Troubleshooting 2011: Offense

Allright! Football on BC. Great stuff Nickel!

Nice post, depressing to read how many things must be fixed.

Prior to the point where I stopped paying attention last year, I thought there was some limited success in getting time to make downfield throws w/play action last year, it’s just that Gilbert missed the throws frequently, especially in the midfield/seam type areas.

Another thing – the bubble screen is a staple of Boise State offense (of course so is context and misdirection) but I can imagine the groans from teh fanbase the first time it goes for 1 yard (which it invariably will at least once)

^Should also add, why go with garbage at Tackle when Walters seemed destined to take snaps at RT 2 years ago? Seems like a move that should be made given the plethora of guards and the wasteland at tackle.

^^ Sorry, garbage is too harsh. Unknown commodities.

As long as we can continue to tie all offensive metrics to explosive plays and the defense forces three turnovers per game the dreamwagon ride shall never end!

Excellent stuff as always, Nickel. It will be really interesting to see (know?) if the QB roulette is truly an open competition. You gotta think that Harsin is coming in with a clean slate and will be partial to whoever will be the best game manager. I agree with Arriviste – why core strength the inside when you can shift your strengths to the outside? Walters and Allen came in with the thinking that they could be a cornerstone LT. Why relegate them to guard and put Hopkins, who many thought was a guard coming in, at tackle? I trust Searels will shake this all out. I have no idea how Dom Jones wasn’t ahead of Barrett Matthews on the depth chart by, say, game 2 last year. Jones showed more in about 5 minutes of game action than Matthews showed all year.

Whereas Diaz has some known commodities (Robinson, Acho, Randall, Jeffcoat, Vaccaro, uhh…Gideon…) and spots to fill thanks to graduation/draft, but Harsin doesn’t have that same latitude. PROVE IT really need to be the motto for the offense, whether a returnee or new hopeful.

uthookem: It’s easy to have a distaste for the “explosives plays” rhetoric given the poor results that we saw last year but I would argue that our offensive strategies last year did not remotely reflect a philosophy that saw the big pass play as a critical part of the offense.

Do you like Holgorsen? His philosophy is built around the big pass play. It will always be easier to score by grabbing yardage in chunks than 5 yards at a time.

Arriviste: I wonder, with Walters, if his technique at tackle in pass protection has just been miserably poor. He didn’t excel there even at guard so while his athleticism screams Tackle I’m not sure he actually has the skills to play the position. Should be worth trying out, obviously.

“It will always be easier to score by grabbing yardage in chunks than 5 yards at a time.”

Yo Al Davis has a coaching job for you!

Yeah, I was just pulling your chain nickel, I’m a huge fan of the big play, but I think we may need to change the moniker. Something like HFP (huge Fucking play). Ramonce Taylor was one of my favorite players for a reason.

I’m also on the “move Walters outside” bandwagon, particularly if we’ve got depth inside. as mentioned, at one point it seemed he was destined to play outside. maybe that was pre-injury and such considerations have changed the equation? not sure.

to me, one of the greatest dissapointments last year was the WR corp. while I feel like group underperformed as a unit, I never thought they were properly utilized. I have a feeling that will be rectified.

maybe I’m an optimist, but if we can get average OL play, I think our offense will be pretty dang good.

listening to Harsin talk about gameplanning — how each gameplan is tailored to the weaknesses of the opponent and is inclusive of so many players — has me excited. the fact that opposing defenses won’t know what play is coming is just refreshing.

To be fair to ol’ Greggy, he did enjoy gameplanning and scripting plays in anticipation of how teams would respond to things he did. Supposedly, he loved showing one look or response and then using an entirely different one against a more formidable opponent to throw off their gameplanning.

Obviously the results wouldn’t lead you to believe that he did anything of the sort.

“our current government trying to avoid credit default by ordering more credit cards”

Thank you, George Bush, for turning a record government surplus into a record government deficit.

Nickel: That’s all well and fine but you failed to pointed out how Cleve Bryant fits in with all this.

But really, good stuff. Now, I can haz offensive schemes that are worthy of being called schemes?

dood: whatever.

