Connor Shaw & Mike Davis

[gripitandripit2007]

First Connor...the guy has taken a lot of criticism & flack since the Florida & LSU game & once again when the leader of the team goes down...he takes the team & puts them on his back & continues to show heart & finds ways to WIN ANYWAY! And a heck of a game by Mike Davis...kid has a lot of promise & runs & blocks & played today with a ton of heart as well!

Here's to u Connor & Mikey! Great game fellas!!

[GH]

Kenny Miles was a beast Saturday.

[Flameout12]

Originally Posted by GH

Kenny Miles was a beast Saturday.

Yes he was....Josh Blue didn't look bad either.

[TKE226]

Shaw plays well at home...gotta get him comfy on the road

[Red Devil]

Originally Posted by TKE226

Shaw plays well at home...gotta get him comfy on the road

I like Conor, he's a gamer like Garcia was. But I still say if Spurrier had Tyler Wilson to work with, we'd be heading into the SECCG now and maybe NC. I watched Manziel a bit today against Bama. Where the heck do they get these guys and why can't we find one??

[SC Sandlapper]

Not overlooking Kenny Miles one bit but looking ahead to next season, Mike Davis looks very promising. He had his best game yet from what I could tell, showed some nifty speed and quickness. A year of S&C and he could be a bowling ball. With Wilds and Davis in the backfield looks like we will be well stocked.

[Spurticus]

I've said it before and It's as true now as it was when I said it after
game one.

Connor is a Zone Read QB. He can be a decent pocket passer, but he
is at his best when he can roll out or move around. We FINALLY figured
that out last week against UT, and yesterday and in passing downs
we are getting him out of the pocket and allowing him to move some to
throw....... HOWEVER, this is ony a result of what I've been saying for
9 weeks. Our O/Line is causing this team to underachieve and unless it
gets better next season, we are going to continue to see our offense
struggle and be less than what it can be.
Shaw could have become a consistently good drop back and pass guy, but
with the line we had, he was under fire way too quickly. Our line is also
the reason Lattimore has not gotten the full measure of his talent here,
and had to do what he did on his own for the most part.

Unless we get the line playing like an SEC Caliber line is capable of playing
Connor Mitch and Brandon Nosovich will suffer the same fate. If our
coaching staff wants to compete for the SEC Title next year we have to
re-evaluate a couple of position coaches (3 at least IMO). Make the
changes or suffer a team that is going to be less than it is capable of
being.

[bhs04]

OLINE
WR
And secondary coach?

Which ones are you thinking of?

[Garnet 4 Life 81]

Originally Posted by Spurticus

I've said it before and It's as true now as it was when I said it after
game one.

Connor is a Zone Read QB. He can be a decent pocket passer, but he
is at his best when he can roll out or move around. We FINALLY figured
that out last week against UT, and yesterday and in passing downs
we are getting him out of the pocket and allowing him to move some to
throw....... HOWEVER, this is ony a result of what I've been saying for
9 weeks. Our O/Line is causing this team to underachieve and unless it
gets better next season, we are going to continue to see our offense
struggle and be less than what it can be.
Shaw could have become a consistently good drop back and pass guy, but
with the line we had, he was under fire way too quickly. Our line is also
the reason Lattimore has not gotten the full measure of his talent here,
and had to do what he did on his own for the most part.

Unless we get the line playing like an SEC Caliber line is capable of playing
Connor Mitch and Brandon Nosovich will suffer the same fate. If our
coaching staff wants to compete for the SEC Title next year we have to
re-evaluate a couple of position coaches (3 at least IMO). Make the
changes or suffer a team that is going to be less than it is capable of
being.

[pantera17]

Our pass protection has been fine. That's certainly not the problem. Run blocking has been another story.

[gripitandripit2007]

Originally Posted by pantera17

Our pass protection has been fine. That's certainly not the problem. Run blocking has been another story.

What games have you been watching? Against bad D's he has a little more time sometimes...but against good D's he had very little time. Give Connor Tennessee's OL & you will see how good of a QB we really have. That being said...I do think the future is promising at OL...so hopefully next year Connor can have more time to show what he can do

[Dizzy01]

Originally Posted by pantera17

Our pass protection has been fine. That's certainly not the problem. Run blocking has been another story.

I would have agreed with you prior to this week. However the pass protection yesterday the pass protection was terrible. Even on designed roll outs Connor was under pressure. Johnson spent half the game trying to explain blocking assignments to guys and that shouldn't be happening 10 games into the season.

I would agree that position coach wise WR and Oline need to be looked at but we know one of those won't happen. As for the DBs considering the injuries and subsequent shuffling I'm not sure it's time to look there yet.

