Morris seems excited about tight ends

[PorkSoda]

Take a look at the players on both sides of the line.   Philosophy change isn't going to magically fix a lack of athleticism. 

except we don't have a lack of athleticism.  we had a lack consistent of execution, which lead to losses piling up.

[ThisTeetsTaken]

except we don't have a lack of athleticism.  we had a lack consistent of execution, which lead to losses piling up.

Tell you what.  Make a two deep on both lines with our best players and look at it.   Don't remember our OL (with the exception of Ragnow and Froholt) getting whipped routinely?   Don't remember seeing our DL getting whipped?  I'm excited about CCM also but they have work to do to get the lines back to SEC quality.

[PorkSoda]

Tell you what.  Make a two deep on both lines with our best players and look at it.   Don't remember our OL (with the exception of Ragnow and Froholt) getting whipped routinely?   Don't remember seeing our DL getting whipped?  I'm excited about CCM also but they have work to do to get the lines back to SEC quality.

everyone gets beat on some plays.  our problem is that we would have a few good plays and then a few drive killers.  if we execute consistently, we can win games.  if we only execute here and there, that leads to losses.

that's what I saw at least.

the same team that won 11 in 2011 won 4 in 2012.  the reverse can also be true.  its about execution.  Petrino demanded perfection.  BB thought pretty good was good enough. 

[OneTuskOverTheLine™]

So he cheated on you huh? I'm sorry to hear that

[nwahogfan1]

I was surprised by how much they use the tight end.  He also talked about him using 2 backs a lot.  Is that a FB with a RB??

[nwahogfan1]

Agreed.

We have the talent right now to win 9 games next year. However, there are always growing pains. Morris could be the guy to get us to win back to back natties in 5 years time but still go 3-9 this year due to changes in philosophy.

How did you measure the talent?  Is it all subjective?  Where is that talent?  QB?  OL?  LB?  How about DL?  If we have the DL talent to win 9, I don't think the coaches would be bringing in at least DLM.  I just do not see it. I wish you would give me a list of talent good enough to beat 5 SEC teams we play.

I agree with your growing pains corrective number of wins at 3+.  But not talent number because if we had that much talent to win 9 then I would be really mad with only 3.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

We have 3 DT's... 3.... You better start doing some recruiting

I'm not sure how you figure this. In a 3-4 you have a big NT (ideally) and one heavier DE on one side and a lighter DE on the other side.

We return (best of my knowledge though I could be incorrect) with a potential 4-3:

DT: A. Capps, So., 6-4, 309, D. Hays, R/Fr, 6-3, 294, B. Guidry, R-Fr., 6-3, 294, A. Watts, Jr., 6-5, 293, J. Marshall, R/Fr., 6-4, 299

DE: M. Agim, So., 6-3, 289, M. Taylor, Jr., 6-3, 260, J. Bell, So., 6-5, 252, G. LaFrance, R/Fr., 6-1, 255

I'm not up on all transfers or all R/S players, but there is enough for a solid two deep at those front four positions. Need more highly rated depth. but it is a good start in 4-3 for the front line.

[Stu]

6 wins would be a disappointment. We are not lacking talent on either side of the ball, and next years schedule is the easiest in years. 8 win is realistic.

Apparently, there is a lack of talent in certain areas - Coach Morris and Coach Chavis both mentioned it in their presser.  Per Coach Morris, one of the holdovers from the previous staff admitted to Coach Morris as such.  Now, as a Monday Morning QB, folks may choose to believe that assessment or not.

Also, on the offense, it has been mentioned that there are some big OL, but not very mobile OL.  This offense requires, not just our OL, but all of our players to be mobile.   What if we don't have enough mobile players to successfully make the transition in the first year?

I don't know how many games we'll win, I would think that 8 wins would be on the high end of any "realistic" expectation for next year.   I'm guessing that success will largely depend on having players buying into Coach Morris' philosophy, key players staying healthy, and having the ability to overcome/hide weaknesses throughout the season.  And, there may be more to the success than that...

Basically, none of us knows how this is going to play out next season.  I, for one, am excited at the possibilities.
   

