2017 4* Juco WR Brandon Martin (Arkansas 12/14/16)

[Gowebb11 9,320]

6 hours ago, ellitor said:

yes but recruits will only listen so long if Auburn continues to play schizophrenic football.

Well no one has played more schizophrenic and had more qb drama thanTAMU and we're about to lost two qb recruiting battles to them this year alone. UGA fires their coach and keeps Eason, and Ole Miss lands Patterson with an NCAA cloud over them. LSU is an offensive train wreck with a coaching change and are landing Narcisse. So Gus better batten down the hatches, ratchet up the intensity and land a top QB. 

[Tiger 8,824]

18 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

When we hear from numerous outlets the negative recruiting is strong against AU in my mind I bet it is just 3 guys: Kirby, Pruitt and of course Saban. Those 3 guys I got to hand it to them 3 of the best negative recruiters in the business. Pain in our arse for a long time on the trail.

And if Jimbo jumps to LSU you can add another name to that list

[Tiger 8,824]

4 hours ago, Gowebb11 said:

Well no one has played more schizophrenic and had more qb drama thanTAMU and we're about to lost two qb recruiting battles to them this year alone. UGA fires their coach and keeps Eason, and Ole Miss lands Patterson with an NCAA cloud over them. LSU is an offensive train wreck with a coaching change and are landing Narcisse. So Gus better batten down the hatches, ratchet up the intensity and land a top QB. 

How does Gus realistically do that? Are we being railed on in living rooms by opposing coaches because of our system? Is it purely a job security thing? Are other coaches pointing to our roster mismanagement? 

[ellitor 33,093]

5 hours ago, Gowebb11 said:

Well no one has played more schizophrenic and had more qb drama thanTAMU and we're about to lost two qb recruiting battles to them this year alone. UGA fires their coach and keeps Eason, and Ole Miss lands Patterson with an NCAA cloud over them. LSU is an offensive train wreck with a coaching change and are landing Narcisse. So Gus better batten down the hatches, ratchet up the intensity and land a top QB. 

When you consider overall talent level to win production the past 3 years AU has been more schizophrenic than aTm.

Also as Bird has implied or pointed out countless times, battling aTm  network for their in state recruits is like battling the REC for our in state recruits Bama wants. Tough hill to climb.

Narcisse  is a Louisiana kid and Patterson's brother works at Ole Miss so those were overall tough baffles to win also.

[ellitor 33,093]

1 hour ago, Tiger said:

How does Gus realistically do that? Are we being railed on in living rooms by opposing coaches because of our system? Is it purely a job security thing? Are other coaches pointing to our roster mismanagement? 

Just as in politics, all things are fair game with negative recruiting.

[Gowebb11 9,320]

I get the in state with the Aggies. But note my other examples. Bottom line, our QB recruiting does not reflect a top tier program. We always seem to have a reason we are not getting guys, but other teams are finding a way to get it done. Gus needs to find a way too. That's all I'm saying. 

[MadtownTiger 363]

5 hours ago, Gowebb11 said:

Well no one has played more schizophrenic and had more qb drama thanTAMU and we're about to lost two qb recruiting battles to them this year alone. UGA fires their coach and keeps Eason, and Ole Miss lands Patterson with an NCAA cloud over them. LSU is an offensive train wreck with a coaching change and are landing Narcisse. So Gus better batten down the hatches, ratchet up the intensity and land a top QB. 

True, but those programs have virtually no depth at QB.  So far they're unknown commodities, but we do have horses in the stable.

WDE!

[ellitor 33,093]

26 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

I get the in state with the Aggies. But note my other examples. Bottom line, our QB recruiting does not reflect a top tier program. We always seem to have a reason we are not getting guys, but other teams are finding a way to get it done. Gus needs to find a way too. That's all I'm saying. 

I addressed the others besides Eason in my edited post.

[mcgufcm 4,096]

I've seen little to make me think Gus is locked into a perpetual 8-win cycle. Funny enough, neither was Tuberville (won 9 games or more five of his last seven seasons... only seasons under that were 2003 and 2008). Gus looked like a high ceiling/low floor coach to me. His teams show a tendency to look terrible at times and to get hotter than anyone else in the nation. 2013 and this season's pre-Pettway/White injuries stretch at two examples of the latter. All of 2015, Clemson, and UGA are examples of the former.

