Is Randy Shannon to Blame?

Alagator

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I was reading an interesting article on Gator Country about the Defense and Jarrad Davis in particular. Something that stood out to me was Davis commenting on an NFL scout saying that he needed to become a more consistent tackler and that because of his speed and aggressiveness he had a tendency to overrun the ball. Davis handled the criticism professionally and went back and studied game film and discovered the criticism was fair and came to the conclusion that this was a part of his game that he needed to work on.

My question is, how is that NOT something that the "legendary" linebacker coach, Randy Shannon has already brought to his attention? How can this be the FIRST time Davis had this realization. He acts as if this was a surprise to him. Shouldn't our legendary LB coach have coached him up on this? Or am I missing something ? (ie they didn't want Davis to lose a step or lose his aggressiveness)

I was hesitant to post this, as I am not usually one to start piling on because a little negativity around here can go a looooonnnngggg way... And frankly, I hate constant negativity. But something about Jarrad's comments really stood out to me.

From the article:

NFL.com recently wrote that Davis is a wild tackler that lacks consistency. Lance Zierlein, the author of the scouting report, wrote: “One area of concern for Davis is his inconsistency as a tackler. Davis’ speed and aggressiveness have to be harnessed when he’s on the move and he has to cover ground with more patience to avoid overrunning potential tackles.”

“That was a real statement someone made about me this offseason, and something that really kind of shocked me a little bit,” he said. “When I’m on the field, it’s like, ‘See ball, hit ball.’ I went back and looked at tape and tried to take into account what they were saying, and realized I’m going to the ball with such a tenacious mindset that I do overrun a lot of plays. I do miss a lot of tackles because I’m out of control.”

The self-awareness and maturity to see a critique or criticism, internalize, embrace, study and realize that it is an area where you could improve is a strength Davis has.

http://www.gatorcountry.com/feature/davis-vows-florida-gators-defense-wont-regress/
 

TLB

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I absolutely agree Shannon (and Mr. Sidewayshat) should have seen it and addressed it over the course of the last year.

Would it also be fair to put some responsibility on the previous staff who knew what they recruited and what the tendencies may be, and had him for 2 yrs of coaching before they left?
 

srivet

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Davis has not long been active in the D, I'm not certain this would have been addressed given his penchant for smash and tackle. Everyone over runs a play, but he is smart enough to learn from such a comment and time will tell if that unfolds on-field.

For what it's worth (little, I know...), I believe Shannon was hired for his recruiting prowess, not necessarily for his coaching. Otherwise, he would be DC, not Co-DC or Run DMC.

And lately I've been questioning his recruiting prowess 'cause he keeps grabbing those lowly 3 star defensive guys from south Florida. :grin:
 

gatormandan

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Davis has not long been active in the D, I'm not certain this would have been addressed given his penchant for smash and tackle. Everyone over runs a play, but he is smart enough to learn from such a comment and time will tell if that unfolds on-field.

For what it's worth (little, I know...), I believe Shannon was hired for his recruiting prowess, not necessarily for his coaching. Otherwise, he would be DC, not Co-DC or Run DMC.

And lately I've been questioning his recruiting prowess 'cause he keeps grabbing those lowly 3 star defensive guys from south Florida. :grin:

Yea, not alot of evidence he is really helping recruit anyone.
 

TLB

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I believe Shannon was hired for his recruiting prowess, not necessarily for his coaching.

I don't know enough to speak facts, nor do I have an interest in defending him. However, my understanding was that he was able to recruit SoFla AND that he was able to develop defensive players, especially LBs. How much of his player success was good recruiting (seeing and landing natural talent) or coaching (developing players), I can't say, but he has put some good players in the NFL.
 
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Just to play contrarian, I recall Davis being one of the most consistent tacklers on the team last year and certainly within the LB group (I also recall Morrison missing a ton of tackles, which everyone on GC consistently pointed out). I also don't recall hearing a lot of hype about Davis before last season and that his emergence was a pleasant surprise. This suggests that he may actually have been coached up pretty well.

Don't lose sight of the source of the criticism either. This is an NFL coach pointing out missed tackles from an NFL perspective where details are magnified and technique is honed to a different level. I'm sure there were missed tackles and opportunities when viewed from that perspective, but that may go above and beyond what they have time to look for/correct in college ball (then again, I may be way off base here).

None of this excuses Shannon for the paltry results in recruiting top notch LBs.
 

Gator Fever

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Yep it's mostly recruiting probably where Shannon has been a disappointment so far.
 

Lake Gator

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You can't teach speed and I don't know if you can teach arriving at the ball with bad intentions but I do know Davis has both. In a previous life on a different message board I remember extolling the virtues of a 3-star linebacker who played fast and furious. I've been a fan of Davis' since I first saw him play. The NFL can change him when they get him. 'Til then, I'm good with "See ball, hit ball."
 

Turk182

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Shannon has always been over-rated... as a player and coach.
 

