I'm just wondering what some of you think.. Since Fitzgerald ran mostly the wishbone in high school and or Staley at qb, do you think it will be more of a running attack next season? I'm hoping some kind of option or wishbone myself.. I'm old school though...
Next season- Ground game?
- Thread starter jwhdawg
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It's not like they're moving from the spread to the wishbone. Expect changes to a run-first attack.
I am very optimistic. We get Lashley, an elite talent at OT and I really like
what I saw out of Elgton Jenkins. He was getting nasty with some down field blocking in the bowl game. I like Calhoun and Cochran too. The reason our OL was so horrible this year was bc of a few misses, but also drop outs, transfers and attitudes AKA "I dunno if I'm cut out for big boy football." A combo of all this caused us to have a terrible OL which kept us from competing against good competition like we all saw. i think the group we have now will become pretty good and Lashley is finally the big, highly coveted LT we've been looking for.
Few other youngsters that have gotten praise like Story.
What we saw last year was inexcusable. It is what it is at this point however. Mullen's OLs of the past haven't been anywhere near as putrid, so I'm not planning on getting used to it. If we don't improve dramatically we need to see major changes.
what I saw out of Elgton Jenkins. He was getting nasty with some down field blocking in the bowl game. I like Calhoun and Cochran too. The reason our OL was so horrible this year was bc of a few misses, but also drop outs, transfers and attitudes AKA "I dunno if I'm cut out for big boy football." A combo of all this caused us to have a terrible OL which kept us from competing against good competition like we all saw. i think the group we have now will become pretty good and Lashley is finally the big, highly coveted LT we've been looking for.
Few other youngsters that have gotten praise like Story.
What we saw last year was inexcusable. It is what it is at this point however. Mullen's OLs of the past haven't been anywhere near as putrid, so I'm not planning on getting used to it. If we don't improve dramatically we need to see major changes.
I would love to see us use a Lead Blocker next year---like a FB, like we used in Mullen's early years, Hanrahan and Hemphill.
This past year I just saw a lot of 1 RB sets and zone blocking, hoping to pull defenders out of the "box" with our 4 WRs. However even spreading the Defense out still requires your OL to win their 1 on 1 blocks and our OL usually did not win at the line of scrimmage or they only got a stalemate.
Next year we will have enough RBs on our roster to run some 2 RB sets and have a lead blocking RB---Shumpert, Dear, Lee, Williams, Hollaway, Mixon, Gibson, and Murphy. That is 8 RBs folks, ok maybe 7.5 with Dear being a part time WR. But the point is we will have a bunch of options and some combination of these guys should be able to help fix the problem.
This past year I just saw a lot of 1 RB sets and zone blocking, hoping to pull defenders out of the "box" with our 4 WRs. However even spreading the Defense out still requires your OL to win their 1 on 1 blocks and our OL usually did not win at the line of scrimmage or they only got a stalemate.
Next year we will have enough RBs on our roster to run some 2 RB sets and have a lead blocking RB---Shumpert, Dear, Lee, Williams, Hollaway, Mixon, Gibson, and Murphy. That is 8 RBs folks, ok maybe 7.5 with Dear being a part time WR. But the point is we will have a bunch of options and some combination of these guys should be able to help fix the problem.
There are several things working against us in 2015: OL and RB.
Our OL frankly can't be any worse. So there is some hope there. RB is a mess though.
Sr - Holloway
Sr - Shumpert
Soph - Willams
Soph - Lee
Fr - Gibson
Fr - Murphy
Not including carries going out to Dear, Mixon, Fitz, and all the other WRs.
Our OL frankly can't be any worse. So there is some hope there. RB is a mess though.
Sr - Holloway
Sr - Shumpert
Soph - Willams
Soph - Lee
Fr - Gibson
Fr - Murphy
Not including carries going out to Dear, Mixon, Fitz, and all the other WRs.
I think it will be a little more balanced next year, especially if Mullen is comfortable with our QB situation (meaning he's not afraid to lose our starter to injury because we have a competent backup).
