Michael Smith

[Cinco de Hogo]

Over the last two years I posted more than a few time about the need for a coaching change on offense.  I never said exactly what change other than we needed a true QB coach and we got one. 

There are a lot of factor that affected our passing game and all of them have been discussed many times.  Many times posters have either blasted Brandon Allen or the WR group. 

Now with Dan Enos taking the stage how do you see that affecting the job Smith is doing with the receivers?  I know he's a great recruiter, maybe our best but the receiver group has been a problem(as judged by many on here). 

It's going to be interesting to see this season if, between Enos, Smith and Lunney(done a great job with the TE's) they can correct some of the fundamental errors that have plagued the passing game. 

I'm not exactly suggesting that Smiths job is on the line, it's still a team effort, but I think it is important that we get better results out of our receivers to compliment the expected improvement in BA. 

Before you lash out at me for even thinking hot seat(which I only bring up because you will) think about what has been discussed on this board concerning the receiving group.

I believe personally that coaching can correct a lot of the mistakes that we have seen and Smith just happens to coach that position.  Can or will he handle it considering the hiring of Enos which hopefully will improve some of the other problems.

The way I see it the man has a lot riding on his shoulders and for the first time since CBB arrived some of the spotlight will be on him and his players.

[trashcan maN]

I like what he is doing in LA recruiting, and I thought the WRs played fairly well last year. We just don't have any NFL receivers lining up out there like other schools do

[ARtillahog]

What's to say that scheme/route trees haven't been the issue?  Maybe the receivers graded out and BA didn't the ball to them.  Catchable drops by the WR is what I use when evaluating them, also do they or can they get separation from a DB.  That takes more than just pure speed.

[gmarv]

What's to say that scheme/route trees haven't been the issue?  Maybe the receivers graded out and BA didn't the ball to them.  Catchable drops by the WR is what I use when evaluating them, also do they or can they get separation from a DB.  That takes more than just pure speed.

sure wouldn,t wanna miss a chance to get in a shot at ba.

[The NewEra]

I'll will know how I feel about Coach Smith's ability to coach up the WR about half way through the season.  I'm not sure Chaney's offense allowed Smith to really make an impact.  Enos' system will give us a clue to how good Smith is as a WR coach.  It does appear he has done well this past several months on the recruiting trail.  Mid season we will know what we have in the passing game and Smith's ability to positively impact it.

[ARtillahog]

sure wouldn,t wanna miss a chance to get in a shot at ba.

That's not the case at all.  Maybe the WR didn't grade out and BA had to get rid of the ball.  Multiple things need to be known before making an informed decision.  Just throwing out possible reasons why the WRs may not have been as productive.

You sure didn't say anything about a possible dig at Chaney for my "scheme" comment.

Edit:  Plus Coach B and BA have both said his accuracy has gotten better due to Coach Enos.  So my comment wasn't a dig at BA, probably more truth than anything else.  I mean the man himself even stated his accuracy has improved.

[Cinco de Hogo]

I like what he is doing in LA recruiting, and I thought the WRs played fairly well last year. We just don't have any NFL receivers lining up out there like other schools do

Are there actually that many schools that have NFL receivers?  Seems like if you have them you have more than your share and everybody else has the borderline ones.  CBB can win with borderline receivers if there fundamentals are strong.

I think!

[gmarv]

yeah you are right I didn,t but then I don,t care about chaney.

[Cinco de Hogo]

That's not the case at all.  Maybe the WR didn't grade out and BA had to get rid of the ball.  Multiple things need to be known before making an informed decision.  Just throwing out possible reasons why the WRs may not have been as productive.

You sure didn't say anything about a possible dig at Chaney for my "scheme" comment.

Edit:  Plus Coach B and BA have both said his accuracy has gotten better due to Coach Enos.  So my comment wasn't a dig at BA, probably more truth than anything else.  I mean the man himself even stated his accuracy has improved.

This kinda what I'm asking, the problems have been across the board.  With Enos here to coach Allen I think The job Smith does with the receivers will be under the microscope.

[gmarv]

I'll will know how I feel about Coach Smith's ability to coach up the WR about half way through the season.  I'm not sure Chaney's offense allowed Smith to really make an impact.  Enos' system will give us a clue to how good Smith is as a WR coach.  It does appear he has done well this past several months on the recruiting trail.  Mid season we will know what we have in the passing game and Smith's ability to positively impact it.

he does seem to be doing a good job of recruiting.

[Cinco de Hogo]

Seems ya'll have the same question as I do and I guess the answer too.  It's going to be interesting.  Reed seems to be a game changer so the difference in this year and last also might be apples and oranges.  In other words you maybe can throw out the last two years results.