[Pork Twain]

8-4 first year baby! I also like how the QB competition is wide open, we’ll get to see what we have

So was Bobby

[Mjs84]

With that being said I think Cole is the best we have by far. I believe this will easily be Cole's team to lead.

+1

[31to6]

Apparently, there is a lack of talent in certain areas - Coach Morris and Coach Chavis both mentioned it in their presser.  Per Coach Morris, one of the holdovers from the previous staff admitted to Coach Morris as such.  Now, as a Monday Morning QB, folks may choose to believe that assessment or not.

Anyone who watched games knows we have holes in the depth chart and players playing out of position.

And that is even ignoring the impact of a change in scheme and philosophy.

Some players on the roster will not be able to adapt.
Some will not buy in.

But at the same time, we have players coming off injury. We have some redshirts we have never seen in a game. And we have some players who were talented but not on the field for whatever reason that have a second chance with a new staff.

There is a real opportunity for some players to step up and seize the moment. We will see if they can see the opportunity before them and become something great.

[Biggus Piggus]

We are not lacking talent?  We have the worst defense in the SEC, we have the worst O Line in the SEC.  But I guess we are not lacking talent?  Come one man...

Yeah, come one...

[Pig in the Pokey]

8-4 first year baby! I also like how the QB competition is wide open, we'll get to see what we have

been saying that. everytime i see someone automating claiming cole kelly is the starter i say it. glad to hear it from coaches mouth b/c im tired of reading that. nobody knows who the qb will be yet, not even Morris. and that is SO refreshing after Bert's tenure here playing favorites . Glad Jabbathenutt2.0 is gone

[pigbacon]

The dumbest thing fans can do especially after a coaching change is make win and loss predictions and/or say what would or wouldn't be a good season or disappointment.

Then what point is being a fan? Just take all the fun.

[Pig in the Pokey]

I'm not sure how you figure this. In a 3-4 you have a big NT (ideally) and one heavier DE on one side and a lighter DE on the other side.

We return (best of my knowledge though I could be incorrect) with a potential 4-3:

DT: A. Capps, So., 6-4, 309, D. Hays, R/Fr, 6-3, 294, B. Guidry, R-Fr., 6-3, 294, A. Watts, Jr., 6-5, 293, J. Marshall, R/Fr., 6-4, 299

DE: M. Agim, So., 6-3, 289, M. Taylor, Jr., 6-3, 260, J. Bell, So., 6-5, 252, G. LaFrance, R/Fr., 6-1, 255

I'm not up on all transfers or all R/S players, but there is enough for a solid two deep at those front four positions. Need more highly rated depth. but it is a good start in 4-3 for the front line.

Our defense will be ready. That was all on coaching. And our offense will be , too. Our O-Line problems can be mitigated, provided we can find a way to run that critical inside zone we will need for this offense to be humming. Pass pro wisw e'll be fine.

We have ~ 30 4*s on this team. It aint chopped liver. I could coach them to 5-6 wins with that schedule, so I think 8 or 9 wins is possible next year. We'll beat somebody who never thought they'd lose to us next year as well.

[SPAL]

6 wins would be a disappointment. We are not lacking talent on either side of the ball, and next years schedule is the easiest in years. 8 win is realistic.

This is why everyone wants to fire coaches so often. A 4 win team installing a brand new offense with a first year QB , a poor offensive line, and no defense and we are saying 6 wins will be a failure.

[Pork Twain]

We are not lacking talent?  We have the worst defense in the SEC, we have the worst O Line in the SEC.  But I guess we are not lacking talent?  Come one man...

Come one man, we were not thinking last year was going to be good because we lacked talent and depth.  In the end, we lacked coaching and development.

[bennyl08]

How did you measure the talent?  Is it all subjective?  Where is that talent?  QB?  OL?  LB?  How about DL?  If we have the DL talent to win 9, I don't think the coaches would be bringing in at least DLM.  I just do not see it. I wish you would give me a list of talent good enough to beat 5 SEC teams we play.

I agree with your growing pains corrective number of wins at 3+.  But not talent number because if we had that much talent to win 9 then I would be really mad with only 3.

How do I measure the talent? Combination of things. In n particular order, you have their offer list out of HS, their star rating out of HS, their tape from HS (or JUCO if that's where we recruited them from), back in the day I could add what I saw from the individual in practice, and if the player has seen significant game reps here in college, then obviously that factors in very highly.

