Marcus Davis Wide Receiver Coach

[Cardin Drake 1,826]

Interesting hire.  I thought Ike Hilliard was a standout, and I was sorry he wasn't retained. That said, I have no problem trusting Freeze's judgement on hiring at this point. A head coach's job is all about recruiting and putting together a staff that can recruit.  Freeze gets it.  Personality and work ethic are 95% of recruiting. Lots of guys have the knowledge. The x's and o's aren't a mystery anywhere.  Marcus Davis's resume is a little thin from an experience standpoint. He must have knocked it out of the park in his interviews. I'm good with that. A staff needs a few young guys the recruits can relate to.  I like what Freeze is building here, and I say that as someone who was against hiring him. I've changed my mind, and I'm on the bandwagon.

Edited December 28, 2022 by Cardin Drake

[cbo 7,842]

Davis might work out great. There are lots of things to like about him as a coach. I liked him as a player and I'm rooting for him now. 

But all of y'all piling on any criticism and acting like this is a home run hire are delusional. Or at least you are homers who aren't interested in actual discussion.

Davis has 2 years as a position coach in college. We "stole" him from GA State. And anyone who wants to counter with the analytics needs to be able to explain the data points and how the analytics actually work. 

Again, I don't hate the hire. But I doubt it was Freeze's first choice, no matter what we are told. Auburn is a big time job for big time coaches. Imagine if Gus was still HC today and made this hire. 

 

[TeamZero77 1,784]

11 hours ago, TigerFanAU said:

Saban and Alabama have analysts that are former P5 coaches. We’re hiring former players in the 20’s, with 24 months experience as position coaches and recruiters.

And those former P5 coaches Saban hired as analysts are considered by most to have been terrible head coaches. Butch Jones comes to mind. So those coaches are who you are using in your debate against our Marcus Davis hire?

If hiring coaches from smaller schools is an issue, then what do you think about Saban hiring Cornelius Williams to be an analyst on his staff? Besides 4 games at Auburn, Corn had coached at UNA, UAB, Troy and Jax State. And Saban hired him.

Caddy had little coaching before Auburn hired him. Zac's biggest job was at Houston, a G5 program, before we hired him. Those 2 have done quiet well wouldn't you think? 

Freeze has a good mixture on this staff. Older coordinators who were college head coaches, younger position coaches that will be great on the recruiting trail and aren't burnt out from the road yet, Auburn alums, etc. 

He has Kent Austin in a QC position off field and he is responsible for ALOT of the QB success that Freeze's QB's have had. He has Trovon Reed on staff because he is a helluva recruiter and loves Auburn.

Then guys like our OL coach, Jake Thornton, have SEC experience, are great recruiters, still young and his O-Lines have helped lead the SEC in rushing this year and were 3rd in the nation. They were 12th nationally in 2021. 

I know it's your opinion and all but my opinion is this staff is a damn good mixture and they want to be here at Auburn. They've been relentless in recruiting and busted their butts to get this class we got in a few weeks and during holidays. Future staffs probably will be better under Freeze but he gets an A+ for his first coaching staff here at Auburn.

Edited December 28, 2022 by TeamZero77

[CCTAU 3,318]

1 hour ago, cbo said:

Davis might work out great. There are lots of things to like about him as a coach. I liked him as a player and I'm rooting for him now. 

But all of y'all piling on any criticism and acting like this is a home run hire are delusional. Or at least you are homers who aren't interested in actual discussion.

Davis has 2 years as a position coach in college. We "stole" him from GA State. And anyone who wants to counter with the analytics needs to be able to explain the data points and how the analytics actually work. 

Again, I don't hate the hire. But I doubt it was Freeze's first choice, no matter what we are told. Auburn is a big time job for big time coaches. Imagine if Gus was still HC today and made this hire. 

 

Actually we stole him from UCF. But I guess Georgia Southern could be correct also. I’m not real sure he was ever associated with Sean Elliot. 

[GwillMac6 20,671]

44 minutes ago, CCTAU said:

Actually we stole him from UCF. But I guess Georgia Southern could be correct also. I’m not real sure he was ever associated with Sean Elliot. 

What exactly are you referring to? Marcus Davis never worked for UCF. He worked off the field a couple of years at AU. Then a GA at FSU and the last 2 years he has been a WR coach at Hawaii and GA Southern.

[GwillMac6 20,671]

7 hours ago, cbo said:

Davis might work out great. There are lots of things to like about him as a coach. I liked him as a player and I'm rooting for him now. 

