- Jun 19, 2014
- 12,760
- 31,858
Founding Member
Defense
Overall: You’ve heard of the 4-3 defense and the 3-4 defense? Well, we’re playing a 1-4 defense. That’s 1 DL (Slaton), 4 LB (2 lined up at DL and 2 lined up at LB) and 6 DB (2 lined up at LB and the rest wandering about aimlessly). Unlike 2007 when we knew we had young studs who just needed to grow and mature there is no relief on the horizon, no Spikes, Dunlap, or Haden who just need some time. We need bodies. We’re going to have to hit the transfer portal hard and hope to get some DL and LB who can play.
Interior DL: Fcuk you Kyree Campbell. I don’t know what selfish-ass thing you did but fcuk you for it. Slaton is the only real interior DL we have. He’s getting double-teamed every down, he’s playing every down, and our defense plays a LOT of downs. A 350 pound man cannot do that. Slaton is good. Nobody can tell because the defense sucks but individually he’s playing great (until the 4th quarter when he’s totally gassed, but that’s not his fault). Don’t be surprised if he’s a late first round or early second round pick, unless the coaching staff kills him this season. Even Conliffe would have helped. Dammit. Gervon Dexter looks like he’s going to be the real deal but he’s a true freshman playing interior DL in the SEC. You will get great plays from him, but you won’t get great consistency from him. The rest are a bunch of undersized stiffs who get pushed around in the run game and generate no pass rush in the pass game. If we had Kyree Campbell, it would make a huge difference. Hopefully his stupid ass can get back onto the field this season.
Inside LB: We have 2 bad linebackers, Ventrell Miller and James Houston. At least they are actually linebackers. They are slow and lost in coverage, but they are capable of tackling a running back if he runs directly into one of them. Burney and Diabate are strong safeties, not LB. I would say maybe we need to put Miller and Houston on the field at the same time except for obvious passing downs.
Edge: Cox, Moon, Carter, etc., none can generate a consistent pass rush on their own. Last year, Greenard and Zuniga pressured the QB without having to blitz. When we did blitz, the pressure was coming from multiple locations and angles. If the QB moved to avoid the blitzer, he’d run into Greenard who was fighting through a double team on the other side. If the QB was rolling away from Greenard, he’d run into a blitzing Diabate or something. This year, our DL gets stoned at the LOS. We have to blitz to generate any pressure at all but when we do, the QB only has to elude the blitzer. The QB can calmly step up or roll away from the blitzer and hit the open man, usually for a big gain. This is why we aren’t generating the turnovers we did last year.
DB: We play 3 corners, Kaiir Elam who is good and has heart, Marco Wilson who is terrible, and McWilliams or whoever is playing “star” who sucks. We need to bench Wilson for Jaydon Hill who at least looks like he has seen a ball in the air before. We play 3 safeties, Shawn Davis who is OK, Stiner who sucks, Dean who sucks less than Stiner (Dean wasn’t great at corner, but I think he can become a decent safety). We also have Brad Stewart who also sucks less than Stiner but is more of a corner than a safety, and Burney who is lined up at LB. You’d think a SS like Burney playing LB would look fast, great when blitzing, and a stud in pass coverage. You’d think, wouldn’t you? Honestly, this is embarrassing. No ball skills, bad angles, poor tackling across the board. It’s a disgrace.
Offense
Overall: This offense is very good but not great. Last year’s LSU and this year’s Klimpson offenses are great. Both had a number 1 overall pick at QB and a first round RB. We don’t have either of those. We have a better TE than either of them but our WR corps isn’t as good as Bama’s this year or last year and I don’t trust this OL to get us 3 yards on 3rd and 2 when we really need it. That said, we can move the ball and we can score. That ain’t bad.
OL: We don’t have a great OL, but they have improved. This bodes well for the future. We haven’t been playing any back-ups on the OL. That’s scary. I figured we’d be deeper this season. I don’t know if the back-ups aren’t playing because they aren’t good or if Hevesey is focused on building chemistry with the starters.
TE: Pitts is Pitts. Just hope that foot injury from the second half of Ole Miss won’t be nagging him all season.
QB: Trask is better. He’s not great, but he is very, very good. Zero depth behind him.
WR: Our WR are OK and Trask is making them look better than they actually are. Grimes is big/tall/strong. He looks like an NFL all-pro out there. He has the physical tools BUT he’s not a polished WR. He’s not smooth out there and his ball-awareness and hands aren’t great. Toney has taken that next step. He’s developed from a gimmick to an actual WR but like Grimes, he has problems with the ball in the air. Copeland doesn’t look any better than he did last year. Shorter is a big body, almost a TE, but same problems. Our best players with the ball in the air are Pitts (a TE) and freakin’ Trent Wittemore. Haven’t seen much of the others. Wittemore is a legacy and the son of a coach. He came here with ball skills. I wonder if we aren’t practicing catching the damn ball enough. Great WR can locate the ball, adjust on the fly, and snatch it out of the air with their hands. We aren’t doing that.