Chip Brown is predicting that David Snow doesn’t start next year. I think that is completely batshit crazy.

“Thank you, George Bush, for turning a record government surplus into a record government deficit.”

Thank you Barrack Obama for “hope” and “change”-ing our asses into more of the same at even greater orders of magnitude.

…..and on the football talk. just reading and learning. thanks for the info.

Porter could be a key this year, and he’s a step above most of the non-starters mentioned, talent wise.

“It will always be easier to score by grabbing yardage in chunks than 5 yards at a time.”

We’re Texas….why can’t we have both?

Chip Brown said what? Based on what? I gotta find this, unless someone can link me a free article. The concept of David Snow not starting next year would underline the extremely superficial analysis of Hogan and Chip.

Ha. I swear. It was a feature on OB a week or so back, where they all picked their starting five. Sex Panther had Porter starting at center, and Snow starting nowhere.

I second the motto for next season of “PROVE IT”. Well played jc25. I would go a little further and say it should play to both sides of the ball to combat against the complacency and entitlement of last season.

So what is going to happen when Harsin realizes the Running Back coach can’t coach running backs?

Oh no’s! Malcolm Brown and Johnathan Gray will forget how to run!

Whoa, Nellie?

Are football articles still allowed at the carnival? I thought they were banned, or at least being rationed.

Seriously, great article Nickel. Always enjoy the analysis.

There is still not a Division I qb on campus. Huge problem

“Nebraska has great defensive backs and solid pressure packages but a small front 7 and a below average Nose Tackle. We have terrible Wide Receivers and lapsing pass protection but an interior OL and Left Tackle who can run block and a half dozen guys who can run sorta alright, including the QB.”

Just one example of your ability to express a lot, vividly, in few words, Rover.

2011 will be street ball for Texas, a passel of fleet receivers taking in accurate throws from GG. Gilbert will go down as the best downfield passer in Texas history. And we’ll have a running game that can gouge out yards. I’m expecting the same sort of turnaround we’ve seen from the basketball team.

good take, oldhorn.

and, meanwhile back at the ranch, the Oklahoma Thunder, led by Kevin Durant, a University of Texas Longhorn, are taking it to the Spurs.

Hook ’em, Kevin!

In your scenario I see Malcolm succeeding. He always seems better at making the catch when its instinctual, and not when he has to think about it.

ransom, how many of Boise’s QBs were big time, Division 1 studs? Sure, they look good after the fact, as will GG/Wood in a real offense that doesn’t require a Heisman RB, the best college football player in history, or the most accurate QB in history.

thegreatkeithjackson with one of the dumber comments I’ve read in a while.

thegreatkeithjackson trolls around here every so often trying to pick a fight where he can argue that Major sucks. You don’t even notice after a while, sort of like when people tap the passenger side brake while you drive. It just ceases to bother you.

oldtime,

I have never seen a turnaround like you describe without a change a HC. I doubt it will happen this time. The train wreck that NR describes is beyond this staff of youngsters.

As for Major, there is no data available to the public that he doesn’t suck. Quite the opposite. In the meantime, we will take your anonymous word for that he does not. Gawd knows MB wishes he had seen it your way back in the Chris Simms day.

Chris Simms should coach the RBs!!!!!

Ivan Maisel loves ou and hates UT. Just an observation.

excellent read. much thanks.

despite all that has been said here and elsewhere, i have remained a little bit from mizzou on harsin. simply a question as to what extent the boise success has been his doing. and how likely is he to be able to translate that capability in a new environment.

247 has a free write-up on harsin that is a must read. a snippet from that article has basically answered off my one last lingering echo of concern. i’m fully on board now:

Harsin never became a starter for the Broncos, but he built relationships and showed a deeper understanding of the sport.

In fact, he would study so much film he would run into problems when he gave his opinion.

"One time, we were in Dirk Koetter’s office talking about the game plan for that weekend’s game," Brekke said. "Koetter (then Boise’s head coach and currently the Jacksonville Jaguars’ offensive coordinator), who was the offensive coordinator and a real genius, was going over a play we were going to run if the team came out in a certain defense."

