Hi Bama fans!
First, let me start by saying I come in peace (and thank you mods for letting me post). As a college football fan, I’m a Bama fan in that I respect how Bama goes about its business. Also, Saban is a Don James disciple, so he’s part of the “extended family” to speak. I’m a regular poster on UDUB’s main forum (Dawgman.com) with over 10,000 posts. I’ve travelled with the team for 20+ years to away games, e.g., LSU, Notre Dame, Michigan, Oklahoma, etc. I plan on being in Atlanta and looking forward to it.
Also, I’ll admit that Bama beats us 9/10 (which jives with the line as, 15% of 2 TD dogs generally win a game). I have no illusions, you guys are better than us. I’m just hoping we have our A game and pull one out, but I’m realistic.
The purpose of this post is to give you a flavor of our team. So the highlights:
- We have an amazing defensive backfield, with 4 NFL players. Jones is our top CB, and he’s a 1st round pick in many NFL draft mocks. He’s Marcus Peters (a recent ex-Dawg) 2.0, and we all know how Peters is doing in the NFL. Budda Baker is our Earl Thomas like safety, and he won’t fall lower than the 2nd round. He’s a 4 star recruit and Thorpe semi-finalist. Also a mid-season all American too many (http://www.si.com/college-football/2016/10/18/2016-midseason-all-america-team) King, our other CB, is going in the first three rounds in the draft (been mocked in all three). Taylor Rapp is a true frosh. He was Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the year and the MVP of the Pac-12 Championship game. All four of our DBs will play on Sundays, and it is the strongest part of our team.
- Our defensive line is stout. About a month ago Mel Kiper listed Qualls as the #12 prospect in the draft. Gaines and Vita might be even better than Qualls, and they are NFL players. They have good size and athleticism. We were able to get pressure on every opponent without blitzing (except against USC, we started to blitz in the second half, but it was too late).
- We’re thin at LB, and Howard, your stud TE can exploit it. We lost our best pass rusher (Mathis). He was a mid-season all American before he got hurt (http://www.foxsports.com/college-fo...dmans-2016-midseason-all-american-team-102016). Our All-Pac-12 LB (Victor Azeem) is out as well.
- On the offensive side of the ball, our best player is obviously John Ross, who IMHO should be the 1st WR taken in the draft. He’s better than Desean Jackson when he was at Cal. He put up 150 yards against Adoree Jackson at USC (one of the top corners in football), and he also broke Jackson’s ankles on a long TD (http://www.sbnation.com/college-foo.../john-ross-usc-touchdown-adoree-jackson-video). He’s the fastest guy on the team (reportedly ran a 4.2). To get a sense of how good he is, look at his amazing one handed catch in the Pac-12 title game, or his Randy Moss like moves against Cal earlier in the year. He runs great routes, and not many corners can keep up with him. His hand are off and on. Pettis is a Jermaine Kearse (former Husky with the Seahawks). Great hands and route runniner.
- At RB we have two NFL caliber players. Coleman, the back-up, as highly rated out of Cali but battled injuries. He’s probably gonna go pro this year (despite not starting), as he has that type of ability (Dwayne Washington, our back-up last year, made the Detroit Lions roster and contributes). Coleman ran for 100 yards against Colorado (as did our starter). Gaskin, our #1 RB is a two time 1000 yard rusher (he’s a soph). We have an excellent RB corp.
- Browning is a stud, but he does have shortcomings. He was a 5 star out of Cali and threw for like 90+ TDs as a senior. He’s thrown 40 TDs this year. HE was “off” in the Pac-12 title game, and easily the worst game he's ever had. He doesn’t have a strong arm (like Kellen Moore, a former CP QB at Boise), and he has suffered from a tired arm before. Despite his bad game against Colorado, we destroyed them, but he’ll need to be on top of his game if we are going to be competitive. He’s the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the year. Browning probably isn't a NFL starting QB (not enough arm strenght or size), but he's perfect for our system.
- Our O-line is above average, let by Trey Adams, who will play on Sundays. Big advantage for Bama here.
So that’s our team in a nutshell. Sporting news said Bama, Ohio State, and Washington have the most NFL players starting. We have at least 10 NFL players starting, with Jones and Ross as almost certain first rounders. To put it in perspective, other than Butt at TE, Michigan’s starting WR and RBs wouldn’t even start for Washington. Michigan fans like to think they are our equal, but they were trailing to Colorado in the 3rd quarter at home, whereas we destroyed Colorado on a neutral field.
I’m hoping for a good game, but you likely have way too many horses. On the positive side, our strength (passing) matches up well with your defensive backfield. The problem of course is you will probably be able to get after Browning, and though he is decent on the run, he’s isn’t Johnny Manziel. We’re gonna try to keep Hurts in the pocket (easier said than done) and see if he can beat our secondary. We’ll probably use some play action and screens, and throw the occasional bomb to Ross with a trick play here and there (CP is our coach and he loves that stuff).
See everyone in Atlanta and hope this was helpful.
