JB Grimes hired as new OL coach

[WarEagle10 77]

Group Hug?

sicko.

[AUMikeP 16]

As far as the OL goes, I'd rather have a better teacher than a recruiter. A good teacher can turn a 2* prospect into a 5* player in the same amount of time a good recruiter can turn a 5* prospect into a 2* player. Give the man a chance before you make a fool of yourself.

Too late Bird ...... He shat his pants the minute his fingers hit the keyboard.....

[alexava 6,974]

i have been chasing the end of this thread for too long. i skipped about 5 pages to get to the end. gus' offense is very unique. he has worked with maybe 3 or 4 oline coaches in his college career and most believe hand was his first choice. but it is worth noting that jeff grimes was considered one of the topps in the country per mack brown trying to steal him. gus passed up on him for this old guy who has been unemployed recently. i dont see any way fans could better choose offensive assistants than gus and its ridiculous to do so. defensive assistants maybe, but we had what we thought was the best, highest paid staff in the nation and took 3 stellar recruiting classes to 3-9. if gus likes JB i like him. as i have said before im happy we have a hc with his own philosophy on offense. the defense is different but the new leadership and implementation of structure, work, attitude, discipline will improve defense too hopefully.. im optimistic.

[AU Ivory_dealer 2]

i have been chasing the end of this thread for too long. i skipped about 5 pages to get to the end. gus' offense is very unique. he has worked with maybe 3 or 4 oline coaches in his college career and most believe hand was his first choice. but it is worth noting that jeff grimes was considered one of the topps in the country per mack brown trying to steal him. gus passed up on him for this old guy who has been unemployed recently. i dont see any way fans could better choose offensive assistants than gus and its ridiculous to do so. defensive assistants maybe, but we had what we thought was the best, highest paid staff in the nation and took 3 stellar recruiting classes to 3-9. if gus likes JB i like him. as i have said before im happy we have a hc with his own philosophy on offense. the defense is different but the new leadership and implementation of structure, work, attitude, discipline will improve defense too hopefully.. im optimistic.

Watching the vid on CJBG a couple of weeks ago made me think he would be a nice hire.. Just because he didnt coach at a major FBS school last year doesnt make me believe he isnt qualified for a job at AU. He's worked with alot of young men and prepared them for life in the NFL or in life period.. He seems genuinally set on his foundation for success and i cant wait to see him bring some class to some of our players that may uhhhhh need a lttile more than some others... Reese...

[alabamapaper 0]

Might not be. Could be "second choice, solid hire." Maybe he was waiting for Hand to make up his mind. Or maybe there are more pieces to the puzzle. If you take a guy with the reputation of being a better teacher than recruiter in one spot, you need to perhaps grab a better recruiter in another slot. So waiting on this hire could have to do with knowing what you're getting in other spots.

All I can say is that when he was hired I was told that Malzahn's greatest weakness was the fact that he had very few contacts developed among the coaching circle and that he was overly loyal to his small circle of coaches that he knows. JB Grimes was specifically mentioned as a guy that Gus would look to bring when he should be setting the bar much higher. Auburn is giving him more than enough money to assemble a top-level SEC staff...for him to have been hired weeks ago and to name Grimes today confirms the realistic worry that I had about Malzahn. Grimes does absolutely nothing for me.

"Good" offensive line teaching is not what Gus Malzahn or Auburn University needs. It takes a very targeted and specific set of offensive line skills and a different level of conditioning to make his offense work well. There are not many offensive line coaches with the knowledge or experience to accomplish what is necessary. This is one hire that does have that knowledge and teaching experience. Arkansas State was ranked 16 nationally in sacks allowed last season while facing teams with similar talent levels. Nebraska managed three sacks against them with an overwhelming talent advantage and Oregon did not manage a single sack.

Oregon managed three tackles for loss against Arkansas State last season and Nebraska six. These were in games where Arkansas State was well overmanned. They did this starting a freshman center, sophomore, two juniors and one senior on their line. They rushed for 163 yards against Nebraska and 226 against Oregon. They used two quarterbacks against both Nebraska and Oregon and threw a total of two interceptions combined against them.

I have always thought that one mark of a great coach was how his players performed when overwhelmingly outgunned. This was the case for Arkansas State in those two games.

[ToraGirl 5,498]

You nailed it. Go back and read all of Coach Malzahn's comments regarding each hire. Character comes up every time. That is where it starts. But the great thing about Gus is his analytical ability combined with his quest for character. I loved Coach Chizik, the person, but I admire the intellect of CGM. Because of his familiarity to AU, some treat his hire with contempt. Because of some of his hires' familiarity with GUS, ditto. In that case, how about Coach Rocker? Oops, he's had experience with Gus, too!