Very likely, by season's end, we'll post nine wins, which would complete the roller coaster (waaaaaaaaaaaay up, stays up, then CRASHES at the end of 2014, sinks lower, lower still, then shoots up like a rocket, aaaaand back down). The journey with Gus is nothing like a Mark Richt season where you just beat the folks you're better than, save the season against Auburn, and lose all your biggest games.

[fredst 9,064]

8 hours ago, mcgufcm said:

I've seen little to make me think Gus is locked into a perpetual 8-win cycle. Funny enough, neither was Tuberville (won 9 games or more five of his last seven seasons... only seasons under that were 2003 and 2008). Gus looked like a high ceiling/low floor coach to me. His teams show a tendency to look terrible at times and to get hotter than anyone else in the nation. 2013 and this season's pre-Pettway/White injuries stretch at two examples of the latter. All of 2015, Clemson, and UGA are examples of the former.

Very likely, by season's end, we'll post nine wins, which would complete the roller coaster (waaaaaaaaaaaay up, stays up, then CRASHES at the end of 2014, sinks lower, lower still, then shoots up like a rocket, aaaaand back down). The journey with Gus is nothing like a Mark Richt season where you just beat the folks you're better than, save the season against Auburn, and lose all your biggest games.

He better figure out a way to beat Bammer Saturday or UGA/Bammer next year or I suspect you'll be able to stop adding to your sample size. Last sentence looks just like Gus except I haven't figured out who his regular "save your season against" victim might be.

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

17 hours ago, mcgufcm said:

I've seen little to make me think Gus is locked into a perpetual 8-win cycle. Funny enough, neither was Tuberville (won 9 games or more five of his last seven seasons... only seasons under that were 2003 and 2008). Gus looked like a high ceiling/low floor coach to me. His teams show a tendency to look terrible at times and to get hotter than anyone else in the nation. 2013 and this season's pre-Pettway/White injuries stretch at two examples of the latter. All of 2015, Clemson, and UGA are examples of the former.

Very likely, by season's end, we'll post nine wins, which would complete the roller coaster (waaaaaaaaaaaay up, stays up, then CRASHES at the end of 2014, sinks lower, lower still, then shoots up like a rocket, aaaaand back down). The journey with Gus is nothing like a Mark Richt season where you just beat the folks you're better than, save the season against Auburn, and lose all your biggest games.

Pettway only saw the field because KJ got hurt. Think about this. Pettway didn't even have a carry against Clemson. 

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

Martin's recruitment reminds me of David Marshall's recruitment last year.  

[McLoofus 35,182]

51 minutes ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

Martin's recruitment reminds me of David Marshall's recruitment last year.  

Ew. Unfortunate. 

[AUApostle 7,651]

1 hour ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

Pettway only saw the field because KJ got hurt. Think about this. Pettway didn't even have a carry against Clemson. 

And Marcus Davis / Tony Stevens (to a lesser extent) steals reps from NCM / Kyle Davis.  He often keeps his young playmakers off the field in favor of the "known" upperclassmen.

[aujeff11 6,243]

1 hour ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

Martin's recruitment reminds me of David Marshall's recruitment last year.  

Unfortunate indeed. His recruitment should've ended way before it did.

[ellitor 33,093]

 Can't blame a guy for not deciding to come to AU if it turns out that way given WRs in our offense have very few opportunities to show what they can do when we don't have a quality passing QB.

[GwillMac6 20,671]

4 hours ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

Martin's recruitment reminds me of David Marshall's recruitment last year.  

very good example. we are just the fall back plan in case his top schools do not offer.

[mcgufcm 4,096]

I'm okay with being the fallback option for a player that is a luxury, not a need. If we have options we like better, move on. If we have room, why not leave the door open? I don't need you to love me. I need you to play for me.

