Practice Notes 03/07/2017

[Barnacle 9,064]

4 minutes ago, cole256 said:

I don't care how big of a Gus fan or Hastings fan you may be.....that's freaking stupid

[lionheartkc 6,150]

8 minutes ago, cole256 said:

As far as starting well two of the more gifted wr's are out. But Hastings is a player and actually the things he can do isn't normal, he is an above average athlete. But ncm was hurt alot of last year, I don't think Hastings was. Also just match ups, Hastings isn't going up against the best corners or what not. But I don't want to take anything away from him. But I do agree, don't throw him lob balls in the endzone. I don't care how big of a Gus fan or Hastings fan you may be.....that's freaking stupid

Fortunately we have two tight ends for that, now... and a OC who is known to use them.

[cole256 17,043]

Just now, lionheartkc said:

Fortunately we have two tight ends for that, now... and a OC who is known to use them.

And Davis, Slaton, and ncm and from what I've heard McClain as well. These guys are big bodies or have very nice verticals or both and are taller. I do wish we had a 6'4" jump ball wr on the outside because that would make a safety have to go over and pay attention on the outside and that would open up for guys like Hastings but I'm sure we'll get one once we show our passing offense is the real deal.

Also from experience playing wr/corner/safety/ and even basketball longer arms, wingspan makes a huge difference to make up for a couple of inches in this situation as well. I don't think people talk about that as much but it's a big deal.

[alexava 6,973]

Hastings is situational. No lobs. Actually very situational. Useful though. 

[Win4AU 4,052]

Hasting on a slant would be good till he gets decleated by an LB or Safety.

[McLoofus 35,182]

30 minutes ago, Win4AU said:

Hasting on a slant would be good till he gets decleated by an LB or Safety.

No receiver really does well in that situation. Smaller receivers frequently run drags and slants out of the slot. Smaller receivers also sometimes handle contact better by being more compact and presenting less bad areas to the defender- knees, ribs, etc.- to hit. Plenty of little fellas catching balls all over the field in the NFL. 

Hastings might not be as strong and certainly doesn't have the catch radius of most of the other guys, but I wouldn't list his ability to take contact as a big concern. 

[bigbird 60,498]

Hastings would be deadly on whip routes as well as any shallow drags that match him up on a LB.

[alexava 6,973]

31 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Hastings would be deadly on whip routes as well as any shallow drags that match him up on a LB.

His speed burst in voided areas would be nice if the play call allows the wr and qb flexibility to find them instead of a predetermined rout. That is a lot of responsibility on those two though. 

[corchjay 5,311]

4 hours ago, cole256 said:

And Davis, Slaton, and ncm and from what I've heard McClain as well. These guys are big bodies or have very nice verticals or both and are taller. I do wish we had a 6'4" jump ball wr on the outside because that would make a safety have to go over and pay attention on the outside and that would open up for guys like Hastings but I'm sure we'll get one once we show our passing offense is the real deal.

Also from experience playing wr/corner/safety/ and even basketball longer arms, wingspan makes a huge difference to make up for a couple of inches in this situation as well. I don't think people talk about that as much but it's a big deal.

Cole body positioning as well as it works in basketball and catching a football as well.  

I also have no problems with Hastings as long as we aren't throwing jump balls to him.  His suddenness on a LB could be deadly for those 8-12 yard gains that drive  defenses crazy.

[bigbird 60,498]

7 minutes ago, corchjay said:

 His suddenness on a LB could be deadly for those 8-12 yard gains that drive  defenses crazy.

Absolutely!  Some guys you can't catch in a phone booth. He is one of those guys.

[corchjay 5,311]

And as I've said don't count out White yet.  His accuracy will be a great asset in this more pass friendly offense.  Lots of shorter passing schemes.  We won't rely on the deep ball as much to produce passing yards.  It will be more of option routes and flooding zones making defenders make decisions on who to cover.  Then when we push them out of zone coverage into man watch the rush offense explode.

[80Tiger 899]

5 minutes ago, corchjay said:

And as I've said don't count out White yet.  His accuracy will be a great asset in this more pass friendly offense.  Lots of shorter passing schemes.  We won't rely on the deep ball as much to produce passing yards.  It will be more of option routes and flooding zones making defenders make decisions on who to cover.  Then when we push them out of zone coverage into man watch the rush offense explode.

Whether by design or not it sure seems as if that is what we have been doing the last few years; not relying on the long pass and making mostly shorter throws.

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

7 minutes ago, corchjay said:

And as I've said don't count out White yet.  His accuracy will be a great asset in this more pass friendly offense.  Lots of shorter passing schemes.  We won't rely on the deep ball as much to produce passing yards.  It will be more of option routes and flooding zones making defenders make decisions on who to cover.  Then when we push them out of zone coverage into man watch the rush offense explode.

Many Thanks!

Even I understood that one.

[corchjay 5,311]

4 minutes ago, 80Tiger said:

Whether by design or not it sure seems as if that is what we have been doing the last few years; not relying on the long pass and making mostly shorter throws.

But by design the goal was to hit the long ball.  

