NorthGATiger

6 hours ago, McLoofus said:

Glad those big stats helped us so much against Clemson, in the 2nd half of the LSU game and in the SEC championship game. 

Thank you for posting this.  The SEC Championship Game.  Hurt RB, good QB and we come out with a gameplan of KJ or bust.

6 hours ago, AUsince72 said:

So, it sounds like the passing offense will be a step back for Bo when he arrives at Auburn.  

 

It's funny as heck and also sad because it might be true as far as passing concepts and routes lol!  

45 minutes ago, Momma Worm said:

No missed games and played through injuries 

Exactly.  

14 minutes ago, TAYLORKEETON said:

but could Lionel survive in today's era with defenders twice as big/strong/fast as they were in his era? I'm not saying he couldn't but times are just different. I mean I get all of these points....but is it that bad I'd like to see the kid a little bigger by his sophmore/junior year? lol I mean It''s kind of expected he'll add more size in two years 

Thats why I said different era.  OC would be a better comparison.  My point was that I don't want to take away a skill set and advantage he has over others just to add weight.  How many games did he miss and how many injuries did he have playing great competition in south Florida?

19 minutes ago, TAYLORKEETON said:

Yeah, I have seen him and still like to imagine him closer to 200 than 180. I wasn't dissing the guy or talking down. Imagine if he blows up like Tre Mason did. Mason packed on close to 20 pounds and it helped him a ton. I'd like to see the same for Worm. 

Different type of backs.  I know it was from a different era but Lionel James was 5'-6" and 162 lbs.  He was also not a nationally recognized sprinter with sprinter speed.  He had a pretty good pro career as well without adding the bulk.  Onterrio Speedwagon was 5'-11" and 173 lbs.  He averaged 6.4 yards per carry at Auburn, did well in kick return and in the passing game.  Worm is 4 inches shorter than OC and weighs the same.  I think he will do well and be put in positions to help the team and himself be successful.  I prefer to let the young man keep the God given ability of speed at the RB position and let him ball out.  I'm not saying Tre mason was slow but he couldn't catch Shaun if Shaun was carrying Mason's girlfriend.

30 minutes ago, ellitor said:

Booth may be 50/50. Some say he is going back & forth between AU & Clemson.

As for the rest, again our staff's board matters much more than site rankings.

Man I hope we get Booth.  I was hoping it was better than 50/50 and he was just waiting until the right time to commit.

1 hour ago, aubiefifty said:

have we got anything in place to give these mississippi linemen the bong test so we do not get embarrassed on draft night just saying?   lol

The bong man was not from Mississippi.  He just went to Ole Miss.  The other knuckle head at Ole Miss that tried walking off buildings was from Georgia.  

2 hours ago, ellitor said:

Removed 4* DE/DT Justin Egboigbe from the OP. He will be at Florida. Added 4* CB/WR Zion Puckett & 3* DE/DT Jamond Gordon.

Love the two additions but hate seeing Justin go to UF.  They were not in his top 5.

I would love to get Zion Puckett down for Big Cat as well.

31 minutes ago, AUpreacherman22 said:

I got satan, notso, and dabba.  Not sure who “the fisherman” is....

It would be handy to get a commitment from this guy! And if his buddy CM decided to join him on the plains that would be icing!

Jumbo Fisherman

How do Handy and Pickering compare? Who do we have higher on our board

So do I although I tend to be a pessimist lol.  Want OP badly for this class.

1 minute ago, AUDub said:

 

Heck yeah

1 minute ago, WFE12 said:

They had no absolute reason to take him down in the rankings. Just asinine...He will destroy these camps like he usually does and then when the season comes hopefully he will be healthy throughout and he will get the 5 star for sure! Pickens will have it too no doubt. He killed at the camps as well. We will have two 5 star players at play-making positions leading our class and *crosses fingers* we get someone like Noah Cain who will get his 5 star back and we'll have three 5 star players!!!!!

How secure do we feel with Picken's commitment?  If I was remembering correctly we got on him early but there was talk at the time that he would be hard to hold on to if Bama came calling

42 minutes ago, mcgufcm said:

This narrative that we never put freshmen in real game situations is kinda ridiculous. If it works, everyone loves it, but did playing Jeremy Johnson real-game reps prep him to take over after Nick Marshall left? Did the reps Kyle Davis got put us in a good position down the road?

