So what are the most urgent things that need to be addressed

[AuMarine 1,372]

23 minutes ago, keesler said:

I'm only picking out part of your post.....But this oline has +100 starts and they still can not create a hole a the point of attack?  Kim & Horton were getting blown back and Harrell went to block and he got blown up by a 180 lb CB.  There were times when even Prince was getting shoved around by smaller guys.  

It all starts with these guys, and they are still playing soft and weak.  Coach needs to put the oline positions back up for competition this week in practice.  Let's see if the young guys have more guts and balls than these veterans are showing.  

So true.. and actually Prince had a horrible game. He whiffed several times and was driven back to the QB by a much smaller de. The OL is maddening and leaves you shaking your head. 

[Cardin Drake 1,828]

2 hours ago, DAG said:

Ask OU fans how they feel when they faced his defense in the playoffs a couple years ago.  Not to mention he left OU after the 2011 season. I think you mean they are trying to recover from the stoops brothers.

No, I mean they pretty much ran him out of town...but it all goes to show that recruiting is really what matters. He couldn't recruit at OU and now he's part of a recruiting machine. But he didn't build that machine. Most coaches are pretty good with x's and o's when they have the talent. 

[keesler 5,924]

Coaches better use some tough love this week in practice, bench a few of the normal starters (Boobie) when the game starts on Saturday.  Poor execution, loafing and lazy ass play, sloppy ball protection should gain you some time on the bench until you get your head in the right place.  

This was only the 2nd week of the freaking season, why are we seeing lack of effort of half ass execution at this point?  It's unacceptable and should carry some discipline and lose of PT vs Kent St.  Coach has to hit 'em where it hurts to get their attention, keep them off the field for a while and give a backup that valuable time to show out.

[DAG 33,983]

7 minutes ago, Cardin Drake said:

No, I mean they pretty much ran him out of town...but it all goes to show that recruiting is really what matters. He couldn't recruit at OU and now he's part of a recruiting machine. But he didn't build that machine. Most coaches are pretty good with x's and o's when they have the talent. 

No he didn’t but he was a big part of them getting respected. Yes. Recruiting is a huge piece of coaching and he does that very well, which is why I still revert back to the last chance U quote “players win games, not coaching.”

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

4 hours ago, Zeek said:

My "formative" years of college football began when our 6 win streak against Alabama began. Needless to say my expectations for Auburn vs. Alabama were high. Honestly don't mind when my true Bama friends make jabs but there's a lot of people who weren't Bama fans during that losing streak that now seem to own a lot of crimson.

I think we should be .500 with UA over a decades span.  To be the best you have to be able to beat the best.

[cole256 17,083]

You know what @dyehardfanAUI agree with you about recruiting.....take this year for instance we will always convince ourselves of why anybody we sign is awesome but a year like this proves there's a problem with recruiting our o line. How do we not have guys not chomping at the bit to step in and start playing right away?

[cole256 17,083]

6 hours ago, Beenjammin said:

Always remember.... At least we are not Tenn....... can always get worse then our woes.

They beat us.....

[cole256 17,083]

6 hours ago, auburnphan said:

the only NFL lineman who has been solid is Smith and Slade had a splash.  Robinson and Coleman have been colossal busts.  It is huge that Braden is having some success because our system has not developed players to the next level which hurts recruiting when you go after the top tier guys.

The biggest and hardest hurdle is getting out on the field.....even if they were bust in the NFL they are there and they've made millions.....not hard to sell at all, I could sell hell son I can't coach you how to play in the NFL but I can coach you to get a high rookie contract where a team will give their all to develop you

[auburnphan 6,050]

4 minutes ago, cole256 said:

The biggest and hardest hurdle is getting out on the field.....even if they were bust in the NFL they are there and they've made millions.....not hard to sell at all, I could sell hell son I can't coach you how to play in the NFL but I can coach you to get a high rookie contract where a team will give their all to develop you

The thing there is that almost every power 5 school can sell that same thing at the rate that we are having success accomplishing that with a lot of schools having a higher percentage rate.

[cole256 17,083]

Just now, auburnphan said:

The thing there is that almost every power 5 school can sell that same thing at the rate that we are having success accomplishing that with a lot of schools having a higher percentage rate.

