apparantly none of these players had the ability to supplant the starters who had a atrocious year. did any of them play a down? does this bode well for the position in the future? do any of the freshman comming ln have a chance to contribute right away?
back-up receivers.
- Thread starter amblernit
- Start date
The freshmen coming in weren't exactly 5* recruits so they would have to play above their rankings.
Personally I think some of the problem is the offensive system. It doesn't seem like we use many misdirection plays or screens to keep opponents off balance. When the defense doesn't know which way the play is going things open up for receivers. I find it almost impossible to believe that NONE of these guys has the ability to get separation. It defies the odds.
One thing I think we know for sure is that although Wallace and Evans are athletic they struggle to come down with 50/50 balls. I don't know if that changes with another year.
I agree with your assessment. also why no slant passes? these passes are not that difficult to complete.
Depends on the receiver and defender. The slant is a personal battle. The better player wins. It is an effective pattern against a zone or when you are the better team. Teams that can win that battle tend to play us man to man.
I would have preferred the delayed routes, screens, rubs, and swing passes using our tight ends and running backs when the defense is in man coverage. If they can get the ball with just a little bit of room the play should work for a positive gain.
Instead we were hell-bent on lobbing the ball downfield. We had only one player that we trusted to get the contested pass (rightly so), and over-used him. In my opinion we under-used Dinkins and Reynolds. I don't feel that we gave those players enough of a chance. Instead we wasted throws to the WRs, who were not even open.
You are on the right track in that it was about the playbook. Not enough high percentage stuff. That said, I think we could have beat ND by simply running the ball and mixing in some of the shorter high percentage throws. For whatever reason AK and Franklin believe that stretching the field opens up the run no matter what the defense presents. I struggle with that idea given the way teams tend to defend us.
Not necessarily. Our receivers tend to get covered man to man, and they don't get separation against the better teams. There is no substitute for having a Godwin type of receiver when the defense is OSU-level. Have to be able to win one-on-one battles.
That said, this offense should have been able to handily defeat ND with the running game we had. All it needed was some change-ups to the tight ends running shorter routes. We needed to force the linebackers and safeties to account for them, which would have enabled our RBs to have easy success running behind a dominant offensive line.
Instead, we bungled the game plan and threw away too many downs. We also played hurry-up, which makes no sense unless you have a lot of depth on defense. That cost us in the second half.
These were the strategic blunders that a better coaching staff would not have made.
Swing pass to Singleton was effective. We did it once in the beginning of the game and didn't go back to it until late. Warren ran something similar to a slant which was a very quick release pass that went for big yards. Reynolds had a nice easy catch for 7 yds. Then he sat the bench.
Too focused on "creating explosive plays". Those plays occur naturally, sometimes through dominant running or getting your players in space by throwing to backs in the flat or via short/quick patterns., not simply chucking it down the field and throwing fades to players who can't contend for 50/50 balls. The passing game has way too many long developing routes.
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The whole WR thing is nuts. How and the heck can a squad at this level be so bad at wr? Unacceptable and expect a cleaning out by months end. It’s got to be done. That’s been the Achilles the last two yrs. With a competent WR corp they’d be a champ.
The freshman coming in weren't 5 stars just like all of our other wr recruits not named shorter.
I think the on-field communication between Allar the WRs was also a problem. I don't think they spent much time together over the last off-season training together. I'd like to hear stories about how Allar organized throwing/catching sessions throughout the summer.
Bunch sets and pics, why not more of those to get short yardage? If your guy can't get open one on one, set a pic from a bunch set.
I've watched lesser teams where 2 and 3 star WRs are getting open and making plays. How is that possible? Could it be that it's scheme and technique instead of some massive coincidence or conspiracy that all our 4 star recruits over the past few years have turned out to be duds?
Even if you ignore the stars, we have guys on the roster not named Fleming that had offers from teams like OSU, Oregon, Georgia, Michigan, Texas, and ND. That tells me that there is talent or at least potential in our WR group. I don't need someone to come down with 50/50 balls, I want them to run a slant or crossing route and pick up 5-8 yards with the potential to break something big.