Harsin disagreed. He pointed out that the opponent would see what Boise State was doing and change.

"Harse was just a backup quarterback at the time, but he studied so much film that he knew what he was talking about," Brekke said. "Koetter got so mad that he kicked Harse out of his office. We ended up switching to the way Harse thought the play should be run."

this happened when harse was a backup qb at boise. very, very impressive at that age to be already analytic in an effective way. the man is clearly through-and-through who he seems to be. i’m on board.

also, i only know about his wife, kes, what i have read a few places, but i think i may be in love with her.

also, what kind of car has a passenger-side brake? i gotta avoid that. it’s bad enough with today’s cars to have to thumb-wrestle the stupid on-board computer to get down the road, but to have to also fire-fight my passenger is just too much. i hate today’s ‘cars’.

oh, you mean the imaginary passenger brake. yeah, i get your point.

Ransom, how have you effectively determined that Connor Wood and David Ash are not Division 1 QB’s?

“I have no idea how Dom Jones wasn’t ahead of Barrett Matthews on the depth chart by, say, game 2 last year. Jones showed more in about 5 minutes of game action than Matthews showed all year.”

Could not agree more.

"I have no idea how Dom Jones wasn’t ahead of Barrett Matthews on the depth chart by, say, game 2 last year. Jones showed more in about 5 minutes of game action than Matthews showed all year."

Could not agree more.

All season long, I kept wondering what exactly was in process of “rebuilding” in the offense… and this alleged TE/HB shit was one of the major areas of puzzlement – along with watching the upperclassmen on the OL routinely whiffing blocks and exhibiting general, of not epic, failingness.

I sure as hell hope Bruce Chambers was being held back and/or subverted by play-calling, because we didn’t see a hell of a lot out of his area (although it seemed Greg Smith caught more passes for more yards in that all-star game than he did in GDGD’s rebuilding scheme, so mayhap Bruce was doing something right, yeah?). I’m assuming the DISD deal fell through, right?

thegreatkeithjackson said: February 23rd, 2011 at 2:59 pm

So what is going to happen when Harsin realizes the Running Back coach can’t coach running backs?

chitwood said: February 23rd, 2011 at 9:26 pm

thegreatkeithjackson with one of the dumber comments I’ve read in a while.

I beg to differ. Major has been the RB coach for 2 years. From my view, admiittedly biased, I have seen ZERO in-season improvement from any whorn RB during Major’s watch. Since you disagree, please list the RB and build your case. I’ll hang-up and listen.

This “debate” makes my blood boil. Major is not responsible for making Cody faster, Fozzy less Mr. Glass-ish, or Tre less concussed. In fact, if Major had his way he’d have a different stable of RBs altogether, in addition to a different scheme, which we’ll be seeing soon.

So that argument is garbage.

TGKJ:

Building a good RB is not like building a Playboy Playmate. You can’t just suck in that fat here, inflate the funbags there, and Frankenstein yourself a solid 8.5. You actually have to have the raw material to work with in the first place. You need the ability to recruit to your system without restraint, you need to actually have a system to recruit to, and then you need an S&C coach who isn’t dead set on fucking the whole thing up for you every summer.

Not to mention an oline that goes forward & not sideways and backwards

Wow, I thought thegreatkiethjackson, when I first saw that yesterday, was posting the fonts of a well of irony and satire, rather than a void of silliness.

But he’s serious? Really?

Are you sure he’s not just soem sort of counter-counter-ironist?

Blaine Irby is back :)

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6156056

Perhaps we’ll have serviceable TE play this year…

If Irby is like he was before he went down 15 years ago, big IF, we have made a tremendous addition. Probably can’t count on him for anything though, sadly.

To answer Keith Jackson just one more time. In the departments where Major could improve a back such as understanding where to run in the scheme, running routes, and pass protection, he did a phenomenal job.

All of our backs were good in PP last year and many of our better receptions on the year were made by backs. Cody Johnson in the RRS, Fozzy against Nebraska, etc.

Adding to this, Major wanted to recruit Christine Michaels, Quandre Diggs, and Aaron Green. Let’s not let the politics of the Simms-Major debate or the dearth of talent at RB be a stain on Applewhite’s coaching resume.

