Gowebb11

Imagine having Shiver and Joiner in the same backfield. One you can't find, and the other one you can't get out of the way of.

I humbly stand corrected. I went back in and looked and you are right. Perception is a funny thing. Seems like we have lost a lot of mojo in Mobile but we are holding our own there. WDE

You are correct. A lot of negative recruiting is happening for sure. But LSU and UGA have both had similar challenges as us the past couple of years in terms of wins and losses and coaching changes. Recruiting is also about strategy and relentless effort. Last year for instance, we put an SEC rookie coach in charge of Mobile. Bad strategy. That's where LSU, FSU, and BAMA assign their top recruiters. The best way for Gus to stop the negative recruiting is outworking and outrecruiting our major competitors, then winning games.

Instate kids at that. Meanwhile, we are offering kids in California. Bama, FSU, and LSU own Mobile as of late. Bama controls Birmingham and most of North Alabama. Smart is locking Georgia down tight statewide. Richt is locking down South Florida pretty well. During the Dye era and the Tubs 6 game iron bowl streak, those were our areas. Now even Michigan is starting to pull recruits out of our backyard. We better decide who we are in recruiting and carve out some turf for ourselves or we will keep rolling out those 8-5s.

I miss the good old days when coaches went to watch a kid play the game to evaluate them. Now if you run fast and jump high and do well in a flag foootball game, you get a high ranking. The same is true for baseball. Put kids on an artificial mound, check their radar speed, then dub them a great pitcher.

More problematic, the other team's Defensive analyst are well aware of these tendencies as well.

Amazing work by Stat Tiger as usual. I would be interested to know how we stand with those stats versus ranked teams as opposed to unranked teams. We put up stellar numbers,vs the likes of Arky State, Arky, and MSU, not so much vs Clem, UGA, LSU, UAT. It's obviously more challenging to put up big numbers against top teams. It just seems like our offenses have struggled versus top DCs like Venables, Aranda, and Pruitt, 2013 being an obvious exception. I feel we can break that trend this season. WDE

Exactly right. Between depth charts,coaching changes, coordinator/lead recruiter changes a lot happens year to year. Fortunately BN has a dad in the know to provide the right guidance. WDE.

Is it just me, or does the recruiting mojo seem to be much more positive this year? It seems like there are a lot more high profile guys giving us super high reviews lately. I think this staff is settling in and has great chemistry, and the recruits are taking notice. WDE

You're right, but Jarret is even better than Jason. ?

Hopefully BN will be mesmerized by Jarret Stiham's back to back Championship and Heisman seasons and will desperately want to follow his legacy. A fan can dream can't he? ??

If I remember right, they finished with the same record we did.

Glad it's in the rear view mirror now. I feel good about 2017!

Stanford has become one of my favorite programs. They churn high quality football teams and do so with tremendous academic requirements. Their entire athletic department is best in class in my opinion.

I'm ready to see passes thrown to receivers in space instead of with 2-3 defenders draped on them.

Agreed. CCL seems t have a knack for attacking defenses creatively and is adept at getting his playmakers the ball. One thing for sure, he will have a lot of proven weapons.

Being Devil's Advocate, home run hires are the exception and not the norm for most coordinator hires. CCL will bring fresh ideas and more creativity to the O and I'm willing to give him a chance. Whether or not Gus allows him to work freely is the question that will determine success or failure in my opinion. We will get the answer to that question come September.

Q

It's taken me a while, but I'm increasingly convinced that the biggest reasons for WR drops are not the coaching. It's due to our low numbers of passes thrown and receivers going 2-4 weeks without a game catch. WRs improve a lot frequent reps in game situations.

Gus has a very distinct offense he likes to run but the QBs he recruits are not aligned with that offense. White, JJ, Queen, JF3 are all different in size, speed, strength, skill set for running and/or passing. No rhyme or reason to that approach, in my humble opinion. Based on his athleticism, I hope Bishop comes to AU but only time will tell if he's a QB or not.

Gus is paranoid and trusts no one, including himself. He doesn't place confidence in his players, and they reflect that lack of confidence in their play.