Hedlund apparently not coming back

[Grizzlyfan]

I think one of the early red flags with Hedlund was when he came in as a freshman he let the upperclassmen cut his hair in some stupid style. Bielema even commented on it. He let himself get locker room hazed by the older guys.

Normally I'd say whatever, boys will be boys and there's a bit of hazing in every locker room. However, as a kicker you need nerves of steel and a hardened soul to make those high pressure kicks. I want a kicker that isn't taking crap from nobody, I want one that'll fight for his respect and has a backbone strong enough to stand up for himself and not break to peer pressure.

Kickers tend to have to stand alone, train alone and be solo type guys in a team sport it's a weird mental game they have to balance. That's part of why kicking at the highest levels is so hard despite the mechanics being the same from HS to the NFL.

Good lord.  You way overthought that deal.

[texas tush hog]

Best of luck cole

Here, here, Dilly, Dilly.

[razorbackfaninar]

So says you. The record speaks otherwise. Statistically, the offense and the defense were very bad in the last 2 seasons. That is not all attributable to poor coaching. It's the players' abilities to compete in the SEC, or lack thereof.

The record is not reflective solely of recruiting. All you have to do is look at who was recruited and how that stacks up to our traditional recruiting since joining the SEC.  It was the same or better under Bielema as we have recruited the last 20 years.  This is similar to Mack Brown his last few years at Texas, or Brian Kelly at Notre Dame. They are recruiting lights-out but they don't know how to properly motivate or coach those players. Notre Dame has had top 10-15 recruiting classes the last 5 years and haven't had too much to show for it other than 2 10 win seasons, good but they have a 4 win season sandwiched in between.  Our talent may not be the top of the SEC but there is enough talent on campus right now to be much more competitive than we have been the last few years.  There are plenty of precedents to show that good talent can't overcome bad coaching.

[hawgon]

Well, one thing he did wrong is that I don't believe you should ever redshirt a kicker unless he gets injured.   You bring a guy in and he is your guy.  When you redshirt a guy and say things like "we want to get his leg stronger" you are already telling him that you don't think that he is good enough.  And if his leg isn't strong enough, wth are you going to do about it?  If you even can strengthen a leg in the way, how do you know that you won't screw up his motion and ruin him by doing it?  It's like trying to turn a 90mph pitcher into a 100mph pitcher with weight lifting.  I don't think it can be done and if it could, what about his control?

I've always wondered if they didn't do something in that first year trying to strengthen his leg that messed up his form and that that got to his confidence.