Everyone, don’t respond to the anti-Applewhite Trolls until they can answer for anything I’ve just written. Don’t feed them and they go away.

Thanks, NR, for some sanity on what our offense was/could be. I don’t know enough “inside football” to comment on Harsin’s presumed attack style, but I like your analysis of our personnel.

I see real potential at WR, a much improved TE situation and a solid interior line. That only leaves RB . . . QB . . . and tackle. That’s . . . who knows . . . hope so . . . and uh-oh.

I see four O-line definites: Snow, Allen, Walters and Hopkins. Hopefully, the latter two get some time at tackle this spring, and Searels can pick a fifth from Porter (probably as a guard) or Kelley (tackle). There aren’t any other options — Ashcraft is too slow, Poehlmann misses the spring after knee surgery, none of the true freshmen are on campus yet.

Bye Great Keith. Sweet Jesus, do you need a license to operate the Internet that poorly?

Good god, what a great post, NR.

I gave the chef a package of hot dogs, a loaf of white bread, a jar of store brand mayo, two packs of frozen mixed vegetables, and a sack of Mexican blend shredded cheese. The chef had a dull knife, a microwave, and a hot plate.

With those ingredients and equipment, the chef was unable to prepare a gourmet masterpiece. From this, I determined that he was a terrible chef.

Lark 47: those are the actual ingredients for a Brazillian Style hot dog (cachorro quente), plus a little bit of sauce & shoestring potatoes – I swear to god, google it if you don’t believe me.

A capable brasilera/o, if you are blessed with having one in your household, can turn those ingredients into a very fine meal, despite the fact taht the idea of peas and corn on a hot dog is initially disquieting to the norteamericano palate.

End red-dic-ulous tangent. Apologies.

AAS had a piece up yesterday with quotes from Peterson saying Harsin has been calling Boise’s plays for four years. Good to know.

New roster is up:

http://www.texassports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/tex-m-footbl-mtt.html

In discussing our depth in the secondary, I had completely forgotten about Nolan Brewster.

I still shake my head at the number of TE’s on the roster – with Irby cleared and maybe Grant (someday) playing and a little scheming, maybe productivity will increase. Even as an EBS.

You know, in looking over that roster, it’s kind of amazing to see the number of guys that could have pretty much chosen their school coming out of high school. RB is weak, yeah, and DE and the CB are thin, but I don’t think we’ll get much sympathy from opposing coaches when perhaps our biggest position of need is manned by Jeffcoat and Reggie Wilson.

Or in other words, this is not a team devoid of talent. I think we’re going to have a very 1998-ish type of season.

For the sheer ironic amusement of it, I’d pay 100 American Dollars to see a Quadruple TE set, against Rice on Sept 3.

^ Could call it the 4TE ACRES package or something to carry on the tradition of the Wild Horn.

Nice to see the" tape worm" Chris Jones, through proper diet and weight training, is up to a hulking 160 lbs. My brothers and I always subscribed to scipio’s theory, (even before we knew what a scipio was). And that is you take a raw-boned, athletic freak out of east Texas, feed him three squares, throw him in a competent weight training program and enjoy.
Hell, in one weekend I can put on 5lbs in Austin…and my 40 time dips from a 5.6 to a 6.2….

I applaud Arriviste’s contributions to this thread.

Good read, Nickel. Thanks for the effort. I’m going to wait to get excited about the implementation of scheme change until the 3rd quarter of the BYU game.

Haha at 4TE Acres.

Arriviste—there you go throwing a wrench in my would-be analogy. I’ll take your word for it that cachorro quente is what you say it is.

nordberg:

UT is anything but devoid of talent. The problem is that the weak spots are at the worst possible places for a team whose primary rival employs a spread passing offense that picks on weak CBs and requires an opponent to have a deep corps of pass rushers to hold up to 80+ plays a game. Jeffcoat has already proven that he’s got a temper, and a guy like that can’t afford to be pissed off on play number 79. That’s how you give up 3rd and 15 by a stupid penalty.