[ARtillahog]

yeah you are right I didn,t but then I don,t care about chaney.

And you obviously don't care about constructive criticism or finding an accurate solution.  Facts don't care about your feelings about a person.  My comment wasn't a dig at BA, only stating a possibility of the truth that BA even stated himself.

[bennyl08]

My guess would be practice time. With Petrino, a large amount of practice time was spent working out the details of the passing game, and we had a great passing game, but not as great of a run game or defense. With CBB, we've spent much more time on the run game and defense, and not as much on the passing game. With time a finite resource, you can't do everything, especially when building from the bottom up.

Now, I've heard that Enos has spent some more time working on ironing out some of the finer details of the passing game and route running like we saw with Petrino. This could be due to two things. One, maybe Enos feels more comfortable doing this than Chaney did. I'm sure Chaney worked on that at Tenner, but maybe he felt he needed to focus more on the run game here in practice and so wasn't as nitpicky. Reason 2: Our run game has simply progressed enough that we can afford to spend more time on that and would be doing so regardless of OC. When the team is being built from the ground up, better to do a couple things and do them well, so run game and defense was emphasized. Now that we can do those well, there is more time to spare for passing game details.

[hammer66]

I like what he is doing in LA recruiting, and I thought the WRs played fairly well last year. We just don't have any NFL receivers lining up out there like other schools do

I believe Hatcher will definitely be a NFL wide receiver

[GVTD]

Pittman is our best recruiter and it's not even close. 

[GVTD]

I like what he is doing in LA recruiting, and I thought the WRs played fairly well last year. We just don't have any NFL receivers lining up out there like other schools do

Isn't that, uhm, part of his job?  To have receivers good enough to play in the NFL?  I'm not sure how our players not being good enough is somehow an excuse for a coach...

[Paul]

I noticed that Smith was the only assistant coach not to get a raise.  Hmmm

[Cinco de Hogo]

Pittman is our best recruiter and it's not even close.

Pitt is in a class all by himself, he doesn't count. 

Seriously, because of CBB's style O-Lineman and running backs should be the easiest catch.  On the other hand WR might be the hardest so to compare them might not be fair.   

[presidenthog]

michael smith feels almost like he is the next best recruiter on staff besides pittman. I'm not sure if his job will be on the line just yet. I think he might get a raise if the WR production goes up.

[hawginbigd1]

I take a beating every time I say it, but we are all going to find out this year that our WR corps is pretty darn good, and Reed et al. are just making it that much better. Scheme and OL have been our biggest issues, and I believe those have been addressed, by coaching change, OL changes along with more experience. QB must be better as well which I believe will also happen.

[Wildhog]

Pittman is our best recruiter and it's not even close. 

[wholehog92]

I think we actually have a wealth of possession WRs that were poorly utilized with our scheme last year.  Parking a trash truck in a Ferrari dealership does not turn the truck into a sports car.  Making our possession receivers run fades and gos does not make them burners.

We need to run some outs, slants, zone floods, stabs, and spots.  BA is better at those throws and our WR experience is more suited for those routes.  Take advantage of their size.

It was not a Mike Smith problem last year, it was a Cheney problem.  He was calling his scheme, instead of adjusting the scheme to his talent.

[gmarv]

And you obviously don't care about constructive criticism or finding an accurate solution.  Facts don't care about your feelings about a person.  My comment wasn't a dig at BA, only stating a possibility of the truth that BA even stated himself.

I want to take a step back and apologize to you I over reacted to your original comments.my bad.seen one too many negative comments on ba.

[Cinco de Hogo]

I think we actually have a wealth of possession WRs that were poorly utilized with our scheme last year.  Parking a trash truck in a Ferrari dealership does not turn the truck into a sports car.  Making our possession receivers run fades and gos does not make them burners.

We need to run some outs, slants, zone floods, stabs, and spots.  BA is better at those throws and our WR experience is more suited for those routes.  Take advantage of their size.

It was not a Mike Smith problem last year, it was a Cheney problem.  He was calling his scheme, instead of adjusting the scheme to his talent.

1st paragraph, in Beilema's world the trash truck would rule!

2nd paragraph, I don't know enough about the position to know how accurate you are but for sure Enos will make adjustments.

3rd paragraph, no, Smith wasn't THE problem last year but he was part of A problem.  As the saying goes if your not part of the solution your part of the problem. You can't be both at the same time but he can be just as much part of the solution this year.