A few extra comments on that, talent ≠ production. Brandon Allen is a great case study. Anybody who saw him live in practice could see that he had an NFL level arm and an absolutely lightning release. He was throwing a better deep ball back in 2012 that Tyler Wilson. Thus, he had NFL talent, but obviously, early on in his career, that talent did not lead to NFL level production from him. He didn't hit that level until his RsSr year. Another comment to make in particular is about the HS tape. HS success is no guarantee of collegiate success. The two biggest things you absolutely can not do is try and judge speed relative to the other players or strength relative to the other players. Namely, most the guys they are playing against are slow and weak relative to the college level, much less SEC level. So, what good is the HS tape? Quickness and explosion of the player can be judges. The ability to start and stop. You can see how strong the player is relative to HS competition. If he isn't terribly strong there, the odds are slim of him developing to become stronger than college players. If the player gets run down in HS, you can tell they won't be breaking away in college. If they can break away in HS, it's important to note that there's no guarantee that they'll break away in college. Best you can do is guestimate a 40 time based on a breakaway play judging their speed relative to the field itself. For example, watch some Dmac highlights and then watch guys like Barnes or Martin who claim 4.3 speed and you'll see they are nothing alike. Warren has an electronically timed 4.5 forty time and his speed on tape looks very similar to Barnes. Watch Brandon Martin tape and Brandon Marshall tape (also a 4.5 guy) and you see similar speed too. OTOH, watch Dominique Reed and you can see that he does have 4.3 speed. However, that's obviously not going to give you a perfect time just eyeballing the speed, but with a lot of practice, you can maybe get to around ±0.15s or so.

So, what do we have? Just going in alphabetical position order

DB: Brown, Calloway, and Curl were all very highly regarded coming out of HS with good ratings and good offer lists. Curtis has a highlight reel that to me is very reminiscent of USC CB Adoree Jackson who went in the first round. Doubt Curtis goes in the first round, but he is a guy who my surprise level would be a 1 if he scored on an INT return, punt return, and receiving td all in the same game. Dalton had a very good HS tape, coaches talked well about him in practice reports, and he has good length. He's not going to be a 4.4 corner, but with his arms, he can be a yard behind the receiver and still break up the pass. Edwards has good size, but I don't remember much about his HS tape or offers. Hernandez has a lot of potential based on practice reports and his HS tape. We've all seen what Pulley can do in the SEC. Oh, also, speaking of in SEC play, Curl definitely got burned at times, but played very well for a true freshmen. Assuming just an average amount of progress that should be expected from any freshmen on any team going from playing a lot as a freshmen into their sophomore year, he should be a good one. Ramirez probably would have been a late round draft pick if he left us this year. His safety play was phenomenal last year. Tutt has elite level speed, and was injured his first year here coming out of JUCO. Last year, he didn't see too much playing time. He has the talent to have a Spaight-esque senior year. The only thing keeping him back will be coaching, the 6" between his years, and/or injury. Micah Smith had a really good HS tape and has shown that his speed and athleticism translates to the SEC in limited playing time including special teams. With Liddell and Coley graduating, don't be surprised if Micah becomes the safety to compliment Ramirez.

DL: Agim is a 5* guy who flashed a lot as a true freshmen. Given the 3-4's usage of DL players though, his ability to get penetration wasn't on display last year. Capps as a freshmen was already one of the strongest players on our team and it showed against SEC competition too. He can push SEC OL around, but isn't terribly explosive. Guidry is very explosive and we saw flashes of that as a freshmen this year. DL often take time to really become good players. Take Trey Flowers for example. His first two years of playing here, you could see him regularly get behind the tackles exploding past them. However, he didn't have control yet and you'd see him explode into the backfield but be 7 yards deep in the process leaving a gaping hole for the RB or being too far behind the qb. Took him time to be able to provide run support and curve his explosion into a path to actually get to the qb. Marshall, Porter, and Taylor all 3 have very good explosion as well as good top end speed. You watch their HS/JUCO highlights and you can see the speed that they have. However, again, Flowers. With that speed, it usually takes time to not be a liability in the run game and such. TJ Smith made some big plays last season. He's a bit of a tweener though. For a guy his size, he is very athletic and very explosive. However, his size is a bit small for a DT and compared to Porter/Taylor/Marshall he is not as fast as they are. He could either try and shed some weight and be one of our bigger DE's or we could employ undersized DT's like we did in 2014 with Philon and Taiwan which is a role he could excel at.