Concrete Helmet

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You can't teach speed and I don't know if you can teach arriving at the ball with bad intentions but I do know Davis has both. In a previous life on a different message board I remember extolling the virtues of a 3-star linebacker who played fast and furious. I've been a fan of Davis' since I first saw him play. The NFL can change him when they get him. 'Til then, I'm good with "See ball, hit ball."
Exactly. Wouldn't everyone rather have a guy who occasionally over runs a play because he's busting his ass than have a guy who is constantly a step or 2 behind the play??? This is college ball, let the NFL fix him when and if he gets there.
 

FatCatG8r

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So, out go curiosity and for the sake of argument, I went to Gatorzone.com and looked at the team’s defensive statistics. I very much expected to be as very impressed with his team stats as I was with his presentation at SEC Media Days. What follows are some of JD’s totals and team rankings in a number of categories. Don’t worry there will be a point to this at the end.

Games played: 14, tied for 1st with a host of other players.
Total tackles: 98, 2nd to Morrison’s 103
Solo: 46, tied for 2nd with Maye behind Neal with 51
Assists: 52, again 2nd behind Morrison’s 61
TFLs: 11, 3rd behind Bullard w17.5 (pretty remarkable) and again Morrison w/12
Sacks: 3.5, which tied him for 3rd on the team with 3 other players and was the only LB in the top 7, unless you consider Cox and McCallister LBs,being hybrid Bucks-. Morrison was 8th`
and finally QB hurries: 7, Tied with McCallister for 1st on the team.
He was also tied (with VHIII BTW) for 5th on the team in pass break ups with 4 and added an int. and forced fumble to an already impressive lineup of stats.

Finally to the point. If you’re looking for the reason for the perception that he maybe occasionally over ran plays that it possibly comes from those QB hurries and if he turns 1 or 2 of those into sacks, that perception disappears.

Unfortunately, there is no stat for tackle overruns and the only stat that even comes close is the QB hurry one and I don’t see him as a Shannon coaching problem. Right now, there aren’t many college LBs in the country I would trade JD for and I’m glad to see he’s taking national criticism, even it it is pretty much nit picking, to heart and looking to improve his already remarkable talent level up a notch or two. Just imagine if if he had taken 1, 2, or even 3 of those hurries into sacks what it would have done for the team.

I see this as a net gain and not a coaching negative.

I could pick out a few more other observations, but will let it go at that. I’m just glad we have some smart, articulate and talented players like Jared Davis who are constantly trying to improve thiergame and and those around them. My hat is off to you Jared Davis.
 

oxking

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I never played LB but do you need a coach to point out when you've overrun a play? It should dawn on you I would think, when you've run past the hole and the RB ends up down the field behind you. Maybe it's too simplistic. Speaking of Shannon, he's done little on the recruiting front.
 

rogdochar

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I never played LB but do you need a coach to point out when you've overrun a play? It should dawn on you I would think, when you've run past the hole and the RB ends up down the field behind you. Maybe it's too simplistic. Speaking of Shannon, he's done little on the recruiting front.[/QUOT]

I never played LB but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express and I am thinking Shannon is still a first-year coach,
just like Mac. So I'm hoping, he'll get more settled in life/pride in GatorNation and start tearing it up in S. FL
recruiting and N. FL coaching.:pumper:
 

cover2

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Wouldn't everyone rather have a guy who occasionally over runs a play because he's busting his ass than have a guy who is constantly a step or 2 behind the play???
Most definitely. The guy who occasionally overruns should be easier to correct/coach up than the guy who can't get there consistently (Morrison was a good LB for us, but he had a hard time with lateral pursuit from time to time). Sometimes it is a matter of keeping the scrape flat and having/developing great lateral speed and quickness as well as recognizing a block (Reach, Wall, etc.) and using good technique against them. To state the obvious, it is more complex than it may look or seem and therefore has to be repped continuously until it becomes second nature.
 
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ATXGator

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JD has been showing his abilities since he came in as a true freshman and started making plays. He has grown as a player every year and I am excited to see how much of a jump he made this year.

Randy Shannon has coached some of the best LBs to every play the game. How much he had to do with their success we will never really know, but he was a pretty good LB himself at Miami so I am more likely to wait and see from a coaching perspective. We don't know what has been communicated to Davis and if they had talked about over running plays and for some reason the NFL guy's comments hit him different. Sometimes getting feedback from an outside (external) person is more valuable... even if it is the same feedback you have already heard.

I am really disappointed with Shannon's recruiting at this point. We will see in time if he is just amazing at identifying 3* players that turn out like Davis or if he is just missing, but it seems to me that with our lack of depth we should be getting some 4* guys at LB and maybe a 5* that wants to play right away.
 

deuce

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What's most important, coaching or talent?

I'll take talent for $100.

Agree, Shannon hasn't produced on the South Florida Pipe Line.
 

oxking

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That's pretty funny about the Holiday Inn Express. But I think that's pushing it on Shannon being a first year coach. I like the sunshine though :-).
 

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