re: 2023 Football Discussion Thread General Thoughts & Comments

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Something something need an OC

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Sometimes it seems like Napier is wearing too many hats (might be some early process hiccups as he's implementing his systems) and his offense isn't the flashiest. But I'll admit it can be very effective when it's on point.

When our guys were all healthy vs Tenn and Billy had his shifts and motions working, I saw a confused Vol Defense with veteran players not knowing how to align

We have young guys starting who are learning on the fly

Let’s see how it goes

Ditto. One thing though, I agree with Napier in that we shouldn't crown these guys after 3 games. It's such a young team. Have to evaluate them on a week to week basis. Seems like one win, or loss won't and shouldn't define our season.

Can we handle success? I'm just as nervous about the road game at Kentucky as I was about the Tennessee game.

I hope the players can keep that same edge they had after the Utah loss.

LINK

Interesting

I'd say that even the biggest critics of Napiers' offense agree that his run offense is very good.

Most of the critiques are of the passing aspect. I don't know enough about X's and O's to say one way or another. I will say that there haven't been a ton of deep pass explosive plays, but is that because last year we had nothing at WR except for Ricky and this year Mertz isn't really a deep pass kind of guy? Would Lagway, once he is comfortable with the offense, be able to make plays like that? At the HS level he is a big play type of qb, so he's capable of it (obviously different to do that in college but he seems like a human highlight reel at the HS level so I imagine he'll be able to do something at the college level).

It seems that the podcast "Gator Nation" (I've watched a few times, it was interesting, but I don't watch religiously) has a guy who breaks down the schemes and concepts on both offense and defense. Apparently he is a fan of Napier's run offense but a huge critic of the passing concepts.

I wonder if a lot of the fans online who complain about Napier's passing offense are just parroting the guy who does that podcast?

Maybe he's right, he does seem to put a lot of thought and analysis into this commentary, but I wonder if his observations are the source of a lot of the message board critique of the passing offense concepts?

I think our passing offense is limited more by the players and less the scheme. None of our WR, TE, or even QBs strike fear into any opponents. It's like we are doing the best we can with what we have.

Having Lagway (assuming he's as advertised) will take us to another level. Add some stud WR/TE and we'll be deadly again.

Hopefully some of the other freshmen WR start to shine.

Yeah cupboard was pretty bare. Hence why Napier had to turn to freshmen and transfer portal players. More of an indication as to why he needs patience.

There's only so much you can squeeze out of the Mullen guys. Probably why we were 6-7 the last 2 years.

Napier set a scoring record as OC at Clemson, his QB at UL left as the schools all time leading passer

I think these accomplishments couldn’t be done with a bad scheme.

I could be wrong but that’s my .02

I think it's pretty clear Napier likes his passing game mostly in a box with just a few deep throws. I am just skeptical you can win an SEC championship with that style.

Teams put a cap on Ricky and rn that’s all we got.

Need the youngsters to get going