FB: Jackson and Johnson are both very good FB's. Both are SEC starting level backs. Jackson is a slightly better blocker, while Hayden is more of a multi-tool who can be a weapon in the passing game too as an outlet receiver.

K: In the tradition of Arkansas, we'll have a phenomenal kicker followed by years of bad kicking before having another great on. Hocker was a great kicker, and we just haven't found the next great one yet. Limpert had some potential this year going 8-9, but that's a limited sample size and he didn't have any attempts over 50. However, he was 3-4 from 40+ so again, there is potential, but whether that translates to production in the future remains to be seen.

LB: Jamario Bell is an athletic freak. His tape suggests athletic potential similar to Gronkowski who only ran a 4.7 40 but is a very fluid athlete who's explosive with loose hips. However, Bell is suffering from unable to find a position. He has great potential to be a rush end or a TE but he hasn't clicked anywhere yet. Great talent and potential. No production, yet. However, he was only a sophomore last season and still has plenty of time to find a home and develop. Kyrie Fisher is a prototypical 3-4 OLB who showed a lot more skill in coverage than most other HS LB'ers you'll ever see as well as the ability to rush the passer and stop the run. However, he was a bit of a jack of all and master of none type of player based on his tape, reminding me of a LB version of Drew Morgan or Denzell Evens. Both players who weren't bad at anything, but only decent at everything. Of course, Evans ended up transferring and Morgan was a good slot receiver for us hoping to have a Wes Welker type NFL career. The only difference b/w Evans and Morgan is the talent in front of them and their own effort. Greenlaw is a solid tackler for us able to play sideline to sideline and is decent in pass coverage. Not going to make many impact plays on defense, but is a solid base for us. DeJon is a stud LB who could easily jump to the NFL after this year. It will be a big win for Morris if Harris comes back for his senior year. The guy had the best HS LB tape I've seen, had a long offer list, was one of our best defenders as a true freshmen and improved last year as well. Henry is athletic and very smart and will likely continue to see playing time. His main issue is being undersized. Morgan has the same type of fight in him as his brother. Wont blow you away with athletic talent, but neither did Morgan and we saw what he could produce. AJB and LaFrance are both solidly athletic LB'ers and both still very young. Not nearly on Harris' level, but Harris could probably start for Bama who made a hard recruiting push for him. AB and LaFrance are SEC level LB'ers but probably not NFL level. Paul is very fast and very quick, but is also very small. He can cover, but can he support in the run game or rush the passer? Ramsey has some pass rushing talent but struggled last year when he was asked to be a complete LB. You can see his speed and quickness on display rushing the passer, but needs to develop more mentally. Gabe Richardson could become a stud for us once he develops. JUCO who still has 2 more years to play has top end athleticism. He made a few remarkable plays last year for us, but wasn't very consistent. Just time as well as better coaching and he could become an NFL player if he wants to be.

LS: We lost our senior starter. Can't really pretend to tell you much about the two returning guys we have.

OL: The new group including Adcock, Clenin, Clary, and Wagner all look pretty good. From their HS tape, none of them look like first round level athleticism, but you see a lot of similarities with Skipper and Kirkland. Clary showed why he was too good to redshirt this year. Not good enough to be a true freshmen starter for the heart of SEC play, but still very good. FotH also raved about the other 3 freshmen from this class in a year where he didn't bestow a ton of praise. Froholdt is routinely graded as one of the top OG's in the SEC and has the post-season accolades to prove it. Wallace has what it physically takes and coming out of HS was higher rated and had way more offers than Bama's starting RT had. His problem has been between the ears, but physically, he is probably if not the best tackle we've had on campus in the 20 years or so. Gibson isn't terribly athletic, but he is strong and pretty smart. Not going to take home hardware type of guy, but is good enough to get the job done. Heinrich is very athletic with good feet. Listed as a guard, but based on his HS tape he could definitely play tackle. We've seen Jackson play. I'll leave that at that. Merrick was almost as highly touted out of HS as Wallace. Very athletic out of HS and can definitely play tackle. IIRC, fanonthehill never was sure why Merrick didn't get more playing time. Physically, he has the talent. Does he also struggle with the game b/w the ears? Was he just constantly in the doghouse? We'll find out. Malone isn't terribly athletic, but is a big strong OL player. Rogers has played well when on the field. Don't remember his hs tape very much. Cooper Sone got to see the field last season in victory formation at least once IIRC which was a great moment for him and his dad.

