The offense is a mess and it will take time to recover

[ATXGator]

The majority of the blame falls on Muschamp... there is really no way it can't at this point as this is 90% his team, but in general the offense is a mess at pretty much every position.

QB: Driskel is a bust and only true freshmen behind him. Maybe Treon or Will is the answer, but they will have a learning curve first.

OL: How bad has our OL been since 2009. Chaz Green and Humphries both got beat multiple times yesterday. The OL couldn't open running lanes or provide protection. After 4 years we still don't have a capable OL and it is one of our biggest issues.

RB: Matt Jones is good, but not NFL good IMO. Kelvin has not shown me that he is any better. He lacks elite speed and power and while he does have good vision... I haven't seen anything that says NFL talent. Powell has potential and who knows about Lane because he can't see the field. This was supposed to be our deepst group, but I'm not overly impressed.

TE: We don't have a playmaker at TE. We lost our one possible playmaker to injury. Burton is OK (he is at least catching the ball), but he also ran a 3 yard pattern on 3rd and 5... even the announcers were talking about that being a mistake. Westbrook can apparently only catch a pass if it is a hail mary type throw that was a HORRIBLE decision by Harris. Driskel was probalby laughing on the sideline thinking if he did that it would have ended up a pick 6. He hits Westbrook wide open against LSU and the guy drops it... Harris throws one up for grabs and he comes down with it... smh!

WR: Another position group without elite talent. Robinson is the only guy that would probably be an impact player on any NFL team. I have no idea why they aren't finding more ways to get the ball to Debose. I'm not even sure Dunbar is playing anymore. The WRs can't catch or block half the time.

When you look at the talent on offense you can see that WM has done a poor job recruiting this side of the football and it is at all positions. I don't think Brisett was the answer or Tyler Murphy. The talent on OL is not there and while WM has tried to get big playmakers at RB and WR he has consistently missed.

You can see how WM can develop talent on the defensive side of the ball, but he also gets better talent. I'm not sure it matters who the new coach is as far as a quick turn around, because I don't know if the talent is there to succeed. Urban Meyer had talent recruited by Zook, Spurrier even had some talent to work with, but unless Treon or Will are a hit... where is the real offensive talent on this team?

 

[Kyng]

I don't buy into the whole freshmen qb's can't play at a high level. Last 2 Heisman winners were Freshmen.

 

[BearCatGator]

At least we have good kickers.

 

[TheDouglas78]

I don't buy into the whole freshmen qb's can't play at a high level. Last 2 Heisman winners were Freshmen.

Redshirt Freshmen

 

[ATXGator]

Redshirt Freshmen

Exactly... Redshirt Freshmen which means they sat a year learning the offense and protections, etc... Muschamp said that Treon can't even really change protections at all so that greatly limits his playcalling. I also think this is why Muschamp needs to get the kid more work and snaps!

 

[Gator Fever]

No excuse leaving Driskel as the starter. Harris should have been getting the first team reps for weeks now.

 

[TheDouglas78]

No excuse leaving Driskel as the starter. Harris should have been getting the first team reps for weeks now.

I think the allegations stopped the development of that. Missing a week of practice after what happened at Tennesse probably set him back a bit, especially due to his youth in the offense.

 

[ATXGator]

No excuse leaving Driskel as the starter. Harris should have been getting the first team reps for weeks now.

Agree... Except for LSU week because of the allegation. I wonder how much that set him back

 

[EuroGator]

Great OP.

I would argue that we've recently seen some improvement in the OL, but certainly not enough. I would also add that our offense has been a mess since 2010 - Urban's last year. In hind sight, I think the offense is what needed immediate help and the HC and OC we brought in couldn't do that. If the person responsible for the offense was competent, had more than a year, and could have influenced recruiting strongly, we might have seen a different tenure from WM. Instead, he came in admitting that he was depending on the OC to handle the offense and he tried to handle the D + administrative, public relations, head coach type things. If his first pick for OC was better and he was willing / able to recruit better offensive talent, he might have been successful.