RB: Pierce runs hard. He’s been solid, not spectacular. Malik Davis was spectacular at times his freshman year. After that devastating injury, he was below average last year. Most were ready to write him off. Then we heard great things about him in practice and many hoped he would return to the explosiveness he demonstrated as a frosh. Setting aside the fumble, he too has only been solid, not spectacular. Just like everybody loves the back-up QB, everybody loves the 3rd string RB that comes in during garbage time and flashes. Nay’Quan Wright might be a stud though. I think he’s run at least as well as Davis (and looks to have similar hands out of the backfield) and would make a fine compliment to Pierce. With our poor defense, we need a running game capable of putting together a 7 minute scoring drive to end a half or a game without putting it in the hands of the defense.
Special Teams
Our placekicker is a stud. That’s good. He can hit for accuracy and for distance and on kickoffs, he can put it through the back of the endzone. Our punter is OK.
Our kickoff return game is seldom used with the new rules. Our punt return game is seldom used with the ineptitude of the defense.
Schedule Outlook
This is the year of the OL in the SEC. Bama, UGA, Tennessee, Kentucky, all have strong, talented, OL. We have 3 of those teams coming up on our schedule and we didn’t do well against Ole Miss, USCe, or aTm OLs. We have to figure out a way to get some stops in the running game and some pressure in the passing game or those games might look a lot like aTm or worse.
Who woulda guessed Arkansas hired the SEC coach of the year??? Their defense is legit and right now Barry Odom is the leader in the clubhouse for the Broyles Award as the best assistant coach.
Mizzou found a QB in Bazelak and when they have a QB, they give us fits.
LSU has talent, lots and lots of talent, but all young and inexperienced. I’d rather have played them last week than at the end of the season. Ditto for Mizzou. I’d rather play them sooner before that young stud QB figures out what he’s doing (hopefully he goes pro early). Tennessee and Georgia aren’t going to get that much better as the season progresses, LSU and Mizzou will.
I wish we had Auburn on the schedule. They aren’t good and they aren’t getting better.
Alex.
Overall: You’ve heard of the 4-3 defense and the 3-4 defense? Well, we’re playing a 1-4 defense. That’s 1 DL (Slaton), 4 LB (2 lined up at DL and 2 lined up at LB) and 6 DB (2 lined up at LB and the rest wandering about aimlessly). Unlike 2007 when we knew we had young studs who just needed to grow and mature there is no relief on the horizon, no Spikes, Dunlap, or Haden who just need some time. We need bodies. We’re going to have to hit the transfer portal hard and hope to get some DL and LB who can play.
Interior DL: Fcuk you Kyree Campbell. I don’t know what selfish-ass thing you did but fcuk you for it. Slaton is the only real interior DL we have. He’s getting double-teamed every down, he’s playing every down, and our defense plays a LOT of downs. A 350 pound man cannot do that. Slaton is good. Nobody can tell because the defense sucks but individually he’s playing great (until the 4th quarter when he’s totally gassed, but that’s not his fault). Don’t be surprised if he’s a late first round or early second round pick, unless the coaching staff kills him this season. Even Conliffe would have helped. Dammit. Gervon Dexter looks like he’s going to be the real deal but he’s a true freshman playing interior DL in the SEC. You will get great plays from him, but you won’t get great consistency from him. The rest are a bunch of undersized stiffs who get pushed around in the run game and generate no pass rush in the pass game. If we had Kyree Campbell, it would make a huge difference. Hopefully his stupid ass can get back onto the field this season.
Inside LB: We have 2 bad linebackers, Ventrell Miller and James Houston. At least they are actually linebackers. They are slow and lost in coverage, but they are capable of tackling a running back if he runs directly into one of them. Burney and Diabate are strong safeties, not LB. I would say maybe we need to put Miller and Houston on the field at the same time except for obvious passing downs.
Edge: Cox, Moon, Carter, etc., none can generate a consistent pass rush on their own. Last year, Greenard and Zuniga pressured the QB without having to blitz. When we did blitz, the pressure was coming from multiple locations and angles. If the QB moved to avoid the blitzer, he’d run into Greenard who was fighting through a double team on the other side. If the QB was rolling away from Greenard, he’d run into a blitzing Diabate or something. This year, our DL gets stoned at the LOS. We have to blitz to generate any pressure at all but when we do, the QB only has to elude the blitzer. The QB can calmly step up or roll away from the blitzer and hit the open man, usually for a big gain. This is why we aren’t generating the turnovers we did last year.
