Chandler Cox

[Malcolm_FleX48 1,869]

Automatically, I can see the issues with Cox's technique, which I mean are understandable. I don't know if anyone has seen Cox in person, but his arms are unfortunately pretty short. He is also built pretty good lower-body wise. This combination of attributes, as well as the fact that he played as an RB in high school lead to certain technical issues which you can't have in blocking, especially in space, where you have to close the gap SO much quicker.

- Cox is launching WAY before closing the gap that he needs to between him and the defender. Part of this is definitely from RB pass protection technique. RBs are typically taught, because of how closely aligned to the QB that they are in most traditional gun and pistol formations when they stay in for pass pro, that they can simply use the angle of the defender's approach as well as their own momentum to "Put their helmet under the chin" of the defender and THEN deliver the hands. More focus is placed on the initial pop with these sorts of blocks since we know that they're just a last line of defense and don't have the height or weight advantage to sustain a block for longer than a second or two. The hands have little emphasis in these types of block except just to stabilize for balance.
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Technically Cox needs to have MUCH better feet when closing the gap. He needs to secure the block with his hands, which involves getting in MUCH closer to the defender in a shorter but more controlled manner, and without the arms extended. As a Tight End, when we were blocking as H-Backs, we were taught to lock on, and then all in one motion, explosively launch the hips while extending the arms. The conjunction of our long arms extending at such a high rate of speed paired up with the extension of the hips in a single and simultaneous manner produces a pancake, much like how it does with OL. And if the initial shock doesn't produce the pancake, the continued turning over of the feet after extending will either drive the defender out of the play or off of his feet. 

If you look right before he launches, his feet are set and still. He is basically banking on the initial strength of the impact to be enough, rather than actually doing ALL of the work. There is no sinking or coiling of the hips, it's basically a knockout blow, or throwing your EVERYTHING into one hit, which you can get away with if you're going up against someone who is much weaker and or slower or off guard, but it's not supposed to be used much. Much like with form tackles, the hips need to be sunk and chambered and you've got to explosively blast out of that chamber at a VERY CLOSE distance at high speeds to produce the proper hit. 

In these situations, not only is the opponent in a MUCH stronger position to receive Cox's force, he isn't even applying it square on the defender. Because he launched he is unable to adjust either. In the other situations, he is launching before even getting a singular bead on the defender by using his feet to cut off the rusher which basically means that its like trying to hit another object in flight by throwing a ball at it. Your chances of hitting that object that's already in motion are slim and you can't adjust in any way if you miss. Not only that, but you've got to be sure that you apply enough force to ACTUALLY knock the target off it's mark or you just harmlessly bounce off as it happens. 
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Again, I believe a tight end is MUCH more suited to making these types of blocks anyways. Cox's style seems geared more to that of a classic fullback, which still requires technique, but typically hitting through the A gaps, and sometimes B are a LOT easier because your targets are typically trying to occupy that gap which means there is less space to miss. 

Personally I loved fullback when I got to play it because it IS technically much lazier than H-Back or Tight End, but at the same time, because Cox's position requires him to be technically sound in both blocking and route running, he can't afford to bring this same technical laziness to the H-Back position, when the success of so many plays require him to be ON THE MARK when arc'ing and on seal blocks. Not to mention when staying in at max protection.

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Obviously if you look at me blocking in my signature as #88, I do a fair amount of launching too, though the difference is the technique of the type of block that I'm doing as well as the distance at which I launch. I've already got hands to the scraping LB which gives me free reign to leave my feet and explode out a he is already engaged and squared up.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

39 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Seems they have a little more trust in Truitt right now. And I'm okay with that. Truitt's a player. Possibly a more important injury last season than many thought. 

I wish Truitt could succeed more than he is, but I feel like he's being setup to fail in the sweep, because its so obvious.

31 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Part of that is defenses have pretty much figured out how to shut them down. 

I think the issue really is that it's become predictable.  When we line up in the speed sweep, everyone and their grandma knows it's coming.  We've done a horrible job over the past couple of years of showing one thing and giving them something completely different.  If we'd just turn him up field and throw a pass to him out of that formation, coordinators would have to think about it.

