An OC starting his very first game as a coordinator...and they get almost 500 yards on offense? Why?

someone posted earlier and for some reason I can't get the image to upload but FL has more blue chip than almost all other teams we play.

 

Defense cost us several games and this one was no different. C'mon Billy. Oh well! there's always basketball.

 

And most are 18-19 and getting their lumps. We alsohave huge holes in our talent. You don’t just add up the stars and by simple math decide you have the pieces. The three pieces missing from our already suspect front seven were key pieces and it showed.

 

well the stats were over 4 years so there would be players in there that are older or transferred out. I just dont buy that UT/KY/MIZZ have more talent than us. Better more established coaches with lots of experience, sure and that translates to better play.

 

Experience and balanced rosters is where all those teams are way ahead of us. First and second year players while never be the backbone of a winning sec team. We are the youngest roster in the league and we don’t have those blue chips on the los. The other teams are starting men and we are starting kids. Kids can’t hang with men in the trenches.

 

You can't be serious? Mullen was a major contributing factor to where we now are as a program! He was a piss-poor recruiter, and the Gators have not had anyone who could recruit offensive talent since Urban. Other than Trask, the Gators have not had a really good qb. Additionally, I cannot remember a really decent OL and qb, since Trask. And some would be thrilled if we got rid of Napier or, at the very least, an offensive coordinator. No one will argue that we have an outstanding running back room. Mostly, the problem is the OL doesn't run block or pass protect well. I fully believe that Mertz would do better if he had decent pass protection. He generally doesn't have time to throw a pass beyond 15 yards, and I'm not sure what his qb rating would be if he could throw beyond 20 yards; but the OL cannot even pass protect Mertz to find out!
I'm not sure Napier is the Gators Savior, but I am not yet convinced he is not! I am fairly certain that many do not realize just how good of a recruiter he is! I believe many would not have a problem with his playcalling if it was as good as his recruiting. But, is Napier's playcalling really the problem or is it the OL and, to some extent, the need of a more mobile qb? If Napier can continue to recruit on a high level and make the Gators contenders in two or three years, can Gator Nation withstand the pain in-between?

 

100% agree with this statement but it is a different statement than we don't have talent.

 

off the top of my head, Grier, Driskel and AR. All 3 went to the NFL.

 

Again, what kind of team would the Gators be if the OL blocked better? Would the defense have to be on the field as much, and could it, as a result of not being on the field as much, play better? (Rhetorical questions)

 

Yes, but talent have to be spread across a roster and given time to develop. Most our our talent were in highschool nine months ago and a few like Shemar a year and a half ago. Shemar is tge only linebacker we have that has big potential. He’s still very young. You can’t scheme a defense without great linebacker play. We need several, not just one. It’s just not possible. We could have used a spy yesterday but we have no one capable.

 

IF we had a stellar offensive line, would we even have this discussion?

 

One word……Blanton’s.

 

Well they do have more talent. Let me tell you about a new phenomenon out there that increases roster talent. It’s called the transfer portal. So those stars you see associated with a HS recruit is not that big as it used to be.

 

I agree with you the transfer portal is huge but this stat was blue chip roster talent not high school ranking. I believe this includes transfers.

 

We wouldn't even have all this sky is falling crap if Pearsall had protected the ball either. We were down 14 less than 2 minutes in the game and still the team competed. Heck, we drove the ball down the field on the final drive of regulation and still had a chance to win it.

The kids played hard, just the margin for this current team is slim and there is a ceiling right now. I get people want instant results, but our starting point to where we want to be, a year over year contender, is going to take 3 full recruiting cycles.

 

Part of the reason for this small margin is our offense seems to go conservative for a 1-2 quarter stretch in each game. We don’t play offense like we are going for the opponent’s throat. We telegraph plays and most plays are slow developing, which exacerbates our OL issues. When your OL has issues holding up, slow developing routes/plays don’t put them in the best position to succeed.

 

First of all Mullen got ar who was a nfl starter.

How do you think the current roster would perform if mullen is the coach? I get that he probably couldn’t recruit the same players but I recalled that Mullen did reasonably well with the portal.

Mullen only had one bad year and he already fired dc and ok coach. I think we should give him one more year to right the ship.

 

We also had Jacoby and Tyler Murphy.

 

How much better would James’ play be if he was playing his natural position and not on the inside?

 

Thanks fora reasoned approach. The voice of reason is easily downed out by howling of those posting a rehash of season long observations as though they are new deficiencies.

Any attempt to point out the necessity of moving forward with course corrections instead of overhaul and continued talent infusion via HS athletes is bludgeoned.

For those wanting the portal solution most teams arent overhauling the roster but supplementing key weaknesses coming into the season our deficiencies were wide spread and beyond front line players. We werent a playoff contender lacking a player or 2. We were are flawed team with inadequate game changing personnel at certain positions and a significant drop off when we substitute.

Time isnt our friend but it is a critial component to the solution.