in recruiting, has given me any reason to believe we will be any better fundamentally in year 4 than we were in year 1.

And, as we all know so well, poor fundamentals in the SEC translates into a disaster on the field.

While I agree all of your points are valid, I don't think ALL 5 points have to improve dramatically to get to 7 wins. Even in 2015 there would've been 7 wins with only 1 of your points being improved. Even with a poor OL, if the WRs would've made just 3-4 more key catches during the season, the Cats would've been bowling.

 

[WeepNoMore]

Too bad you hate being a negative nancy, looks like it could be your calling. Besides, we have plenty of examples for you to pick up pointers from.

After 3 years of hope and optimism and the resulting poor fundamentals, I find hope and optimism to be in short supply in my consideration of the Stoops Era.

Please, please give me something to be optimistic about. ray:

 

[JimmyJimmy]

(1) OC and HC are on the same page. Hopefully, this time around they will be. Third time's the charm???
(2) OL improves dramatically in pass blocking. Not much to be optimistic about here.
(3) RBs are capable of and/or willing to pass block, especially in picking up the blitz. If Boom, et.al., no matter how talented they are at running the FB, can't or won't perform as blockers, then let them return kicks, assuming, of course, they can actually field a punt. And find a RB capable of being and willing to be a complete back.
(4) WRs can actually catch the FB and are capable of and/or willing to make plays for their QB.
(5) Defense can actually stop the run, defend a dual-threat QB, and get off the field on 3rd down.

No amount of OC scheming and no QB, no matter how talented, can overcome the 5 deficiencies listed above.

I hate being a Negative Nancy, and hope I'm wrong.

But nothing to-date in the Stoops Era, despite the "apparent" upgrade in recruiting, has given me any reason to believe we will be any better fundamentally in year 4 than we were in year 1.

And, as we all know so well, poor fundamentals in the SEC translates into a disaster on the field.

Another post about the same ole crap that has been churned over and over. Good grief

Haters never stop hating and instigating. Nobody, including you, knows what will happen next season. Nobody. Move on. Geez....

 

[Saguaro Cat]

I hate being a Negative Nancy, and hope I'm wrong.

[roll]

Bullshyt, you f****ng liar.

 

[Real Deal 2]

Giving this poster and post credence? I am to ask why? and who cares what you think.
Love the dialogue, throws out all the scenario's of what could happen OC/HC on same page, the OL improves.
All in doing this, throws out his 2 cents that it is not going to happen. No body cares what you think to be honest.

Throw some scenario's out and discuss, you are trying to be smarter than the room and told you so guy.

 

[jauk11]

After 3 years of hope and optimism and the resulting poor fundamentals, I find hope and optimism to be in short supply in my consideration of the Stoops Era.

Please, please give me something to be optimistic about. ray:

The new OC and QB coach?

The marvelous 14 class all being in their third year, and mostly intact, almost all of them with some valuable experience, several with redshirts. Would you name the last four star DB that started for us, and now we have FOUR four star DBs that could start------and the good news is that we are starting some lower rated players that are even better than some of the four stars. A bunch (not just the starters) of DBs with great talent, and now a lot of experience.

The transfers (and returners) at LB that should make the dropoff there not that noticeable, with two freshmen and a commit (early enrollee)) with great potential. Some pretty highly rated DL returning, even with our losses some pretty good talent returning that may emerge, do you remember the 265# walkon we started against Florida in Joker's reign?

Two TRUE freshmen named to the All SEC freshman team AND third team All American team.

An excellent corp of RBs (and I really like our true freshman) with one worth the price of admission alone, a WR corp with a lot of potential, and an offense that returns 9 of 11 starters (since Towles left) and 10 of 11 backups

And maybe the most exciting thing to me is that while we have 8 of 10 of the two deep in the OL returning that should be much better we also have a 5.8, 5.9, and 6.0 firmly committed we, also have an exellent chance of potentially starting an OL in 17 with a 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 6.0, and a FIVE star starting------forever one of our weak spots, By the way, I think that OL would average higher than Bama's starting five this year.

And that is just off the top of my head, so, nope, nothing to see here, time to move on.

 

[messecat]

After 3 years of hope and optimism and the resulting poor fundamentals, I find hope and optimism to be in short supply in my consideration of the Stoops Era.