Instead, the weakest area of the team he took over wasn't repaired, instead the coaches have tied to / had to rely on the D and ST to supplement it. Clearly, that won't work.

 

[ATXGator]

Great OP.

I would argue that we've recently seen some improvement in the OL, but certainly not enough. I would also add that our offense has been a mess since 2010 - Urban's last year. In hind sight, I think the offense is what needed immediate help and the HC and OC we brought in couldn't do that. If the person responsible for the offense was competent, had more than a year, and could have influenced recruiting strongly, we might have seen a different tenure from WM. Instead, he came in admitting that he was depending on the OC to handle the offense and he tried to handle the D + administrative, public relations, head coach type things. If his first pick for OC was better and he was willing / able to recruit better offensive talent, he might have been successful.

Instead, the weakest area of the team he took over wasn't repaired, instead the coaches have tied to / had to rely on the D and ST to supplement it. Clearly, that won't work.

Well said... I am starting to think he really is hands off on the offense, but that may even be part of the problem. He may not be engaged enough to speak intelligently about it to high profile offensive recruits and get them.

 

[soflagator]

I still don't get this mindset. The OL isn't great, but there are bodies there, and a few guys that we can build around like Humphries and Sharpe.

How is it that guys like Fulwood, Robinson, and Bailey were recruited hard by all the big schools, but suddenly have no talent? Same could be said at RB. I find it odd that while we won the recruiting process, we actually lost because now we're saddled with their lack of ability. The TE position is awful, but could also be very much improved with Harris' teammate from BTW, not to mention the 2 we signed last year.

Now, do we have some holes? Absolutely. But as I said a few nights ago, guys like Matthews, Duncan, even Mills to an extent were decent in '89, then awesome in 1990. Go back and look at the '05 defense, compared to the one that was shredded a year earlier. Moss had done nothing. Lewis was converted from 5th string WR. VB was a complete non-factor up to that point, as was Herring. And these guys were suddenly our starting secondary. We lost our best LB from 2004 in Crowder. The only notable addition was RFN. And we went from one of the worst defenses in 2004, to one of the best in 2005.

To think we don't have the talent to win with the right coaching is wrong.

 

[ATXGator]

I still don't get this mindset. The OL isn't great, but there are bodies there, and a few guys that we can build around like Humphries and Sharpe.

How is it that guys like Fulwood, Robinson, and Bailey were recruited hard by all the big schools, but suddenly have no talent? Same could be said at RB. I find it odd that while we won the recruiting process, we actually lost because now we're saddled with their lack of ability. The TE position is awful, but could also be very much improved with Harris' teammate from BTW, not to mention the 2 we signed last year.

Now, do we have some holes? Absolutely. But as I said a few nights ago, guys like Matthews, Duncan, even Mills to an extent were decent in '89, then awesome in 1990. Go back and look at the '05 defense, compared to the one that was shredded a year earlier. Moss had done nothing. Lewis was converted from 5th string WR. VB was a complete non-factor up to that point, as was Herring. And these guys were suddenly our starting secondary. We lost our best LB from 2004 in Crowder. The only notable addition was RFN. And we went from one of the worst defenses in 2004, to one of the best in 2005.

To think we don't have the talent to win with the right coaching is wrong.

Robinson is definitely talented, but Fulwood cannot consistently catch the ball and Bailey can't see the field for whatever reason. We lost out on other WRs like Algachor and the guy who went to Maryland. We don't have top talent... we have more drops than any other team in the SEC except A&M who throws a ton more than we do.

The ability to catch is not coaching... we have missed on almost all our offensive recruits.

 

[t-gator]

I've gotta say I think the talent is there and I don't think it's going to be a long turn around with the right guy

 

[gatormandan]

Once the right guy comes along that can actually determine who belongs where and how to use them, the existing talent will work.

