offense is 'gonna sling it'

[aubiefifty 16,696]

seccountry.com

 

Auburn WR Kyle Davis: Tigers' new-look offense is 'gonna sling it' in 2017

Justin Ferguson Auburn Beat Reporter

AUBURN, Ala. — Shortly after Auburn football’s 2016 season ended, wide receiver Kyle Davis was asked about new quarterback Jarrett Stidham‘s arm strength and what that means for the future of the Tigers’ offense.

Davis glanced over at quarterbacks Sean White and John Franklin III, who will compete with Stidham for the starting job in 2017, and offered a simple projection.

“I think they can sling it down the field, too,” Davis said. “We’re gonna sling it.”

Since Davis said that in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome locker room, the Auburn passing attack has been the talk of the offseason on the Plains.

Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn hired former Arizona State offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey — who has an Air Raid background and a resume filled with more pass attempts than the Tigers are used to seeing — a couple of weeks after the Sugar Bowl.

MORE: What Auburn football fans can expect from a Chip Lindsey offense

Lindsey will take over Malzahn’s offense, which will fuse new concepts with fresh blood at the quarterback position in Stidham and a receiver room filled with developing stars heading into their sophomore seasons.

“Our freshmen receivers, I think we did very well for ourselves,” Davis said. “We’re proving a lot of people wrong. A lot of people were all projecting us to have like three or four receptions and that we would just block the whole year. We all had more than that.”

Davis is the biggest name of those young receivers. He led the Tigers with 20.67 yards per catch last season and will be the only returning wideout who caught multiple touchdowns in 2016.

The former 4-star recruit had Auburn’s catch of the year in his second career game and quickly became a household name with his confidence and energy on and off the field.

 

“He’s a confident guy,” White said in October. “A lot of times freshmen, especially true freshmen, they’re just like, ‘Oh, man, this is college football. This is crazy.’ He’s just out there, like, ‘Throw me the ball. I’ll be open.’ And he’s just confident. He knows he can make the play. Then he goes out and does it.”

Alongside the likes of Darius Slayton and Eli Stove, Davis provided an instant impact under the guidance of first-year wide receivers coach Kodi Burns.

“I learned how to be a receiver,” Davis said. “In high school, I didn’t have a receivers coach like (Burns) that could teach me to do this and that. It helped me develop a lot better into a better athlete. Coach Burns has done a great job at just coaching me up, as well as Coach Malzahn.”

MORE: 5 reasons to get excited about Auburn spring football

And heading into his sophomore season, Davis already has hit it off with the transfer who is expected to be Auburn’s starting quarterback in 2017.

“(Stidham) hasn’t really even talked about football,” Davis said. “It’s been more of a relationship-type thing.”

Judging by Davis’ Twitter account, the connection between quarterback and receiver started early in December, when Stidham was still deciding where he wanted to play his college ball.

@Jarrett_Stidham pic.twitter.com/Sp4wWVoSOw

— KD (@KDSZN) December 3, 2016

After Stidham landed on the Plains, Davis wanted to make sure they were on the same page.

@Jarrett_Stidham hey

— KD (@KDSZN) December 19, 2016

@KDSZN Hey

— Jarrett Stidham (@Jarrett_Stidham) December 19, 2016

But Davis, of course, isn’t playing any favorites in the upcoming quarterback competition between Stidham, White, Franklin, Woody Barrett and Malik Willis. The Georgia native watched White and Franklin compete with the now-departed Jeremy Johnson last spring, and he’s excited to see similar competition happen again.

“It’s going to be fun to watch in the spring, having people react to that competition,” Davis said. “It was fun last spring, even though I didn’t get to do anything (due to injury). It was fun watching it. Who’s going to outdo the other? It’s very entertaining.”

[milehighfan 1,239]

I'm looking forward to what will hopefully be a new and improved offense under new OC Chip Lindsey.

As far as the wide receivers go we saw what KD, ES and to a smaller extent, what NCM can do. But I am really anxious to see what Marquis McClain can do. During the bowl practices several players were really impressed with him adding he can be one heck of a physical WR. I hope that's true.

[jared52 4,354]

Until Gus meddles?

[The Plainsman 948]

I think Slayton will be the star next year.   Yes a year ahead of these guys but it seemed as if he was becoming the target last year IMO.  

[Eisenhower_1952 87]

It's about time. Been hearing this since 2014!

[Mikey 16,546]

39 minutes ago, jared52 said:

Until Gus meddles?