When I first began my career, I was offended by the saying, "It's who you know that counts." I felt my resume stood alone. But given two resumes that are equal, as a boss, I'd probably hire the one with whom I had the most personal experience. Wouldn't you?

Regarding the criticism that "he only knows a few in the coaches' circles..."--who could even make that presumption? Who could possibly know what any of us is thinking to that degree? Most cannot begin to understand how very unique his offense is, nor how specialized each component must be in order to work as it should. Leashed along the way and especially in his final year at AU, that will no longer be the case now. I can't WAIT to see the difference!

Excited about the possibility of seeing Coach Tracy Rocker back. I was fortunate to share my own AU years with Bo Jackson and Coach Rocker (yeah, Charles Barkley, too). Those were some exciting times!

FWIW...Someone Else was ill-received in His "hometown" about two millenniums ago, also... :-\

I like it. New blood. Sounds like Gus is trying to put together a sound staff with great character. We need leaders of men not friends of players. These kids can feel cared about by their coaches without having to be their buddies. Now add Rocker and Garner and we are really talking!!

[WarTiger 4,014]

AUBritt, kinda funny the first time, less funny every other time. a fine line between funny, annoying and childish.

auburnphan, you strike me as generally fair minded, so I apologize if I annoyed you. I may well have crossed the line in response to what I take to be the complete lack of thought behind many of the negative posts that have run rampant across the boards in response to recent hires.

Sorry if I annoyed any other reasonable folks, too.

That was touching. I feel so verklepted now. :'(

Well, I'm sure there's a cream you can use for that. If not, perhaps a shot of penicillin will get rid of it.

[AUnCullman 601]

One of the better hires to me. Good job Gus.

[TIGGR82 4]

Might not be. Could be "second choice, solid hire." Maybe he was waiting for Hand to make up his mind. Or maybe there are more pieces to the puzzle. If you take a guy with the reputation of being a better teacher than recruiter in one spot, you need to perhaps grab a better recruiter in another slot. So waiting on this hire could have to do with knowing what you're getting in other spots.

All I can say is that when he was hired I was told that Malzahn's greatest weakness was the fact that he had very few contacts developed among the coaching circle and that he was overly loyal to his small circle of coaches that he knows. JB Grimes was specifically mentioned as a guy that Gus would look to bring when he should be setting the bar much higher. Auburn is giving him more than enough money to assemble a top-level SEC staff...for him to have been hired weeks ago and to name Grimes today confirms the realistic worry that I had about Malzahn. Grimes does absolutely nothing for me.

"Good" offensive line teaching is not what Gus Malzahn or Auburn University needs. It takes a very targeted and specific set of offensive line skills and a different level of conditioning to make his offense work well. There are not many offensive line coaches with the knowledge or experience to accomplish what is necessary. This is one hire that does have that knowledge and teaching experience. Arkansas State was ranked 16 nationally in sacks allowed last season while facing teams with similar talent levels. Nebraska managed three sacks against them with an overwhelming talent advantage and Oregon did not manage a single sack.

Oregon managed three tackles for loss against Arkansas State last season and Nebraska six. These were in games where Arkansas State was well overmanned. They did this starting a freshman center, sophomore, two juniors and one senior on their line. They rushed for 163 yards against Nebraska and 226 against Oregon. They used two quarterbacks against both Nebraska and Oregon and threw a total of two interceptions combined against them.

I have always thought that one mark of a great coach was how his players performed when overwhelmingly outgunned. This was the case for Arkansas State in those two games.

Solid post. Good facts/stats. Thank you.

[IronMan70 3,321]

AUBritt, kinda funny the first time, less funny every other time. a fine line between funny, annoying and childish.

auburnphan, you strike me as generally fair minded, so I apologize if I annoyed you. I may well have crossed the line in response to what I take to be the complete lack of thought behind many of the negative posts that have run rampant across the boards in response to recent hires.

Sorry if I annoyed any other reasonable folks, too.

That was touching. I feel so verklepted now. :'(

Well, I'm sure there's a cream you can use for that. If not, perhaps a shot of penicillin will get rid of it.

YIKES

[WarEagle10 77]

AUBritt, kinda funny the first time, less funny every other time. a fine line between funny, annoying and childish.

auburnphan, you strike me as generally fair minded, so I apologize if I annoyed you. I may well have crossed the line in response to what I take to be the complete lack of thought behind many of the negative posts that have run rampant across the boards in response to recent hires.

Sorry if I annoyed any other reasonable folks, too.

That was touching. I feel so verklepted now. :'(

Well, I'm sure there's a cream you can use for that. If not, perhaps a shot of penicillin will get rid of it.

Are you speaking from experience?

[metafour 4,978]

It takes a very targeted and specific set of offensive line skills and a different level of conditioning to make his offense work well. There are not many offensive line coaches with the knowledge or experience to accomplish what is necessary. This is one hire that does have that knowledge and teaching experience.

