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https://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2018...iver_index

I knew our defense was special, but after reading those statistics and rankings, WOW. I hope we don't have too much of a drop off next year.

Drop off will be big next year. Just losing too many key players. We have some talented young guys we've recruited, but they will need time and experience to get up to speed.

The drop-off next year will not be nearly as bad as people think. Last year, people were saying there would be a drop off, because we were losing Shaq, Crews and Darius Williams. A lot will depend on if Marino comes back for his SR year, and what kind of JUCO DL we snag.

We are currently tied for the 7th longest winning streak in the country and also tied for the 7th longest home winning streak in the country. The home winning streak breakdown is:

Alabama (23), Clemson (12), Washington (12), UCF (11), Washington St (11), Ohio St (11), Notre Dame (10), UAB (10), Army (10), Georgia (10). Pretty good company!

(10-29-2018 02:30 PM)Bham Blazer Wrote:  The drop-off next year will not be nearly as bad as people think. Last year, people were saying there would be a drop off, because we were losing Shaq, Crews and Darius Williams. A lot will depend on if Marino comes back for his SR year, and what kind of JUCO DL we snag.

We lose a lot of talent in the secondary and at LB, but we have a a good shot at the next man up making those spots their own. But we dont have another 6-5 350 pound NT on the roster. We dont have another edge rusher with the size and athleticism of Garcia-Williams & Keely on the roster.


On offense, take away the skill position losses and lets jsut assume all of that is replaceable, I dont think it is, but for the sake of argument lets pretend.
We lose 4 of 5 offensive linemen who have played together for the better part of two years now. I don't care how talented the backups are, you can only replace that game time of playing together as a unit with more game time. You need the experience of blocking as a unit to gel.

I think we will be much better the second half of next season then the first half of next season. I also think that teams in CUSA who are lucky enough to have 3 SEC calibre defensive linemen on their team at the same time, just dont reload with the same when they graduate and our defense will fall back to CUSA level as a result.

(10-29-2018 04:05 PM)BlazerMatt Wrote:  

(10-29-2018 02:30 PM)Bham Blazer Wrote:  The drop-off next year will not be nearly as bad as people think. Last year, people were saying there would be a drop off, because we were losing Shaq, Crews and Darius Williams. A lot will depend on if Marino comes back for his SR year, and what kind of JUCO DL we snag.

We lose a lot of talent in the secondary and at LB, but we have a a good shot at the next man up making those spots their own. But we dont have another 6-5 350 pound NT on the roster. We don't have another edge rusher with the size and athleticism of Garcia-Williams & Keely on the roster.


On offense, take away the skill position losses and lets jsut assume all of that is replaceable, I dont think it is, but for the sake of argument lets pretend.
We lose 4 of 5 offensive linemen who have played together for the better part of two years now. I don't care how talented the backups are, you can only replace that game time of playing together as a unit with more game time. You need the experience of blocking as a unit to gel.

I think we will be much better the second half of next season then the first half of next season. I also think that teams in CUSA who are lucky enough to have 3 SEC calibre defensive linemen on their team at the same time, just dont reload with the same when they graduate and our defense will fall back to CUSA level as a result.

Fish McWilliams came in at 322. Of course, he is 6'0" instead of 6'5". I worry about the OL more than anything. They seldom play the 2nd teamers........hopefully, they will gel together well. I wish we had Garcia-Williams for 1 more year!

Number 98 is 6'3 350

(10-29-2018 04:05 PM)BlazerMatt Wrote:  

(10-29-2018 02:30 PM)Bham Blazer Wrote:  The drop-off next year will not be nearly as bad as people think. Last year, people were saying there would be a drop off, because we were losing Shaq, Crews and Darius Williams. A lot will depend on if Marino comes back for his SR year, and what kind of JUCO DL we snag.

We lose a lot of talent in the secondary and at LB, but we have a a good shot at the next man up making those spots their own. But we dont have another 6-5 350 pound NT on the roster. We dont have another edge rusher with the size and athleticism of Garcia-Williams & Keely on the roster.