WDEWDE, you won't hear any argument from me about our misuse of personnel; however, in Horton/Lashlee/Gus' defense on this one particular issue, a healthy Kerryon Johnson also looks like a star. Kerryon is absolutely a guy that could give you 1400+ yards in this offense. Heck, he might be a 1000 yard rusher despite missing multiple games due to injury and being gimpy in a number of others (Ole Miss, for example). They should've played both. No question. Now, it seems obvious that Pettway is the better player, but both are very, very, very good. Tough to just hammer someone for giving the ball to Kerryon Johnson.

That personnel issue was nitpicking compared to others: (1) refusing to move Golson inside when Dampeer was holding the OL back; (2) refusing to just hand the reins to Sean; (3) inconsistent use of WRs so that each guy has difficulty carving out a role. Those are three examples, and for my money, all are more egregious than playing Kerryon Johnson.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

3 hours ago, ellitor said:

 Can't blame a guy for not deciding to come to AU if it turns out that way given WRs in our offense have very few opportunities to show what they can do when we don't have a quality passing QB.

You have to admit... a superstar wide receiver would have been the star of the team, this year.  Kyle and Ryan Davis showed flashes, but if they were able get open and do those things consistently, they and Sean would have done some serious damage.

I think, next year... whether Sean starts, or Woody, or we land another good passer... it's going to look a lot more fun to play receiver at Auburn. The talent is there and now they will have a year under their belts.

[GwillMac6 20,671]

Just now, lionheartkc said:

You have to admit... a superstar wide receiver would have been the star of the team, this year.  Kyle and Ryan Davis showed flashes, but if they were able get open and do those things consistently, they and Sean would have done some serious damage.

I think, next year... whether Sean starts, or Woody, or we land another good passer... it's going to look a lot more fun to play receiver at Auburn. The talent is there and now they will have a year under their belts.

gus is scared of the forward pass. his ideal game every game is the arkansas game this year. he really only wants to pass when the run is getting stuffed. I believe we have the most WR talent we have had in a long time but we will still probaly not have a 1k WR unless stidham comes.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

Just now, GwillMac6 said:

gus is scared of the forward pass. his ideal game every game is the arkansas game this year. he really only wants to pass when the run is getting stuffed. I believe we have the most WR talent we have had in a long time but we will still probaly not have a 1k WR unless stidham comes.

He's not scared of the pass, he believes in the run... and for good reason. The run eats more clock and wears out the D faster. If you can run it, do it.  That being said, Gus has shown willingness to pass when it is needed, and there have been numerous games, going back to 2013, when we won the game in the air. Unfortunately this year, when we needed it, our passer was injured.

I honestly don't think the ground to air ratio will change if we land Stidham... in fact it might go more ground as he is more of a natural runner than Sean. I do think next year, we will have more yards in the air... not because we're throwing more or even throwing deeper, but because our receivers have the skills to turn 15-20 yard passes into big gains. I could totally see Kyle Davis having a 1000 yard year before he leaves.

[C'viewTiger 242]

2 hours ago, lionheartkc said:

You have to admit... a superstar wide receiver would have been the star of the team, this year.  Kyle and Ryan Davis showed flashes, but if they were able get open and do those things consistently, they and Sean would have done some serious damage.

I think, next year... whether Sean starts, or Woody, or we land another good passer... it's going to look a lot more fun to play receiver at Auburn. The talent is there and now they will have a year under their belts.

I would have thought the same about late this season but our young talented WRS haven't seen much time. 

[Timeslider 6 269]

I agree with Lionheart, as our passing game evolves, Gus will begin to utilize it more and more. If anything Gus is (when he isn't being stubborn) advantageous and able to use something that is working. I pre-qualified my statement with the disclaimer "when he isn't being stubborn" he slips into that stubborn frame of mind when a crisis arises and he isn't sure what to do. The good thing about a fresh view is it helps to prevent him from slipping into being stubborn. 

[ellitor 33,093]

17 hours ago, AU04ever said:

I would have thought the same about late this season but our young talented WRS haven't seen much time. 

Nor many touches.

[mcgufcm 4,096]

Touches no. Time on the field? Yes. Those freshmen are on the field a LOT. We just don't throw the ball all that often, and we've featured Stevens/Marcus Davis at times throughout the year. Targets for the young guys need to increase, not just playing time.