[TecmoBoJackson 65]

On 9/27/2016 at 2:12 PM, mcgufcm said:

For folks that think we have options or Cox should be benched, what are those options? To this point in his career, Jalen Harris hasn't shown a nose for blocking either, and he doesn't look as quick/athletic as Cox so he's not really an option on the hook blocks and other plays in space.

You can't play Pettway every down, shifting between RB and HB. He can't be on the field as the lead blocker and give Kerryon a blow as our primary backup. That's not an option because you'd work him into the ground. The guy has to be able to come off the field.

So what are you left with? Chandler Cox may have deficiencies, but he's the best option we have available. He just has to improve. That's the only real option to get better production from HB.

^^^^THIS^^^^

We certainly had an unusual off-season with one RB transferring and the other being removed from the team.  I certainly didn't have the highest expectations coming into the season because of that, and I honestly think we have exceeded my expectations so far given the fact that teams know we are going to run first.  So yeah Cox has some issues and that's why they keep practicing during the week but we have no other options, the RB well is pretty much dry ladies and gentlemen (at least for this season).....

That being said, we are still going to win some games and probably pull a few upsets.....WDE!!!

[alexava 6,973]

When we were successful we had the jet sweep motion either give or fake 70-80 percent of all snaps. I love that misdirection . 

[Malcolm_FleX48 1,869]

1 minute ago, alexava said:

When we were successful we had the jet sweep motion either give or fake 70-80 percent of all snaps. I love that misdirection . 

The problem with the Jet-Sweep is that almost any team that has a player lining up off the line and in the slot is using the Jet-Sweep motion so teams are already getting desensitized to it. It's almost old-hat now and it's very ineffective unless you're playing a team that tends to focus on playing Man. Then you've got a defense that only has one person assigned to the sweep carrier, and even then, with linemen and backers able to get lateral as fast as they can now days, it's still mitigated to a good extent. 

[aujeff11 6,243]

4 minutes ago, Malcolm_FleX48 said:

The problem with the Jet-Sweep is that almost any team that has a player lining up off the line and in the slot is using the Jet-Sweep motion so teams are already getting desensitized to it. It's almost old-hat now and it's very ineffective unless you're playing a team that tends to focus on playing Man. Then you've got a defense that only has one person assigned to the sweep carrier, and even then, with linemen and backers able to get lateral as fast as they can now days, it's still mitigated to a good extent. 

Doesn't Tom Herman like the Jet Sweep? 

Something to keep in mind JJ!!

[JGLEATON 1,244]

and as someone else mentioned I'd LOVE to see KMart doing some Jet sweeps...

[Malcolm_FleX48 1,869]

1 minute ago, aujeff11 said:

Doesn't Tom Herman like the Jet Sweep? 

Something to keep in mind JJ!!

If you could even get Herman. I can almost guarantee, with LSU looking for Herman, Auburn's financial situation with breaking up with coaches, they'd have a much better chance of getting him than we would. Especially when you consider that LSU is the premiere school in your state and don't have near as many recruiting challenges. That being said, Auburn has to compete with Bama, as well UGA, GA Tech, Florida, Florida State etc for recruits and in a tougher conference.

But this is even assuming that he would leave Houston, who might I mention, has a GOOD chance of going to the BIG-12. He stands to rake in a meaty bonus if that happens, as well as being in a power 5 conference, without leaving his state or giving up the recruiting bonus that he's built up. Not to mention, the culture that he has finally built in Houston. It's hard to re-establish that, especially coming to a school where you might have a lot of Type-A personalities in players and other coaches to work with. 

[AURaptor 1,128]

On 9/27/2016 at 11:28 AM, aubaseball said:

That's some sad blocking

Looks like walk though effort , not live, game day effort. 

[Charhair 345]

On September 28, 2016 at 2:00 PM, Malcolm_FleX48 said:

The problem with the Jet-Sweep is that almost any team that has a player lining up off the line and in the slot is using the Jet-Sweep motion so teams are already getting desensitized to it. It's almost old-hat now and it's very ineffective unless you're playing a team that tends to focus on playing Man. Then you've got a defense that only has one person assigned to the sweep carrier, and even then, with linemen and backers able to get lateral as fast as they can now days, it's still mitigated to a good extent. 