P: Blake Johnson didn't quite have as good a year as several of our past punters have, but he was a top rated punter out of HS and still had a very solid year. In 59 punts, he only had 3 touchbacks and 0 blocked. 5 went for 50+, 24 were fair caught, and 14 were downed inside the 20. Not the all sec level punting we've been used to, but still above average. 11 punts were returned which was a bit high, but he had really good hangtime and the returns only averaged 3.6 yards per giving up a total of 40 yards.

QB: We saw Kelley play as a freshmen this year. A lot to improve upon, but he does have an arm and is more athletic than I expected him to be. Not going to be a long run threat, but he's more agile than he looks. Ty Storey has really improved his release of the ball. Out of HS, you won't find a qb who has better footwork than Storey had and he was able to throw the ball on a rope 30 yards downfield while being tackled and fit it into a relatively tight window in the process. Cole definitely has the strongest arm of the bunch, but Storey has NFL level arm talent as well. Hyatt has a solid arm and is more of a runner than a pocket passer. Walk-on Proctor isn't somebody that we'd ideally start, but given some of the starters that other SEC teams have had over the past 5 years, we're in pretty good shape that he's just a walk-on for us. Noland is very similar to BA. Good set of wheels, agile, but a pocket passer who can really zip the ball accurately with a quick release.

RB: Hayden went from a being a contact shy back in HS projecting to be a scat back in college to somebody capable of running between the tackles and lowering his shoulder. Showed explosion and speed that we haven't seen here since Davis. Whaley is a very balanced back. He looked prime for a breakout year this year after spending last year as a backup to Rawleigh, but failed to take the lead back role for himself. At worst, he is still a great complimentary back to have, and he was just a sophomore this year on a dysfunctional team. He was very highly rated out of HS as well. Maleek is probably the back I'm most excited about. One thing in watching HS tape that I look for is whether or not a back will break tackles. I'm talking, the defender was squared, wrapped up, and still left flat on his back type of breaking tackles. That doesn't guarantee that it will translate to college, but if you are shedding tackles like that in HS, you are at least probably going to truck for a couple extra yards most carries. This was something M. Williams excelled at. On top of that power, he had Collins esque speed. Yeah, he isn't going to run a 4.40 flat, but to be his size, that strong, and still probably run in the 4.5's? That kid is going to do some damage at the college level. Reminds me a lot of Marcus Lattimore. On top of that, he enrolled early and showed that he is already a good pass blocker. Not sure redshirting him was the right move as he could be a 3 and done regardless.

TE: Not sure if I really need to show how much talent we have here. We have 5 4* guys on the roster. We've seen how fast Cantrell is, probably running in the high 4.6's to low 4.7's at nearly 270 pounds. And he's a good catcher and blocker. O'Grady is even more dangerous in the open field, but sadly most hog fans just remember his feet being an inch out of bounds. Patton, the #1 JUCO took a while to get going but really finished the season strong last year. Gragg finally started to see the field some as well, though he isn't as dangerous with the ball as any of our other guys and is best as a blocker, so no telling how much Morris might use him. Then you add Grayson Gunter into the mix who was too good to redshirt 2 years ago and was injured this last year. He's a very good height and has a similar skill set to Hunter Henry in terms of blocking and athleticism after the catch. Whether his hands are as soft remains to be seen but again, the athletic potential is there.

