Fall Camp: Day 5 Observations (8/6)

[gr82b4au 5,574]

5 minutes ago, cole256 said:

promise you that we don't know, nobody does

I agree with this 100% but I am not sure going live again in a practice or scrimmage will change that. My understanding is that both of these boys have already been live in Multiple scrimmages in the spring. I think the coaches agree and have a general feeling of their talents ... however...

No matter how much they practice, The real question is: how will they respond under the lights in the biggest game to open the college football season on national television? When they are facing another team and in the whole world is watching, will they kick butt or crap their pants? Haha nobody knows 

just no more backwards passes please 

[AuMarine 1,382]

2 minutes ago, DAG said:

I can see JG having a stronger arm. I am curious on your thoughts about Nix being a better runner though 

Note that I said possibly. I haven’t seen Nix run except ADay and of course the runs were blown dead but he looks to have a quicker twitch or step than JG had but that could be a number of things.. I was shocked at Nix s quickness. JG looks to be the better athlete just not convinced yet that his running ability is what will get him the QB1 job. No one can question Either QBs athleticism.. they are both very good.. 

[DAG 34,724]

8 minutes ago, AuMarine said:

Note that I said possibly. I haven’t seen Nix run except ADay and of course the runs were blown dead but he looks to have a quicker twitch or step than JG had but that could be a number of things.. I was shocked at Nix s quickness. JG looks to be the better athlete just not convinced yet that his running ability is what will get him the QB1 job. No one can question Either QBs athleticism.. they are both very good.. 

Yeah Nix looked very slippery in some parts of A day. I will mention that both QBs did look shaky against the first team defense but they also had limited time out there with them. I would hope more 1s vs 1s were done in the live settings during closed practices. 

[AuCivilEng1 12,082]

6 minutes ago, DAG said:

Yeah Nix looked very slippery in some parts of A day. I will mention that both QBs did look shaky against the first team defense but they also had limited time out there with them. I would hope more 1s vs 1s were done in the live settings during closed practices. 

I’m hoping that has more to do with our first team defense being amazing.

[WFE12 9,350]

3 hours ago, WarEagle1983 said:

This statement scares me though. I'd be happy with either as a starter. However, i will be fuming if we're playing musical QB chairs. Pick the starter and let him go until the back is absolutely needed. I don't want to see the backup subbed in or QB taking turns running series. It simply doesn't help the development of the QB and it often kills any momentum the offense has. I'm all for it if it's a blowout game and the backup is getting mop-up duty. That's my hope in which we do see Nix if he's the backup.

Exactly...Who around here trusts Gus to handle playing both in the opener? Play one in that game, then play both In the next two.

[AuMarine 1,382]

7 minutes ago, DAG said:

Yeah Nix looked very slippery in some parts of A day. I will mention that both QBs did look shaky against the first team defense but they also had limited time out there with them. I would hope more 1s vs 1s were done in the live settings during closed practices. 

Definitely agree and I hope that both guys got (are getting) many reps against our 1 d. 

I believe JG will be the guy and I hope he is.. he has a year in the system and has stepped up to be a leader. I just do not want him handcuffed.. hopefully CGM will trust him and let him run the offense knowing that he will make mistakes and hopefully learn from those mistakes and make himself better. That is what I am hoping for. 

[aujeff11 6,243]

9 hours ago, AuMarine said:

Definitely agree and I hope that both guys got (are getting) many reps against our 1 d. 

I believe JG will be the guy and I hope he is.. he has a year in the system and has stepped up to be a leader. I just do not want him handcuffed.. hopefully CGM will trust him and let him run the offense knowing that he will make mistakes and hopefully learn from those mistakes and make himself better. That is what I am hoping for. 

The more I hear we have been focusing on red zone offense makes me think Nix is going to be the guy. Gus is making sure there are tighter passing windows and that’s what Nix is probably better at.

Anybody agree?

[bigbird 60,939]

1 hour ago, aujeff11 said:

The more I hear we have been focusing on red zone offense makes me think Nix is going to be the guy. Gus is making sure there are tighter passing windows and that’s what Nix is probably better at.

Anybody agree?

Interesting, where are you hearing about the RZ and windows?

 

[aujeff11 6,243]

1 minute ago, bigbird said:

Interesting, where are you hearing about the RZ and windows?

