'16 GA WR/DB Marquez Callaway (UT commit 1/21/2016)

[seaofORANGE22]

How much does Bama rotate WRs? What about Baylor? Does Coleman or KD Cannon come out often for them? Doctson for TCU stayed on the field a lot when he was healthy. You don't just rotate guys like we do. We had different sets of WRs in on plays that would work better with some of our other players. Coaches just call plays no matter who's in the game. I'm not a fan of that at all.

But you have to think that the coaches are taking into account which players are in the game and calling plays that lend to their strengths. They're probably putting in more thought to this than just assuming every WR is equal. I get what you're saying though and it does seem like that sometimes. But I think sometimes it's our guys not making plays.

I think the underlying issue is that we didn't have a group of WR's that really demanded to be fed the ball.

I think Josh Smith might be our most reliable receiver at this point going into next year. You hope Preston, Malone and Jennings all take steps forward. I could see any of the 3 emerging as our number 1. I wish one of them would take it. Last year was good experience. They've weathered some storms together now.

Callaway is walking into a great situation to come in and make a big impact. He seems like a different kind of athlete that we don't really have. The Pig role. Excited about his potential. Latrell too.

 

[walkenvol]

On the receiver rotation issue. Seems to be a bit of a myth to me, and probably has more to do with saying "we have room for you recruits to come play here" than a true philosophy.

Receptions by WR:
Pearson 38
Malone 31
Smith 23
Jennings 14
Johnson 10
Williams 7
North 6
Howard 1

We had 8 WR total catch a pass.

70% of the WR receptions were made by 3 players. 81% by the top 4.

Didn't remember Howard playing at all this season...

 

[RockyTopInBham]

On the receiver rotation issue. Seems to be a bit of a myth to me, and probably has more to do with saying "we have room for you recruits to come play here" than a true philosophy.

Receptions by WR:
Pearson 38
Malone 31
Smith 23
Jennings 14
Johnson 10
Williams 7
North 6
Howard 1

We had 8 WR total catch a pass.

70% of the WR receptions were made by 3 players. 81% by the top 4.

Those numbers themselves show a huge problem. Pearson our leading WR didn't even catch 40 passes.

I don't see a huge problem. I see a team that spreads the ball around in the pass game, and if it improves, it will be hard to stop. No one guy you can focus in on. Add in Kamara's 34 catches, and Wolf's 23. People constantly argue that we don't get them the ball enough. Fact is, we're a run-first team, that won't change this coming season, and the receivers just need to figure out how to do more with the opportunities they do get.

 

[The Breakerboy]

I don't see a huge problem. I see a team that spreads the ball around in the pass game, and if it improves, it will be hard to stop. No one guy you can focus in on. Add in Kamara's 34 catches, and Wolf's 23. People constantly argue that we don't get them the ball enough. Fact is, we're a run-first team, that won't change this coming season, and the receivers just need to figure out how to do more with the opportunities they do get.

Bama is a run first team. Ridley had 89 catches....... Get your players the ball.

 

[The Breakerboy]

But you have to think that the coaches are taking into account which players are in the game and calling plays that lend to their strengths. They're probably putting in more thought to this than just assuming every WR is equal. I get what you're saying though and it does seem like that sometimes. But I think sometimes it's our guys not making plays.

I think the underlying issue is that we didn't have a group of WR's that really demanded to be fed the ball.

I think Josh Smith might be our most reliable receiver at this point going into next year. You hope Preston, Malone and Jennings all take steps forward. I could see any of the 3 emerging as our number 1. I wish one of them would take it. Last year was good experience. They've weathered some storms together now.

Callaway is walking into a great situation to come in and make a big impact. He seems like a different kind of athlete that we don't really have. The Pig role. Excited about his potential. Latrell too.

They can't be, I see WR screens that were called for Smith, Jennings, Pearson, and Malone but had North blocking. You get your playmakers involved early and often. North got a screen versus Oklahoma in 2014 and broke 3 tackles. We did not feed him after that. And have continued that trend. Your best WR needs plays designed to specifically get the ball to him.