If a head coach doesn't meddle he's not doing his job. Since we have an offensive head coach, he'll meddle in the offense more than most and that's a good thing. The top three offenses in Auburn history have come with Gus calling the shots. We don't want that to change one bit.

About all that slingin'.... We are a downhill, power running team that needs some tuneup in the passing game in order to make the run more effective. That's all we need and I hope that's all Lindsey hopes to bring, because this is not the Big-12 we're competing in. All we need or want is for the passing to be good enough to take some pressure off the running game.

[AUBwins 10,064]

Yep.  Some third down conversions to the tight ends and connecting on the bombs down the field would suffice.  Oh and maybe figure out how to make a screen pass gain yards. I would be happy. 

[DAG 33,955]

10 hours ago, Mikey said:

If a head coach doesn't meddle he's not doing his job. Since we have an offensive head coach, he'll meddle in the offense more than most and that's a good thing. The top three offenses in Auburn history have come with Gus calling the shots. We don't want that to change one bit.

About all that slingin'.... We are a downhill, power running team that needs some tuneup in the passing game in order to make the run more effective. That's all we need and I hope that's all Lindsey hopes to bring, because this is not the Big-12 we're competing in. All we need or want is for the passing to be good enough to take some pressure off the running game.

We absolutely have the talent and means to sling the ball around need be . Clearly , CGM has always wanted to be a physical team with the run , but it is a fine line between being a down hill running team and pretty much becoming GT.

The best teams have a balance offense and that is what we should be striving for .

I do not want to be running the ball 70-80 percent of the time . 

[AU64 10,122]

I do not want to be running the ball 70-80 percent of the time .DAG

Generally agree with this but I guess it depends on what is being accomplished by the running game.  We've had a few teams that could impose their will with the running game and it was demoralizing to the opposition. 

Guess I'm not certain of the definition of "balance"...does it refer to the relative number of plays...run vs pass....or the relative number of yards in a game?  

An effective passing game ought to generate about twice as many yards per play as a typical running game does....so give or take 70% runs could still end up being a somewhat balanced offense?

Seems like we have the potential with the passing game to put up some big yards/play if we don't let those bubble screens and quick outs dominate the passing game. 

[DAG 33,955]

39 minutes ago, AU64 said:

I do not want to be running the ball 70-80 percent of the time .DAG

Generally agree with this but I guess it depends on what is being accomplished by the running game.  We've had a few teams that could impose their will with the running game and it was demoralizing to the opposition. 

Guess I'm not certain of the definition of "balance"...does it refer to the relative number of plays...run vs pass....or the relative number of yards in a game?  

An effective passing game ought to generate about twice as many yards per play as a typical running game does....so give or take 70% runs could still end up being a somewhat balanced offense?

Seems like we have the potential with the passing game to put up some big yards/play if we don't let those bubble screens and quick outs dominate the passing game. 

Yes . 2013 was an anomaly. In a case like that you would want to oppose your will . However , we saw in 2014 that we needed to be way more balance as teams learn to adapt to personell , not to mention we didn't have the same horses the previous years. This continually became evident in 15 and 16 . 

As much as I love seeing bubba impose his will, it would be nice to throw the ball on first down and get our playmakers more involved in the vertical game , other than when we do that goofy Statue of Liberty play action pass.

[AU64 10,122]

Dag....throwing when we want to instead of when we have to.....that makes a big difference as you note.  JMO but it's not now often we throw but when we choose to throw the ball...and the type of throws....  Looking for some better things this year.

[HarrisBoy334 63]

Why not be a team who designs game plans week to week? If the opponent is top 10 against the run but 25th against the pass then why run a balanced offense? Yeah use the run to keep them honest but passing the ball should trump running attempts. Hopefully this offense can attack every team's defense accordingly exploiting weaknesses. No issues with  35-40 pass attempts in a game if necessary to achieve game plan.

[DAG 33,955]

28 minutes ago, HarrisBoy334 said:

Why not be a team who designs game plans week to week? If the opponent is top 10 against the run but 25th against the pass then why run a balanced offense? Yeah use the run to keep them honest but passing the ball should trump running attempts. Hopefully this offense can attack every team's defense accordingly exploiting weaknesses. No issues with  35-40 pass attempts in a game if necessary to achieve game plan.

Yes . Teams like Alabama are consistently exploited by teams with a QB who can move relatively well, but also can throw on their secondary . The only time I can think of a team totally opposing their will on them by running was our 2013 squad .

