Recruiting Football Talk VIII

[tyonthefly93]

Not always though. Most good QB’s don’t care about pressure because you throw right at it. Their elite WR’s were very helpful. Again, Howard literally had high level percentages under pressure and with man coverage, and their WR’s contribute to that.

I can see we’re not getting anywhere. No QB is better under pressure than when they’re standing still in the pocket. He wasn’t pressured and played at an elite level.

 

[Devo182]

BUT, if there’s any silver-lining to taking that kind of loss, it’s that you learn from it and make adjustments. I think if they don’t use the OSU loss to really self-audit the program, that’s not good leadership, either.

Well sure. Heupel will tear down the analysis to the studs.

But LRP and vision is just that. You don't overhaul off single data points. You make very small adjustments and then give them years to prove out as well, but inline with the plan and vision.

But folks acting like this is Norvell and FSU and just fire 3-4 staff immediately, LMAO. Not happening. Heupel has a plan and isn't a weakwilled reactionary.

Fulmer didn't panic in '97, he was never weak either.

 

[headhunter15]

Wild to see Coastal Carolina as the away team in their own stadium.

 

[headhunter15]

Only 1 team in the entire country had to face the 3 most talented teams in 1 season (and only 1 of 2 teams that even had to face 2 of them).

And 2 were not just in true road games, but at night:

View attachment 708811

Other-worldly recruiting.

 

[InVOLuntary]

Cant afford to put those CB's on an island. Cant risk the safety blitz. Would put him in position to make a tackle.

I recall that one play, where they pulled to left, and RB was onene with Will. Yikes.

They were on an island anyway. All their passes were against single coverage.

 

[Smokey123]

Only 1 team in the entire country had to face the 3 most talented teams in 1 season (and only 1 of 2 teams that even had to face 2 of them).

And 2 were not just in true road games, but at night:

View attachment 708811

It’s the playoffs you’re gonna play good teams. Georgia played 3 in the top 5 in the regular season 2 were night games on the road

 

[Jimmy Football]

Well sure. Heupel will tear down the analysis to the studs.

But LRP and vision is just that. You don't overhaul off single data points. You make very small adjustments and then give them years to prove out as well, but inline with the plan and vision.

But folks acting like this is Norvell and FSU and just fire 3-4 staff immediately, LMAO. Not happening. Heupel has a plan and isn't a weakwilled reactionary.

Fulmer didn't panic in '97, he was never weak either.

Bringing up Fulmer is the perfect example of how fine a line it is between program stability and stagnation. Stability lead to 98; but stagnation eventually led to Kiffin and ultimately 13 years in the wilderness.

 

[Volbucky]

Only 1 team in the entire country had to face the 3 most talented teams in 1 season (and only 1 of 2 teams that even had to face 2 of them).

And 2 were not just in true road games, but at night:

View attachment 708811

Unbelievable lol

 

[SagginVawls]

Still really disappointed banks hasn’t been fire yet.

I don't take shots at people on here and try to avoid drama but this is ridiculous. You're being an idiot. Use your head.

 

[DD4ME]

Me listening to the Townsends podcasts because I cannot stomach listening to sports atm.

 

[jave36]

Me listening to the Townsends podcasts because I cannot stomach listening to sports atm.

Ya I can't either. Hate that we got embarrassed like that.

 

[Jackcrevol]

They were on an island anyway. All their passes were against single coverage.

 

[VolNash17]

Losing to Ohio state wasn’t the issue. It’s clearly how Tennessee lost that’s the issue. They made Tennessee look like a MAC team. At every single position group it was total domination. They were faster, stronger more prepared and totally dominant. Sitting in Section 10C watching it from the first snap you saw there was a sizable gap. Heupel would do great if he had that level of talent 3 deep like Ohio state gets every year. Question is can he ever get that? Hopefully he can add some elite recruiters and be more aggressive in that department.

 

[mr.checkerboards]

 

[volinbama256]

DC-- put up numbers against a lot of mid competition, won't change or adjust the gameplan before or during a game. CLEARLY was not prepared at all for our biggest game of the season and probably since Heup's been here... We had two weeks... let that sink in... really poor job/fail, and failure to put what talent we have in the right places to try and compete with OSU's offense. Please leave and don't sign that contract extension.