First, let me start by saying I come in peace (and thank you mods for letting me post). As a college football fan, I’m a Bama fan in that I respect how Bama goes about its business. Also, Saban is a Don James disciple, so he’s part of the “extended family” to speak. I’m a regular poster on UDUB’s main forum (Dawgman.com) with over 10,000 posts. I’ve travelled with the team for 20+ years to away games, e.g., LSU, Notre Dame, Michigan, Oklahoma, etc. I plan on being in Atlanta and looking forward to it.
Also, I’ll admit that Bama beats us 9/10 (which jives with the line as, 15% of 2 TD dogs generally win a game). I have no illusions, you guys are better than us. I’m just hoping we have our A game and pull one out, but I’m realistic.
The purpose of this post is to give you a flavor of our team. So the highlights:
- We have an amazing defensive backfield, with 4 NFL players. Jones is our top CB, and he’s a 1st round pick in many NFL draft mocks. He’s Marcus Peters (a recent ex-Dawg) 2.0, and we all know how Peters is doing in the NFL. Budda Baker is our Earl Thomas like safety, and he won’t fall lower than the 2nd round. He’s a 4 star recruit and Thorpe semi-finalist. Also a mid-season all American too many (http://www.si.com/college-football/2016/10/18/2016-midseason-all-america-team) King, our other CB, is going in the first three rounds in the draft (been mocked in all three). Taylor Rapp is a true frosh. He was Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the year and the MVP of the Pac-12 Championship game. All four of our DBs will play on Sundays, and it is the strongest part of our team.
- Our defensive line is stout. About a month ago Mel Kiper listed Qualls as the #12 prospect in the draft. Gaines and Vita might be even better than Qualls, and they are NFL players. They have good size and athleticism. We were able to get pressure on every opponent without blitzing (except against USC, we started to blitz in the second half, but it was too late).
- We’re thin at LB, and Howard, your stud TE can exploit it. We lost our best pass rusher (Mathis). He was a mid-season all American before he got hurt (http://www.foxsports.com/college-fo...dmans-2016-midseason-all-american-team-102016). Our All-Pac-12 LB (Victor Azeem) is out as well.
- On the offensive side of the ball, our best player is obviously John Ross, who IMHO should be the 1st WR taken in the draft. He’s better than Desean Jackson when he was at Cal. He put up 150 yards against Adoree Jackson at USC (one of the top corners in football), and he also broke Jackson’s ankles on a long TD (http://www.sbnation.com/college-foo.../john-ross-usc-touchdown-adoree-jackson-video). He’s the fastest guy on the team (reportedly ran a 4.2). To get a sense of how good he is, look at his amazing one handed catch in the Pac-12 title game, or his Randy Moss like moves against Cal earlier in the year. He runs great routes, and not many corners can keep up with him. His hand are off and on. Pettis is a Jermaine Kearse (former Husky with the Seahawks). Great hands and route runniner.
- At RB we have two NFL caliber players. Coleman, the back-up, as highly rated out of Cali but battled injuries. He’s probably gonna go pro this year (despite not starting), as he has that type of ability (Dwayne Washington, our back-up last year, made the Detroit Lions roster and contributes). Coleman ran for 100 yards against Colorado (as did our starter). Gaskin, our #1 RB is a two time 1000 yard rusher (he’s a soph). We have an excellent RB corp.
- Browning is a stud, but he does have shortcomings. He was a 5 star out of Cali and threw for like 90+ TDs as a senior. He’s thrown 40 TDs this year. HE was “off” in the Pac-12 title game, and easily the worst game he's ever had. He doesn’t have a strong arm (like Kellen Moore, a former CP QB at Boise), and he has suffered from a tired arm before. Despite his bad game against Colorado, we destroyed them, but he’ll need to be on top of his game if we are going to be competitive. He’s the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the year. Browning probably isn't a NFL starting QB (not enough arm strenght or size), but he's perfect for our system.
- Our O-line is above average, let by Trey Adams, who will play on Sundays. Big advantage for Bama here.
So that’s our team in a nutshell. Sporting news said Bama, Ohio State, and Washington have the most NFL players starting. We have at least 10 NFL players starting, with Jones and Ross as almost certain first rounders. To put it in perspective, other than Butt at TE, Michigan’s starting WR and RBs wouldn’t even start for Washington. Michigan fans like to think they are our equal, but they were trailing to Colorado in the 3rd quarter at home, whereas we destroyed Colorado on a neutral field.
I’m hoping for a good game, but you likely have way too many horses. On the positive side, our strength (passing) matches up well with your defensive backfield. The problem of course is you will probably be able to get after Browning, and though he is decent on the run, he’s isn’t Johnny Manziel. We’re gonna try to keep Hurts in the pocket (easier said than done) and see if he can beat our secondary. We’ll probably use some play action and screens, and throw the occasional bomb to Ross with a trick play here and there (CP is our coach and he loves that stuff).
See everyone in Atlanta and hope this was helpful.
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