New OL Coach - Who would You Hire???

My beef as well, the double, triple , throwback , halfback pass, flea flicker play either loses 10 yards or loses a down because the QB is under duress. Did any variation of that play work last year? It was definitely a drive stopper.
Plus, the more times you run something like that, the less unexpected it is and the success of plays like that relies on being unexpected.
 
At least for me, the most troubling thing is Christian’s statements about these being “similar guys” to what we had, but possibly with more potential. Troubling primarily because the last two years most pointed to the underperformance of the Oline was not having the guys that “fit CKD’s scheme”.

We at least have a full Oline room with potential it seems now. But potential is nothing without action. Hopefully these guys are hungry and coachable.
I like Miller and most of the time he does good job of breaking down things for Alabama on the field. But don't go all in on his opinions at time. You have to go through all of his posts the last two weeks and his replies and you'll realize he's all over the place .. one day he's happy, one day he's not with the stuff.
 
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Interesting comments from former player Christian Miller (The Miller’s Edge) on X about the OL portal guys. Some on here just assume we’ve upgraded talent on the OL or fit scheme better. He’s not so sure and I put a lot stock in what he says. Check out his account. He knows what he’s talking about. We better get someone who can develop the guys we have.
Orrrr you can see this from different perspectives...

 
I like Miller and most of the time he does good job of breaking down things for Alabama on the field. But don't go all in on his opinions at time. You have to go through all of his posts the last two weeks and his replies and you'll realize he's all over the place .. one day he's happy, one day he's not with the stuff.
I don't follow him much so I can't comment on him specifically, but I can say this thing felt a bit like a roller coaster. Even now, I'm not sure if they're done or what. I certainly wasn't expecting things to end with a walk-on getting a scholarship and a no star recruit getting the numbers to near 85. Not saying that's where it ends, but not sure why you wait to do stuff like that when you have 20 free scholarship slots.

So for me, trying to figure out the why of it has been very up and down. Why let player X walk when he was too expensive only to sign player Y who is far more expensive, etc... and there's two narratives existing much like Schrödinger's cat, which is this is all part of the plan or things didn't go according to plan. We know last year they didn't go according to plan in the portal, and now it's a matter of faith in believing they did this time around.

That's still hard for those of us that are... shall we saw critical. We want to believe and be excited, but I'm not the type to overlook concerns either. So I can relate to being happy about one thing one day then looking at something else the next day and going wait a minute, why did this happen? There are bright spots to be sure, in particular special teams but a lot of the stuff, I'd have to know what they were thinking to know how to react.

But... having said all that, I'm waiting on the staff changes. If they make those, it shows there is a plan. If they don't, just shuffling the OL darn sure isn't fixing the problems this team had last year in the running game. If they do make the changes, all according to plan, right?
 
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I don't follow him much so I can't comment on him specifically, but I can say this thing felt a bit like a roller coaster. Even now, I'm not sure if they're done or what. I certainly wasn't expecting things to end with a walk-on getting a scholarship and a no star recruit getting the numbers to near 85. Not saying that's where it ends, but not sure why you wait to do stuff like that when you have 20 free scholarship slots.

So for me, trying to figure out the why of it has been very up and down. Why let player X walk when he was too expensive only to sign player Y who is far more expensive, etc... and there's two narratives existing much like Schrödinger's cat, which is this is all part of the plan or things didn't go according to play. We know last year they didn't go according to plan in the portal, and now it's a matter of faith in believing they did this time around.

That's still hard for those of us that are... shall we saw critical. We want to believe and be excited, but I'm not the type to overlook concerns either. So I can relate to being happy about one thing one day then looking at something else the next day and going wait a minute, why did this happen? There are bright spots to be sure, in particular special teams but a lot of the stuff, I'd have to know what they were thinking to know how to react.

But... having said all that, I'm waiting on the staff changes. If they make those, it shows there is a plan. If they don't, just shuffling the OL darn sure isn't fixing the problems this team had last year in the running game. If they do make the changes, all according to plan, right?
I maybe completely wrong, but I'm not convinced there's going to be a change at the OL coaching spot. I have a hunch the staff believes the problem at OL was a player problem and not a coaching problem. I hope im wrong on that.
 
I maybe completely wrong, but I'm not convinced there's going to be a change at the OL coaching spot. I have a hunch the staff believes the problem at OL was a player problem and not a coaching problem. I hope im wrong on that.
Well, and I could be wrong on this because just like those scholarship slots, they technically don't have to use them but...

They should hire someone, right? 1.5 million came off the books when Sheridan left and likewise they are down one staff member. So someone should come in, and the shuffling of roles could in some way address things.