 

[The Breakerboy]

Looking at some of the stat totals compared to previous years, it's pretty clear we're run first and like to move the ball out of the back field. Kamara had 32 receptions. They rushed for almost 3,000 yards.

I'm not worried about the pass game or guys like Callaway long term. I think when either dormady or JG get in there, we'll see the ball slung around more.

Right now, for 2016, dobbs needs to be able to stretch the field on a consistent basis. If he can do that, this offense is essentially impossible to stop

Dormady will have me extremely frustrated with this offense if he's ever the starter.........

 

[Face]

Dormady will have me extremely frustrated with this offense if he's ever the starter.........

I'm not saying that the passing game was great, or even good. I'm saying that the "9 receiver rotation" thing just isn't accurate, regardless of what the coaches say.

The receivers could get better, sure, but the passing game is on Dobbs. He just can't throw consistently. He doesn't see guys when they're open.

Dormady, or whoever the guy is in 2017 will be better at that.

 

[VolsnCards5]

I'm not saying that the passing game was great, or even good. I'm saying that the "9 receiver rotation" thing just isn't accurate, regardless of what the coaches say.

The receivers could get better, sure, but the passing game is on Dobbs. He just can't throw consistently. He doesn't see guys when they're open.

Dormady, or whoever the guy is in 2017 will be better at that.

I'm hoping Dobbs is better at it.

 

[RockyTopInBham]

On the receiver rotation issue. Seems to be a bit of a myth to me, and probably has more to do with saying "we have room for you recruits to come play here" than a true philosophy.

Receptions by WR:
Pearson 38
Malone 31
Smith 23
Jennings 14
Johnson 10
Williams 7
North 6
Howard 1

We had 8 WR total catch a pass.

70% of the WR receptions were made by 3 players. 81% by the top 4.

Bama is a run first team. Ridley had 89 catches....... Get your players the ball.

A couple notes on this-

Bama Pass Attempts - 446 | Tenn Pass Attempts - 371
Bama Rush Attempts - 642 | Tenn Rush Attempts - 617
Bama PointsPerGame - 35.1 | Tenn PointsPerGame - 35.2

I take these stats to mean two things:
*We're actually the more efficient offense from what it looks like, so maybe this isn't such a huge problem after all.
*If you look at the links below and compare the numbers, Bama was 5 points better on defense per game than Tenn. This means their defense was better at getting the ball back to the offense (19-12 in INTs), giving their offense more opportunities.

Also, Henry+Drake combined for 40 catches on the year. Hurd+Kamara? 56. We feature our running backs more in the passing game.

Perhaps Coker was just flat-out better than Dobbs in the passing game this past season. Either that, or...
IMO, we don't have a receiver on our roster that has proven they are worthy of the amount of targets that Cooper or Ridley got with Bama. If one steps up and proves to be the #1 guy, I'll be more upset if that guy's reception number is around 38.

Which player(s) do you want to get 100 targets in this offense?

http://www.rolltide.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/2015-2016/teamcume.html
University of University of Tennessee Official Athletic Site - Football

 

[RockyTopInBham]

Also, forgot to mention this in the last post, but if our defense/Shoop lives up to the hype, then there will be more stops/turnovers, and this offense will have even more opportunities to make plays.

 

[OrangeinmyVeins]

Bama is a run first team. Ridley had 89 catches....... Get your players the ball.

And what receiver do we have that you would compare to Ridley? Our weapons are the running backs and that is who the offense last year was designed to get the ball to.

 

[Face]

I'm hoping Dobbs is better at it.

If he can get better, we'll go to the playoff. A deep threat is all that's missing.

 

[jave36]

I'm not saying that the passing game was great, or even good. I'm saying that the "9 receiver rotation" thing just isn't accurate, regardless of what the coaches say.

The receivers could get better, sure, but the passing game is on Dobbs. He just can't throw consistently. He doesn't see guys when they're open.

Dormady, or whoever the guy is in 2017 will be better at that.

Watch the games. Your reception numbers have 0 to do with frequency of rotation. Number of snaps is the topic of discussion, not receptions.