Please, please give me something to be optimistic about. ray:

Wow 3 WHOLE YEARS. Very large of you. With the train wreck Stoops and staff came into and with Brown leaving so quickly I do not see why people are not allowing a little more time before the bashing.

 

[Rickman]

Think the OL could be much improved
Hell, just plugging in Leavitt at LT will be huge for us. Plus a lot of good young OL are now a year older. If we can find a decent option at RT, we'll actually be "ok" on the OL next year.

If this year's team was ok on the OL, we win 2-3 more games.

 

[WeepNoMore]

[roll]

Bullshyt, you f****ng liar.

Ah, SaguaroCat, such an elegant and intellectual post!!! :sunglasses: I suppose, when you have nothing to add to a discussion, you can at least add to your post count by resorting to profanity. :sunglasses:

BTW, if you looked back through my posts at the beginning of the Stoops Era, you would find I was optimistic to a fault. But, three years of increasingly poorer fundamental football and increasing disorganization have dampened my optimism a bit.

I would love to see us progress from a disorganized, fundamentally poor FB team to a well-organized, fundamentally sound FB team in 2016. But that is likely too much to ask for in one year. If that makes me a Negative Nancy, then so be it. But a liar I am not.

 

[Beatle Bum]

BTW, if you looked back through my posts at the beginning of the Stoops Era, you would find I was optimistic to a fault.

Starting that research as soon as I get done searching the Internet for porn. Wish me luck!

 

[Fresh Start]

If you want proof that the upgrade in recruiting is more than just "apparent" take a look at UK's 2011 and 2012 recruiting class.

 

[K_TIME]

That is why you hire an OC...to actually teach the OL, WR, RB, QB, etc...to execute the gameplan and develop those players to play disciplined and on same page. It is pretty obvious to see Dawson was very green in applying pressure to each unit to actually execute the gameplan in sync with rest of team. Let's hope Gran/Hinshaw can make a huge impact in regards to player execution.

Final thing I'll say...Dawson's WR routes were abysmal from watching in stadium. We ran more long routes than anybody would run against us. (THe last few plays vs. Auburn were QB taking shots at deep routes vs. keeping the chains moving on shorter passes) Even when we'd throw over the middle (to Juice) it was longer seam routes/crossing routes. I am pretty confident Gran will run way more shorter routes (which may be tedious to the constant throwing of dink/dunk stuff) and I expect our completion percentage to go up on passing.

All we can do now is hope for the best with Gran as OC!

 

[BlueRaider22]

You mentioned the word "fundamentals" several times in your post....and also later. Who played with good fundamentals this past yr and who didn't? In general the upperclassmen played with good fundamentals but the underclassmen didn't.....shocker?! And how many underclassmen did we play in our 2-3 deep?

I agree with your concerns though but not with your assessment. An OC can absolutely help with those. And this is where Gran excels. He's really good at being flexible and using what he has. This is probably the biggest reason why his offenses have been so good.

 

[CATFANFOLIFE87]

Cracks me up when people pile on then throw in the disclaimer "I hope I'm wrong"

 

[Brock28]

I'm hoping the juco kid can step in and play QB this year. If not, we're in trouble at that position.

 

[BlueRaider22]

I'm hoping the juco kid can step in and play QB this year. If not, we're in trouble at that position.

What is nice is that Gran is flexible. Dawson's big issue was his inflexibility. He had an OL that couldn't protect but yet desired to throw the ball down the field with longer patterns. He had a QB that struggled with consistency but yet desired to throw it. He had WR's that couldn't run routes nor catch, but yet he desired to throw. He had several really good RBs, but desired to throw. He had a QB that could actually scramble decently, but told him not to. He had 2 bigger North/South RBs but chose to go with the third guy near the goal line.

Gran doesn't do that. He maximizes what he has. While having a shallow QB pool is not ideal, we do have a better guy running the offense right now than last yr.

 

[LawCat1989_rivals]

Think the Leavitt addition at LT will be a major upgrade and maybe GAA can take over RT in his second year.

RB is again a position of strength for us. Would love to see more Kemp usage.

