Perhaps I need the reading skills class.
Offensive line gave up 33 sacks this year. In 3 years these things should not happen. Even the head coach should show improvement. Granted Doege wears concrete shoes. This team has struggled for 3 years to run the ball. Same mistakes are being made that were happening 3 years ago.
How can the head coach improve if his position coaches do not?
This is to you and to TBTfT...
I definitely see things this staff can improve. I posted a thread earlier where a coach breaks down film from a Billy Napier offense.
This staff DEFINITELY needs to improve on its integration of more outside zone concepts, which NB even stated so earlier in the season "They are getting better at teaching it", which infers its not historically been an area of "expertise" for them.
Well.... They need to learn fast, because any quality offense these days has a large % of outside zone concepts, because its extremely versatile.
The question I have is:
How much has the lack of talent, more importantly the serious lack of experience play a part in being able to successfully integrate more creative concepts. Not only those two critical factors, but "Mr. Concrete Shoes's" limitations too.
You typically need a faster / shiftier RB for outside zone to work well, and that is not Leddie's strengths, so between the talent+experience issues on OL, lack of versatility+mobility from CShoes, and Leddie's strengths, I dont think the roster is put together to open up the playbook, which reduces the ways you can attack DC's, essentially increasing predictability.
Ill be the first guy calling for change if we continue to see the same offensive issues when we have a more versatile QB, an experienced OL, and a deep RB core to allow for any player to be inserted to match the concept deployed. My loyalty is to WVU, I suppose Im just trying to be a little more patient, because of the dire set of circumstances that NB inherited + shortened covid yr + his recruiting... I just want to reserve any serious criticism until I know the majority of limitations have been resolved. At least then, the answer to these questions will be easier to extract an accurate perspective. I suppose its the data scientist in me coming out..
All that said, Im def frustrated at times and desperately want to see more improvement, but I guess Im trying to remind myself of all the variables and there are differences between short term gain & long term trajectory.
This staff is not perfect, there are many areas that must improve if Brown will outperform historical averages, I seriously dont know if he will or not, time will tell. But when the time comes when the answer is obvious Ill certainly be on the side that best serves WVU. I just have a hard time believing this staff magically forgot how to put an aggressive & creative offense on the field when they arrived in Morgantown. No matter how good a staff may be, there is always room for improvement, which is why I support increasing the staff resources so Brown can hire quality analyst. Diversity of perspectives are important in being successful in any business, and part of being a great CEO is knowing how to allocate responsibilities to your team and giving them room+confidence to work effectively+efficiently. So, I would support hiring a quality OC at some point, as long as he is a good fit and continues the "team" contribution culture NB has established with his staff.
My line in the sand is at the end of the 5th yr. That is enough time to see fruits on the vine... It may not be a full harvest, but definitely enough to make some reasonable projections..
We are starting 3 underclassmen on the OL and get them all back next yr, so Ill definitely be quicker to criticize Moore next yr, if we see similar results. That said, if CShoes is our QB next yr, some of next yrs sacks wont be on the OL.. Which I think we can all logically agree on that point. Im more focused on technique, diversity of concepts, how they grade out, etc...
My hope is when we our OL are experienced and Nicco/Greene/Crowder/? is starting at QB, we see a far superior schematic creativity, if not... Then you fellas will have certainly been correct in your earlier opinions.
Cheers Guys!
