Tell me what year Bama had a better starting three receivers?

BAMAfan777 said:

Let's re-visit this at the end of the year, but can you think of when Bama has ever had a better starting three Wide Receivers than A. Stewart, Robert Foster, and C Ridley?

Throw in the two talented pass receiving Tight Ends, and Drake coming out of the backfield, slot, and split out, I am almost certain that this is the best Bama has ever had in terms of passing targets.

Rolllllll Tide !!!!!!!!!!

Click to expand...

Uh, I'd say last year with coop, white, and jones.

Last year. Amari alone made that receiving corp better, even though White was no slouch. In addition, Yeldon and Nudie out of the backfield were good.

Beyond that, 2010 with Julio, Maze, and Hanks. Then 2012 with Amari, Norwood, and Jones. And probably every other year of the Saban era other than 2007.

I love the enthusiasm and optimism, but this is probably the most unproven group of wide receivers I can remember. They may turn out to be good, but at this point it's almost all potential and no proof.

Most talented? Maybe. Best? No, let's see these guys play first before we crown them. Top to bottom, it's probably the deepest it's been since Saban got here, but hard to beat the 2013 group of Cooper, White, and Norwood.

bradley30 said:

Uh, I'd say last year with coop.

Click to expand...

Fify

BAMAfan777 said:

I'd agree, but Jones seemed to disappear at times, and White had some really nice plays but less consistent than one would like.

This year I think we'll see three starters that will perform better than our #2 and #3 WRs last year.....Coop was in his own stratosphere, but one of our starters will be the next great in the sec.

Click to expand...

Jones regressed as he got older. White had a lot of injury issues, and everything last year was geared to Cooper.

BAMAfan777 said:

Let's re-visit this at the end of the year, but can you think of when Bama has ever had a better starting three Wide Receivers than A. Stewart, Robert Foster, and C Ridley?

Throw in the two talented pass receiving Tight Ends, and Drake coming out of the backfield, slot, and split out, I am almost certain that this is the best Bama has ever had in terms of passing targets.

Rolllllll Tide !!!!!!!!!!

Click to expand...

I'm hearing mullaney is our number 2 or 3 this year

Based on talent alone - who knows. This years kids are totally unproven. But it is hard to imagine a team with more clutch receivers than your 2012 team. A great combination of experience and pure talent. They didn't get to show you much because of the strength of your offensive line and running game, but under Kiffin the kids on that offense could have put up epic numbers.

BAMAfan777 said:

Let's re-visit this at the end of the year, but can you think of when Bama has ever had a better starting three Wide Receivers than A. Stewart, Robert Foster, and C Ridley?

Throw in the two talented pass receiving Tight Ends, and Drake coming out of the backfield, slot, and split out, I am almost certain that this is the best Bama has ever had in terms of passing targets.

Rolllllll Tide !!!!!!!!!!

Click to expand...

Where have these "two talented pass receiving TEs" been hiding? :wink:

On-field evidence of their existence has been scant.

They haven't done anything yet, it very well may be someone we don't know that much about &?someone has to be back there to get them the ball.

We may run the ball I just don't know, but like many have said last years Group was one of the Best ever, gonna be real hard to top Coop but I said the same about Julio.

Just my opinion of course but I think as a group this one has more over all talent then any group ever at Bama. We have playmakers. If Ridley lives up to expectations than we will be mentioning his name along with Cooper and Jones by the end of the year or certainly by next season.

This WR unit is definitely better overall than the 2007, 2008, and 2011 seasons. 2010 was really good because Julio was pretty healthy that season and Maze+Hanks were solid counters to the defense shifting towards Julio. 2012-2014 are still probably the three best WR units in terms of all-around talent.

2012 - Probably the gold standard of balanced production. The staff did a good job of getting all the guys involved.

2014 - The other guys kinda got underutilized compared to Cooper but White was big in the most important games.

2013 - A revolving door of injuries held this unit back but it was still a very nice group...mostly the same group from 2012, production was just disjointed.

2010

2009

2008

2011

2007

bama579 said:

Where have these "two talented pass receiving TEs" been hiding? :wink:

On-field evidence of their existence has been scant.

Click to expand...

2009 and 2011 are probably the best years for TE production. Peek's production kinda declined a bit after a promising start due to getting dinged up. We really didn't start exploiting Smelley enough until after the LSU loss in 2011. The staff self-scouted and realized that deficiency...paid off huge in the BCSCG where those dump offs to the TEs early got LSU a bit off-balance.

BAMAfan777 said:

Let's re-visit this at the end of the year, but can you think of when Bama has ever had a better starting three Wide Receivers than A. Stewart, Robert Foster, and C Ridley?

Throw in the two talented pass receiving Tight Ends, and Drake coming out of the backfield, slot, and split out, I am almost certain that this is the best Bama has ever had in terms of passing targets.

Rolllllll Tide !!!!!!!!!!

Click to expand...

i think the guys we have this year can be just as effective as cooper, white, and jones. Jones was non-factor, so anybody they put in there is going to be an upgrade, whether is Mullaney or Ridley. White was good but would just disappear for games at a time. I think Foster will end up being an upgrade, he is not quite as fast but is bigger and more physical while still being a deep threat burner. Stewart is obviously no Cooper, but he does have the attributes to be an elite receiver. he has good size and is just as fast and athletic as cooper. What set cooper apart was his unmatched technique, and this is where stewart is behind him. We will have to spread it around more this year, but i think whichever qb we end up with is going to be more comfortable doing that anyway, more of a natural pocket qb than sims was.

Jones was a non-factor in 2014. Maintain he was fairly pointless on the field last year and should have been replaced by Chris Black or Ardarius Stewart earlier in the year. Kiffin made the comment during Media Day that Ardarius was becoming the #3 guy last year until he got injured (around the MSU game IIRC). That statement indicates that the coaches even began to realize it. So when judging the top 3 WRs per season, Jones as the #3 for the 2014 team isn't a good sign.

Still wish we had gotten to see a healthy DeAndrew White for three or four years.

Earlier on Chris Black got a lot of love. Now I know he's been hurt some, but seems he's dropped off the radar. If Coker becomes the QB, Black will get a lot thrown his way as he likes to throw to him just like Sims did to Cooper.

1966, Ray Perkins and Dennis Holman, not three of them, but didn't need three, still the best team that ever ran into Denny Stadium.
Edit: unless you want to count Jerry Duncan as a tackle eligible.:cool2:

Mke4Bama said:

1966, Ray Perkins and Dennis Holman, not three of them, but didn't need three, still the best team that ever ran into Denny Stadium.
Edit: unless you want to count Jerry Duncan as a tackle eligible.:cool2:

Click to expand...

Great(old) minds think alike. Perkins and Homan. Hard to beat. How bout Don Hutson and Bear Bryant?

bradley30 said:

Uh, I'd say last year with coop, white, and jones.

Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking since Stewart and Foster were behind those guys. However, we can revisit this again at the end of the year and may have a different stance. Right now, though, none of those guys have proven much.

Mke4Bama said:

1966, Ray Perkins and Dennis Holman, not three of them, but didn't need three, still the best team that ever ran into Denny Stadium.
Edit: unless you want to count Jerry Duncan as a tackle eligible.:cool2:

Click to expand...

Bingo......We have a winner. By the way, Donnie Sutton was an outstanding backup on that team.