Hagans and AK, and ultimately Franklin, are responsible for coaching and scheming to get their players to be successful. We may not have a Chris Godwin on the roster right now, but there is WR talent and it is not being utilized.
Yet most of you still wanted a balanced offense. It was a mistake. It was obvious before the first game we needed to go run heavy and rely on the TEs for the passing. Reynolds should have been used as a WR. Why should I care if a WR has separation if he can make a catch? Nobody complains when Warren makes a catch in traffic.
I really thought they were going to utilize Reynolds more. Something I don't think ND would've been ready for, but nope.
The ratings aren't perfect (Fleming) but I think our chances are better with higher ranked players.
Howard & Samuel were the 96th and 98th ranked WRs according to 247. Perhaps one of those is the next Deon Butler but that's counting on a lot. Outten is ranked 10th by 247 but 100th by Rivals so who knows? Either way it's a big ask to expect a true freshman not named Jeremiah Smith
The 3 WRs from the 2024 class (Brown, Gonzales, Denmark) were all rated similar to Howard, Samuel, and Exinor and they weren't able to get PT. A couple of those guys might be major contributors as juniors and seniors but obviously not right away.
You know what's a great way to make receivers better? Pounding the ball and 1) wearing down the pass rush and 2) drawing the DB's up. You know what else is great? A great play action fake. But alas, you can't do that one when you are never under center.
Maybe with Warren gone it will force AK to devise an offensive plan to much more heavily utilize the WRs. Could be terrible if none of them produce but there was an element of Warren overshadowing all of them.
After watching Dani's interception on Thursday night, I thought maybe he should have taken the field on offense to finish the game against Notre Dame. Hell, he looked better than any of our WRs.
Fair enough but I did say pound them pound them and then pound them. I was for the semblance of a balanced attack but no one ever thought the WO's would perform so terribly. I have been one of their biggest critics but even I didn't think they would perform that badly. Even Warren had some critical drops. It just wasn't a great outing all the way around for the O and then the D barely held on. If I'm going to be critical it would be for the decision to not go for the tie and overtime instead of throwing that pass.
Now we should play for the tie. Wasn't everyone ripping narduzzi a month ago for going for the tie?
We'd all like to see that, but those passes have been getting busted up. Receivers are not really free of the defender. Part of the issue is the officiating of pass defense -- "letting them play."
You've got to have a really good designed play that surprises or receivers that can win the one-on-one fight. It is what it is.
I think it is a combination of both -- receiver and scheme. AK has had some well-designed pass plays but then we never see anything like them again. We go back to the bread and butter -- send three guys 20+ yards down field and lob it, with no good options if no one is open or the pocket collapses. Then Allar starts throwing off of his back foot.
It is mind numbing that either the coaches don't see this or they don't know how to address it. We had the same problem before Allar.
Exactly. ND’s receivers caught several 50/50 balls while Penn State’s WRs caught zero.
You had 40 seconds 40 seconds! if the long pass or open receiver wasn't there throw it away. Or you could have run the ball eliminating the possibility of an interception by a QB who wasn't/didn't have a good game. Sometimes logic escapes people in the heat of the moment.
Regarding Allar let me say this: In important moments he lacks composure. This has been a constant regardless of progress in other ways.
He does go off on occasion! Seems he lets little things get to him and then spouts off at the mouth. SOMEtimes, that is needed, but he has lost his focus a few times to many..
AND I do NOT believe he was throwing that last ball at his feet (or low)... I truly believe that was a lie... Get better Drew! YOU will decide the teams fate in the close games.
IMO and that's all I really have in these discussions Allar tries to do too much at times. He forces the ball now and then and when he doesn't have a target, he holds onto the ball too long hoping someone will come open when he should have made the decision to run sooner or just throw it away. So, plays end up in a sack or a tackle for loss in those situations. Put those things together with his other issues it will tend to end badly for him in big games at times. He's certainly not a bad QB just look at his success but what we see is the difference from being a damn good QB (one of the best all time) for us and him being that popular word these days, elite winning the big ones.