Overall it's just too convenient to blame all the problems on one thing specially since that one thing is gone.   The good news is players and staff alike get to prove themselves in a new season.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Over the last two years I posted more than a few time about the need for a coaching change on offense.  I never said exactly what change other than we needed a true QB coach and we got one. 

There are a lot of factor that affected our passing game and all of them have been discussed many times.  Many times posters have either blasted Brandon Allen or the WR group. 

Now with Dan Enos taking the stage how do you see that affecting the job Smith is doing with the receivers?  I know he's a great recruiter, maybe our best but the receiver group has been a problem(as judged by many on here). 

It's going to be interesting to see this season if, between Enos, Smith and Lunney(done a great job with the TE's) they can correct some of the fundamental errors that have plagued the passing game. 

I'm not exactly suggesting that Smiths job is on the line, it's still a team effort, but I think it is important that we get better results out of our receivers to compliment the expected improvement in BA. 

Before you lash out at me for even thinking hot seat(which I only bring up because you will) think about what has been discussed on this board concerning the receiving group.

I believe personally that coaching can correct a lot of the mistakes that we have seen and Smith just happens to coach that position.  Can or will he handle it considering the hiring of Enos which hopefully will improve some of the other problems.

The way I see it the man has a lot riding on his shoulders and for the first time since CBB arrived some of the spotlight will be on him and his players.

You make some good points here. WR production hasn't been what we needed it to be. True statement. Some of that has been a function of the talent available. Some of that has been because of the scheme (predictable passing moments). I don't care if you are a speed merchant with an incredible set of hands, if they know you are coming out on pass, the advantage goes to the defense, especially against SEC DB's/DC's.

Route trees can play a significant role, but you still have to run them and as I recall, when BP was here he was pretty insistent that routes would be ran precisely with an optional "bending" effect in play once you were in the pattern. Will we see some of this from Enos? I'm not sure. I hope so. Receivers have to be able to adjust their levels to settle down in open spots between coverage levels to find themselves open consistently.

And then there is the QB factor and if the QB isn't utilizing good technique and timing, balls can be delivered to the wrong spots, even if a receiver is open. A receiver shouldn't have to make a highlight reel catch every time he goes out on a pattern.

Having not been there to watch practice I can only say that the comments by scouts about BA while they were on campus and the comments made by Chris Weinke, along with comments made by Enos indicate that BA has made significant strides in his technique and delivery. Of course no one will know for sure until the ball is kicked off, but I think this will be BA's best year and I am hoping he can achieve a 60% completion rate at the least.

If he does and all of the other things come to fruition as hoped for, this could be a very special season for the Hogs and maybe better than anyone expects.

We will see. Either way I am looking forward to seeing year #2 of Robb Smith's defense and in any case, I'll be calling those Hogs.

[AugustaHog]

It is really hard to judge Smith up to this point.  We had very little talent at the WR position when he got here (save Keon Hatcher).  The guys he has recruited (Edwards, Jojo, Cornelius, etc.) are just now really getting a chance to make an impact.  If we don't see those guys progressing over the next year or two and we don't start landing impact WRs, I may have to question his role on our staff.  I do love how hard he has us recruiting LA.  Even though we haven't gotten a ton of blue chip WRs, he has landed some really good kids from there, mostly on the defensive side of the ball (Toliver, Eugene, K Jackson, Santos, etc.).  I like coach Smith and think his approach to recruiting LA is crucial, so I hope we start seeing a little more contribution from some of his WRs on the field.

[Biggus Piggus]

Not every OC organizes things the same way. Dan Enos has definite ways he wants everything on offense done. Was Chaney as involved with receivers, I doubt it.

[HogFanatic]

Should be able to track some progress in a few weeks, in fact.
Saw several straight up dropped passes even in the Spring Game. We will see improvement if there is any to be made, and I think there will be.

[Cinco de Hogo]

It is really hard to judge Smith up to this point.  We had very little talent at the WR position when he got here (save Keon Hatcher).  The guys he has recruited (Edwards, Jojo, Cornelius, etc.) are just now really getting a chance to make an impact.  If we don't see those guys progressing over the next year or two and we don't start landing impact WRs, I may have to question his role on our staff.  I do love how hard he has us recruiting LA.  Even though we haven't gotten a ton of blue chip WRs, he has landed some really good kids from there, mostly on the defensive side of the ball (Toliver, Eugene, K Jackson, Santos, etc.).  I like coach Smith and think his approach to recruiting LA is crucial, so I hope we start seeing a little more contribution from some of his WRs on the field.