But all of y'all piling on any criticism and acting like this is a home run hire are delusional. Or at least you are homers who aren't interested in actual discussion.

Davis has 2 years as a position coach in college. We "stole" him from GA State. And anyone who wants to counter with the analytics needs to be able to explain the data points and how the analytics actually work. 

Again, I don't hate the hire. But I doubt it was Freeze's first choice, no matter what we are told. Auburn is a big time job for big time coaches. Imagine if Gus was still HC today and made this hire. 

 

Freeze passed over on 2 of his best hires as a head coach in Grant Heard and Jacob Peeler for Marcus Davis. That should tell everyone something. One of the best pro’s of hiring Freeze as a head coach is that he has a history of identifying young up and comers in the business and/or guys who are Un proven at the power 5 level. No one had heard of Grant Heard, Chris Kiffin, Jacob Peeler, Tom Allen or Phil Longo before Freeze hired them at Arkansas State or Ole Miss. It’s not just one or two times him lucking out on unproven assistant coaching hires. It’s several. 

Edited December 28, 2022 by GwillMac6

[GwillMac6 20,671]

16 hours ago, NES said:

War Eagle Marcus Davis let’s go team. Head scratcher to let Ike Hilliard go to make this hire. 100% behind Freeze and staff. Just seems like an underwhelming collective staff, however Let Go boyz Warrrrrrrr Eagle hey

Underwhelming!? How? Please point to me where it’s underwhelming? Oh lemme guess the Liberty guys because they are unproven on the power 5 level and Marcus Davis? Because everywhere else it is absolutely loaded. 

[GwillMac6 20,671]

19 hours ago, aucom96 said:

He may end up being fantastic, I don't know. He's barely coached at all and zero at this level. What that tells me is not that we hired a coach because an analytics service likes him. Analytics is just witch doctor science at this point, anyway. (Recall board attitudes about Kiffin's love of going for it on 4th in his own territory) What this tells me is one of or both of two things: we missed on our target and decided to take a chance on another former Auburn player or money sources are tired of paying for coaches. Based on the overall shape of the staff, I'd say one is possible, two is a certainty. 

The other 2 main targets were guys in Heard and Peeler that Freeze had already hired before and was very familiar with. He just chose Marcus Davis over them. That should tell you how highly he thinks of MD.

Edited December 28, 2022 by GwillMac6

[GwillMac6 20,671]

20 hours ago, AUwent said:

Supposedly Freeze did choose him over Peeler, which makes me feel a tad better…how exactly does this “analytics” stuff work?

AND heard. 2 guys freeze is very familiar with. That specific analytics company has been around since 09 and freeze has been a client of their’s since he got the Arkansas state head coaching job. They help him fill out the rest of his staff sometimes on guys that are up and coming in the profession that he otherwise wouldn’t know a lot about. He also used the analytics company to aid in hiring Phil Montgomery who was in the top percentile  every season for offense when he was baylors oc and even some of his offenses at Tulsa when he was the head coach. 

Edited December 28, 2022 by GwillMac6

[e808 3,025]

2 hours ago, cbo said:

Davis might work out great. There are lots of things to like about him as a coach. I liked him as a player and I'm rooting for him now. 

But all of y'all piling on any criticism and acting like this is a home run hire are delusional. Or at least you are homers who aren't interested in actual discussion.

Davis has 2 years as a position coach in college. We "stole" him from GA State. And anyone who wants to counter with the analytics needs to be able to explain the data points and how the analytics actually work. 

Again, I don't hate the hire. But I doubt it was Freeze's first choice, no matter what we are told. Auburn is a big time job for big time coaches. Imagine if Gus was still HC today and made this hire. 

 

Not really. Remember Gus hired Caddy, T Will and Kodi. Look at them now To much emphasis on coaching. Kirby said it best once u have the talent the coaching is the easy part.

[GwillMac6 20,671]

13 hours ago, TigerFanAU said:

Swing and a miss hire. 2 years of coaching. Ridiculous. 

 

[GwillMac6 20,671]

16 hours ago, nurbis said:

I will keep an open mind but replacing a coach that had ten years of NFL WR coaching experience with a coach that has two years of WR coaching experience seems like an odd move. 

Ike most likely is going back to the nfl after the nfl regular season ends if he can find a gig. He only took a college job because there was no landing spot for him in the NFL last offseason. Freeze kept the 2 coaches most valuable to the staff in Zac and Caddy. 

Edited December 28, 2022 by GwillMac6

[GwillMac6 20,671]

13 hours ago, W.E.D said:

I don't mind this hire.  Seems better than a boring retread.  Loving the spin that all of a sudden he picked the available Marcus Davis over whom all insiders claimed would be our WR coach.  Makes me chuckle.