I don't agree. But even if they could right now is our cycle....we're low on depth and we have playing time to offer, other schools who's been recruiting well for years can't offer that. And we're extra unique because schools who have an o line in our shape rarely are top 10 top 20 programs. There's not many schools that can offer a guy to step in the lime light right now and play in big games that matter....we can and we can only attract 3 stars.....unacceptable

[doc4aday 1,887]

I am wondering if Gus is holding back with our offense and is trying to win, but not show all of his cards. Oregon is a legitimate Pac12 champion and could go undefeated the rest of their season. We played a solid game against them and had a really nice 2nd half.

I think Gus is playing close to the vest and will continue to do this until SEC play begins. I think we will open things up a bit Saturday but will not reveal what we are planning to do when SEC plays begin.

TAMU game will give us a good read of our team.  If we win this game convincingly, things will come in place the way we need for them to do. If TAMU does a beat down us, the Gus bus will be running on fumes. The TAMU game has a lot riding on it. Bo is coming along well and will only get better as the season progresses.  I wonder if Patrick Nix is communicating with Bo and is giving him tips on how to be a better QB.

Gus is underutilizing Gatewood and needs to have him on the field more often.  Have him in the wildcat formation with Worm, Stove and Stove in the formation. There are several plays we could run in this formation,  Joey can plow through the DL....Jet sweep with Stove or Worm. Have at least 4-5 plays we can run in this formation. I know very little about offensive formations and plays, but this seems to be a good idea and something that will make defenses more on edge.

We need to have DJ Williams in the backfield to sub for Boobee.  I think Williams is the real deal and could do better than Boobee if given the chance. We need a back to come in and move the chains and I think Williams could be this. What is going on with MAR the running back? Is he being redshirted?  This season is starting to remind me of 2018, and I hope we do not go there. If we wind up anything worse than 8-4, Gus will be gone.

I hope he lights it up and has many games like the Purdue game. Bo is only going to get better and Joey needs to be utilized more effectively. The OL needs to get light years better asap. Just a little Monday night rambling as I watch the Saints & Texans.

[auburnphan 6,050]

3 minutes ago, cole256 said:

I don't agree. But even if they could right now is our cycle....we're low on depth and we have playing time to offer, other schools who's been recruiting well for years can't offer that. And we're extra unique because schools who have an o line in our shape rarely are top 10 top 20 programs. There's not many schools that can offer a guy to step in the lime light right now and play in big games that matter....we can and we can only attract 3 stars.....unacceptable

I get your point.

Here are a few theories of mine:

Negative recruiting from our lack of success at the next level.

Recruits don't believe in Grimes as the guy to get them there.

Gus failed to create(or allow) enough longterm relationships with a large enough group of recruits

You have to go back over a decade since there has been successful O-lineman in the NFL from Auburn of which kids these days have never heard of.

Now my opinion of what went wrong with recruiting o-lineman:

The Gus part has been stated plenty

We don't recruit a type or guys that fit certain criteria.  First they must love the game.  Eat, Sleep and Sh@t football.  Have a high football IQ.  Be an alpha competitor.

Recruit guys that have good bodies.  Guys that have sloppy bodies and don't have the above tangibles are not gonna be elite.

We have been 2nd or 3rd for lots of NFL lineman since Gus and I wish we could find out what kept them from choosing Auburn in the long run.

[Cardin Drake 1,828]

2 hours ago, auburnphan said:

 I wish we could find out what kept them from choosing Auburn in the long run.

Negative fan base...I'm kidding, mostly.  If Gus gets fired, past O line recruiting is probably what is going to do him in.  The game is won in the trenches. Always has been, always will be.  I fault him not so much for whiffing on some of the top talent, but for failing to take quantity to try to make up for it.  High schools almost never put their best athletes on the offensive line. Talented offensive linemen are scarce, and there aren't enough to go around.  However, plenty of 3 stars pan out. There are just so many intangibles that go into making a good offensive lineman.  It's a very hard position to evaluate. Take the best guys you can get, but do your homework and take 4 or 5. Every year.  

It is frustrating that we have so much talent everywhere else this year, but every team has a weak link. Our line isn't horrible but it's pretty average at best.  That's a lot to overcome.  I'm very happy with Nix so far. For all his talent, Stidham likely would have been sacked 5 or 6 times in each of the last 2 games.  Nix gives me hope that we can scheme around our deficiencies.  The kid is going to be great, but he's still a work in progress.  Hoping we can put up Purdue like numbers on Kent State.  And then we are going to go down to College Station and chalk up our 2nd win of the year in Texas.  We'll see what happens after that.