I hope he proves he is a very good coach to, however if CBB were to give a little on coaching talent to retain a master recruiter, WR coach might be that position.  So, if the passing game continues to suffer because of the little things but he recruits at a level that helps us win a lot of games would that trade off be acceptable?

I ask this because I have read threads where this was addressed and I know some are of the opinion that you need one of two master recruiters on staff.

In this case, some of Lunney and Enos coaching would need to bleed over or maybe help from a GA.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

I hope he proves he is a very good coach to, however if CBB were to give a little on coaching talent to retain a master recruiter, WR coach might be that position.  So, if the passing game continues to suffer because of the little things but he recruits at a level that helps us win a lot of games would that trade off be acceptable?

I ask this because I have read threads where this was addressed and I know some are of the opinion that you need one of two master recruiters on staff.

In this case, some of Lunney and Enos coaching would need to bleed over or maybe help from a GA.

I think you are selling Michael Williams short, but this season should help to tell the story to a greater degree. The man is a great recruiter so if it proves out that he is not as good at coaching WR's as he is at establishing sound, productive relationships with recruits, his role might be shifted after the season. Recruits seem to love the guy, so I am not sure we can afford to lose someone like that.

[ricepig]

Pittman is our best recruiter and it's not even close. 

If you follow him on twitter, he had all the o-line over for a swim tonight, some big ole boys.....

[MuskogeeHogFan]

If you follow him on twitter, he had all the o-line over for a swim tonight, some big ole boys.....

Not surprising, they are after all, HIS boys. His family. He wants them to feel the same and continue to establish that bond of togetherness with each other. A sense of family, and family doesn't let each other down. It makes perfect sense for a quality coach with a head on his shoulders.

[BOAR_N2BWILD]

Honestly, I liked what I saw late last year and the spring game in regard to the receivers. I think we will be fine.

[Cinco de Hogo]

I think you are selling Michael Smith short, but this season should help to tell the story to a greater degree. The man is a great recruiter so if it proves out that he is not as good at coaching WR's as he is at establishing sound, productive relationships with recruits, his role might be shifted after the season. Recruits seem to love the guy, so I am not sure we can afford to lose someone like that.

Wouldn't say I was selling anything, just throwing out thoughts.  I hope he's a really good coach that hasn't had the chance to prove it yet.  Well at least to the pedestrian fan.

[wholehog92]

1st paragraph, in Beilema's world the trash truck would rule!

2nd paragraph, I don't know enough about the position to know how accurate you are but for sure Enos will make adjustments.

3rd paragraph, no, Smith wasn't THE problem last year but he was part of A problem.  As the saying goes if your not part of the solution your part of the problem. You can't be both at the same time but he can be just as much part of the solution this year.

Overall it's just too convenient to blame all the problems on one thing specially since that one thing is gone.   The good news is players and staff alike get to prove themselves in a new season.

No reason to blame players working their tail off to represent the university.  Especially when they weren't put in good positions to succeed to start with.

This isn't a message of convenience.  I said this same thing when Cheney was here much to the chagrin of the moderation team FWIW.  As coaches go, this was a Cheney issue. 

[Hawgzinbowlz]

Our receivers were good enough in the Texas bowl. We'll see how the season progresses and will be able to make a better assessment when we have some games under our belt with Coach Enos, Coach Smith and Coach Lunney working together.
My opinion of Coach Chaney is so skewed that I want to reboot when it comes to evaluating the WR play.
Toward the end of '14 we were better at WR...And Coach Smith CAN recruit.

" GO HOGS "

[trashcan maN]

Isn't that, uhm, part of his job?  To have receivers good enough to play in the NFL?  I'm not sure how our players not being good enough is somehow an excuse for a coach...

Was I excusing him from something? My post is clearly favorable towards Smith. You don't read much, eh?

[Jek Tono Porkins]

My guess would be practice time. With Petrino, a large amount of practice time was spent working out the details of the passing game, and we had a great passing game, but not as great of a run game or defense. With CBB, we've spent much more time on the run game and defense, and not as much on the passing game. With time a finite resource, you can't do everything, especially when building from the bottom up.

Now, I've heard that Enos has spent some more time working on ironing out some of the finer details of the passing game and route running like we saw with Petrino. This could be due to two things. One, maybe Enos feels more comfortable doing this than Chaney did. I'm sure Chaney worked on that at Tenner, but maybe he felt he needed to focus more on the run game here in practice and so wasn't as nitpicky. Reason 2: Our run game has simply progressed enough that we can afford to spend more time on that and would be doing so regardless of OC. When the team is being built from the ground up, better to do a couple things and do them well, so run game and defense was emphasized. Now that we can do those well, there is more time to spare for passing game details.