[HarrisBoy334 63]

1 minute ago, DAG said:

Yes . Teams like Alabama are consistently exploited by teams with a QB who can move relatively well, but also can throw on their secondary . The only time I can think of a team totally opposing their will on them by running was out 2013 squad .

Yep, the game Nick Marshall really opened up AUs passing was against A&M. But this team hopefully can win if they leaned heavily on either run or pass. Im a Pats fan and seeing them design game plans, attacking differently week to week is refreshing. I want that for AU.

[DAG 33,955]

12 minutes ago, HarrisBoy334 said:

Yep, the game Nick Marshall really opened up AUs passing was against A&M. But this team hopefully can win if they leaned heavily on either run or pass. Im a Pats fan and seeing them design game plans, attacking differently week to week is refreshing. I want that for AU.

Yep. It is quite amazing what the patriots can do with constant different type of plays . The spurs of football.

but even in 2014, we had to change it up and we did . We threw all over them, however our defense crapped the bed .

it is going to be a point of time where slinging the ball will be needed to put us in position to win the game .

[HarrisBoy334 63]

14 minutes ago, DAG said:

Yep. It is quite amazing what the patriots can do with constant different type of plays . The spurs of football.

but even in 2014, we had to change it up and we did . We threw all over them, however our defense crapped the bed .

it is going to be a point of time where slinging the ball will be needed to put us in position to win the game .

I fully agree my man!

[oracle79 3,569]

Balanced offense = the ability to attack a defense at it's weakest point, whether that be running inside, outside, misdirection, power, quick passing game, intermediate passing game, deep passing game, screen game, etc. (i.e. the ability to do several things well on offense)

[HarrisBoy334 63]

2 hours ago, oracle79 said:

Balanced offense = the ability to attack a defense at it's weakest point, whether that be running inside, outside, misdirection, power, quick passing game, intermediate passing game, deep passing game, screen game, etc. (i.e. the ability to do several things well on offense)

I agree with that definition but its not always applied that way. Most, including  some coaches and commentators, use it to describe run/pass totals and usage in a game. 

[AUIH1 1,515]

Slingin'it, pounding it, yada yada.  Gus needs to win a lot games next year no matter how it is accomplished.  Gus nees to win at least 10 regular season games next year.  uga is a must win and one of either LSU, Clemson and spuat.

 

wde

[AUGoo 2,659]

Heard it.

Been fooled into passing expectations before.

Would love to be shown it's true THIS TIME.

[AUloggerhead 2,225]

17 hours ago, Mikey said:

If a head coach doesn't meddle he's not doing his job. Since we have an offensive head coach, he'll meddle in the offense more than most and that's a good thing. The top three offenses in Auburn history have come with Gus calling the shots. We don't want that to change one bit.

About all that slingin'.... We are a downhill, power running team that needs some tuneup in the passing game in order to make the run more effective. That's all we need and I hope that's all Lindsey hopes to bring, because this is not the Big-12 we're competing in. All we need or want is for the passing to be good enough to take some pressure off the running game.

A Big-12 team just schooled AU in the Sugar Bowl in how to run an offense.  524 yds total offense, remember?  If by 'tuneup'' you mean being able to throw the ball short, medium & long to our talented WRs whenever & wherever we choose rather than when the defense forces us to throw it, then yeah, I'm right with ya.  WDE

 

[FoundationEagle 637]

"Offense is gonna sling it" (according to a freshman receiver and has zero to do with the actual offense)...................

[AUbritt 611]

17 minutes ago, AUIH1 said:

Gus nees to win at least 10 regular season games next year.  uga is a must win and one of either LSU, Clemson and spuat.

I'll agree with this, as my level of expectation. In fact, to say it was a good year, I'd want to beat UGA and Bama and one of either LSU or Clemson in the regular season. Would prefer to win every game, of course; but I don't want to be unreasonable.

Oh, and I don't care whether we sling it or run it, either, as long as we win.

[aufan57 922]

Sling it don't sing it

[Mikey 16,546]

5 hours ago, AUloggerhead said:

A Big-12 team just schooled AU in the Sugar Bowl in how to run an offense.  524 yds total offense, remember?  If by 'tuneup'' you mean being able to throw the ball short, medium & long to our talented WRs whenever & wherever we choose rather than when the defense forces us to throw it, then yeah, I'm right with ya.  WDE

 

They had success because they had two Heisman finalists on their offensive unit. 2016 Oklahoma was not your typical Big-12 team, not by a long shot.