On offense, take away the skill position losses and lets jsut assume all of that is replaceable, I dont think it is, but for the sake of argument lets pretend.
We lose 4 of 5 offensive linemen who have played together for the better part of two years now. I don't care how talented the backups are, you can only replace that game time of playing together as a unit with more game time. You need the experience of blocking as a unit to gel.

I think we will be much better the second half of next season then the first half of next season. I also think that teams in CUSA who are lucky enough to have 3 SEC calibre defensive linemen on their team at the same time, just dont reload with the same when they graduate and our defense will fall back to CUSA level as a result.

A case study of what can happen to a C-USA level team from one year to the next is provided by FAU from 2017 conference champion to 2018 fighting to finish at .500 and be minimally bowl eligible. Those coaches did not suddenly forget how to coach, but replacing your best players is not as easily done at G5 level programs.

I recall FBHC Callaway ran off a number of players before his first season at UAB only to find that he could not replace them as quickly or easily as he was used to doing at UGA. UAB opened his first season with only 60 scholarship players and it was 2 or 3 seasons to get back to nearly 85. It isn't easy being G5.

FBHC Clark has been blessed with greater financial backing and the first new facilities after almost 30 seasons to help him recruit better players. He also appears to be a superior judge of coaching and player talent. That is the basis of our hopes for 2019.

2019 has the makings of a 7 win season unless:

1) the passing game with johnston at qb is remarkably better than this year w Erdely. Could happen.
2) we are hiding substantial wr talent somewhere on the roster or we sign 2 major juco wrs.
3) we sign at least 2 juco olinemen that are more talented than this years oline to go with dufour, fecanin and the big juco tackle from last years class.
4) we sign 2 hostile edge rushers who can immediately step in, probably jucos.
5) we may need one solid juco safety who can start the season but we will have an abundance of young talent in the secondary.
6) johnston finds his way at LB and Rayam proves to be a stud LB as a soph.

Thats too many jucos so i have to think clark believes he has the needed talent at most of the spots listed above.

(10-30-2018 12:56 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  

(10-29-2018 04:05 PM)BlazerMatt Wrote:  

(10-29-2018 02:30 PM)Bham Blazer Wrote:  The drop-off next year will not be nearly as bad as people think. Last year, people were saying there would be a drop off, because we were losing Shaq, Crews and Darius Williams. A lot will depend on if Marino comes back for his SR year, and what kind of JUCO DL we snag.

We lose a lot of talent in the secondary and at LB, but we have a a good shot at the next man up making those spots their own. But we dont have another 6-5 350 pound NT on the roster. We dont have another edge rusher with the size and athleticism of Garcia-Williams & Keely on the roster.


On offense, take away the skill position losses and lets jsut assume all of that is replaceable, I dont think it is, but for the sake of argument lets pretend.
We lose 4 of 5 offensive linemen who have played together for the better part of two years now. I don't care how talented the backups are, you can only replace that game time of playing together as a unit with more game time. You need the experience of blocking as a unit to gel.

I think we will be much better the second half of next season then the first half of next season. I also think that teams in CUSA who are lucky enough to have 3 SEC calibre defensive linemen on their team at the same time, just dont reload with the same when they graduate and our defense will fall back to CUSA level as a result.

A case study of what can happen to a C-USA level team from one year to the next is provided by FAU from 2017 conference champion to 2018 fighting to finish at .500 and be minimally bowl eligible. Those coaches did not suddenly forget how to coach, but replacing your best players is not as easily done at G5 level programs.

I recall FBHC Callaway ran off a number of players before his first season at UAB only to find that he could not replace them as quickly or easily as he was used to doing at UGA. UAB opened his first season with only 60 scholarship players and it was 2 or 3 seasons to get back to nearly 85. It isn't easy being G5.

FBHC Clark has been blessed with greater financial backing and the first new facilities after almost 30 seasons to help him recruit better players. He also appears to be a superior judge of coaching and player talent. That is the basis of our hopes for 2019.

Hot Take: Lane Kiffin isn't actually a good coach. There's still gobs of talent on that team. Kiffin couldn't overcome the losses of Kendall Briles as OC and key people on the defensive staff. I'm pretty confident that Clark is much more competent in his prepping for future teams.

We also had our recruiting restrictions lifted which changed the talent pool we could chose from from a tea spoon to a swimming pool.