I think this is correct. The foundation for Bielema's offense was and always will be the run game. Now that we have a veteran OL and veteran running backs, they will install more of the passing concepts.

I think the goal is to get BA to throw less but complete more passes. Basically, be more efficient. There was only one SEC game where BA had a 60% completion percentage and that was Georgia.

For all the talk about Bielema not passing, BA had the following number of pass attempts:
Auburn: 31
Bama: 40
Georgia: 45
Miss State: 43

Unfortunately, many of the passes that BA threw seemed to be to fans in the stands. Bottom line, more of those passes have to connect and that's what Enos is there for.I think they want that completion percentage up around 65-70% and the Y/A average to go up as well. When you look at Chaney's background, he did have prolific passing offenses, but Tyler Bray's completion percentage for example was never above 60%. It was a "spray and pray" offense. Like a slugger in baseball, if you will. You might strike out a bunch but you also hit a bunch of home runs.

I also think Dominique Reed will help with that completion percentage and especially the Y/A average. Hatcher will still be the #1 receiver but he is a possession receiver. That's not a bad thing; in fact it's precisely what the offense needs in critical situations. But Reed will finally be that deep threat and the guy that can consistently get separation that we've been missing the past two years.

[ARtillahog]

I want to take a step back and apologize to you I over reacted to your original comments.my bad.seen one too many negative comments on ba.

While I appreciate the apology, it was not needed. I just need to work on my written communication and be more concise.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Wouldn't say I was selling anything, just throwing out thoughts.  I hope he's a really good coach that hasn't had the chance to prove it yet.  Well at least to the pedestrian fan.

Don't be so sensitive. In a manner of speaking, I think he might be better than you think, therefore, you might be selling him short. It is a just a manner of speaking. You obviously aren't actually selling anything.

[Cinco de Hogo]

Don't be so sensitive. In a manner of speaking, I think he might be better than you think, therefore, you might be selling him short. It is a just a manner of speaking. You obviously aren't actually selling anything.

Like you was sensitive about Cantrell, right?  Lets just say I was hypothesising about something we don't have an answer to yet. 

[Cinco de Hogo]

Bump, because someone mentioned the job MS has done considering the injuries.

What do we know now that we didn't know then?

[DiamondHogFan]

Bump, because someone mentioned the job MS has done considering the injuries.

What do we know now that we didn't know then?

Well...we know Drew Morgan is the real deal.  Cornelius would have stats similar to Morgan's if he hadn't missed 5 weeks.  Reed is exactly what we thought we were getting, just took half the season to get him there.

[incHOGnito]

Cornelius looks so comfortable out there. He was solid for a freshman last year, but man he is smooth and under complete control now. I am amazed at the strides he has made given the injury. He reminds me of a slightly bigger Jarius Wright out there with maybe a little more shiftiness.

[hogsanity]

Bump, because someone mentioned the job MS has done considering the injuries.

What do we know now that we didn't know then?

We know that a group consisting of Cornelius, Reed, Morgan is better than one consisting of Morgan, Edwards, Reed, and Robinson.

I do not mean that to belittle any of them, but look at the difference. A month ago they had Morgan basically as the 1, a guy who was 3rd or 4th when they played Utep and Toledo. They had a RS FR who could not stay out of trouble in Robinson, and a guy who was going to RS in Edwards. Plus Reed was still making the adjustment that most JUCO guys have to make.  Now they have 2 legit speed guys in JC and Reed, who seems to have made the adjustment now, and Morgan. Plus it has gotten HH back to being covered like a TE, with lb's and safeties, not cb's. 

[DeltaBoy]

Smith done a great job with these WR' s.

[wholehog92]

Bump, because someone mentioned the job MS has done considering the injuries.

What do we know now that we didn't know then?

I think we actually have a wealth of possession WRs that were poorly utilized with our scheme last year.  Parking a trash truck in a Ferrari dealership does not turn the truck into a sports car.  Making our possession receivers run fades and gos does not make them burners.

We need to run some outs, slants, zone floods, stabs, and spots.  BA is better at those throws and our WR experience is more suited for those routes.  Take advantage of their size.

It was not a Mike Smith problem last year, it was a Cheney problem.  He was calling his scheme, instead of adjusting the scheme to his talent.

While we are doing exactly what I said we should do, that doesn't cover what Mike Smith has done, it covers what Enos has done.

Mike had a group prepared for the season and they were decimated with injury.  He had to get a new group ready for prime time and did a great job.  Now we are getting some guys back and we are looking really good going forward and the new QB should have a lot of help.