Like a young, hungry guy.  Not sure if I really fully buy into these "coaching analytics" fully, but it's at least one data point/validation.  Hugh has done well in his past finding young good coaches, so could easily line up that way again.  I do think ppl like J Lee and other call this a "home run hire" and other extreme superlatives are a bit much.

You don’t think he could get Heard and peeler to leave ucf and mizzou!? Lol come on bruh… it’s clear he just wanted Marcus Davis more. 

[GwillMac6 20,671]

11 hours ago, SumterAubie said:

IMO, this is the future of recruiting. Pre NIL, a coach could be green skinned with purple hair and recruit quite well as long as he had the Benjamins. Now that the money playing field is leveling, recruiting is going to be even more about relationships. Personally, I like the idea of young coaches recruiting as they can relate to these high school kids. With all else being equal, I’ll take 28 year old Marcus Davis recruiting a young, impressionable high school kid over a 60 something year old J B Grimes type of coach.

Never forget the goob!!! 😂😂 

[GwillMac6 20,671]

11 hours ago, AUwent said:

Yeah. Which is why I value having proven SEC recruiters on staff. Peeler would’ve been that. I really hope it’s not penny pinching on the part of our PTB and the game truly has changed in favor of this analytics stuff.

Our best recruiter was not a proven SEC recruiter when we hired him from Houston. Neither was Caddy. Honestly? Caddy has the most unimpressive coaching resume pre his AU gig of anyone on staff. How many times will it take unproven recruiters before they come to AU then “magically” becoming strong recruiters  once they get to AU before you can let go of this thinking that we only need to hire proven sec recruiters. You can’t judge a coaches recruiting until they get to a school that affords them the opportunity to land the higher caliber players. Of course Zac wasn’t going to get 4 stars at Houston. Come on now.

[aucat 69]

Recruiting ability is the most valuable for any of our coaches at this moment.  This will help us get more 5* next yr

[DAG 33,980]

2 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

Freeze passed over on 2 of his best hires at Ole Miss Grant Heard and Jacob Peeler for Marcus Davis. That should tell everyone something. One of the best pro’s of hiring Freeze as a head coach is that he has a history of identifying young up and comers in the business and/or guys who are Un proven at the power 5 level. No one had heard of Grant Heard, Chris Kiffin, Jacob Peeler, Tom Allen or Phil Longo before Freeze hired them at Arkansas State or Ole Miss. It’s not just one or two times him lucking out on unproven assistant coaching hires. It’s several. 

Don’t speak too much logic on this. Now if we had not gotten this guy and he went to our rivals, balled out in recruiting , this would’ve been marked down as a failure. These guys complaining couldn’t even name Jacob Peeler or Grant Heard last week. 

[Gowebb11 9,315]

WR coach challenge: put a list of the current Top 25 in front of you. You have 3 minutes and can’t use Google. Name each teams WR coach. 

[gr82be 14,423]

53 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

WR coach challenge: put a list of the current Top 25 in front of you. You have 3 minutes and can’t use Google. Name each teams WR coach. 

 

[DAG 33,980]

4 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

What exactly are you referring to? Marcus Davis never worked for UCF. He worked off the field a couple of years at AU. Then a GA at FSU and the last 2 years he has been a WR coach at Hawaii and GA Southern.

Rumored that he was set to take the job at UCF but we poached him. Board fodder 

[bigbird 60,513]

1 hour ago, DAG said:

These guys complaining couldn’t even name Jacob Peeler or Grant Heard last week. 

 

 

[bigbird 60,513]

24 minutes ago, DAG said:

Rumored that he was set to take the job at UCF but we poached him. Board fodder 

It was USF. Somewhere someone mixed USF and UCF and people ran with it.

[DAG 33,980]

35 minutes ago, bigbird said:

 

 

And from what I understand , freeze is the one who found these two guys and gave them their big shots at the SEC. I know heard followed him from Lambuth. No clue why the gnashing of teeth. It would seem freeze has held true to this organization and hiring process , which has been successful in at least REBUILDING programs . 

[augolf1716 21,109]

17 minutes ago, bigbird said:

It was USF. Somewhere someone mixed USF and UCF and people ran with it.

That great rivalry game for the War on I-4 

[NWALA Tiger 3,535]

1 hour ago, Gowebb11 said:

WR coach challenge: put a list of the current Top 25 in front of you. You have 3 minutes and can’t use Google. Name each teams WR coach. 

Crickets