Oline Coach--- don't have to say much of anything, we can all see it and have seen it for two solid seasons. He's had 4 seasons. Upgrading would be super easy at this point.

WR's Coach--- Lot of talent this year (including TE's on this as total offense), was grossly underperforming for whatever reason. Our offense clearly regressed and became very simplistic and fairly easy to figure out and defend if you had the talent in the secondary. Not sure if we had to dumb it down for Nico, but looked very high school... Not sure what to say here, but WR's are leaving left and right, so that should speak VOLUMES.

Cam Seldon -- portal... why? Someone on here even said he'd like to go to WR... We are losing like 4-5 probably before it's all said and done. Why in the F wouldn't we keep or try to make this request work for a season? Kid has talent and is very athletic... Velus Jones 2.0... but no, he's leaving...

Said it many many times, and got bashed for it--- we stumbled through this season and looked good at times and awful at times. Very inconsistent team. Don't let the W/L column fool you... Heup and the program is at a crossroads right now. With NIL and the portal, if we want to be competitive and maybe once in a while flex and get to the playoffs, then Heup's our guy and the staff he has may be able to find a way to get it done. Go to a nice bowl game.

BUT, if we want to get to the playoffs and actually do something, compete with the elite (not be a joke like Saturday night), and try to win a championship, then Heup is going to have to make staff changes and find a way to pay the going rate to get elite talent and build depth. Getting one or two 5* players here and there, or finding some good 4* talent that "may develop" and COULD have a high ceiling, just isn't going to cut it anymore with where college football is heading.

In the next two weeks, we will see what path we are going to take based on the portal pickups and if there are staff changes. We do what we did last season and grab one or two here and there, then IMO we are cooked and get ready for UT being happy with just being competitive and putting on a good show for the fans paying tons of money. If we retain this current staff and no changes are made, then sorry, but Heup is also either happy with just being a B to B+ program, or he is in over his head and doesn't get what needs to be done to get to the next level. This is what I am personally worried about.

I think the most disturbing thing for me this entire season, with all that went right and how well we did, We decided to play our worst game, look out of focus, look like we had given up after they went up 14-0, and looked completely underprepared on national TV in our biggest game and test of the season after two weeks to study and prepare. Some will say it's not fair to focus on one performance to grade the season, but there was simply no excuse to play that poorly unless the team was unprepared and unmotivated to play. I didn't even recognize this team... no fight... Yes they had way more talent in certain position groups, but we had enough to play disciplined football and make it a much closer game. Their Oline was beat up... Instead we just 'ish the bed when it mattered most. That's what our coaching staff did.

The choice is Heup's, Danny's, and UT's on which path we are going to take.

 

[KPT_VFL]

Unless improvements are made next year we will be 8-9 win team. Bama and UG on the road. We are still a step behind UGA. Oklahoma upgraded at QB. Syracuse is not a pushover anymore. Ark has our number for some reason. We could win 10 again but we have to improve.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

Ok, having had some time to look at everything, these are my only real concerns about the team moving forward.

1. Safety. We need a massive upgrade in talent in the backend of the defense. Our young linebackers probably got too much blame...they can certainly do better in coverage, but they were having to do more than they should because of our lack of talent at safety. Super appreciative of Will Brooks and what he was able to accomplish this season, but his lack of speed certainly hurt us at times. Turrentine just didn't seem to make many plays. Every position group on defense except safety is looking good for next season.

2. WR coaching. Our receiver group may not have proven itself to be as loaded as we thought, but there certainly was enough talent there to make more plays than they did. Nico certainly deserves some blame for missing wide open guys earlier this season, but he improved. The receivers never really got better. I think Pope's group has way underperformed for two consecutive seasons and that falls on him.

3. Offensive scheme. It's time for Heupel to evolve the offense a little. The passing game shows almost no creativity inside 10 yards. No crossing routes to get a linebacker or safety stuck chasing your slot receiver, no TEs or RBs attacking the middle of the field, etc. When Nico is under pressure, almost all the receivers are running 15+ yards down the field. Give the guy some easy dump-offs and make defenses pay for being so aggressive. We all love the deep bomb, but sometimes your biggest plays come from getting the ball out quick to your playmakers with some space in front of them. They've gone away from some things they used to run because officials are more likely to throw flags for offensive pass interference now...like with the receiver screens out of stack formations. Heupel used to lean on those to make DBs take one bad step towards the LOS and then beat them over the top. Defense have been laying back and dropping a lot of guys into coverage...they know that 90% of the time we're either running or trying to throw it over 10 yards down the field. With coaching staff size limits changing, Heupel should bring in some guys with new ideas to grow the offense.

