chimes

You’re exactly right- he accelerated past the safety from almost standing still. And Tim Carter was exactly who came to mind while I was posting about AS

I remember when he committed/signed and everyone was talking about how fast he was. I shrugged it off and thought “yeah but this is big time D1 football, everyone is fast. Dude is in for a rude awakening.” The second he caught that ball last Saturday and broke the initial tackle I immediately thought “OK this is Schwartz, let’s see what he’s got.” After about 2 or 3 steps I thought “He’s gone. My God that kid is fast”. It was crystal clear he was going to outrun that safety even though the safety had 3 or 4 steps on him and the angle. Not sure what it looked like on tv but it was absolutely unreal in person.

Dont know anything about him but this is the guy I want roaming our sideline. Noticed him a few weeks ago and now have a new role model in life.

#internetlegend

Don’t disagree with this at all. We absolutely have the pieces to look better than we do. Coaching has so much to do with maximizing strengths and hiding weaknesses... Gus has shown an incredible inability to consistently do either. 😂 ☠️☠️☠️

Loof, you know I respect you more than probably any other poster here. You have to know that I’m not disagreeing about the fact that Gus is a subpar coach. I just think that some of our talent evaluations have also been lacking

Our DL is not bad and I haven’t said they are. Others have also pointed out that we always seem to have more than our fair share of tweeners- especially on the end. Again, the “blocking “ by the OL has been abhorrent this year. I’d be crazy to argue otherwise. It’s also not fair to blame every single negative play on offense on them. Sometimes they do hold blocks and Stidham still can’t see or hit wide open receivers. Sometimes they do open lanes and our RBs either don’t see the hole or so often go down on first contact. I just don’t think it’s fair or accurate to blame every single offensive issue on the OL 100% of the time. We’ll have to agree to disagree on Stidham being a fit issue. Gus’ offenses at Auburn have been markedly more successful with mobile QBs running the read option. Shivers is a true freshman and could end up being better than all those guys. Problem I see right now is that he’s being asked to fill a traditional RB role and those other guys weren’t.

Completely agree with all of this. There is PLENTY of talent on our roster for the coaches to put a MUCH better product on the field. I do think however that whatever our 5 year recruiting ranking is (5?) is illusory. The best way I can put it at the moment is that I don’t think we’re quite as stocked at certain positions as many believe. Some guys might have stars but not be suited for our offense. Some guys might have stars but don’t compliment the guys next to them (stacked dline that can’t generate a pass rush). Some guys might have stars but would not be filling the roles on other teams that they do on ours (Kam Martin). I think Gus misevaluates both talent and fit. I think Stidham, Martin , and Shivers could all be very good playing for other coaches in different offenses. I hate to keep piling on Whitlow bc the guy plays so hard but I do think it’s telling that he’s earned the RB1 role over these more highly sought after guys( haven’t looked at their offers yet but I’m trusting DAG here). I honestly think Whitlow has looked every bit of his offer list.

I never said we don’t have one of the top 25 most talented teams in the country. I just said I can’t figure out if it’s lack of coaching(development and scheme) or lack of talent in a few key areas. I think it’s probably closer to a mix of the two. Also, I’m NOT saying lower rated guys can’t be studs. I used to follow recruiting much more closely than I do now. I was very high on both Sammie and DD. I also made numerous posts before Tre got the starting gig that I thought he was going to be a MONSTER. I’ll admit I’ve missed on guys too- I was really low on CAP and he’s still proving me wrong.

To be fair, he was literally the only guy that I looked up and only bc Loof referenced him. I had zero clue what his list looked like before I looked it up 15 minutes ago. I wasn’t attempting to cherry pick but honestly wasn’t shocked to see the lack of interest from other SEC schools. I’ll gladly look up the others when I have a little more time and respond accordingly

Sorry, at work and have to keep it short and sweet. Our starting RB was listed as a 24/7 4* (illusion of talent) with offers from Auburn, Georgia State, Jacksonville State, Troy , and UAB. Guys like that will keep our star ratings high but, when push comes to shove, won’t be able to outperform the guys lining up for the other SEC powers. I honestly think our roster is an illusion and that ultimately falls on Gus.

I 1000% agree with you that talent isn’t being maximized but there’s this lingering voice that says that we’re just not as talented as we look on paper

Even Saban adapts. Obviously coaches don’t need to throw out all their principles, standards, techniques, and philosophies but they do need to attempt to stay ahead of the curve. Sports are CONSTANTLY changing and teams/coaches who can’t keep up have been shown to consistently fall behind. Just look at changes in style of play of the big 3 pro sports- MLB, NFL, NBA- over the past decade.

I’m stuck in this weird position between being convinced that Gus has all the talent in the world to put a top 5 product on the field and being convinced that they’ve built a strange mishmash of “star ratings” that aren’t conducive to fielding a winning team or successful/sustainable program. We all agree oline recruiting has been garbage. I honestly think our stable of RBs is bottom 1/4 in the SEC right now. Stidham doesn’t fit Gus’ system and all the guys behind him could be summed up with one word- “raw”. Dline recruiting has probably been the team strength for years now but how many effective fast- twitch pass rushers have we really trotted out? We have enough talent to be a lot better than we are but I still don’t think our program is build soundly. Too many holes in depth and misevaluations of talent.

Completely agree. Effective leadership is HARD. Even when you’re successful, good leaders are always trying to adapt and stay ahead of the competition. Complacent, stagnant leaders often get surpassed pretty quickly.