Nate comes from Dave Chappelle’s “100 Ways to Please Your Man, by Some Lady” school of thought as it relates to this year’s Longhorns, apparently. “Well, you have to understand, Jeffcoat has a temper, and he’s already played 79 snaps…”

Come on man, that list is like 4 things long.

I forgot to even ponder the existence or impact of Trey Graham, Macfarland, Howard, Irby, or Grant at Tight end…

4TE Acres package ftw. Surely Harsin and Chambers can scrap together a tight end and wingback from this group. Also, no wonder Whaley isn’t still there, although his move back to the logjam at running back is completely baffling to me. Defensive end makes more sense than THAT.

NateHeupel, if ya’ll can block our front it doesn’t look great for us. Losing Fleming hurts though…

Nickel Rover sez: Surely Harsin and Chambers can scrap[e] together a tight end and wingback from this group.

Judging from that allstar game result, Smith may not have been nearly as bad as the GDGD Random Play Selektor TM made him look. I’m feeling pretty confident about our seeing Good Things from the TE/HBack position(s)…

TexLong: I’m not buying it. He was a poor blocker here and while he may have mastered the art of catching a moving football he was no master of the arts of balance or open field elusion.

Teams invited us to find him on 3rd and long knowing that tackling him short of the markers couldn’t be easier.

In a way I am glad that spring practice will be closed. After the offensive disaster of last season no part of this group doesn’t need to be broken down and rebuilt in terms of fundamentals, design, and implementation. That is going to make for some boring practices and experimenting with various parts and pieces. Shutting down all distractions is a common ploy and I don’t have any issues if that is what the staff needs to get the focus of this team and start the reconstruction process.

It is important to remember that for most of the staff they have not seen these kids perform live let alone in the systems they will be asked to perform in next fall. Part of me thinks that is why we are seeing the staff not go full bore after some prospects at this time. Over half the staff doesn’t know the physical and mental capabilities of their players and how do you truly know what future parts that you need when you don’t know what you have on hand?

The first thing I think the entire staff needs to find out and quickly is who on this team is ready to do what they are asked to do – how they are asked to do- when they are asked to do it. There were way too many mental mistakes last year made by players who have been in the program way too long. The first sign to me that things truly have changed in Austin would be to me when an upperclassmen who isn’t ready to buy into the new direction of the program is dropped down the depth chart in place of a younger player despite fears of bruising egos Playing time is not a benefit of program tenure and if that is allowed to continue we will not see the change many of us hope to see next Fall.

In the offensive line I agree that aside from David Snow no player should have a set position to play at this time. Snow should he can be highly effective in the position last year and unless Searels does something unique with who is primarily responsible for making the offensive line calls you would want your most experienced player at center. No other player has more than one year of even partial starting time and I think David is the type of kid he can build a line around.

After that let the wild rumpus for playing time begin. Searels regularly juggled the offensive line in every year but one at Georgia due to injury so the idea of fitting players into positions won’t be new. I don’t foresee one of the true freshmen making an impact at tackle so the Spring will be key finding at least three tackles. Who that is remains to be seen, but I do believe that from the 8 different players he has to work with this Spring he can find 5-6 that can be melded with Snow to form a solid line.

Tight end is now a bigger interest with the return of Irby, but it will be interesting to see what comes from this position and who stays here. Howard is a body, Graham is yet to letter in two years, Grant might never return, and that leaves us with the interesting group of Matthews-Jones-McFarland-Terrell. McFarland is the classic body, but he did not play the traditional position in high school so no one knows what he will do with a hand on the ground next to a tackle. Jones looked good at the end and better than Matthews which raises the question does Matthews go back to fullback? Terrell could be interesting in the 3-tight end set as well as starting next to a tackle before moving out to a flex position. This position has to provide some sort of threat in 2011.

Wide receiver to me has two distinct groups. The undersized group that I am not sure are big enough to ride the roller-coasters at Fiesta Texas and the group that is loaded with promise, but not quite there yet.