I'd like to see us season players a little more in garbage time. One of my complaints with Gus is that he takes about a series or two too long to pull dudes and start spreading reps, but I'm not complaining about whether Malik Willis got enough snaps. Jarrett Stidham needed every rep he played this year. It would've been ridiculous to pull him in favor of getting Willis reps in the first half of the year. For that reason, any comparison to Bama playing Tua this year is, charitably, not smart. 

Bama knew what it had in Jalen Hurts. When they needed to get Hurts reps (the 2016 season), they weren't out there repping the crap out of Cooper Bateman or Blake Barnett. Both of those guys were young (Barnett had exactly 0 pass attempts going into the 2016 season). But they needed to rep the starter. The backups had to get their reps in practice. That's where we were this year. The starter needed reps so the backup gets his work in practice. You don't just play young guys to play them. You play them if you have the luxury of experience OR if they can actually help you.

When a freshman or first year guy can help, Gus has not been shy with playing them (most JUCO guys fit that bill, Mike Dyer, Kyle Davis, Kerryon Johnson, Eli Stove, etc.). When it comes to QB, we've really only been in the position of having experience in one season (2014), and we played the backup a fair amount. Johnson had 41 attempts as a true freshman and another 37 as a sophomore. Anyway, I'm not a Gus apologist, but this criticism is overblown.

Yes playing Kyle Davis would have paid off if he did not have personal problems.  JJ angers me even more than anyone.  He could not read a defense.  There is no nice way to say it.  He was a one read QB.  How do you have him at Auburn that long and not know it until it's hammer time?  What were the coaches looking at for 4 years?  

So it was a good idea to have Willis have 7 pass attempts and Barrett to have 14 rushing attempts when they could have redshirted?  We took a year of eligibility from them and they didn't even get good garbage time.  Keep in mind we played GA Southern, Mercer, and L. Monroe.  I don't want this to be a banter back and forth as it's good to disagree and discuss such things but as I stated before, Gus' reluctance to play younger players and his trust issues have caused us serious problems at the end of the year for two straight years.  Thank goodness JS did not go down with an injury in early November or else we might be talking about a different head coach right now.  If Auburn does not know what it has with JS in the La Monroe game at the end of the year sandwiched between our two biggest rivals then they never will.  La. Monroe was when KJ and everyone needed a break after playing UGA with Bama coming up the next week.  Barrett got 2 carries and Willis threw 0 passes.  This is the part that is head scratching.   At the very least let KJ rest and give the other backs plenty of reps.

1 hour ago, aujeff11 said:

Plenty. Nevertheless, with our propensity to use quick outs to Ryan Davis in the open field, we helped wear out the defenders in other ways and didn’t need to use TF RBs. I think Chip knows what he is doing.

You better hope so because we don't have any game proven RBs to start for us this year other than Kam Martin and he is not going to be an every down back.

2 hours ago, aujeff11 said:

Those TF rode the coattails of Sony and Chubb wearing down and softening up the defenses. That Swift run for a TD in the SECCG was against several Auburn backups as a matter of fact as our defense was already tired. 

OK.  How many teams did KJ wear down this year so our TF running back could get some quality carries?

21 minutes ago, toddc said:

The moment CGM puts in a freshman in a big game and he fumbles, misses a key block, etc... some will question why he was in the game!!

It's how you learn and get better.  If you constantly play in fear or play not to lose instead of playing to win then it is going to cost you in the long run.  Do I want a punt returner that lets the ball bounce an extra 20 yards instead of fielding it and saving valuable field position.  Am I content with the average KO return at the 25 or do I want more that get me out to the 40.  Do I want a bench full of great athletes and recruits that don't play or do I want to use them and their athletic ability to help the team win games.

For Gus they are afterthoughts until it's too late and he needs them.  Where would we have been if JS was injured on the 1st series of the 1st UGA game?  Our back up QB threw 7 passes this year.  5 more than one of our WR's.  We would be making more excuses on why we did not beat UGA and Bama.  What we should reflect on, in my mind, is what a poor position to have your team in with a back up QB who has basically had zero reps running the offense.  Everytime he came in the game 3 year olds in the stands knew he was running the zone read minus the read part.  Everytime Barrett came in a game you knew he was catching a screen pass.  This does absolutely nothing for the development of the player and certainly does nothing to prepare him to be ready if needed.