 

247 on the RZ. I’m assuming he’s wanting tighter windows because if you can throw in the RZ you can throw anywhere. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

11 hours ago, BigWhiskey91 said:

I’ll need to go pull the numbers, but most of the categories regarding efficiency, he saw increases. Gotta remember Sammie Coates was battling injuries most of the season and Duke got hurt against A&M or La Tech, can’t recall. And then in the bowl game, both were out (Sammie played but pulled himself out early on). This was also an offense that had to replace Tre, Greg Robinson and Jay Prosch. 

Just for fun, 1st pic is 2013 and 2nd pic is 2014. We got 5 of our top 6 pass catchers back, plus added 1 more catch at Tre's spot- btw, CAP would've had more yards and carries than Tre with the benefit of an SECCG against a super soft Mizzoo D- plus added 45 catches from Duke. Sammie, with his injuries in 2014, still only had 8 fewer catches and his average per went up just a little. Credit does go to Nick (and Gus), but again, we're talking about a well-oiled machine in 2014 whereas Gus didn't even really install his offense in 2013 until halftime of the LSU game. The only piece we didn't really replace was Prosch (CAP only gave up .4 yards a carry to Tre and Coleman was a fine replacement for GRob), which was a big deal, but I am of the opinion that returning so much else plus adding some pieces more than compensated for that. 

 

 

[McLoofus 35,182]

13 hours ago, cole256 said:

Maybe discredit isn't the best word but I'm not a wordsmith, what I'm trying to express you hear people talk about him saying he couldn't throw or he wasn't a true QB than how he destroyed most teams he played against with his arm......And he won ALOT of games so I feel like if you speak on his negatives more often than not then you literally have to move the positives out of the way just to find them, if that makes sense but I probably just made it more murky lol

But I will say I feel they screwed him by not letting him go work out with that QB trainer....that would've been his one shot for anybody to let him try and really see if he could improve with coaching or not

I actually need to walk it back and take an L on this. I can't really say Nick didn't improve without it being insulting to him, and I can't say that Nick improved without giving Gus some credit. I still have other thoughts but there's no point in articulating them even if I could do it properly. 

Totally agreed about the QB trainer and that seems to be one of the ways in which Gus has evolved for the better. 

[BigWhiskey91 632]

7 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Just for fun, 1st pic is 2013 and 2nd pic is 2014. We got 5 of our top 6 pass catchers back, plus added 1 more catch at Tre's spot- btw, CAP would've had more yards and carries than Tre with the benefit of an SECCG against a super soft Mizzoo D- plus added 45 catches from Duke. Sammie, with his injuries in 2014, still only had 8 fewer catches and his average per went up just a little. Credit does go to Nick (and Gus), but again, we're talking about a well-oiled machine in 2014 whereas Gus didn't even really install his offense in 2013 until halftime of the LSU game. The only piece we didn't really replace was Prosch (CAP only gave up .4 yards a carry to Tre and Coleman was a fine replacement for GRob), which was a big deal, but I am of the opinion that returning so much else plus adding some pieces more than compensated for that. 

 

 

Right, my comments regarding Sammie’s injuries were that he would’ve had more targets and more yardage overall. The health of our primary receivers impacted Marshall’s overall numbers. 

Regarding the rushing numbers, the offense lost over 1000yds of productions and the overall ypc dropped by nearly a yard (6.5 to 5.6). Still a potent rushing attack, but that was production lost that had to be accounted for through the air. We lost Koran as well as GRob on the OL which caused issues at times. Coleman did well for sure. The 2014 offense was more dynamic so I am not going to pick it apart. I’m just saying that should the folks who could’ve returned did so and if Coates stayed healthy, Marshall would’ve had better overall numbers for 2014.

[BigWhiskey91 632]

15 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

I actually need to walk it back and take an L on this. I can't really say Nick didn't improve without it being insulting to him, and I can't say that Nick improved without giving Gus some credit. I still have other thoughts but there's no point in articulating them even if I could do it properly. 

Totally agreed about the QB trainer and that seems to be one of the ways in which Gus has evolved for the better. 

Another good QB example to look at is Ryan Aplin at Arkansas State. In 2011 he was coached by Hugh Freeze (who gets lots of praise for his passing offense and QB development). In 2011 Aplin was 304/476 (63.9%) for 3588yds with 19 TDs and 16 INTs.

Under Gus in 2012, Aplin went 276/406 for 3342yds (68%) with 24Tds and just 4 INTs. 

From what I’ve seen historically, most of Malzahns adjustments with QBs are to address efficiency in both yardage and Turnover ratio, from what I’ve seen the stats tend to show he favors turnover ratio over yardage ratios. Kinda interesting to look at.