The key to me is Malcolm. He has the size, strength, speed, explosiveness out of the break, and the ability to run after the catch on those deep slants that Texas hasn’t had since Lovell Pinkney. He also has been incredibly inconsistent and last year seemed to take a step backwards. Malcolm is also a litmus test to me. If he continues to start ahead of White and Davis I can only believe it is because Wyatt has convinced the young man he can become rich if he will just catch the damn ball and let everything else come naturally. If we continue to see bad routes and volleyball sets while White and Davis sit things haven’t changed.

Davis is the future in this offense with his size, toughness, knack for finding the open space quickness, and desire to be the man. He doesn’t have great speed, but he is the type of guy Wyatt has done great things with in the past. White is the block of clay Mal was a few years back. Fortunately his career won’t get sidetracked by that kiln accident of a position coach Bobby Kennedy. Wyatt is known for being tough on his guys. That is exactly what the raw White needs. He needs to get stronger, better in his routes, and more physical with corners. Darius can be a great deep threat now, but he can be a total receiver and wouldn’t it be nice to have at least two of those guys on the field at the same time?

What about Goodwin? I think he is a great weapon, but not a featured part of the offense due to some limitations. Size wise he faces a tough match up from bigger corners and he doesn’t seem to have the natural instincts of Davis. They still need to find a way to use him, but that might not really happen until the Fall as he is on course to be competing for a national title in a few weeks at the NCAA indoors. Mix in that he has made it well known he will be going to London in 2012 if healthy I just don’t think it is wise to see him as a centerpoint of the passing offense.

That leaves the door open to Jaxon Shipley except he won’t be practicing. He made his decision and what is done is done. This does mean a chance for DeSean Hales to prove he can become a lesser version of DeSean Jackson in the Texas passing game and not another misused, misunderstood piece. The guy is explosive with the ball in his hands, but he has to work on the mechanics of the position. If he can do that he gives Harsin and Major a great piece to pair with the bigger receivers.

The paradox at running back is how many carries do you give Cody and Foz this spring? Both have had a history of little injuries that have slowed them down. They need time in the offense and I don’t think you can really work on the timing in the running game without game conditions. Trouble is that if you don’t give those two many carries in the Spring Texas is left with Hills, Shead, and Monroe(when he isn’t running track). Do you give those carries to Hills and Shead to find out what they can contribute before Malcolm comes to town next Fall?

Texas has Berryhill and a few other players who play elsewhere for this position. Bergeron is on his way , but you have to think Texas finds another player at this position if Harsin is truly going to use the position.

Finally quarterback. Boise has succeeded with smart quarterbacks who know the system and use that over great physical tools. We all know the work ethic of Major and the stories of Harsin’s preparation and study as a backup have been making the rounds. My pick is whichever quarterback can pick up his system the fastest, show a command of the reads, and avoid mistakes over the guy who might be more vocal or have the bigger arm.

I’m not buying it. He was a poor blocker here and while he may have mastered the art of catching a moving football he was no master of the arts of balance or open field elusion.

Being a poor blocker put him in the same category as damn near every other receiver on or off the field. As I intended to imply previously, I hope this problem was somehow due to coaches who are no longer with the team, rather than the TE coach who is apparently not going to be taking a position with DISD, or any other overheld staff.

Teams invited us to find him on 3rd and long knowing that tackling him short of the markers couldn’t be easier.

Of course they did, knowing that the GDGD Random Play Selektor TM had the patented Pattern Depth Maximizer Factor set to F – 2, where F is yards needed for a first down, and the patent-pending RVAR (Receiver Velocity At Reception) fixed at 0.00 Feet Per Second.

Tex Long: Very often you must throw short on 3rd and long and hope to get blocks or have dynamic players who can make things happen rather than forcing deep throws into coverages where the entire back 7 is taking deep drops.

That’s all moot though, the point is that Greg Smith would drop like a sack of potatoes anytime he took a hit, I’m not sure I’ve seen an easier guy to tackle in space. It didn’t matter if he was on the move, although I’ll grant that was infrequent, he would invariably be quickly dropped.

Might he have been an effective blocker had he been coached better? Perhaps, or he may have still sucked. We have 2 seasons of evidence that say he was an average player at best and you have 1 or 2 plays from a single game. The prosecution rests.