[cole256 17,083]

36 minutes ago, auburnphan said:

I get your point.

Here are a few theories of mine:

Negative recruiting from our lack of success at the next level.

Recruits don't believe in Grimes as the guy to get them there.

Gus failed to create(or allow) enough longterm relationships with a large enough group of recruits

You have to go back over a decade since there has been successful O-lineman in the NFL from Auburn of which kids these days have never heard of.

Now my opinion of what went wrong with recruiting o-lineman:

The Gus part has been stated plenty

We don't recruit a type or guys that fit certain criteria.  First they must love the game.  Eat, Sleep and Sh@t football.  Have a high football IQ.  Be an alpha competitor.

Recruit guys that have good bodies.  Guys that have sloppy bodies and don't have the above tangibles are not gonna be elite.

We have been 2nd or 3rd for lots of NFL lineman since Gus and I wish we could find out what kept them from choosing Auburn in the long run.

I feel you here bro

[McLoofus 35,182]

Unfortunately, JB's re-hire exemplifies everything that is wrong with Gus and why we won't have sustained success on offense as long as he's here. Everyone who said it at the time- I was not one of them- was 100% correct about that. 

Gus has no desire to learn or grow. He just keeps retreating further and further into the tiny little safe place in his brain with regards to offense. This is the exact opposite of how any successful coach operates.

I don't really see a path forward that doesn't go against/around the head coach. His instincts are bad. He keeps driving his bus into the lake and blaming the bus for not being a boat. 

[keesler 5,924]

Look at the programs that are pumping out linemen to the pro's every dang year.  It's hard as hell to recruit against those schools and the pool of top shelf olinemen out of the HS ranks is shallow. 

I think the poor oline development will be the breaking point for this staff, along with not having an SEC caliber elite RB on the roster.  Auburn has forever been known as RBU, it feels like that title is fading fast.  Will we see another year without a 1,000 yrd rusher?

[McLoofus 35,182]

10 minutes ago, keesler said:

Look at the programs that are pumping out linemen to the pro's every dang year.  It's hard as hell to recruit against those schools and the pool of top shelf olinemen out of the HS ranks is shallow. 

I think the poor oline development will be the breaking point for this staff, along with not having an SEC caliber elite RB on the roster.  Auburn has forever been known as RBU, it feels like that title is fading fast.  Will we see another year without a 1,000 yrd rusher?

I don't think you can say we don't have an elite SEC caliber RB on the roster. We might have several. That said, I think Gus might be hell bent on getting one who isn't to 1,000 yards even if it means keeping guys who should be contributing on the sideline. It would hardly be the first time and we've heard somebody who knows a little bit about what's going on in the RB corps suggest as much. 

Just impossible to tell what we actually have talent-wise since the skill players are only as good as their coaches and OL. I mean, it took Jarrett Stidham one preseason to send Brian Hoyer looking for a new job. Look at how much talent we've recruited at WR vs production. 

The OL can say the same in a lot of cases, but I don't think that's where this team is. 

[leglessdan 1,934]

47 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Unfortunately, JB's re-hire exemplifies everything that is wrong with Gus and why we won't have sustained success on offense as long as he's here. Everyone who said it at the time- I was not one of them- was 100% correct about that. 

Gus has no desire to learn or grow. He just keeps retreating further and further into the tiny little safe place in his brain with regards to offense. This is the exact opposite of how any successful coach operates.

I don't really see a path forward that doesn't go against/around the head coach. His instincts are bad. He keeps driving his bus into the lake and blaming the bus for not being a boat. 

 

[autan 737]

If Gus could realize and accept that we have an average or slightly below average OL and that's not going to change this year then maybe he could design and call  plays that would keep the defense guessing wrong or out of sync. Unfortunately if we are fortunate enough on first down to gain 4 or 5 yards CGM is determined to run that play again and again when defense is fully adjusted and prepared prepared. Hence we have a fourth and 3. I think we do have some potentially elite backs and WRs but without elite offensive linemen they will not be elite UNLESS we have elite coaching which seems very unlikely. But miracles do come along occasionally.  We need to stay positive through these trying times.