[ellitor 33,750]

1 hour ago, aujeff11 said:

247 on the RZ. I’m assuming he’s wanting tighter windows because if you can throw in the RZ you can throw anywhere. 

Was on twitter also.

And there is this as well...

 

[bigbird 60,939]

2 minutes ago, ellitor said:

Was on twitter also.

Could you post?

[bigbird 60,939]

15 minutes ago, BigWhiskey91 said:

Another good QB example to look at is Ryan Aplin at Arkansas State. In 2011 he was coached by Hugh Freeze (who gets lots of praise for his passing offense and QB development). In 2011 Aplin was 304/476 (63.9%) for 3588yds with 19 TDs and 16 INTs.

Under Gus in 2012, Aplin went 276/406 for 3342yds (68%) with 24Tds and just 4 INTs. 

From what I’ve seen historically, most of Malzahns adjustments with QBs are to address efficiency in both yardage and Turnover ratio, from what I’ve seen the stats tend to show he favors turnover ratio over yardage ratios. Kinda interesting to look at.

What was the YPCavg in those years with aplin?

[BigWhiskey91 632]

2 minutes ago, bigbird said:

What was the YPCavg in those years with aplin?

Good call, let me check. I’ll edit this post shortly. I want to look at the Tulsa numbers from 2006-2008 too but I already know those are gonna be silly video game numbers.

 

EDIT: 2011 Ark State avg 39.7 rushes per game for 154.2yds per game (3.9ypc)

2012 avg 41.5 att per game for 206.2yds per game (5.0).

[WalkingCarpet 1,379]

1 hour ago, aujeff11 said:

247 on the RZ. I’m assuming he’s wanting tighter windows because if you can throw in the RZ you can throw anywhere. 

I would love for us to throw more in the red zone. Even when Gus was the OC we were tight with the playcalling because we're afraid of turning it over. Maybe this is the year the fabled "slant route" returns to the offense. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

18 minutes ago, BigWhiskey91 said:

From what I’ve seen historically, most of Malzahns adjustments with QBs are to address efficiency in both yardage and Turnover ratio, from what I’ve seen the stats tend to show he favors turnover ratio over yardage ratios. Kinda interesting to look at.

Unfortunately, the paranoia over turnovers seems to limit what he's willing to do through the air. I'm glad that he didn't compromise Aplin statistically but he has hindered his QBs at Auburn with this mentality. The 2015 experience might've influenced that, too. 

 

[BigWhiskey91 632]

2 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Unfortunately, the paranoia over turnovers seems to limit what he's willing to do through the air. I'm glad that he didn't compromise Aplin statistically but he has hindered his QBs at Auburn with this mentality. The 2015 experience might've influenced that, too. 

 

Yup this is why when we struggle to run the ball, we have to score on big plays or it’ll be tough all game. Look at the Purdue game. We never really established the run but since we were hitting our explosive pass plays it allowed us to blow the game wide open. I don’t think we even had 100yds rushing at halftime. I’ll have to go back and check the play by play.

[bigbird 60,939]

10 minutes ago, BigWhiskey91 said:

Good call, let me check. I’ll edit this post shortly. I want to look at the Tulsa numbers from 2006-2008 too but I already know those are gonna be silly video game numbers.

 

EDIT: 2011 Ark State avg 39.7 rushes per game for 154.2yds per game (3.9ypc)

2012 avg 41.5 att per game for 206.2yds per game (5.0).

What was the YPR

[BigWhiskey91 632]

3 minutes ago, bigbird said:

What was the YPR

YPR as in yards per rush? That’s what I posted above as YPC (yards per carry). My bad

EDIT- if you’re asking about Aplins rushing numbers...

2011 - 161 carries for 588yds (3.7ypc) 10 TDs was also the leading rusher 👀

2012 - 104 carries for 438yds (4.2ypc) 6Tds, second leading rusher behind David Oku (1061yds)

[aujeff11 6,243]

25 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Could you post?

Sure can 

https://www.oanow.com/sports/college/auburn/football/auburn-football-turns-attention-to-red-zone-on-first-day/article_f2df06d4-b8d1-11e9-8a63-9fee816590f0.amp.html?__twitter_impression=true

[ellitor 33,750]

29 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Could you post?

Added the tweet to my post.

[McLoofus 35,182]

That reads like the 2006 Florida setup except with a true freshman in the Leak position.