16 hours ago, Mikey said:

A fumble back there does not out weigh an extra three yards on a return. The guys that are put back there are the ones that give us the best chance to win games. Sometimes that's a speed burner, sometimes it's not. Unless you are at practices when they are working on returns you can't know who got a chance there and flubbed it, who got a chance there and came through and who didn't get a chance. It's not possible to sit at your computer, look at 100 yard dash times and say who should be returning kicks. On film, Shivers looks like the best bet for a returner in this class but that cannot be known until September at the earliest.

Mikey I'm somewhat agreeing with you here but the speed kids we are recruiting are doing it in high school with success.  It's only when they get to Auburn that they suddenly can't do it anymore.  If it was just the returner position I would say ok but it is every position under Gus that touches the football.  We wasted a year on Barrett this year for what 11 touches.  We make every excuse FOR Gus and why these kids don't play while every team in the conference finds ways to play kids.  I'm sure UGA's freshman RB did not go to pass pro school before coming to UGA but they still found a way to get a very productive year out of him with Sony and Chubb already playing.  We can't get Gus to use more than one guy without using Pettway as Gus' excuse.  Most of us are just never going to agree on these things.  You see Gus killing KJ because Pettway was injured.  I see Gus killing KJ because he has zero trust in anyone else.  If there isn't another capable back on this roster than it is Gus' fault.  You and I don't recruit the players.  I don't need to be at the practices to see who does what.  It's big boy football and this isn't year 1 when Gus is taking over a team devoid of talent.  We have had 5 years of top ten recruiting.

Saban got his Freshman QB enough QUALITY game experience where the kid could come in and win the natty.  He did not have him play all year with the zone read as his only option.  That is the difference in paranoid non trusting Gus and a football coach.  It's been 2 years in a row now where Gus has needed someone at the end of the year at two different positions and he has nowhere to turn to because he did nothing during the year to have anyone else ready.

3 minutes ago, aujeff11 said:

You answered this question earlier when you mentioned Gus’s trust issues. It’s going to take a speed guy earning his trust before he’s trotted out there. Igbo has the best chance. Maybe the game will slow down some for Igbo so that he can see the lanes. 

Kids are going to make mistakes just like Hardman did against us.  The good usually outweighs the bad.  A stable of studs or a good recruiting class means nothing if they are not used to the best of their ability.

6 minutes ago, aufan57 said:

Corey Grant was used on kick-off returns.

He definitely was a speed guy. 

Yes he was.  He even took one to the house against UT.  I think he ranks around tenth in kick return yardage for Auburn.  Why did we go from 2014 to this year without a speed guy back there.

1 hour ago, Mikey said:

Yeah, right. That's why track-man Igbinoghene wasn't used as a returner this past season! Oh, wait.........he was.

I watched Truitt run at state in the 100 and the dude was extremely fast and built like a beast for his size but Gus never stuck him back there.  Tell me all of our fastest players that Gus has stuck back there.  Better yet if you take the teams fastest players in Gus' tenure I'll give you ten dollars for every one that returned kicks and punts and you give me 10 for those that did not. Tre Mason, and KJ were not our fastest players.  Nor was Roberts.  J. Davis, Stove, Slayton and a slew of others were.  Iggy is the first speed guy we have had back there since Tim Carter and like Zeek said, Iggy would find a defender or a pile and run to it as fast as possible.  I'm not saying I blame him.  Kick returns are not for the faint of heart.  Many teams use a punt returner or kick returner as a weapon.  Opposing teams fear them.  Gus has trust issues at the position and fears a turnover more than he values field position or a threat.  It's just one of the biggest reasons we need a ST coach not named Gus.

10 hours ago, Zeek said:

Hard not to put our 100 meter God like sprinter as return man. 

That would make too much sense.  I bet he will not be used as a returner.

28 minutes ago, AU64 said:

 

KS hit Athens at the right time when there is a bumper crop of talent in the state....his recruiting is going to look good just because he is right in the middle of a gold mine of talent.

 It would help our case if the state of Alabama would turn out some good HS players .....we  can't depend on out-fighting UGA on their home turf for the better players in that state...we will get some good guys but the dawgs are going to get most of them...no matter who is coaching there.  

Look at the 5* kids he got from out of state.

Out of state he brought in 3-5*  and 4-4*

5 minutes ago, Zeek said:

My real concern is the head start UGA is already getting on next years class too. Three 5* players and four 4* those 5* are in like the top 10 too.

That train ain't stopping.  We need to up our game.