A new OC and a new DC...so ...what changes in tendencies can we expect?

Tenntiderman

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I think there would have been a slight change in Offensive play regardless of the coaching changes...but what do you guys think the changes may or may not be? A lot depends on what happens at QB. What about Defense? I expect some differences there too. This 2018 bunch will be interesting for sure. I expect that our Defense will be a group that chases the ball as all Bama Defenses are so don't expect that to change. An improved pass rush? How about the Special teams? Kicking game should be good...but we are gonna miss JK Scott for sure.
 

BearFoot

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I know that they will have a new starting quarterback, but with Petrino behind the controls, Louisville won't roll over and play dead. Our secondary will need to be playing together as a unit well enough to not get us behind early...like happened in the '08 Utah game.

Secondary will have to grow up before we get into SEC play. Talent is there, experience is lacking.
 

DzynKingRTR

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I know that they will have a new starting quarterback, but with Petrino behind the controls, Louisville won't roll over and play dead. Our secondary will need to be playing together as a unit well enough to not get us behind early...like happened in the '08 Utah game.
The good news is Petrino completely ignores defense so our offense will have a good day.
 

bamamick

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Defense? It is Coach's defense. We are pitifully inexperienced in the defensive backfield, but if you are going to throw it you had better be quick about it or you will be looking up at the sky.

I think we will see more of an up tempo passing game with us spreading the ball around more than we have been. I expect another big offensive year.

The specialists are the wild cards. We need decent punting, deep kick offs, and reliable kicks for points. We do not need a big hole in our March to #18, and questionable special teams could do that to us.

Rtr
 

CrimsonSEC

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I know that they will have a new starting quarterback, but with Petrino behind the controls, Louisville won't roll over and play dead. Our secondary will need to be playing together as a unit well enough to not get us behind early...like happened in the '08 Utah game.
Unless Louisville has vastly improved their offensive line, their new starting QB may not finish the game. Jackson's Houdini act is gone and I don't see Louisville being able to hang with us for more than a half.
 

Tenntiderman

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Sure hope the DL gets some depth. Raekwon cannot stay on the field all day. The starting DL is again unreal...but we just need some depth. And the 2ndry? Man...I don't know. I know there is talent out there but....all our great DBs have taken a while to develop (with the possible exception of Minkah) and I do expect them to get torched at times. Hopefully we will get a nice surprise back there. They have a challenge for sure. On Offense? OL is again the key IMO. We are well stocked. Need a big year from Wills and Leatherwood. I know big Matt will give all he has to give. Feel good about those guys. Anxious to watch all our new coaches in action. That matters. Will we utilize our TEs? Hope so. If we get into a tight game...can Bulovas kick us out of it? His time is now. I think he will. Special Teams will have a different look I imagine. Can't wait to see all this happen since we have no baseball to watch. Bama baseball I mean.
 

AlexanderFan

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Possible growing pains against Louisville with a young secondary trying to learn to quit thinking and just do. This will be Louisville's super bowl so they will bring it from the beginning. I'm hoping that aggressive line play will help out all season long.

There might be a wall in the middle of the season that our offense hits, as most young players have to learn to refocus and power through fatigue they've never had to have before. I'm hoping for a passing attack that spreads the ball and the field, reducing the number of guys in the box to help the running game.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

JustNeedMe81

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Offense- I expect everything to be somewhat the same. Locksley was involved with developing certain plays for Daboll last year. I think we'll go back to balance of the offense, maybe little more running than passing, Play action, we might see screen passes making a coming back. Locksley is really a good playcaller with whole bunch of talents and if you look at his history, Our rushing and total offense will be in top 25 by the time season is over. This might be the first time under CNS that Offense will carry Defense until they develop.

Defense-Tosh will be aggressive with pass rushing. I expect him to use DL more for pass rushing. We'll see lot of blitzes, and Believe it or not, I'm not worried about our secondary. It'll be the transfer kid and whoever win the job on the other side. we'll be fine because if we can take the pressure off secondary, we'll be fine.
 