I know a lot of folks think the o-line is horrible, but I don't see it as a critical concern right now like those three items. That group could certainly be better, but recruiting has been getting better and I think 2025 will show us if that group is heading the right direction when we finally see some non-transfer Heupel recruits getting PT...either starting or in relief due to injuries. They've done just enough to stay off my major concerns list but they'll be right up there if they don't take a noticeable step forward in 2025. I think things are setting up for them to take that step, so if it doesn't happen then that's a massive issue.

 

[VolNash17]

More talent

 

[jave36]

View attachment 708819More talent

It's something else. Our road woes are more than talent. They've got to figure that out.

 

[Vols410]

On the VQ podcast last night. Eric Cain read a stat from Pro football focus, on 31 drop back passes, we sent 8 pressures. Thats 25%. Howard sucks against the blitz, but we never blitz.
Also, the excuse for not blitzing, is we don't have the DB'S to leave one on one, fair enough, but watch the UGA and OSU games we weren't giving our corners very much safety help.
So it's like here take 1 on 1 shots, and here's all the time in the world to get open. It makes no sense.

This is patently false. OSU’s passing numbers are much better against the blitz. The only way to reliably beat them in the passing game is to get pressure with 4.

 

[VolByLaw]

Was ONL suspended for the first half of the game for conduct? Or was it a coach’s decision not to play him?

I think you are safe to say he was held from competition for the first half some off field action.

-Hubbs

 

[HoleInTheRoof]

A few random post season thoughts I have

• I was deployed to the Middle East last time we won a national championship and we’ve been wandering through the desert of mediocrity the vast majority of my adult life. So despite being disappointed in HOW we lost, I am forever grateful and thoroughly enjoy 10 win seasons and beating Florida and Alabama.
• Im not 100% sold on Nico. Kid is tough and he does make some high level throws at times, but a lot of the time he looks almost panicked back there. I don’t have access to all 22’s so I don’t know what is happen down the field - maybe no one is open - but he rarely looks comfortable in the pocket, hesitant to throw, and generally has happy feet. I hope there is an honest QB competition in the offseason. Not because I’m writing Nico off - by no means - just that iron sharpens iron.
• Im genuinely disappointed in Chris Brazzell. Outside of that touchdown vs Alabama, I don’t remember him making a noteworthy play this year.
• Not sure I’m buying the squirrel to the portal rumors. But I won’t cry if he does. I appreciate the player and he’s made a ton of plays for us. But at the same time, the slot should feast in this offense and he really hasn’t. The sentimental part of me hopes he sticks and is a rotation guy because I want him to finish out here and be a true VFL. The logical part of me hopes Staley is an upgrade and we go back to the slot being dangerous.
• I think so much of our defensive woes against quality teams is our lack of speed/athleticism at safety. It’s a lot to ask true freshman linebackers to contribute but hopefully they can because we need speed there.
• Like most, I want upgrades at OL coach and WR coach. Doubt we see it.
• Unfortunately it feels like 9 wins is our ceiling next year. I have zero confidence in us beating good teams on the road next year and if they schedule us vs a bad team on the road at night, odds of us pissing down our leg is strong.
• I have more thoughts but it’s time for me and I wipe and flush before my leg falls asleep.

 

[JT3]

View attachment 708819More talent

We actually scored 20 points twice (OU 2024 and Bama 2023) but his point is still valid. 1-5 in those games.

Game 7 was that LSU down in 2022.

 

[Orange.]

If the offense scores more than 14 against Arkansas, then we host a playoff game. Banks isn’t the real issue. He had 2 bad games against 2 elite teams.

People forget how badly we were hurting at OT at Okie and Arkie. The 2nd quarter at OK was a nightmare for Nico. He was blindsided at full speed in about a second. Twice.

 

[Ericvol2096]

@Ericvol2096 does Spyre offer a one time donation option?

Yes see here.

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