Do you think Kam's techniques and atteitibutes make him a better option for us? That seems to be one of worst things about losing Jovon, to me

i dont know enough about the hback position, in what makes them solid blockers and what not, other than Kam seemed pretty good last year and the general consensus seems to be that he would be starting at HB if we weren't so thin at RB 

[Malcolm_FleX48 1,869]

10 hours ago, Charhair said:

Do you think Kam's techniques and atteitibutes make him a better option for us? That seems to be one of worst things about losing Jovon, to me

i dont know enough about the hback position, in what makes them solid blockers and what not, other than Kam seemed pretty good last year and the general consensus seems to be that he would be starting at HB if we weren't so thin at RB 

If you mean Kam Pettway, then from what I was told by Carl and Cameron Toney when we were hanging out, Kam was probably one of the hardest hitters on the team last year. They called him the offensive version of Cass. Hard hitting is good, however, technically, I'm not sure. I know he was quicker and more athletic than Cox, though he gives up some reach in terms of length and height. He probably would though, it'd always be a by-committee job since you can use multiple H-Backs as we did. We would still be doing that now if the backup was as good as Cox in terms of ability to block. We're going a lot of single H-Back formation plays for that very reason. If he had Landon Rice, then we might have a better time as well depending on his attributes as a blocker since he actually fits the criteria for that position. But this is all speculation at the moment. 

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

On 9/27/2016 at 7:21 PM, autigeremt said:

From a running game standpoint I believe this team is close to breaking lose against quality football. We're not as far off as the recent red zone woes would indicate. A couple catches and a block here and there and this team is turning a corner. In my opinion. 

AU is just a center, FB and OL scheme away. 

[bigbird 60,580]

On 9/28/2016 at 2:00 PM, Malcolm_FleX48 said:

The problem with the Jet-Sweep is that almost any team that has a player lining up off the line and in the slot is using the Jet-Sweep motion so teams are already getting desensitized to it. It's almost old-hat now and it's very ineffective unless you're playing a team that tends to focus on playing Man. Then you've got a defense that only has one person assigned to the sweep carrier, and even then, with linemen and backers able to get lateral as fast as they can now days, it's still mitigated to a good extent. 

Exactly! It's an easy adjustment from the D, and if you have the athletes, it's more than likely going to be run for no gain or a loss

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

My thought is that he his using his upper body more and not using his legs as much. I agree with RIR, it is not lack of hustle, just technique. My question is that with practice at RB this spring did he work more on developing muscles for speed as opposed to strengthening legs for blocking. Definitely a difference in how you train between the two. Problem is that once season starts they don't do as much weight training as summer or spring. Seems like we moved someone else to FB also. Believe it was Muschamp's nephew. Anyone know how he is coming along ? WDE

[Charhair 345]

7 hours ago, Malcolm_FleX48 said:

If you mean Kam Pettway, then from what I was told by Carl and Cameron Toney when we were hanging out, Kam was probably one of the hardest hitters on the team last year. They called him the offensive version of Cass. Hard hitting is good, however, technically, I'm not sure. I know he was quicker and more athletic than Cox, though he gives up some reach in terms of length and height. He probably would though, it'd always be a by-committee job since you can use multiple H-Backs as we did. We would still be doing that now if the backup was as good as Cox in terms of ability to block. We're going a lot of single H-Back formation plays for that very reason. If he had Landon Rice, then we might have a better time as well depending on his attributes as a blocker since he actually fits the criteria for that position. But this is all speculation at the moment. 

I see. That seems like the type of mentality you want at the h back position. He definitely seems like too talented of a runner to move him to a soley blocking role but if Miller and Martin can start clicking, being able to hand off/pitch/throw it to Kam in the h back roll while having KJ (or another RB) in the backfield could give the offense a huge boost, imo. Taking into consideration that Kam may be an upgrade at the blocking and running requirements/abilities of our h backs. 

[Tiger Scout 92]

our offensive line has struggled to much for misdirection. defense is getting to much penatration in backfield and blowing up plays. untill we can solve that we better limit misdirection plays. it also would help white to be able to focus on his progressions and passing game instead of turning around and their is a guy in his face. wde

[augolf1716 21,305]

8 hours ago, bigbird said:

Exactly! It's an easy adjustment from the D, and if you have the athletes, it's more than likely going to be run for no gain or a loss

Hell we ran a jet sweep type play back in the 60's only different was we did not hand the ball off in front of the QB