He just has to do what needs to be done this year and get rid of his friend at oline coach. It’s a joke to be this bad in year 4 at that position. we recruited well last season at oline but prior to that we did not and it’s showing big time now.
I have been waiting to post about our coaching staff, because I want the year to play out. What I can say is, if all units continue to perform the way they are, I think Heupel will absolutely have to make at least one change to his coaching staff and that is indeed at OL.
That is the one unit that has gotten much worse throughout the past 4 years and that impacts the play of everyone on offense. But the entire offense is obviously worse atm.
I am also not sure the loss of Burns is showing up at wide receivers. The improvements made to our receivers was noticeable when he took the reins. I wonder if his influence resonated the year after he left, but now we are seeing other receivers kind of flatten out or get worse. White was looking like a future star.
I know that Heupel calls the plays, but Golesh wasn’t paid what he was for nothing. Seems our play calling is much more vanilla. I think Halzle is an excellent QB coach, and should have stayed there as his sole focus. Not sure Huepel can find anyone else at OC, however, to fill Golesh’s shoes.
Hard to say with our running backs. Seems we have been 3 deep in the past, with high performing underclassmen. I know Seldon is hurt. So, there is that. Bishop has had some nice plays, but Sampson and Biship are hardly the 1-2 we have had in the past. Sampson is a stud, but there is a serious drop off at this moment with Bishop. So, we have a big question mark there next year which means we are trending in the wrong direction in that position group as well. I think the loss of coach Mack is the reason for that.
On D secondary still gets gashed, but they have gotten much better since the first year under Banks at every position group including our secondary.
It’s always been hard to say if our LBs are good or bad, because I am not sure the 2 linebacker system is sufficient. I noticed Banks put in 3 LBs at least once last night, but not sure we saw it again. Could be because Pili got hurt. Regardless, it isn’t that Banks is a bad coach, I just don’t know that his system will ever yield an elite defense all around in the SEC. We have yet to play a prolific offense, and so I will wait and make any definitive opinions on that side of the ball.
Our DL is as good as anyone could make it with the players we have. Only mark against Garner is he isn’t loading the line with 5*. If he did, we would have the best DL in CFB by far. Amazing what he has done with what he has.
Special teams have been elite since Heupel has been here. Hats off to Ekeler.
My concern is that once again, we had a guy come in with a unique system that has been figured out and he lost a lot of the guys that made him look so good and is struggling to reup with coaches who are as competent as his original cast. Also, he had his system, so that limits who he can bring in. Over time, that’s a recipe for failure.
We shall see. I hope I’m wrong because I really do like Heupel.