 

[Chomper]

What galls me more than anything was Muschamp making a scapegoat out of Brent Pease and the fact that so many people bought into it, willingly believing that Kurt Roper would somehow cure all the offensive woes. The problem was not Pease, nor Weiss and is not Roper. We know where the problem is. Sad thing is, many of us have been saying it for the past two years: FIRE MUSCHAMP -- NOW!!

 

[soflagator]

Robinson is definitely talented, but Fulwood cannot consistently catch the ball and Bailey can't see the field for whatever reason. We lost out on other WRs like Algachor and the guy who went to Maryland. We don't have top talent... we have more drops than any other team in the SEC except A&M who throws a ton more than we do.

The ability to catch is not coaching... we have missed on almost all our offensive recruits.

The ability to catch is no different than footwork, route running, pad-level, etc. It absolutely can be coached.

But you're also seriously downplaying the impact that "not believing anymore" can have on a team. Outside of Fowler and VH3, no one on this team has any semblance of confidence. They don't buy in to an overall strategy that has been a failure now for 4 years. We have become possibly the most fragile team mentally because the moment things go south--in a game or a season--we shut down and simply expect the worst. That's why you see guys playing that way.

Again, '90 and '05 provided great examples of how a competent coach can make something of what he has. If anyone had told you that Crowder was leaving, Moss would start, along with Todd M, with Herring, Brown, and Reggie Lewis in the secondary, you would've started a similar thread then.

 

[I Have No Friends :(]

A good coach will win with what's here and it won't take 4-5 years to do it. What's going to hurt the next staff is the lack of a recruiting class this year.

 

[ATXGator]

The ability to catch is no different than footwork, route running, pad-level, etc. It absolutely can be coached.

But you're also seriously downplaying the impact that "not believing anymore" can have on a team. Outside of Fowler and VH3, no one on this team has any semblance of confidence. They don't buy in to an overall strategy that has been a failure now for 4 years. We have become possibly the most fragile team mentally because the moment things go south--in a game or a season--we shut down and simply expect the worst. That's why you see guys playing that way.

Again, '90 and '05 provided great examples of how a competent coach can make something of what he has. If anyone had told you that Crowder was leaving, Moss would start, along with Todd M, with Herring, Brown, and Reggie Lewis in the secondary, you would've started a similar thread then.

At the beginning of the season the offense should have had confidence and guys were dropping balls. They did it in the Alabama game, the Tenn game and the LSU game. You can only do so much to coach guys... at some point the talent has to show up. I do agree that coaching is part of this, but I also think we missed on a lot of talent.

How many NFL players do you think we have on our roster? How many receivers specifically? The only one I can think of is DRob... maybe Debose as a return guy.

I currently don't see Jones or Taylor as NFL guys... maybe Garcia on the OL?

 

[NCOGator]

I've gotta say I think the talent is there and I don't think it's going to be a long turn around with the right guy

^ This!!!! We have way too much talent to be a 5-7, 6-6,7-5, or 8-4 team. With the talent there we should have 9 wins at least IMHO.

 

[EuroGator]

The ability to catch is no different than footwork, route running, pad-level, etc. It absolutely can be coached.

I don't disagree, but I also think that the WRs have to shoulder some of the responsibility. None of them should be shocked that they're s'posed to catch the ball.

Also, look at WR coaching over WM's tenure. I know that goes back to WM, but he's had some pretty tough breaks in that area too. Look at Hill. Look at Joker. Hill looked like a good hire from the perspective of recruiting south Florida, being a former UF receiver, and experience in major D1 coaching. Joker was brought in from being a HC of an SEC school to being a WR coach. Perhaps you could say that WM should have avoided Hill because of the dumpster fire he was leaving, but I doubt anyone could say that Joker was a danger to commit a big recruiting violation. I maintain that some of our current situation is just "bad luck."