WR corp should be talented again but drops will have to be minimized for any success. Anxious to see if Kayaune Ross can emerge as a red zone threat with his tremendous size.

Really think a big key will be a big increase in Conrad's usage as H back. Could be a really great weapon for us.

Yes there is a lot to fix but we certainly have some bright spots, a lot of returning players who have now had a few SEC campaigns and what I consider a big improvement at OC/QBcoach.

 

[Rhavic]

(1) OC and HC are on the same page. Hopefully, this time around they will be. Third time's the charm???
(2) OL improves dramatically in pass blocking. Not much to be optimistic about here.
(3) RBs are capable of and/or willing to pass block, especially in picking up the blitz. If Boom, et.al., no matter how talented they are at running the FB, can't or won't perform as blockers, then let them return kicks, assuming, of course, they can actually field a punt. And find a RB capable of being and willing to be a complete back.
(4) WRs can actually catch the FB and are capable of and/or willing to make plays for their QB.
(5) Defense can actually stop the run, defend a dual-threat QB, and get off the field on 3rd down.

No amount of OC scheming and no QB, no matter how talented, can overcome the 5 deficiencies listed above.

I hate being a Negative Nancy, and hope I'm wrong.

But nothing to-date in the Stoops Era, despite the "apparent" upgrade in recruiting, has given me any reason to believe we will be any better fundamentally in year 4 than we were in year 1.

And, as we all know so well, poor fundamentals in the SEC translates into a disaster on the field.

Speaking of hot air...

 

[domino79]

OP brings up some valid points.

I wish the new season started tomorrow. I'm ready to see where we're at.

 

[RealCat41]

(1) OC and HC are on the same page. Hopefully, this time around they will be. Third time's the charm???
(2) OL improves dramatically in pass blocking. Not much to be optimistic about here.
(3) RBs are capable of and/or willing to pass block, especially in picking up the blitz. If Boom, et.al., no matter how talented they are at running the FB, can't or won't perform as blockers, then let them return kicks, assuming, of course, they can actually field a punt. And find a RB capable of being and willing to be a complete back.
(4) WRs can actually catch the FB and are capable of and/or willing to make plays for their QB.
(5) Defense can actually stop the run, defend a dual-threat QB, and get off the field on 3rd down.

No amount of OC scheming and no QB, no matter how talented, can overcome the 5 deficiencies listed above.

I hate being a Negative Nancy, and hope I'm wrong.

But nothing to-date in the Stoops Era, despite the "apparent" upgrade in recruiting, has given me any reason to believe we will be any better fundamentally in year 4 than we were in year 1.

And, as we all know so well, poor fundamentals in the SEC translates into a disaster on the field.

I think what you listed was accurate. But honestly, special teams were as much of a killer as anything. I don't care how good your QB or OC are if your offense has the worst or is in the bottom 3 in country when it comes to starting position then you're fighting an uphill battle before you even get to our new great QB, new great OC, and new great QB coach.

 

[Beatle Bum]

If Ross gets on campus, we will have 3 new big WRs, in addition to the true frosh. I am excited about our RS WRs.

 

[jauk11]

If Ross gets on campus, we will have 3 new big WRs, in addition to the true frosh. I am excited about our RS WRs.

Yes, that could be important, but probably even better is that we lose NO ONE from that position. We have several returning that could be very good if they improve as they should, heck, I am even hoping our senior in state star makes his last season a memorable one, seems like he caught quite a few passes late in the year. I don't think anyone argues he is dangerous if he catches the ball.

I hope that AA can return to his natural guard position and llive up to his potential after getting over his true freshman year, we do have some experience (and size) at RT and Young is a 6.0, very close to a five star, and very few of those redshirt anywhere, let alone at UK. Warford was only a 5.6 and I think a big reason he played as a true freshman (besides being our best at the time) was they knew he wouldn't be here five years anyway. We lose ONE starter and ONE backup on the OL, (and I would bet you were among those dissing both of them) and our OL won't be better? Then I have read some good things aboutour redshirt OL, they might have caught up with AA with the vital redshirt year. Our QB should look a lot better if they improve, and I love the thought of Boom and Co running behind an improved OL. There a lot of positions where we should improve next year.

 

[WeepNoMore]

Brown and Stoops were not on the same page? They fooled me.