[donbgamecock]

I thought the pass blocking looked very good yesterday.

[Spurticus]

Originally Posted by bhs04

OLINE
WR
And secondary coach?

Which ones are you thinking of?

RB

[Don Giovanni]

Originally Posted by bhs04

OLINE
WR
And secondary coach?

Which ones are you thinking of?

I'm still torn about Elliott just because he brings so much passion to his position, and the kids seem to like him a lot. And there has been a LOT of turnover at his position that even the Oline players have mentioned they're glad has stopped since Elliott has been here, but if the results don't eventually show up on the field, I think something has to be done there.

I like Spurrier Jr., but it seems like the players at his position have been underwhelming overall. I mean when a guy that has all kinds of natural talent comes in like Roland and struggles to make plays, I think that's an indicator (at least partially) of the coaching. I know Roland has had some balls thrown to him that were either slightly under or over thrown, but one would think his natural talent would help him overcome some of the deficiencies in ball placement, so that makes me think something has happened in the coaching he receives to overrule his instincts and natural ability.

As for Brown, this is his first year, so I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt at the very least. His secondaries at Southern Miss. were pretty good overall from what I remember (which isn't very much to be honest), and I think the secondary has performed pretty well this year considering what Brown inherited. Gilmore, Whitlock, and Allen (which affects who plays safety) are all gone, Legree is playing corner for the first time in college, and Auguste is playing after roughly 2.5 years off (rust). So I disagree about needing to make a change there.

As many have said before, ultimately the players are the ones that must make the plays on the field, but there comes a point when the product on the field must be considered a reflection of the training the players have recieved. With that said, NONE of the coaches should be considered locks for holding their positions, because the team hasn't performed with enough consistency, but some are more deserving of further consideration than others. This is just my opinion, of course.

[Coondog]

Originally Posted by Spurticus

Unless we get the line playing like an SEC Caliber line is capable of playing
Connor Mitch and Brandon Nosovich will suffer the same fate. If our
coaching staff wants to compete for the SEC Title next year we have to
re-evaluate a couple of position coaches (3 at least IMO). Make the
changes or suffer a team that is going to be less than it is capable of
being.

Are you saying that we need yet another o-line coach? Elliott wasn't exactly handed a stable of SEC caliber o-lineman but he has recruited them. With the exception of TJ Johnson we are playing Freshman and Sophomores up front. Ronald Patrick is a Junior but he's not exactly all SEC like Johnson is. It seems to me that our o-line problems are mostly youth and depth not coaching. I do agree that due to the o-line we do need to move Connor and the pocket around more to give plays time to develope.

As for the other position coaches who do you believe is not coaching up to par? Personally I would start with Special Teams but they haven't looked good since Ryan Succop so maybe some of the blame needs to be put on recruiting kickers which falls back on the head coach. The defensive secondary once again has struggled against good passing teams but they did play pretty well against Arky but Tenn lit them up all day.

Just curious on who you think needs replacing. This is Ward's first year in charge of the defense and while I wasn't all that thrilled with the hire and with it I knew there would be a learning curve but all in all I think he has done a pretty good job for his first season. Again, just curious on your thoughts since like most CockyTalkers I respect your opinion.

[GH]

well if you want to make a move at oline...Tenn's o-line coach (and maybe even Graham again) may be available for the taking when Dooley is canned....

[Don Giovanni]

Originally Posted by Spurticus

RB

Just curious why you think a change needs to happen at the RB coach position. This is Sands's first year, so, like Brown, I think he deserves more than just one year to rate his performance. If any of the first year coaches are questionable, then Botkin should be near or at the top of the list. Have the linebackers performed pretty well overall this year? I think so, but couldn't that also be a result of the unit being comprised of what Botkin called, "...a bunch of old guys?"

Let me say that I am actually one of the folks that really likes Botkin and really think he should remain on the staff. My point is that Botkin has had more to work with than Brown or Sands (thinking of injuries at RB), but everyone wants to hang the latter two out to dry. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

[Coondog]

Originally Posted by GH

well if you want to make a move at oline...Tenn's o-line coach (and maybe even Graham again) may be available for the taking when Dooley is canned....

I seriously doubt whoever replaces Dooley will get rid of Graham. He's not just a great RB coach but a great recruiter as well. That and being a Tenn Alumni I think his job is safe. Also Tenn o-line has been the only consistent position performing well all season so I have to believe that he would be safe as well but you never know.

[CoverTwo]

Graham has a multi year deal. He will be on the next coach's staff at UT.