WR: Last but not least, Morris is probably drooling with excitement about the talent we have here. Barnes and Warren are both wiggly WR's of the Joe Adams flavor. Gary Cross has the size, the route running, and legit 4.4 speed. Kolian Jackson may end up being the best of the group and is in the same mold as a Greg Childs with the size to jump over you, the bulk to out muscle you, and the speed to just burn you. An untimely injury late in pre-season led to a redshirt for him. Jordan Jones has been touted as one of if not the fasted player on the team. He had an offer to Bama as a sophomore iirc. His style of play reminds me a lot of Amari Cooper. Not as physically imposing as an AJ Green or Julio Jones, but just very smooth, gliding across the field. Brandon Martin is very Brandon Marshall esque. 6'4 220 and claims to run in the 4.3's but looks more like the 4.5's which for a guy his size is plenty fast. He still has 2 years after coming over as a sophomore JUCO and they usually take a year to grow into 4 year college ball. Pettway and Stewart have been here a good while. Pettway has the size of a #1 receiver and looks like Jarius Wright running routes, but had a lot of drops last year. Stewart got hot for a bit last season and like Warren and Barnes is wiggly Adams flavored receiver. Warnock is a very fast walk-on who could very feasibly earn a scholly in the near future. TJ Hammonds is in the same mold as a Percy Harvin. Bit of a do it all guy. We saw how explosive he can be. We just need to find a way to use him creatively, but help him avoid injury. Last, and again, not least, is Nance who graded out as one of the top 5 receivers in the SEC last season and become Allen's top target. At least through the first 6 weeks of the season, Nance led the SEC in qb rating when thrown to with 2nd place an impressive 12.5 points below Nance.

So yeah, we have plenty of talent. We were more than poised to win 9 games just last season and the only reason we didn't was because a lack of leadership. This year's team had the easiest schedule in at least a decade coming into the season and a team that talent wise was better than 2016. Yes, we went 4-8. That had nothing to do with talent and everything to do with the lost lockerroom. Auburn went 3-9 and then 12-2 losing the natty the very next year (and requiring an insane amount of luck to get there). Not saying we are going to hit double digits year by any stretch, but Auburn didn't go 3-9 because they didn't have any good players on the team. They weren't being coached well. We didn't win 4 games because that was all the talent that we could win. Same way our 2012 team had as many players drafted as wins and in the transition to Bielema, we had more players drafted than wins. Bielema had talent to work with, but had to change the team to fit what he wanted and wasn't able to win with the talent that we had. Morris has even more talent to work with with a loaded cupboard. We'll see if he can adapt what he wants to the players that we have or if he'll need to start from scratch.

[Pork Twain]

Frank me Benny, that was one hell of a break down and why most of us felt like this past year was going to be a good one before CBB crapped the bed.  The talent is there...

[ifghog]

If we Win 6 or more next year then we have the right man for the job...less than than 6 the jury will still be out.

[Supermark101]

6 wins would be a disappointment. We are not lacking talent on either side of the ball, and next years schedule is the easiest in years. 8 win is realistic.

Defense will have to get 1000 times better for 8 wins. Offense wasn't our problem in our winnable games last year.

[East TN HAWG]

If we Win 6 or more next year then we have the right man for the job...less than than 6 the jury will still be out.

I think just about any coach could win 6 games here next year.  We have 4 cupcakes then Vandy and Ole Miss.  That is six and should be the minimum expectation next season.

[Inhogswetrust]

except we don't have a lack of athleticism.  we had a lack consistent of execution, which lead to losses piling up.

Maybe we do have some athleticism. With the scholarship limits today every team has some...........the problem is there are about four teams in our division, much less the whole conference, that has more athleticism. The only way to even begin to solve that is like Coach Morris said........recruit, recruit, recruit.

[HoggyCat]

I admire all the believers on here thinking next year we are gonna win 6, 7, 8, 9 games.  I like your spirit.  Just please don't make it an expectation and then a standard.  Often times our unrealistic fantasies become the standard and the fanbase enters meltdown when reality crashes down. 

4 wins seems like a fair bar to set

No reason we're not 4-0 out of conference.

No reason we don't beat ole miss & Vandy.

We should very well beat Mizzou.

Who knows what MSU will be without Mullen, so I call it a tossup.

With better defensive play calling alone you'll see an improvement overall.

Even an eternal pessimist like me sees more than 4 wins.