Must be easily fooled or suffer from head-in-sand syndrome or spend too much time "searching the Internet for porn". :sunglasses:

 

[redbudman]

I'm hoping the juco kid can step in and play QB this year. If not, we're in trouble at that position.

Let Barker get a full year of snaps in the Spring and Summer, and we should not have to worry! I saw enough arm strength and a VERY quick release that along with a willingness a willingness to stand in the pocket that encourages me! Barker has the intangibles to be big time!

 

[Bluetick2100]

Let Barker get a full year of snaps in the Spring and Summer, and we should not have to worry! I saw enough arm strength and a VERY quick release that along with a willingness a willingness to stand in the pocket that encourages me! Barker has the intangibles to be big time!

Arm strength, quick release, full year of snaps means nothing if he doesn't have it between the ears.

 

[Beatle Bum]

Must be easily fooled or suffer from head-in-sand syndrome or spend too much time "searching the Internet for porn". :sunglasses:

All of those things and more. But, thankfully we have the inside scoop from the Weeper!

 

[Poetax]

I'm hoping the juco kid can step in and play QB this year. If not, we're in trouble at that position.

I'm not sure that is true. Drew has someone now who can be in his ear, to help with the little things. If the QB coach and Gran can get him on board with what they need him to do, it could be a banner year at QB. And that would help every phase of the offense.

 

[WeepNoMore]

Definitely liked the interview with Gran and Hinshaw!! Like their no nonsense approach and emphasis on discipline and effort.

And particularly liked that players are "not going to have a choice" about "buying in" and emphasis on "(p)hysical, toughness, effort, discipline, pride".

And appears Stoops and Gran are more "on the same page" in terms of offensive philosophy than Stoops and his previous two OCs were.

Still feel that items (2)-(5) in my original post will be critical and challenging areas in need of significant improvement for philosophy to translate into on-field results!

 

[Sales Weasel]

1. We have got to get better oline play in 2016! If Leavitt can be decent we will be much improved. That will allow George AA to move inside to his more natural position. Toth at center is good to go. I believe we can find one decent guard between Haynes, Mosier, Ramsey, Jackson, Stenberg(Jones?). Lastly we can rotate Meadows and Young, Wolfe at the other tackle spot. We should have some decent second string competition for depth and guys cross-training at two positions for depth, etc.
2. Hopefully Gran/Hinshaw can call plays that fit our personnel and take some of the pressure off the oline and keep opposing defenses from pinning their ears back and/or keep us out of as many 3rd and long situations. Tired of seeing opposing defenses pin their ears back and play overly aggressive only to see UK ignore basic play calling to take advantage of this (screens, draws, any type of TE passing game).
3. Special Teams. We cannot be a mediocre team that plays horrible special teams. We could have held open student body tryouts before each game and had the same results we witnessed in the punting game this year (both kicking and receiving). I do not know how we are going to address it, but it must be addressed.

There is room for optimism, but we need to see improvement. Last years effort is not going to do it in 2016.

 

[CHAMPCAT11]

Seems like most on this board are pretty die hard football fans since we're now in the middle of basketball season. I totally understand that everyone is trying to be optimistic (including myself) with the new hires and upgrades to the stadium, recruiting room etc but the OP isn't totally wrong. This is now year four and Stoops has switched things around before. This year was an embarrassment and now Stoops is all pumped up and smiling like the cat that ate the canary. I wish I could fail miserably at my job and tell my boss that I'm going to change things up and keep my job security. A lot of you want to give Stoops time to learn on the job and he's getting that chance. Seven wins or more would be double sweet next year but while the news hires give us hope again they're just a new version of what he's tried before. Hopefully this time he's right and everyone will be happy.

 

[lz]

After 3 years of hope and optimism and the resulting poor fundamentals, I find hope and optimism to be in short supply in my consideration of the Stoops Era.

Please, please give me something to be optimistic about. ray:

You are alive!

 

[Sawyer_rivals136976]

i was watching cincy's bowl game and they did move their o-line a hell of lot more than we did. dawson was straight up zone blocking. cincy seemed to be mostly zone but they did pull guards and roll the pocket way more than dawson did all year.

How did that bowl game work out for Cincy?