RedWave

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Doubt the playbook changes much. But what plays in that playbook get called will vary greatly depending on who is starting at which positions and how they are developing. I think the offensive calls depend almost completely on who is at QB and the defensive calls depend on our secondary.
 

teamplayer

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Sure hope the DL gets some depth. Raekwon cannot stay on the field all day. The starting DL is again unreal...but we just need some depth. And the 2ndry? Man...I don't know. I know there is talent out there but....all our great DBs have taken a while to develop (with the possible exception of Minkah) and I do expect them to get torched at times. Hopefully we will get a nice surprise back there. They have a challenge for sure. On Offense? OL is again the key IMO. We are well stocked. Need a big year from Wills and Leatherwood. I know big Matt will give all he has to give. Feel good about those guys. Anxious to watch all our new coaches in action. That matters. Will we utilize our TEs? Hope so. If we get into a tight game...can Bulovas kick us out of it? His time is now. I think he will. Special Teams will have a different look I imagine. Can't wait to see all this happen since we have no baseball to watch. Bama baseball I mean.
You hit on my biggest concerns- thin DL depth and inexperience in the secondary. Those are two areas that could keep us from being a championship level team. If those areas are solid, we should be fine. They don't have to be great, but the jury is still out on them until they show what they can do. Even then, an injury or two could derail that train. Offensively, we should be very good, period.
 

TomFromBama

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Defense? It is Coach's defense. We are pitifully inexperienced in the defensive backfield, but if you are going to throw it you had better be quick about it or you will be looking up at the sky.

I think we will see more of an up tempo passing game with us spreading the ball around more than we have been. I expect another big offensive year.

The specialists are the wild cards. We need decent punting, deep kick offs, and reliable kicks for points. We do not need a big hole in our March to #18, and questionable special teams could do that to us.

Rtr
This ^^

With all due respect to the other posters - "Depth" and "Experience" are slightly DIFFERENT ISSUES than "Tendencies". ;)

On D - I agree that we've run a version of Coach Saban's defense since the day he first stepped off the plane, and I don't expect that to change as long as he's our HC. The game is NOT going to slow down, so we can expect continued emphasis on individual speed, as well as on dealing with Game Tempo. I don't see that changing, but rather continuing to develop. FWIW, nearly every year we face at least ONE unit of the Defense having to massively rebuild. Some years it's LB's, or DL, this year it's the Secondary. So we'll get burned here and there by hot QB's - but on balance we "Should" be fine overall.

On O - IMO we've also run (to varying degrees) some version of Coach Saban's OFFENSE since the day he arrived, and I think we are going to see a more familiar style offense this year. We should see a lot more diversity in the passing game now that we are free of the handicap of the past two seasons that forced us to run 90% of the offense within a 10 yard box from the LOS. We should be a fairly balanced offense most of the time, with more emphasis on grinding against lighter or lesser defenses, and more emphasis on spreading out against better defenses. Passing to set up the run game. My HOPE is that we see the TE position return to the Offense - it's been noticeably absent. And, of course, that we see a RB leading the team in rush yards AND ATTEMPTS.....

On Special Teams, I agree there are many "wild cards" here, and maybe it's just Wishful Thinking, but I feel like we will be (at least) serviceable in ST's. We almost certainly will take a step back in punting, but probably a step forward in FG's and KO's. Punt returns and KO coverage should be ok, if for no other reason than the talent pool we have to draw from for these units.
 

tusks_n_raider

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OC - On offense I think once we establish some balance in the opener we will open things up and be more aggressive and explosive passing than we've ever been. Tua can make ALL the throws. If they play deep we can eat teams up underneath and if they play up close and blitz we can accurately go deep.

I'm not saying we won't be balanced either though. I think Damien and Najee will put up huge numbers as well. I think we re-write the offensive records this year in terms of Total Yardage and Points.

DC - On defense I think we will be every bit as aggressive as we have been under Pruitt. I'm not nearly as worried about the secondary as most. I think some of you are afraid of them being 2014 shakey. Deionte can PLAY and so can Savion Smith. Carter, Diggs, Knott and Mayden have all been in the system for 3 years.

They will get tons of help from the front 7 seven to give them time to grow and gel anyway. Dylan Moses, Terrell Lewis, Mack Wilson, and Anfernee Jennings are going to be ALL over opposing QB's.

On Special Teams I am very encouraged by DeLong's punting and Bulovas's Kicking so far..... we may shockingly not have a huge dropoff. Actually as far as FG's go we might be a lot better than in previous years so attempting longer FG's may be an option again instead of needing 4th down conversions on areas of the field that have been no-man's land.