We really need one of the young RBs to step up. Holloway will still get his touches. The Shumpert experiment should be over. He needs to be used primarily as a blocker and get no more than 2 or 3 touches per game. We maybe should look at moving him to TE if Walley can't come back healthy.
One thing to remember is this was our most inexperienced offensive line ever coming into the season (at least in recent history). They had 32 starts - and 30 of those were Malone and Senior. We had three new starters who had played just a handful of games between them. This year we should return 3 guys with a combined 53 starts plus two others that played probably at least 25% of the snaps last year. It's not as good as what we had in 2013 and 2014, but much better than last year.
We really need one of the young RBs to step up. Holloway will still get his touches. The Shumpert experiment should be over. He needs to be used primarily as a blocker and get no more than 2 or 3 touches per game. We maybe should look at moving him to TE if Walley can't come back healthy.
One thing to remember is this was our most inexperienced offensive line ever coming into the season (at least in recent history). They had 32 starts - and 30 of those were Malone and Senior. We had three new starters who had played just a handful of games between them. This year we should return 3 guys with a combined 53 starts plus two others that played probably at least 25% of the snaps last year. It's not as good as what we had in 2013 and 2014, but much better than last year.
I think Shump is going to be made a Full Back and we are going to incorporate that into the offense.
Only problem with that is you have to take a wr off the field. I would like to see it some, but I want gray, Ross, and aj (yeah, we getting him) on the field
Dare I say I would like to see us spread things out more like the Bears and
setup our running game with our passing game. Like it or not they have the formula for beating teams with more physical talent on the line than them such as Bama, they spread those defenses out and find the gaps. It would help us to move in this direction instead of QB up the middle and lead blocker stuff, Bama will eat that up.
setup our running game with our passing game. Like it or not they have the formula for beating teams with more physical talent on the line than them such as Bama, they spread those defenses out and find the gaps. It would help us to move in this direction instead of QB up the middle and lead blocker stuff, Bama will eat that up.
I think this is what it amounts to. The vast majority of Dan's offense is predicated on having at least 3 wideouts in the formation. Other than out of necessity, I think a big reason he used more two back/fullback sets his first few years was that we barely had three wideouts on the roster worth putting on the field.
Our Oline is going to be bad enough that I don't think Bama plays into the equation. We have to do what will get us 4 OOC conference wins and the best chance against Ark, UM, UK, USCe, adn A&M.
I can't imagine Lashley is going to help next year unless we are terrible again. Just very few true freshman that can play OT in the SEC.
We have the personnel to run an excellent wishbone, but
that's not our offense, and we (Dan) wouldn't change now. The wishbone is highly specialized and would require an OC with experience teaching/using it.
When I say we have the personnel, I mean a running QB, a bigger bruiser RB, a smaller faster RB, and several excellent WR's. We could do very well in a passing wishbone like GaTech has in seasons with better QBs/WRs.
that's not our offense, and we (Dan) wouldn't change now. The wishbone is highly specialized and would require an OC with experience teaching/using it.
When I say we have the personnel, I mean a running QB, a bigger bruiser RB, a smaller faster RB, and several excellent WR's. We could do very well in a passing wishbone like GaTech has in seasons with better QBs/WRs.
He's one of the tops in the nation with offers from literally anyone he wants. Why can't he contribute?
Oh no we can recruit at a very high level and still not have enough talent! What do we do now?! Can't coach, can't cruit and can't beat OM. 17!!
Oh no we can recruit at a very high level and still not have enough talent! What do we do now?! Can't coach, can't cruit and can't beat OM. 17!!
I'm not bashing him, I was just thinking there are maybe 3 to 5 OT's in the nation ready to play in the SEC as a true freshman, and as excited as everybody has seemed about him, they haven't seemed so excited that I thought he was one of the those few OT recruits. But I could be completely off about how many SEC ready OT recruits there are each year, or I could be wrong in thinking he isn't expected to be that type of player.
Don't get me wrong, Dak and John Bond are my all time two favorite players, but maybe one of the reason's we did not see Dak running a lot and different types of running plays was maybe he told Mullen he would only come back if was pass heavy this year.. But I do understand the oline sucks. I just think we would be much better to have a heavy running attack now with what we have....