re: CFB Coaching Carousel

LINK ]Alabama loses Vinnie Sunseri to New England Patriots (BamaOnLine)



God bless Vinnie!!

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Regardless of how poorly the team played in Nickle or played in space, tackled, got lined up, it could have been much worse. But Golding is golden.

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I'm actually not sold on Golden. I wanted to like him, and I'm hoping if he stays on as DC he turns a corner this year and shows out … but I can't get the image of Quinnen Williams stunting on the goal line on one of Clemson's touchdown runs in the 2019 championship game. That was just idiotic.

But I like to think of myself as a realist, and I recognize the absolute crap hand Golding was dealt this year with injuries and youth.

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You sell "no-fault" insurance by any chance?

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I'm in communications, actually. Since what happens in real life doesn't seem to factor into your situational analysis, I'm guessing you are perhaps a unicorn groomer?

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But I like to think of myself as a realist, and I recognize the absolute crap hand Golding was dealt this year with injuries and youth.

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It wasn't ideal, but football never is. Football is a brutal sport and attrition is a part of why these guys are multimillionaires. The thing is we've watched other DCs at Alabama struggle with injuries to key guys throughout the season. The situation is not ancient history.

Jeremy Pruitt got hit hard with the injury bug in 2017. It was so bad that many of the talking heads didn't believe the playoff committee would select Alabama over Ohio State in the 4 seed slot.

It started in the very first game vs FSU when Terrell Lewis who had an elbow tear and missed the next 10 games. Our other OLB, Christian Miller, in the same game, suffered a bicep tear and missed the next 10 games. In the same FSU game, RaShaan Evans pulled a groin and missed the next 2 games and frankly wasn't himself till later on in the season. Oh, by the way, Anfernee Jennings suffers a high ankle sprain also in the Florida State game and misses the next 2 games. Dion Hamilton fractures his kneecap vs LSU and we lose him for the season. Are you counting LBers here? Mack Wilso also gets injured vs LSU when he hurt his foot and misses the next 2 games. Freshman Dylan Moses gets serious starting time after the Hamilton injury and he breaks his foot after the Barner game and misses the playoffs. What's the count on LBers? Maybe Pruitt just sends up the white flag and starts leaking like the Titanic. Hey, we'll get them next year.


Hootie Jones partially tears an MCL vs the barn and misses the playoffs. Fitzpatrick pulls a hammy vs LSU and misses the next game and is seriously hobbled through the barner game. Da'Shawn Hand takes a cheap shot vs Ole Miss TE and misses the next 3 games. Diggs hurts his foot in the Rebel game and misses a start. Freshman LaBryan Ray started getting minutes due to all the injuries and he promptly breaks his foot at the end of the season. Nigel Knott was getting minutes as a reserve cornerback and hurt his knee and missed the final 5 games.

All to just say this. Pruitt led THAT defense to a national championship. And when THAT defense walked off the field for the final time, THAT mash unit was ranked #1 in total defense in the country.

I don't even want to think about what this DC would have done with that group. But I can hear the excuses as I type. The man needs a do-over.

Man, I miss Jeremy Pruitt.

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Whether folks agree or not, that's a damn good write up

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Amen!

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Freshman Dylan Moses gets serious starting time after the Hamilton injury and he breaks his foot after the Barner game and misses the playoffs. What's the count on LBers? Maybe Pruitt just sends up the white flag and starts leaking like the Titanic. Hey, we'll get them next year.

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I will add, though, that once we got down to 2 inexperienced inside LBs (Holcombe and Moses) or down to 1 inexperienced and 1 injured (Wilson and Moses vs AUB) we struggled on defense with similar issues to the 2019 team - mainly getting off the field on 3rd down.

3rd Down Defense
Mississippi St : 8/15 (53%) (38% @ UGA, 33% @ AU, 43% @ A&M)
Auburn : 9/18 (50%) (31% vs UGA, 43% @ A&M, 21% @ LSU, 33% @ Clemson)


We held on vs State and got beat down against Auburn. We only regained our form when we healed up before we played Clemson in the Sugar Bowl.

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I was trying to remember what game it was that Keith Holcombe started and did so poorly … it was MSU. And Keith was, what, a redshirt junior that year?

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I think a redshirt sophomore, but it could have been junior. Either way, he wasn't a newbie.

He filled every gap wrong - which directly led to a ton of 3rd and 4 conversions (sound familiar?).

Why, because playing 2 freshmen is any different than Pruitt having to plug in a freshman in Dylan Moses, or using a walkon in Jamey Mosley. McMillon, another freshman in Markail Benton, another freshman in Vandarius Cowan and yes, even redshirt freshman Ben Davis is used extensively over the season.

Tell me exactly what Pete Golding was going to do with those guys?

And then tell me when he's done scheming around that bunch we end up with the #1 defense in the nation?

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Why, because playing 2 freshmen is any different than Pruitt having to plug in a freshman in Dylan Moses, or using a walkon in Jamey Mosley. McMillon, another freshman in Markail Benton, another freshman in Vandarius Cowan and yes, even redshirt freshman Ben Davis is used extensively over the season.

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Who called the defensive signals on the field for those teams when those individual freshmen / walkons were thrust into a starting role?

My point (which I dearly hope you'll understand in the foreseeable future) is that while we had to replace individual players at key times in 2017 (and in other years, as well), never have we been as hamstrung as we were in 2019 with a lack of experience. Heck, in 2017 we had to start a junior (Keith Holcombe) and a freshman (Dylan Moses) at ILB against Mississippi State due to injuries, and our defense was terrible that game. Not entirely Keith's or Dylan's fault, of course, but it just goes to show how a lack of game experience at a key position can impact a defense.

I don't know what Golding would have been able to do with those guys, and neither do you, because he wasn't here at the time.

Answers my question as to why Burns was pulled off field, can't imagine doing much recruiting on a bum leg at 65+.

Dennis Johnson made a similar move due to injury at LSU, and he's in his 30s.