That could even involve Grubb wearing more than one hat. He was at Fresno State the "AHC/OC/OL" before DeBoer arrived and as I said their running game actually showed improvement. They were 3.9, 3.2, prior to his arrival, his two years with the OL they go up to 4.3 and 4.4, he becomes OC/OL it goes all the way up to 4.9 and then once he loses his OL duties it falls all the way down to 3.4

Obviously there are other factors, but it doesn't look like he's bad at teaching run blocking, but DeBoer had him shift over to coaching the QBs which saw similar improvement. So, part of what Grubb is good at might be position coaching and he usually wore more than one hat. At least based on his title he's just the OC right now.

Edit: Might as well do Kap
Two years before he arrived at Michigan St. 3.5 and 3.6 YPC
2020 2.7
2021 4.8
2022 3.8
2023 2.9

That's kind of all over the place, but while 3.55 is on average for what Michigan St. did beforehand, I see some pretty big red flags there. Seems like Grubb can coach better run blocking (small sample size but within that sample did a full 1 yard per carry better).
 
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Might as well bring in someone, Nix was a running back, maybe he can get "/running game coordinator" added to his title.

I feel like there should be a change, at best Kap isn't able to get his teaching to translate to the field. Maybe Ty's audibles were an issue and created unnecessary confusion, but the line still lost more one on one battles than they won. At worst, it's all on Kap and he's had two years to do something, and he hasn't.

Heck, bring in Vlachos as an "assistant offensive line coach", get him on the field and in the weight room to make these guys ready to get after it.
 
Might as well bring in someone, Nix was a running back, maybe he can get "/running game coordinator" added to his title.

I feel like there should be a change, at best Kap isn't able to get his teaching to translate to the field. Maybe Ty's audibles were an issue and created unnecessary confusion, but the line still lost more one on one battles than they won. At worst, it's all on Kap and he's had two years to do something, and he hasn't.

Heck, bring in Vlachos as an "assistant offensive line coach", get him on the field and in the weight room to make these guys ready to get after it.
Make Vlachos the line coach.............
 
Make Vlachos the line coach.............
I don’t disagree at all, my post is if they don’t think Kap was part of the issue. I feel like he’s part of it.

He’s had two years to show SOMETHING. Not only is his line getting dominated individually, there’s lapses in communication, poor technique, no development, and lack of results. That’s all coaching.
 
Might as well bring in someone, Nix was a running back, maybe he can get "/running game coordinator" added to his title.

I feel like there should be a change, at best Kap isn't able to get his teaching to translate to the field. Maybe Ty's audibles were an issue and created unnecessary confusion, but the line still lost more one on one battles than they won. At worst, it's all on Kap and he's had two years to do something, and he hasn't.
Nix has been an RB coach and a WR coach, as well as an OC so that's possible but seems like an odd pairing.

There certainly is a chance for musical chairs though. The one that's hardest to deal with is Kap, he's basically been OL or run game coordinator everywhere he's been and those are areas of weakness on the team. It's harder for me to imagine where he can go, but he seems to be at the heart of the issue. I could see shifting him to more of a recruiting, AHC type role though, DeBoer seems pretty loyal to his staff.

There are some other options in play, for instance they haven't hired a tight ends coach yet. It's not out of the question to hire someone to work on exterior, spend time with the tackles as well. Then for instance Grubb could work on interior, he's been an OC/OL coach before, so that wouldn't be too much of a workload.

As a side note, Grubb has also been a run game coordinator. he did with DeBoer on the NAIA level and also without DeBoer at Fresno State. Seems kind of redundant to be OC/RGC though, heh.
 
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We need an Offensive Coordinator and Head Coach that are committed to run the ball, and know more than 3 running plays. Without a diversified attack we are one dimensional like past 2 years, and results show.
 
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We need an Offensive Coordinator and Head Coach that are committed to run the ball, and know more than 3 running plays. Without a diversified attack we are one dimensional like past 2 years, and results show.
I think we need a dedicated OL coach who has been a part of developing and designing running plays that can help them get the running game going.........
 
I maybe completely wrong, but I'm not convinced there's going to be a change at the OL coaching spot. I have a hunch the staff believes the problem at OL was a player problem and not a coaching problem. I hope im wrong on that.

This is my worry also - that they think it was just a jimmy and joe issue and not a development / coaching issue. It's probably a little of both, but I just can't rationalize it being jimmie and joe with Roberts waiting there on the sideline.
 
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This is my worry also - that they think it was just a jimmy and joe issue and not a development / coaching issue. It's probably a little of both, but I just can't rationalize it being jimmie and joe with Roberts waiting there on the sideline.
The all American on the team is suspect, I’m not sure what other indicator of coaching issues you need.
 
I maybe completely wrong, but I'm not convinced there's going to be a change at the OL coaching spot. I have a hunch the staff believes the problem at OL was a player problem and not a coaching problem. I hope im wrong on that.
If there isnt, then this staff has some soul searching to do.............while our OL coach is a great recruiter, the development of the OL has been suspect, and I dont think its all the players at all.........I think a change is needed, or there might be other changes that could have been avoided
 
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