J.B. Grimes spent one year with Malzahn and prior to that had absolutely zero experience with any sort of uptempo offense. Lets not pretend like the OL coach in this scheme is being asked to re-invent the wheel and Grimes is the only guy in the country who knows how to do it, because clearly as with anything it can be adapted...otherwise how was Grimes able to pick it up in a whopping one season?

[Wareagletd 0]

It takes a very targeted and specific set of offensive line skills and a different level of conditioning to make his offense work well. There are not many offensive line coaches with the knowledge or experience to accomplish what is necessary. This is one hire that does have that knowledge and teaching experience.

J.B. Grimes spent one year with Malzahn and prior to that had absolutely zero experience with any sort of uptempo offense. Lets not pretend like the OL coach in this scheme is being asked to re-invent the wheel and Grimes is the only guy in the country who knows how to do it, because clearly as with anything it can be adapted...otherwise how was Grimes able to pick it up in a whopping one season?

Facts aren't needed.

[WarDamnAirForce 23]

It takes a very targeted and specific set of offensive line skills and a different level of conditioning to make his offense work well. There are not many offensive line coaches with the knowledge or experience to accomplish what is necessary. This is one hire that does have that knowledge and teaching experience.

J.B. Grimes spent one year with Malzahn and prior to that had absolutely zero experience with any sort of uptempo offense. Lets not pretend like the OL coach in this scheme is being asked to re-invent the wheel and Grimes is the only guy in the country who knows how to do it, because clearly as with anything it can be adapted...otherwise how was Grimes able to pick it up in a whopping one season?

I've been following the thread for a while now with, I admit, some amusement. Metafour, you're banging your head against a brick wall, man. I actually agree with ALOT of your points, and no, not every hire this offseason has thrilled me (Gus eh..., Johnson good, Harbison ok, etc.) but you are not going to convince people here that WANT to believe this is a good hire that it is (not saying it is or isn't). If there's one thing I've always noticed, forums like this and AE before it are good at extremes. Either EXTREME sunshine pumping, or EXTREME bashing and hating. Not to say there aren't rational people in the middle, they just aren't as LOUD.

In some defense to the sunshine pumpers...what do you expect them to do? From their perspective, let's be positive, find what gold nuggets we can, and hope for the best...because that is ALL we can do at this point. Not my style, and obviously not yours...but I won't bash them for it.

[alabamapaper 0]

It takes a very targeted and specific set of offensive line skills and a different level of conditioning to make his offense work well. There are not many offensive line coaches with the knowledge or experience to accomplish what is necessary. This is one hire that does have that knowledge and teaching experience.

J.B. Grimes spent one year with Malzahn and prior to that had absolutely zero experience with any sort of uptempo offense. Lets not pretend like the OL coach in this scheme is being asked to re-invent the wheel and Grimes is the only guy in the country who knows how to do it, because clearly as with anything it can be adapted...otherwise how was Grimes able to pick it up in a whopping one season?

While the tempo is part of the equation, it is only a small part. The basic concepts of Malzahn's offense use some very old school approaches from the single wing, wing T, as well as the more modern read option and others. The Tempo does add a degree to the necessary cardio fitness to function in his offense, but that is only the very basic beginning.

What Grimes has is a long career where he was successful in most of the root concepts behind Malzahn's offense at one time or another. These are the simple facts. Another fact is that there are very few offensive line coaches with that background and experience level. As for the tempo, it is simply the speed which the offense is operated. I suspect it is much easier to learn to deal with a higher tempo than it is to learn to coach a college lineman the basic skills and sets to block successfully in the Wing T, Single Wing, Read Option along with the other more conventional sets Malzahn uses from time to time. I would think actual experience would be more likely to succeed. I would also think that might be why Malzahn hired him at Arkansas State to begin with.

[leglessdan 1,934]

It takes a very targeted and specific set of offensive line skills and a different level of conditioning to make his offense work well. There are not many offensive line coaches with the knowledge or experience to accomplish what is necessary. This is one hire that does have that knowledge and teaching experience.

J.B. Grimes spent one year with Malzahn and prior to that had absolutely zero experience with any sort of uptempo offense. Lets not pretend like the OL coach in this scheme is being asked to re-invent the wheel and Grimes is the only guy in the country who knows how to do it, because clearly as with anything it can be adapted...otherwise how was Grimes able to pick it up in a whopping one season?

I've been following the thread for a while now with, I admit, some amusement. Metafour, you're banging your head against a brick wall, man. I actually agree with ALOT of your points, and no, not every hire this offseason has thrilled me (Gus eh..., Johnson good, Harbison ok, etc.) but you are not going to convince people here that WANT to believe this is a good hire that it is (not saying it is or isn't). If there's one thing I've always noticed, forums like this and AE before it are good at extremes. Either EXTREME sunshine pumping, or EXTREME bashing and hating. Not to say there aren't rational people in the middle, they just aren't as LOUD.