DB: We play 3 corners, Kaiir Elam who is good and has heart, Marco Wilson who is terrible, and McWilliams or whoever is playing “star” who sucks. We need to bench Wilson for Jaydon Hill who at least looks like he has seen a ball in the air before. We play 3 safeties, Shawn Davis who is OK, Stiner who sucks, Dean who sucks less than Stiner (Dean wasn’t great at corner, but I think he can become a decent safety). We also have Brad Stewart who also sucks less than Stiner but is more of a corner than a safety, and Burney who is lined up at LB. You’d think a SS like Burney playing LB would look fast, great when blitzing, and a stud in pass coverage. You’d think, wouldn’t you? Honestly, this is embarrassing. No ball skills, bad angles, poor tackling across the board. It’s a disgrace.
Offense
Overall: This offense is very good but not great. Last year’s LSU and this year’s Klimpson offenses are great. Both had a number 1 overall pick at QB and a first round RB. We don’t have either of those. We have a better TE than either of them but our WR corps isn’t as good as Bama’s this year or last year and I don’t trust this OL to get us 3 yards on 3rd and 2 when we really need it. That said, we can move the ball and we can score. That ain’t bad.
OL: We don’t have a great OL, but they have improved. This bodes well for the future. We haven’t been playing any back-ups on the OL. That’s scary. I figured we’d be deeper this season. I don’t know if the back-ups aren’t playing because they aren’t good or if Hevesey is focused on building chemistry with the starters.
TE: Pitts is Pitts. Just hope that foot injury from the second half of Ole Miss won’t be nagging him all season.
QB: Trask is better. He’s not great, but he is very, very good. Zero depth behind him.
WR: Our WR are OK and Trask is making them look better than they actually are. Grimes is big/tall/strong. He looks like an NFL all-pro out there. He has the physical tools BUT he’s not a polished WR. He’s not smooth out there and his ball-awareness and hands aren’t great. Toney has taken that next step. He’s developed from a gimmick to an actual WR but like Grimes, he has problems with the ball in the air. Copeland doesn’t look any better than he did last year. Shorter is a big body, almost a TE, but same problems. Our best players with the ball in the air are Pitts (a TE) and freakin’ Trent Wittemore. Haven’t seen much of the others. Wittemore is a legacy and the son of a coach. He came here with ball skills. I wonder if we aren’t practicing catching the damn ball enough. Great WR can locate the ball, adjust on the fly, and snatch it out of the air with their hands. We aren’t doing that.
RB: Pierce runs hard. He’s been solid, not spectacular. Malik Davis was spectacular at times his freshman year. After that devastating injury, he was below average last year. Most were ready to write him off. Then we heard great things about him in practice and many hoped he would return to the explosiveness he demonstrated as a frosh. Setting aside the fumble, he too has only been solid, not spectacular. Just like everybody loves the back-up QB, everybody loves the 3rd string RB that comes in during garbage time and flashes. Nay’Quan Wright might be a stud though. I think he’s run at least as well as Davis (and looks to have similar hands out of the backfield) and would make a fine compliment to Pierce. With our poor defense, we need a running game capable of putting together a 7 minute scoring drive to end a half or a game without putting it in the hands of the defense.
Special Teams
Our placekicker is a stud. That’s good. He can hit for accuracy and for distance and on kickoffs, he can put it through the back of the endzone. Our punter is OK.
Our kickoff return game is seldom used with the new rules. Our punt return game is seldom used with the ineptitude of the defense.
Schedule Outlook
This is the year of the OL in the SEC. Bama, UGA, Tennessee, Kentucky, all have strong, talented, OL. We have 3 of those teams coming up on our schedule and we didn’t do well against Ole Miss, USCe, or aTm OLs. We have to figure out a way to get some stops in the running game and some pressure in the passing game or those games might look a lot like aTm or worse.
Who woulda guessed Arkansas hired the SEC coach of the year??? Their defense is legit and right now Barry Odom is the leader in the clubhouse for the Broyles Award as the best assistant coach.
Mizzou found a QB in Bazelak and when they have a QB, they give us fits.
LSU has talent, lots and lots of talent, but all young and inexperienced. I’d rather have played them last week than at the end of the season. Ditto for Mizzou. I’d rather play them sooner before that young stud QB figures out what he’s doing (hopefully he goes pro early). Tennessee and Georgia aren’t going to get that much better as the season progresses, LSU and Mizzou will.
I wish we had Auburn on the schedule. They aren’t good and they aren’t getting better.
Alex.