 

[jave36]

I agree with the last part, but as far as I can find, that data is unavailable. Certainly, there are other reasons that could contribute, but WR rotation is a likely (if not most likely cause. For instance, your first argument is that Clemson spreads the ball around more is a possible cause, but that is the opposite of the truth. Clemson had 1 receiver that accounted for 25% of the total and another that accounted for 13%. UT didn't have a single receiver over 10% of receptions.

Where did we change from talking about number of receptions vs number of snaps? Baylor had 16 guys catch passes this year, but their top guys stay on the field almost every snap. The two topics are unrelated.

 

[KBVol]

Didn't remember Howard playing at all this season...

1 catch vs WCar iirc.

 

[Volnukem]

Where did we change from talking about number of receptions vs number of snaps? Baylor had 16 guys catch passes this year, but their top guys stay on the field almost every snap. The two topics are unrelated.

I'm using receptions to infer snaps played since I haven't found any database that keeps up with snaps played. Obviously, you have since you know how many snaps the Baylor receivers played.

 

[Face]

Watch the games. Your reception numbers have 0 to do with frequency of rotation. Number of snaps is the topic of discussion, not receptions.

I'm using receptions to infer snaps played since I haven't found any database that keeps up with snaps played. Obviously, you have since you know how many snaps the Baylor receivers played.

Same, Volnukem.

Would have used snap counts to show the same point, and i suspect they do.

 

[jave36]

Same, Volnukem.

Would have used snap counts to show the same point, and i suspect they do.

Baylor top WRs played almost every snap of every game. I watched almost all their games, and their top 2 guys were in all the time. Yet 14 others caught passes. Spreading the ball around and rotating in too many WR too often aren't the same thing.

 

[Volnukem]

Baylor top WRs played almost every snap of every game. I watched almost all their games, and their top 2 guys were in all the time. Yet 14 others caught passes. Spreading the ball around and rotating in too many WR too often aren't the same thing.

You may be right, but I would like to see data to prove that Baylor doesn't rotate their WR. Honestly, you probably are correct because Briles is possibly the only coach in the country that encourages his WR to loaf on plays where they aren't the primary target.

Art Briles explains why he allows his receivers to take plays off: “Why make a dog chase an imaginary bone?” – FootballScoop

 

[Volfan76]

You may be right, but I would like to see data to prove that Baylor doesn't rotate their WR. Honestly, you probably are correct because Briles is possibly the only coach in the country that encourages his WR to loaf on plays where they aren't the primary target.

Art Briles explains why he allows his receivers to take plays off: “Why make a dog chase an imaginary bone?” – FootballScoop

What you can get away with in the big 12 won't necessarily work in the SEC.

 

[Volnukem]

What you can get away with in the big 12 won't necessarily work in the SEC.

I agree.

 

[Face]

Baylor top WRs played almost every snap of every game. I watched almost all their games, and their top 2 guys were in all the time. Yet 14 others caught passes. Spreading the ball around and rotating in too many WR too often aren't the same thing.

You might be right. I don't watch much big 12 and don't know their stats. But with our tempo, i imagine it would be hard to keep the same 3 guys on the field every play.

 

[Nashvegas31]

And what receiver do we have that you would compare to Ridley? Our weapons are the running backs and that is who the offense last year was designed to get the ball to.

It doesn't matter who the WR is for Kiffin offense. He will always have that 1 guy he can get open at any time he wants. The guy has always had a WR put up big time numbers. He knows how to space out the field and get people open.

 

[jave36]

It doesn't matter who the WR is for Kiffin offense. He will always have that 1 guy he can get open at any time he wants. The guy has always had a WR put up big time numbers. He knows how to space out the field and get people open.

Same for the other playoff teams. All three had guys with at least 80 catches this past year. It's part of having a good offense. I'm too lazy to look it up, but I'd wager the top offenses for the modern era always have guys they feature.

 

[thomaseusin]

Stats just get in the way of a convenient narrative.

Kudos to those who took the time to look them up!