[Inhogswetrust]

OK Benny. I'm not gonna quote that whole novel BUT for the most part all you did was list individuals except that last paragraph. Individual players are a part of a TEAM. They must not only be good athletes BUT they have to "gel" or have the right chemistry mix with the other players AND coaches. Also they are at the mercy of how the other players perform. How good of coaching they get and how much they work at it. You mentioned leadership which is important also. ALL aspects must come together not simply individual talent.

[oldhawg]

Go ahead, make unrealistic expectations and then be disappointed when we go 5-7(Bobby P's record his first year) or 4-8

Think I would rather have high goals and expectations, and deal with the disappointment later as necessary, than have low expectations and be satisfied.   

[Reservoir Hogs]

OK Benny. I'm not gonna quote that whole novel BUT for the most part all you did was list individuals except that last paragraph. Individual players are a part of a TEAM. They must not only be good athletes BUT they have to "gel" or have the right chemistry mix with the other players AND coaches. Also they are at the mercy of how the other players perform. How good of coaching they get and how much they work at it. You mentioned leadership which is important also. ALL aspects must come together not simply individual talent.

He was replying to a question about talent and listed the talent he feels we have at each position.  It was a great breakdown...

[HoggyCat]

Go ahead, make unrealistic expectations and then be disappointed when we go 5-7(Bobby P's record his first year) or 4-8

Like I said above.....

"No reason we're not 4-0 out of conference.

No reason we don't beat ole miss & Vandy.

We should very well beat Mizzou.

Who knows what MSU will be without Mullen, so I call it a tossup.

With better defensive play calling alone you'll see an improvement overall.

Even an eternal pessimist like me sees more than 4 wins."

[Bubba's Bruisers]

Maybe you missed the schedule release, and the list of returning starters.  Team is primed for a divisional run.

Running a brand new system with an inexperienced QB and questionable WR talent (at least quantity wise).  The defense might improve somewhat, but don't expect it to be signficant in the first year.

[theFlyingHog]

Take a look at the players on both sides of the line.   Philosophy change isn't going to magically fix a lack of athleticism.

If you wish to look at players and judge them based off of the previous staff and previous conditioning program, feel free. I'm going to reserve judgement until they have participated in what is likely going to be a superior program for a year. I'll warn you now, there will be at least a couple of players you cussed this past season who will light it the frick up next season

[bennyl08]

OK Benny. I'm not gonna quote that whole novel BUT for the most part all you did was list individuals except that last paragraph. Individual players are a part of a TEAM. They must not only be good athletes BUT they have to "gel" or have the right chemistry mix with the other players AND coaches. Also they are at the mercy of how the other players perform. How good of coaching they get and how much they work at it. You mentioned leadership which is important also. ALL aspects must come together not simply individual talent.

Completely agreed. It's a super complex system.

All I did was talk about the physical potential of the players that we have. That says nothing of the mental ability of the player to translate their physical potential into production or the maturity of the player to learn the system and watch a lot of tape on the opponent. And all of that is still on the individual. Like water, you can't understand the flow by simply studying the individual components. How well do the player's abilities fit into what the coaching staff is trying to do? How well can the coaching staff adapt to the player's strengths? Leadership among the coaches and within the players? Team chemistry and cohesiveness? Then, once all of that comes together, then you have to factor in all the other teams and coaching staffs. Everybody can come up with a plan until you get hit in the face. Mental toughness of the players, ability to adjust on the fly by the coaches, and so on and so forth.

So, yeah, when I say we have the physical talent to win 9 games, of all that complexity, I am saying that we have that one tiny component and most everything else is to be determined. However, without that component, then none of the rest matters. You can great leadership, great coaching, and so so on, but if your players are too weak and too slow, you will not consistently be able to win games. We have a very good foundation to build a nice tall building. A foundation that can currently IMO support a 9 story building. Whether all of those levels get built or not is another question.

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If you wish to look at players and judge them based off of the previous staff and previous conditioning program, feel free. I'm going to reserve judgement until they have participated in what is likely going to be a superior program for a year. I'll warn you now, there will be at least a couple of players you cussed this past season who will light it the frick up next season

If you don't believe me, listen to our new head coach (who's making $3M/yr to know these things) talk about deficiencies in the OL and DL in the video of him introducing his assistants.