I look for our return game to....well RETURN as a threat in a big time way as well. If Jaylen Waddle can get in there LOOK OUT.

Maybe I've drank too much koolaid too soon but I honestly think we are going to DOMINATE teams all year long. From the sister's of the poor to Top 25 SEC opponents. Just absolutely maul people on D and Blister them on O.
 
Last edited:

CajunCrimson

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OC - On offense I think once we establish some balance in the opener we will open things up and be more aggressive and explosive passing than we've ever been. Tua can make ALL the throws. If they play deep we can eat teams up underneath and if they play up close and blitz we can accurately go deep.

I'm not saying we won't be balanced either though. I think Damien and Najee will put up huge numbers as well. I think we re-write the offensive records this year in terms of Total Yardage and Points.

DC - On defense I think we will be every bit as aggressive as we have been under Pruitt. I'm not nearly as worried about the secondary as most. I think some of you are afraid of them being 2014 shakey. Deionte can PLAY and so can Savion Smith. Carter, Diggs, Knott and Mayden have all been in the system for 3 years.

They will get tons of help from the front 7 seven to give them time to grow and gel anyway. Dylan Moses, Terrell Lewis, Mack Wilson, and Anfernee Jennings are going to be ALL over opposing QB's.

On Special Teams I am very encouraged by DeLong's punting and Bulovas's Kicking so far..... we may shockingly not have a huge dropoff. Actually as far as FG's go we might be a lot better than in previous years so attempting longer FG's may be an option again instead of needing 4th down conversions on areas of the field that have been no-man's land.

I look for our return game to....well RETURN as a threat in a big time way as well. If Jaylen Waddle can get in there LOOK OUT.

Maybe I've drank too much koolaid too soon but I honestly think we are going to DOMINATE teams all year long. From the sister's of the poor to Top 25 SEC opponents. Just absolutely maul people on D and Blister them on O.
I tend to agree.....I think we cruise until LSU. By then the DL has some depth and the secondary has some experience.
 

JustNeedMe81

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Sure hope the DL gets some depth. Raekwon cannot stay on the field all day. The starting DL is again unreal...but we just need some depth. And the 2ndry? Man...I don't know. I know there is talent out there but....all our great DBs have taken a while to develop (with the possible exception of Minkah) and I do expect them to get torched at times. Hopefully we will get a nice surprise back there. They have a challenge for sure. On Offense? OL is again the key IMO. We are well stocked. Need a big year from Wills and Leatherwood. I know big Matt will give all he has to give. Feel good about those guys. Anxious to watch all our new coaches in action. That matters. Will we utilize our TEs? Hope so. If we get into a tight game...can Bulovas kick us out of it? His time is now. I think he will. Special Teams will have a different look I imagine. Can't wait to see all this happen since we have no baseball to watch. Bama baseball I mean.
Not worried about. How we use DL this year will be different from the past, since now TOsh is the DC.
 

Tenntiderman

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"On Special Teams I am very encouraged by DeLong's punting and Bulovas's Kicking so far..... we may shockingly not have a huge dropoff. Actually as far as FG's go we might be a lot better than in previous years so attempting longer FG's may be an option again instead of needing 4th down conversions on areas of the field that have been no-man's land."

Hey TusknRaider......This reflects my idea about what the Special Teams MAY tend to be this time around. We will miss Scott....but I think we just might see an overall upgrade. Would really like to add an 'Arenas' type return guy. Someone who is a threat. But I do think maybe we get an upgrade overall. Roll Tide!
 

JustNeedMe81

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"On Special Teams I am very encouraged by DeLong's punting and Bulovas's Kicking so far..... we may shockingly not have a huge dropoff. Actually as far as FG's go we might be a lot better than in previous years so attempting longer FG's may be an option again instead of needing 4th down conversions on areas of the field that have been no-man's land."

Hey TusknRaider......This reflects my idea about what the Special Teams MAY tend to be this time around. We will miss Scott....but I think we just might see an overall upgrade. Would really like to add an 'Arenas' type return guy. Someone who is a threat. But I do think maybe we get an upgrade overall. Roll Tide!
Waddle.... Keep eye on him.
 

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