In some defense to the sunshine pumpers...what do you expect them to do? From their perspective, let's be positive, find what gold nuggets we can, and hope for the best...because that is ALL we can do at this point. Not my style, and obviously not yours...but I won't bash them for it.

I don't think its sunshine pumping at all in regards to ANY of these hires. I think its rational people not willing to bash and talk down about a situation when the team hasn't hit the field yet. When the season rolls around and we see the product on the field is when I think we will see what we have. Coaches move around. Coaches have more success at one place or another. Some coaches work better with other coaches. I think a lot of us "middle grounders" as you call us, see it just that way.

[AU-24 3,130]

It takes a very targeted and specific set of offensive line skills and a different level of conditioning to make his offense work well. There are not many offensive line coaches with the knowledge or experience to accomplish what is necessary. This is one hire that does have that knowledge and teaching experience.

J.B. Grimes spent one year with Malzahn and prior to that had absolutely zero experience with any sort of uptempo offense. Lets not pretend like the OL coach in this scheme is being asked to re-invent the wheel and Grimes is the only guy in the country who knows how to do it, because clearly as with anything it can be adapted...otherwise how was Grimes able to pick it up in a whopping one season?

How about Coach Rodney Garner? Will that be a good hire?

[Wareagletd 0]

Has anyone in the media confused him with Jeff Grimes?

[Skyler97 14]

Seems like a good hire. Just some stats, Ryan Aplin (Arkansas state's QB) attempted 376 passes and was only sacked 13 times. To make a comparison, AJ McCarron and Bama's "All star" offensive line attempted 286 passes and was sacked 22 times. Arky state also had a 1000 yard rusher that ran for 15 TD and a RB that averaged 9 yard per carry

[TigerTaz 109]

I don't care an iota who Gus wants to help coach HIS OFFENSE.. The Defensive hires are more what I'm interested in. If Garner is on board I LIKE.

[metafour 4,978]

Just some stats, Ryan Aplin (Arkansas state's QB) attempted 376 passes and was only sacked 13 times. To make a comparison, AJ McCarron and Bama's "All star" offensive line attempted 286 passes and was sacked 22 times.

These stats are meaningless because the very nature of hurry-up, spread based offenses is to get rid of the ball quickly. Pro-style offenses will always give up more sacks because they rely on the quarterback dropping back as well as the receivers running much longer developing routes.

[leglessdan 1,934]

Just some stats, Ryan Aplin (Arkansas state's QB) attempted 376 passes and was only sacked 13 times. To make a comparison, AJ McCarron and Bama's "All star" offensive line attempted 286 passes and was sacked 22 times.

These stats are meaningless because the very nature of hurry-up, spread based offenses is to get rid of the ball quickly. Pro-style offenses will always give up more sacks because they rely on the quarterback dropping back as well as the receivers running much longer developing routes.

Hmmm....well good damn thing Auburn DOESN'T run a Pro-style offense. SMH

[ValleyTiger 2,894]

Just some stats, Ryan Aplin (Arkansas state's QB) attempted 376 passes and was only sacked 13 times. To make a comparison, AJ McCarron and Bama's "All star" offensive line attempted 286 passes and was sacked 22 times.

These stats are meaningless because the very nature of hurry-up, spread based offenses is to get rid of the ball quickly. Pro-style offenses will always give up more sacks because they rely on the quarterback dropping back as well as the receivers running much longer developing routes.

Meta, you know durn good and well that Gus's offense spreads the field vertical more than most and utilizes a good number of double-move routes. But yeah you can't truly compare the sack numbers based on competition level. I hear those SEC D-Lineman are something else.

[Mikey 16,781]

I really like this hire. The guy is hard-nosed and tough. Somebody else can recruit. Hell, we've been killed by recruiters that can't coach. J.B. Grimes will be an important part of this coaching staff's success.

[BornaTiger 0]

Well, as with his previous hires another coach that really had no where to go- no other offers. I am not impressed with the hires thus far- I hope I am wrong.

So what he should have done is show how manly he is by targeting only guys that he had to steal away from other schools. Overlook one of the best, most experienced defensive coordinators around because he was already available. And didn't Harbison already have a job?

Good Lord at the ways people can turn lemonade into lemons around here. This is a trait of the Auburn fanbase I've come to loathe.

I'm guessing we're not worse than any other fan base. The internet lets us meet a lot of folks we'd never encounter face-to-face. Go to a game, you don't see/hear all this stuff.

Yeah right. Like most of you, I have sat all over the place in JHS and have tailgated with average folk and some with more money than the church. You see/hear all this stuff everywhere. Its not ALL you hear but you do hear it.