Nickel, help me here. I’ve been stymed as to why Whaley hasn’t been worked in as a tight end? Did his hands get too fat too? He has naturally grown physically into that position and can contribute with the blocking and be punishing after the catch in the secondary forcing LB’s to respect the middle.

Maybe I’m just a simple country doctor, but when I first saw his build and weight gain last year. I waited in vein for that move. To absolutely not use a player like him in any fashion is a pathetic waste.

The move to DE seems to further de-exploit his abilities he currently has instead of losing playing years to try to learn a position more foreign.

Where am I wrong here?

Saltshaker: I have no idea what they are doing with Whaley. None. His body and skill set does literally scream TIGHT END! or use as the wingback/hback in Harsin’s scheme. Moving him to RB when we already have Johnson and Whittaker joined by Hills, Shead and Brown is ridiculous enough before you consider his size (currently listed at 6-3, 250).

The only thing I can think of is that he wants to play RB and Mack is willing to let him fizzle and waste away there rather than force him to play somewhere else. Nothing else really makes sense in my mind, I can’t imagine they would need him as a power back with Johnson and Brown around.

Nickel Rover sez:
We have 2 seasons of evidence that say he was an average player at best and you have 1 or 2 plays from a single game. The prosecution rests.

I think it was 4/77 – still not much of a sample, but in the aforementioned 2 seasons, nothing like that ever happened. Mis-use or fluke-versus-normal?

I dunno, but my point was not about Greg Smith, but rather about Bruce Chambers.

Every time I looked at the roster last season (and the one before) I saw 8 or 9 players listed as “TE”, and none of them ever appeared capable of much more than keeping a square foot or two of bench warm. Did Bruce (or whomever) completely screw 8 or 9 pooches worth of evaluations? Bad training? Bad plays? Or what?

Worse, the player I saw who looked like he should have TIGHT_END and/or H_BACK fucking tattooed across his forehead in gigantic letters almost never saw the field at any position – you were just talking about him, too. Moving him back to “RB” doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense, unless that really means “TE/Hback”, which does make at least some sense, since that position looks to be of great import in HarsinWhite schemology as it goes in for shifts and motion, A Whaley-Irby pairing (with Jones and MacFarland for spice) seems like it might at least bear looking at… I haven’t noticed Whaley blocking, but he definitely can run the ball, and has seemed to have decent hands.

I reckon we’ll see, as the Great HarsinWhite Experiment plays out. I hope it does, and I’m pretty sure Mack is counting on something working out. If I was counting on continuing to count to five million every year, I’d be counting pretty hard, too.

So we’re not likely to make a national champeenship run this year? Damn!
I’m ready to fire some coaches and get somebody in here who can turn this thing around!
Where’s Fran?

Seriously, I’m drooling at the prospect of seeing the results of carefully-considered-actually-thought-out-honest-to-god COACHING! I have no target W-L record in mind. I just want to see a real football team out there doing their damnedest to win. For the first time in a while, I’m getting the vibe that coaches are working from the standpoint of what we actually have instead of looking at the high school recruiting rank and setting up a lineup based on the number of stars by the name and number of years on campus.

I have developed an almost religious faith in Harsin, already.

LurkerintheDark sez:
Seriously, I’m drooling at the prospect of seeing the results of carefully-considered-actually-thought-out-honest-to-god COACHING! I have no target W-L record in mind. I just want to see a real football team out there doing their damnedest to win. For the first time in a while, I’m getting the vibe that coaches are working from the standpoint of what we actually have instead of looking at the high school recruiting rank and setting up a lineup based on the number of stars by the name and number of years on campus.

Mopping my metaphorical shirtfronts, too. My real expectation is to see something resembling competence and effort on all fronts. Given those, I can’t see any way we can possibly be less successful than 2010 – not that it can’t happen, just that I can’t see how, at this stage. Assuming 2011 versus 2010 to show Offense almost certainly better, and Defense about the same (hopefully better, but…), I anticipate a 2, 3, even 4 game swing, i.e. anywhere from 7-5 or better.