- Jun 12, 2014
- 9,065
- 32,700
Founding Member
No...not pornograpic, no S&M. Though come to think of it, there may be a little bondage included. So, just what is the story of our O? Stronger with Grier? Up and down with Treon? Reliant too much on the D and good Spec Teams play? Trending or fading? Truth probably is that there a little of all of these in the list of the descriptive characteristics. I'll bullet my thoughts in hopes it will help with readability:
*Let's start with the OL. Young, inexperienced, and wildly inconsistent come quickly to mind. But then we all know that. Young talent to a degree is, I believe, also applicable. Time, and not so much from now to season's end but from now until fall camp, is the first dose of elixir needed. The big guy from Apopka sort of exemplified where we are in his play today. One play, the holding call on the little counter play right, tells us that it is probably more difficult for a true freshman to step in and compete consistently in college football. In this play, the first shove he gave the defender, if done likewise last year in HS, would have put the player on the ground. Not so at this level just yet. Secondly, the hold was unnecessary, as the back was by the defender, but I'm guessing wounded pride and the desire to make up for bad execution (in his mind) was the reason. This we can build from, however. As for consistency, we were better today by far than against Vandy, but it can be argued that the Commodore's D was superior to the Cock's, and you'd be right. But the key is we were better today and responding is a good thing. It'll be interesting to see if this group can put two good ones back to back in meaningful games before the season runs out.
*Receivers and TEs. A few games back it looked like it was Calloway and everybody else, but the truth of the matter is that McGee has been pretty consistent, Powell has made some plays, and Robinson, despite his resemblance to Fred Astaire on seemingly ever catch he makes, is still a threat. But where are the others? I'm hoping still that Fulwood will come of age and Goolsby will have some more success like he enjoyed earlier in the season. Good, however, that we get enough plays (for now at least) from this group. Last thing is for Calloway...no more alligator arms! I know that the announcer went into a short sermon on this and, as I recall, took the side of "save yourself," but dammit this is football. If you're going to jump for the ball in the first place, you may as well make the catch and tuck and absorb the lick you know is coming.
*RBs are a hardworking and talented group who, other than Taylor (to an extent), suffer along with the OL's inconsistency. Taylor is the man as evidenced by his TD total and some of his highlight reel runs, not many bigger than the one that set up the final score to choke the chickens. Cronkrite is likely a strong second and makes a lot of plays, even one as a receiver today that not only scored but also bailed our QB out on a poor throw. Scarlett is the enigma of the top three in my mind. Has some flashes and looks to be a hard guy to bring down, but disappears for stretches. Some early word on Mac putting him in the sawmill to grow him up and I suspect that is what he's learning to do in terms of assignments and consistency. Saw him make a couple of nice blocks in pass pro, so I know there is hope. I think we'll all be surprised at how much better this group gets as the OL becomes more consistent if not dominant.
*QB play was better than the last game and you could see that a lot of emphasis on developing in the pocket has taken place. Still, there is a lot of inconsistency and the slowest parts of Treon's pocket game are the internal clock and developing that sense/peripheral vision need for the blind side. I also thought that Treon wasn't as sharp on some of his throws despite making a few good ones. Maybe he's struggling with analysis with the pocket emphasis? Lastly, and this something I think I know but am curious as to what others think, but do we not have a check off/audible system or is Treon struggling to recognize the need? Personally, I don't think we do, or it is extremely simple, but Nuss may think it's too much to throw that on him at this point. Still, whatever we may think of the kid, we need him to do two things: stay healthy and keep working to get better. Though there were some mistakes, I was nonetheless impressed with the progress he showed in the pocket today. This will become more and more important as we get into the important final stretch of games.
As always, Go Gators and I'm interested to hear any additional thoughts or feedback.
*Let's start with the OL. Young, inexperienced, and wildly inconsistent come quickly to mind. But then we all know that. Young talent to a degree is, I believe, also applicable. Time, and not so much from now to season's end but from now until fall camp, is the first dose of elixir needed. The big guy from Apopka sort of exemplified where we are in his play today. One play, the holding call on the little counter play right, tells us that it is probably more difficult for a true freshman to step in and compete consistently in college football. In this play, the first shove he gave the defender, if done likewise last year in HS, would have put the player on the ground. Not so at this level just yet. Secondly, the hold was unnecessary, as the back was by the defender, but I'm guessing wounded pride and the desire to make up for bad execution (in his mind) was the reason. This we can build from, however. As for consistency, we were better today by far than against Vandy, but it can be argued that the Commodore's D was superior to the Cock's, and you'd be right. But the key is we were better today and responding is a good thing. It'll be interesting to see if this group can put two good ones back to back in meaningful games before the season runs out.
*Receivers and TEs. A few games back it looked like it was Calloway and everybody else, but the truth of the matter is that McGee has been pretty consistent, Powell has made some plays, and Robinson, despite his resemblance to Fred Astaire on seemingly ever catch he makes, is still a threat. But where are the others? I'm hoping still that Fulwood will come of age and Goolsby will have some more success like he enjoyed earlier in the season. Good, however, that we get enough plays (for now at least) from this group. Last thing is for Calloway...no more alligator arms! I know that the announcer went into a short sermon on this and, as I recall, took the side of "save yourself," but dammit this is football. If you're going to jump for the ball in the first place, you may as well make the catch and tuck and absorb the lick you know is coming.
*RBs are a hardworking and talented group who, other than Taylor (to an extent), suffer along with the OL's inconsistency. Taylor is the man as evidenced by his TD total and some of his highlight reel runs, not many bigger than the one that set up the final score to choke the chickens. Cronkrite is likely a strong second and makes a lot of plays, even one as a receiver today that not only scored but also bailed our QB out on a poor throw. Scarlett is the enigma of the top three in my mind. Has some flashes and looks to be a hard guy to bring down, but disappears for stretches. Some early word on Mac putting him in the sawmill to grow him up and I suspect that is what he's learning to do in terms of assignments and consistency. Saw him make a couple of nice blocks in pass pro, so I know there is hope. I think we'll all be surprised at how much better this group gets as the OL becomes more consistent if not dominant.
*QB play was better than the last game and you could see that a lot of emphasis on developing in the pocket has taken place. Still, there is a lot of inconsistency and the slowest parts of Treon's pocket game are the internal clock and developing that sense/peripheral vision need for the blind side. I also thought that Treon wasn't as sharp on some of his throws despite making a few good ones. Maybe he's struggling with analysis with the pocket emphasis? Lastly, and this something I think I know but am curious as to what others think, but do we not have a check off/audible system or is Treon struggling to recognize the need? Personally, I don't think we do, or it is extremely simple, but Nuss may think it's too much to throw that on him at this point. Still, whatever we may think of the kid, we need him to do two things: stay healthy and keep working to get better. Though there were some mistakes, I was nonetheless impressed with the progress he showed in the pocket today. This will become more and more important as we get into the important final stretch of games.
As always, Go Gators and I'm interested to hear any additional thoughts or feedback.
Little spread option has been used because we don't use a middle school playbook anymore.
