2013 Aggie Football - Time for a Rational Discussion

Offense:

O-line did really well in pass protection and designed QB runs. Did not open up good holes for RB's until 2nd half. Unit should be much better going forward with this experience.

LSU will be the next team we face that has elite talent in their front 7.

Defense:

D-line overmatched and could not control line of scrimmage. Really need somebody to step up. One of the fish or Taylor brothers has got to become a playmaker. Ivan Robinson got his first minutes of the season. Cross your fingers that this is finally his year to show something.

LB - Hard to be too critical here because of DL problems. Jenkins had a lot of tackles in his first game back. Problem was none of the other LB's made any plays. Baggs or one of the fish have to step up.

DB's: - Safeties are undersized for SEC. Have to fix through recruiting. Harris tried to do too much and did not execute his responsibility on the flea-flicker. He knew he did not have safety help but tried to cheat against the run.

Secondary will be exposed if we can't do a better job pressuring the QB.

Special teams - Played pretty well. Mental error on Williams trying to field the kick off the bounce inside the 5 yard line. Execution error on Bertolet kicking the ball out of bounds.

Other:

Fish and 1st time starters on D have to grow up fast over the next 2 weeks. Front 7 has to show that they can dominate the line of scrimmage against SMU and Arky.

Don't know what the story is on Manning but I think the coaches are looking at playing minutes available based on rotation.

They could pull the shirts on Manning, Points, and others but there are only so many playing minutes to allocate for development. To free up more playing minutes, you have to start making decisions on which players to sit that you are already playing.

They pulled Arnold's shirt already so he and Golden should be in the rotation next week.

One other option to consider in the secondary would be to move Everett back to safety and have Sezer or Jacobs playing the corner spot opposite Harris.

I am not ready to write off Sanders or Honeycutt yet. They both have only played in 3 games and there is still a decent chance they will improve.

Sanders could still evolve into an every down player. I think Honeycutt's best fit would be as a role player in nickel or dime situations where he has very defined responsibilities to make his reads easy.

Stansbury was a decent role player last year. I think he has 2 weeks to show he should be starting or his minutes will diminish.

Alexander is very perplexing. I have not even seen him in a game. I have seen mention that he is being redshirted this year. Don't know if that is true. If true, don't know why.

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Alonzo Williams is not getting it done at DT. Need to remove Justin Manning's RS unless he's hurt.

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Typical overreaction. Zo didn't play that poorly. And why do you think Justin Manning of all people is the answer? That seems like the most random name. The 3-deep is Zo-Ennis, Walker-Golden, Arnold -Robinson. Manning is redshirting because he's not in that group. And suddenly he's jumping from 4th string to starter? Just because he has stars next to his name in high school doesn't make him the best player.

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It's clear now that our best two linebackers by far are Darion Claiborne and Shaan Washington

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what on earth? You cannot be serious. Did Claiborne even see the field yesterday on defense? He looked good at times and he's made mistakes at times so far. I like his potential, but that's crazytalk. And Washington is the same. He lost his man on the bootleg twice that I saw. These are freshman mistakes and I'm not about to bash these kids because they look like they have a ton of talent.

But neither one of these guys even played LB in high school. They are still learning the position. And from that very little playing time vs Bama you see fit to declare them the best two linebackers? And the "by far" hyperbole is a nice touch. Quit trying to analyze players because you look rather silly.

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DB: Clay Honeycutt is a huge liability.

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Our safeties are poor. But why are you mentioning Honeycutt and not Matthews...the returning starter. Both played poorly. But Honeycutt was the more productive of the two.

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Devante Harris looked like Dustin Harris 2009-2011 out there.

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Again, you really have no idea what you are talking about. Our game plan left the corners on islands all day. That's a very difficult assignment against experienced elite WRs. And our dline got no pressure. He made a couple of mistakes but there isn't a corner alive that doesn't. CB mistakes get amplified when you have an experience accurate QB who has all freaking day to throw. On a difficulty scale of 1-10, the assignment he and Deshazor were handed was easily a 10. Honestly, he had a good game. Not elite like Deshazor, but good.

How good is Bama's WR corps? Here's SDS preseason comment:
"Alabama could have the best receiving corps in the country led by Cooper. Returning is Kevin Norwood, Kenny Bell and Christion Jones, along with a slew of other up-and coming youngsters. AJ McCarron’s options will be unlimited."

Kevin Norwood 3-52-1
Amari Cooper 2-34
Christion Jones 1-12
Kenny Bell 1-51-1

In a game with 1200 yards, 91 points, those are the 4 guys Everett and Harris covered most of the game. And Kenny Bell's td bubble was when Hurd blitzed off the edge with Jacobs at corner and Honeycutt rotating at safety. So in those stats, that's not even Harris or Everett. Our corners played great.

I know why Golden didn't play. Would he have helped?

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LSU will be the next team we face that has elite talent in their front 7

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This. All will be well in Aggie Land

I cant say too much because I have only watched the game once, and the second half was sparingly since my AC went out and I had to run to Lowes.

We must learn to stop the run and that starts with the DL. Their OL clearly had no problem getting to the second level and taking our DL completely out of the play. Golden needs to start with Ennis inside, and Hall needs to play a lot as well.

I am not sold on Mastro and I've yet to really see the instincts you want on a LB. Claiborne and Jenkins need to start at all times as they are the only two that know how to shed blocks and take a proper first step. Everyone else plays with hesitation and that is the first step to getting blocked. Baggs is really not playing well. I say get Washington reps because he has the size but he can also run help out in coverage against TEs and RBs.

Secondary is hard to diagnose. Everett and Hurd had a good game IMO, Honeycutt did not, and I dont know about Matthews but he hasn't shown much. Im not gonna dog Clay, but he is not the answer. The play where he got burned, all he had to do was watch AJs eyes because it was obvious where he was going. Not to mention you have two WRs with one corner lined up man. You cannot play hesitant there and you better not dive against someone like Amari Cooper (I believe).

Play the young guys and get them ready for Ole Miss and LSU and get 10 wins.

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The play where he got burned, all he had to do was watch AJs eyes because it was obvious where he was going. Not to mention you have two WRs with one corner lined up man. You cannot play hesitant there and you better not dive against someone like Amari Cooper (I believe).

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Clay reacted late to that play but it was a rotation play when we are supposed to disguise the blitz. Hurd tipped it early and Honeycutt rotated late. Jacobs failed to get off his block and even get a hand to slow down the receiver and by doing so you are asking Honeycutt to run 20 yards full speed at a receiver who is doing the same and coming up with a tackle. It's not easy. He did a poor job but that play was about 3 mistakes, not 1.