[80Tiger 899]

15 minutes ago, corchjay said:

But by design the goal was to hit the long ball.  

You think so? I am certainly not privy to any inside knowledge or anything but just at the games I was at in person, it did  not seem that way, but I defer to you on that.

[auskip07 930]

7 hours ago, AuburnNTexas said:

Physical mis-match doesn't mean jack if you don't get open and catch the ball. I like NCM and I am giving him the benefit of the doubt because of nagging injuries but the reality is Hastings produced more last year. Ask bama about walk-on wide receivers (Hunter Renfrow).  I am not saying Hastings will be all world but to many fans look at height weight and 40 yard times and not what the player does on the field. In the article they mentioned that Stidham threw 3 passes during the drill all to Hastings he caught two and Stidham missed him on one. There was a reason Stidham threw to him he was open.

I don't expect Hastings to be a starter but he is so quick into his cuts that he gets open and so far he has shown very good hands. I think you will still see him getting on the field and making possession type catches.

and i dont care how quick you are when you go against a more physically gifted corner that will out muscle you on the line and disrupt your route....  see the bama game.  You wont get anywhere.    

[McLoofus 35,182]

Yep, that has always been Gus's MO, at least at Auburn. He schemes and schemes and schemes to set up the big pass play (or sometimes a big reverse- miss you love you TZach). 2010 and 2013 were the exceptions because of how perfectly our roster was constructed those seasons to run the ball. No doubt a lot of that can be attributed to roster issues the last couple seasons, but IIRC our RZ % in 2014 wasn't all that great, either. I might be wrong, though. 

What we did have a little bit of in 2014 were drag routes, quick slants and such with which we could mitigate a pass rush and pick up easy first downs when the sticks allowed. That vanished as soon as it appeared, though, never to be seen again. What's crazy is that Gus has watched his own team get shredded time and again on those plays more than once. I hope that's the kind of thing that Lindsey can help with. 

Sincerely
Message board dude who doesn't know jack about play calling

 

[steeleagle 2,945]

1 hour ago, corchjay said:

But by design the goal was to hit the long ball.  

That's why Sitdham may have the upper hand, if he can be accurate on the deep throws. We know SW is great with reading defenses. and mostly with his accuracy on short and intermediate throws. His weakness is he has not been able to get the deep ball to his WRs, and can't throw to just and out and up streaking WR.

We will see, but we needed to open up the deep passing game too. Now If OC CL can improve and diversify our passing game, then maybe we won't need as much deep ball plays.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

40 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Yep, that has always been Gus's MO, at least at Auburn. He schemes and schemes and schemes to set up the big pass play

Agreed... he hammers the ball down your throat until you stack the box, and then burns you over the top... lather, rinse, repeat. Our passing game, last year, was mostly designed around making up for 3rd and long.

[McLoofus 35,182]

3 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

Our passing game, last year, was mostly designed around making up for 3rd and long.

Lol, very well put

[DAG 33,977]

36 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

Agreed... he hammers the ball down your throat until you stack the box, and then burns you over the top... lather, rinse, repeat. Our passing game, last year, was mostly designed around making up for 3rd and long.

Another underrated feature of SW. Made a lot of long yardage throws to extend plays :

[lionheartkc 6,150]

2 minutes ago, DAG said:

Another underrated feature of SW. Made a lot of long yardage throws to extend plays :

Yup... that's his real claim to fame and the reason the offense always ran better when he was in there.  It wasn't because he was making a bunch of plays on 1st and 2nd, or because he was better at handing the ball off... it was almost entirely because, when we got stuffed on first and second, it was more likely than not that he could make up the yards on third.

When he hurt his throwing arm, it took away any advantage he brought to the team.

[Ronin 2]

14 hours ago, JDUBB4AU said:

True, but Garner has 20 + years in defensive coaching experience. Maybe I should have clarified my comment about Burns more. I don't dislike Burns. JMO AU is too big a job for him at this stage in his career.  Burns is still a GA to me. Burns will be a good coach eventually, AU isn't a stepping stone if you understand what I mean. I hope Burns turns out to recruit like Craig and coach like Darryl Drake from the Arizona Cardinals. 

So you didn't like the hire.  It's done.  If you think he's going to be a good coach eventually, why not sit back and enjoy watching it happen?  Sure, this is a message board.  And I know this is a message board.  We've got to have stuff to talk about.  A suggestion would be to point out issues you've seen with the receivers that Kodi needs to work on rather than just bitch about how he shouldn't have been hired.  Extra points if the issues were created by Kodi rather than just not fixed fast enough for your liking.

[ValleyTiger 2,894]

7 hours ago, bigbird said:

Hastings would be deadly on whip routes as well as any shallow drags that match him up on a LB.

Exactly, a Julian Edelman type for us. Could be effective in the red zone with those short bursts.

[Auctoritas 2,828]

35 minutes ago, ValleyTiger said:

Exactly, a Julian Edelman type for us. Could be effective in the red zone with those short bursts.

I see a bit of Hunter Renfroe in him, from Clemson. Same build, the quicks, the hands. I think he's underestimated.