Good point. I would be willing to bet Bulldog Backer said the same thing about the last strength coach.graddawg said:
Most gullible17ing fan base in America.
Recruiting Class
- Thread starter DISTRICT DOG
- Start date
Most gullible17ing fan base in America.
Like 8dog said, they are extremely hard to get at this point. You can't blame Mullen for this at all. They looked at Autrey, tried to get in on Sullen kid from Alabama that just committed to Auburn. Aubrey Phillips. I think the staff made an effort. It just turns out that WR is a big need as well, especially with this offense - and it is easier to find these little speedsters this late in the game.
No need to waste space with ****** O-line commits just for the sake of filling slots. We already have ****** o-line recruits on campus. Why not go ahead and fix another area, which Mullen is able to do instantly because of his street cred with the spread offense.
Am I disappointed in this OL class? Sure. I just don't fault Mullen for it and I don't believe that they haven't been trying to land O-lineman - it is a 2 way street, we are just getting more interest from the speedsters right now.
No need to waste space with ****** O-line commits just for the sake of filling slots. We already have ****** o-line recruits on campus. Why not go ahead and fix another area, which Mullen is able to do instantly because of his street cred with the spread offense.
Am I disappointed in this OL class? Sure. I just don't fault Mullen for it and I don't believe that they haven't been trying to land O-lineman - it is a 2 way street, we are just getting more interest from the speedsters right now.
Nobody is disputing that the S&C coach hire is critical. The point, again, is that we have no idea if Balis is any better than Pollard or anyone else at this point and too constantly beat our chest every time we hire a new coach is ridiculous. As I said up the thread, if the guys we have on the OL are as bad as they looked this season 9 months in Balis' program won't make much of a difference even if he is the best in the business.
"rocket surgery"....i'm going to have to borrow that sometime
We will be better upfront next year. We will have more experience, depth, and a better scheme to help our OL. When you are in the I, you have to push people around, move them to create holes. Our scheme will allow for more double teams and more reads by the QB to determine where we run. If you think back to the Fla-OU game- Fla ran the option, leaving the DE. He was unblocked and the OT blocked down to help seal off the inside. They also brought the TE pulling from the backside for an underneath shovel pass. The DE was unblocked, and no matter what choice he made- he was wrong. This allows our OL to outnumber the defensive front and weaker OLines suddenly become pretty good.
As far as S&C, thats a bunch of crap. Everybody piled on Grant when Crooms brought his guy in. Everybody suddenly forgot Grant was the S&C coach that had that D in the late 90's killing people. Its all about the players and where you "start" with them when they hit campus.
We will be better upfront next year. We will have more experience, depth, and a better scheme to help our OL. When you are in the I, you have to push people around, move them to create holes. Our scheme will allow for more double teams and more reads by the QB to determine where we run. If you think back to the Fla-OU game- Fla ran the option, leaving the DE. He was unblocked and the OT blocked down to help seal off the inside. They also brought the TE pulling from the backside for an underneath shovel pass. The DE was unblocked, and no matter what choice he made- he was wrong. This allows our OL to outnumber the defensive front and weaker OLines suddenly become pretty good.
As far as S&C, thats a bunch of crap. Everybody piled on Grant when Crooms brought his guy in. Everybody suddenly forgot Grant was the S&C coach that had that D in the late 90's killing people. Its all about the players and where you "start" with them when they hit campus.
Is it cold in here? But seriously, the OL will be better next year. Another thing that should help is hopefully being able to move Saulsberry inside to guard, which is his natural position. Most on this board have verbally beaten him like a government mule, but I don't blame him too much for last year's performance. He always hustled, was almost always around the pile at the end of the play, and was obviously pissed when he got beaten. He was playing out of position and doing all he could. Then on top of that, we do stupid **** like ask him to block Johnson, the All American DE from GT, one-on-one with no help from the backs or TEs. That's a hard assignment for a senior, much less a freshman. The majority of OL take 3 years to be ready to start in this league, because they were mostly able to dominate with size in HS and didn't have to learn technique. It takes 3 years for them to get strong enough and have enough technique to start against the monster DLs in our league. Saulsberry, like several of our OL, was starting this year way before he was ready to start because of necessity. If he moves inside to guard next year and is still absolutely terrible, I'll join y'all in bashing the guy. But until then, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
I guess I missed Meyer's comments comparing Pollard to Balis. For all we know Pollard is just as good as Balis and Mullen decided to go with who he'd worked with before. That's all I'm saying. I think we all agree that S&C is vital to the success to any program and hope like hell that Balis whips these guys in to shape, but, as I've said, the reality of the situation might be that the previous staff recruited chicked **** on the OL and to ask Balis/Hevesy to turn them in to chicken salad in 9 months might be a bit much. Long story short, I hope our OL play is better in 2009 but if it isn't I won't consider it a complete indictment of the new staff.patdog said:
Further, I still think the constant fellatio of every new S&C coach is comical.
i agree that nothing is guaranteed with him, but i like our odds already. along with a play maker at quarterback and all the skill players coming in, he should be just fine. i think it has got to be well protected to be effective, but we just don't have it on the OL. other than little to no improvement on that, I think it's a hell of a class.
And for the record, I've never once said jack **** about Pollard being even a decent S&C coach. But when a coach who has won 2 of the last 3 national titles says us hiring Balis is a "critical hire" and we "hit a home run," then yeah, I'm going to assume we've made a pretty good hire and we're fixing to improve in that area of our program. I may be wrong on that (I thought we made a good hire when we hired the guy from Madison Central who spent a year or 2 as a grad assistant S&C coach at LSU under Saban, but then again Saban didn't say we hit a home run with that hire either). But of all the assistant coaches Mullen hired, right now, that's the one I'm most excited about.
And for the record, I've never once said jack **** about Pollard being a "home run." I said he might be as good Balis but we can't determie that right now. Somehow my original point was lost in all of this. Again, I think Balis was a good hire but I think the contention that his hire will make us markedly better on the OL NEXT year is a stretch. As I've said more than once, if the talent on the OL isn't there, there is only so much that better S&C can do and 9 months may not be enough time to catch up with the rest of the SEC if we are that far behind, which simply remains to be seen. And with that, I'm done and will let this end.
Our O-line sucked. The reason was lack of depth and experience. 2 seasons ago, they were markedly better...albeit the gunslinger was a big reason. I have to agree that the o-line will be visibly better this year because of the returning depth. Think Bamer 3 & 2 years ago. They were knocked constantly for having a weak OL. This past season with the same Line, now all Jr's and SR's, they were touted as one of the best lines in the country. Experience is everything when it comes to OL's. Size and Skill trump athletic ability when it comes to the OL. Luckily, we have the size and skill can be taught.
you know, like the Ala. QB that we "ditched" on.
With a coaching change, and in this enviroment, you can pull offers and get get away with it...I'd say Watts is probably ok, screw "stars".
With a coaching change, and in this enviroment, you can pull offers and get get away with it...I'd say Watts is probably ok, screw "stars".