Thank You Seniors

Could you please separate this into two threads. One to thank the seniors and a separate one to rag on CBN.

I started to give you a like, but then had to back off.

 

In before the banning just to say, I do not disagree.

 

No reason to ban you. It’s just obvious that you know little about football. But you can still post your thoughts.

 

How much does he need to know about football to assess the obvious? One does not need to be a general to be able to count rifles or assess high ground.

 

Were you there?

Did you watch all of our All-SEC, AA, and future NFL stars running out of the tunnel for senior night? If you were please give me the count.

The short answer is you can’t, because it’s embarrassing. What’s more embarrassing it that ignorant fans expect a coach to put a field full of freshmen and sophomores on the field and expect them to win. Being competitive is not good enough.

I dislike losing more than anyone but I can’t ignore the obvious here. Freshmen (other than RBs and WRs) are not physically developed enough to stay fast and strong for 60 minutes against upperclassmen. They also make mistakes, a lot of them. Like losing your composure and spitting in a Nole’s face, or by getting a little too aggressive on a sliding QB. But I love the passion that those kids and coaches showed last night. This program is in very good shape going forward. If you guys can just keep your expert opinion to yourselves, let Coach continue to recruit the way he has proven he can, and don’t expect those recruits to set the world on fire as freshmen we are going to be a Top 5 program in two years.

 

As I’ve said in other posts, let’s not make the pervasive attitude on this board too much about the SWAC game yesterday. Napier did not lose the season yesterday. He lost it at Kentucky and at home against Arkansas. Yesterday was simply a forlorn hope to wash away those embarrassing and inexcusable losses.

And I understand this is a young team, but anyone not totally in denial can see that another year is not going to make a difference. The problem is not the players. The problem is their leadership. The players did not decide to eschew a Special Teams Coach in lieu of a “Game Change Coordinator!” whatever that is. They did not decide to go for it on 4th down in some facepalm scenarios. And they did not to have the head coach retain all playcalling on the field.

Polish this turd all you like. I understand that Napier realistically has to get at least half of next season, but you need to understand where this is going.

 

The seniors deserve their credit.

Thank you for giving your all.

 

It’s not denial. It’s acceptance of reality. The reality is that we have virtually no seniors or juniors other than Mertz and Pearsall who would even get on the field for UCF. But you expect Napier to win with them?

Like it or not, Mullen left a huge steaming pile of shit here. The roster he left Napier was considerably worse than what Dickey left Pell. Pell went 8-15-1 over his first two seasons. That was with a roster that included Collinsworth, Little, Fisher, Young, Faulkner and several others. Mullen left one stud; AR. Look at our roster of upperclassmen and then ask yourself who is in denial here.

 

OK, then, how many more losing seasons should we expect before making a change? What precisely is it going to take for Napier to turn things around in your opinion?

 

Question: How long do you think that it takes to rebuild a 100 man roster?

Before you answer think of this item. When Napier and the Gators started the first game of the 2022 season, he had a total of 26 players that were on that team for two seasons. He had another 20 that were true Sophomores. The rest of the players were new from the portal and true Freshmen.

I am not saying that the rebuild is just recruiting and going to the portal.
That is part of it. The other part is to build a skilled and cohesive team.

 

Personally I don't expect the team to win any games. I expect measurable progression as the season goes on. As you said the team is very young and inexperienced meaning the learning and coaching progress should have been incredibly easy to spot. I'm not a professional football analyst but I have seen zero improvement in any area of the game.

If on game one nobody can tackle, block, line up correctly or cover their man/zone, but by game 12 the tackling and blocking is good and players are generally where they are supposed to be I'd be impressed even if they lost game 12 by 42 points.

 

Tackling is basically a lost art at this time. Sure we have guys who go for what I call “highlight” hits and tackle too high, but I watched games all day Friday and Saturday and saw the same thing.

So you didn’t see improvement in the freshmen from Utah to last night? If not, then I’m sorry but you’re just looking at result on the scoreboard and not at position, technique, and effort.

 

First your second question is a ridiculous, emotional question.

Now back to your first question. I would say that given where Napier started he should get to 7-5/8-4 next year. And before you go all emotional remember that he still will not have a productive senior class next year as Mullen didn’t leave him any productive sophomores last year. He may be able to better that record if he gets several home runs from the portal. We had I believe a Top 5 SoS this season. Hopefully that eases a bit next year. Even if it does, it won’t be by much.

I wasn’t good enough in my day to play SEC football, but I was better than the DBs and receivers Mullen left us with. We had freshmen all over the field this year trying to remember their assignments and adjust to what the other team was doing simultaneously. You could often see this in their reaction times, and that did improve as the season went on.

When our lineman mature more and turn those 20-30 pounds of baby belly fat into 30-40 pounds of chest, shoulder, and leg muscle you’re going to see some beasts on the field in the Swamp.

 

Since you answer my question with a question, I don’t know. You tell me. How long does it take to rebuild a 100-player roster (which would include the walk-ons for some reason)? Are we there in fall 2024, or are we going to be right back here in November with a fourth straight losing season, another sub-par recruiting class that is the fault of unsatisfied fans, and still blaming the coach who would likely have won three more games with this roster?

 

I don’t know what to tell you. He does not have that much time. And that’s not up to me. It’s just a fact. He has pretty much exhausted the patience of this fanbase, and I have to imagine that the actual investors in this program are either just about there or getting close. If he does not show remarkable improvement by mid-season next year, then he will be gone, no matter how much you want to place the blame on Mullen.

 

Rough time for them but appreciate the effort. Go Gators.

 

I agree 100%.

We can continue to blame Mullen for the current amount of seniors and juniors on the roster. That’s about it.

The completely dysfunctional disorganization, lack of a ST coach and subsequent ST fiascos every week, lack of experienced DC, lack of an experienced SEC-caliber OC, failed 2 OL coach experiment, and everything Football 101 (use of TOs, tempo, having units ready, 2 minute offense, etc.) are things that cannot be blamed on Mullen and fall squarely at the feet of Napier. Each HC is responsible for how they run their organization regardless of how they find it. On gamedays we are a reflection of how Napier runs his.

 

Then the portion of the fan base you refer to and the investors who agree with them will get what they deserve; a mediocre at best football program for another 10-15 years.