Positives
1 - LB’ers - could be historically good unit. Cam & JJ were solid but I like Ellis, Luketa, BSmith, & Dixon better (with another year under their belt). If Micah can pick up where he left off this year, should be a Heisman finalist. Unbelievable depth, athleticism, & experience.
2 - TE’s. The best TE in the nation returning along with a bevy of young talent. Should be an amazing combo of experienced and potential. Hopefully Johnson & Strange can learn from Pat. Will be interesting to see what happens with Kuntz. Will he or a freshman be the one to replace Bowers?
3 - Improving depth along the OL. Another year of experience and weight training for Thorpe, Walker, and Miranda. Exciting young talent in Wallace & Scruggs (assuming he is recovered). And Menet holding down the fort at center (assuming he returns). Not to mention 5 true freshmen to work with Galt.
4 - Journey, Noah, and Ford each bring unique & awesome skills at RB. My favorite things about today’s game was seeing Cain repeatedly hammer a tired defense into submission for 6 yards. Ford could be a game breaker. Still not sure what role (if any) Slade has going forward. But if they can stay healthy could be a 1-2-3 punch close to what Georgia had with Chubb-Michel-Swift.
5 - improved play calling on offense. Hopefully Ciarocca is as good as advertised. Would love to see us spread the ball around the field, use the screen effectively, and not be such a “boom or bust offense” that we have been since 2016.
I’m optimistic his hiring will be a huge positive for the team.
Concerns
1 - Secondary play. I honestly don’t know if it’s the coaching, the players, or both. Our DBs consistently allow receivers to run free. It cost us the Minnesota game and possibly Ohio State. Our safetys constantly blow assignments or are too late with deep help. And was there a bigger disappointment this year than TCF? I thought he was the “next great CB” coming into this year. I tend to blame Pry for much of it but it’s something that needs addressed for us to ever take the next step.
2 - QB play. Not sure how much injury played a part, but Clifford was not a championship level QB this year. Missed way too many wide open guys, and seemed to lock in on KJ & Pat. I’m hopeful he can develop but honestly I’m not super confident that he will ever be a star.
3 - WR development. Assuming KJ declares for the draft, we basically only have 1 proven WR in Dotson, who is really good. Not sure who else. George looked bad again today. Hipp? CSB? And a bunch of freshman? We need 3-4 guys to step up. If not, this position could be a weakness in 2020.
4 - Can Will Fries develop into a reliable tackle? For 2 years we’ve seen him abused by the speed rush. Chase Young has at least 7 career sacks on Will. Not sure if he’s simply not quick enough but the lack of improvement this year was troubling.
5 - In game coaching decisions. Glad to have James extended. He’s done a great job rebuilding the program. But he is incapable of making wise “spur of the moment” decisions. The timeouts at the end of the half today were pathetic.
Most junior high coaches would have known better than to stop the clock with 1 minute left when we have it 2nd & goal at the 1. Then he calls another timeout when Memphis was planning to kick a 50 yarder with 8 seconds left. Cost us 3 points. Against a better opponent, this could have been the difference between a W & an L. There are many other examples - going for 2 vs Minnesota being another.
Franklin makes $6M per year (or whatever). If he isn’t capable of managing game time decisions he should hire someone he trusts to help him. This needs to be fixed before we can truly call ourselves “elite”.
1 - LB’ers - could be historically good unit. Cam & JJ were solid but I like Ellis, Luketa, BSmith, & Dixon better (with another year under their belt). If Micah can pick up where he left off this year, should be a Heisman finalist. Unbelievable depth, athleticism, & experience.
2 - TE’s. The best TE in the nation returning along with a bevy of young talent. Should be an amazing combo of experienced and potential. Hopefully Johnson & Strange can learn from Pat. Will be interesting to see what happens with Kuntz. Will he or a freshman be the one to replace Bowers?
3 - Improving depth along the OL. Another year of experience and weight training for Thorpe, Walker, and Miranda. Exciting young talent in Wallace & Scruggs (assuming he is recovered). And Menet holding down the fort at center (assuming he returns). Not to mention 5 true freshmen to work with Galt.
4 - Journey, Noah, and Ford each bring unique & awesome skills at RB. My favorite things about today’s game was seeing Cain repeatedly hammer a tired defense into submission for 6 yards. Ford could be a game breaker. Still not sure what role (if any) Slade has going forward. But if they can stay healthy could be a 1-2-3 punch close to what Georgia had with Chubb-Michel-Swift.
5 - improved play calling on offense. Hopefully Ciarocca is as good as advertised. Would love to see us spread the ball around the field, use the screen effectively, and not be such a “boom or bust offense” that we have been since 2016.
I’m optimistic his hiring will be a huge positive for the team.
Concerns
1 - Secondary play. I honestly don’t know if it’s the coaching, the players, or both. Our DBs consistently allow receivers to run free. It cost us the Minnesota game and possibly Ohio State. Our safetys constantly blow assignments or are too late with deep help. And was there a bigger disappointment this year than TCF? I thought he was the “next great CB” coming into this year. I tend to blame Pry for much of it but it’s something that needs addressed for us to ever take the next step.
2 - QB play. Not sure how much injury played a part, but Clifford was not a championship level QB this year. Missed way too many wide open guys, and seemed to lock in on KJ & Pat. I’m hopeful he can develop but honestly I’m not super confident that he will ever be a star.
3 - WR development. Assuming KJ declares for the draft, we basically only have 1 proven WR in Dotson, who is really good. Not sure who else. George looked bad again today. Hipp? CSB? And a bunch of freshman? We need 3-4 guys to step up. If not, this position could be a weakness in 2020.
4 - Can Will Fries develop into a reliable tackle? For 2 years we’ve seen him abused by the speed rush. Chase Young has at least 7 career sacks on Will. Not sure if he’s simply not quick enough but the lack of improvement this year was troubling.
5 - In game coaching decisions. Glad to have James extended. He’s done a great job rebuilding the program. But he is incapable of making wise “spur of the moment” decisions. The timeouts at the end of the half today were pathetic.
Most junior high coaches would have known better than to stop the clock with 1 minute left when we have it 2nd & goal at the 1. Then he calls another timeout when Memphis was planning to kick a 50 yarder with 8 seconds left. Cost us 3 points. Against a better opponent, this could have been the difference between a W & an L. There are many other examples - going for 2 vs Minnesota being another.
Franklin makes $6M per year (or whatever). If he isn’t capable of managing game time decisions he should hire someone he trusts to help him. This needs to be fixed before we can truly call ourselves “elite”.
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