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Changes for next year

Well, let's look at what happened last night...or maybe what was exposed last night:

1. injuries and lack of depth on the DL, Jack and ILB.
- we can blame this many ways- a few recruiting misses on the DL, injuries at Jack, and a combination of coaching and recruiting misses at ILB. Mack proved he can't make calls and make plays. He's almost like a backyard basketball player- looks great without structure. We simply had no one else other than Moses and Mack at ILB, and our starting four plus Ray at DL/Jack. Mathis is great against run teams, but that's not what we needed last night. Also, want to note, that we were still beat up from OU and the molesting that those refs allowed.

2. Tosh is still green. The only rushing three call really stands out (even though a DB busted coverage). Pruitt suffocated teams like Clemson.

3. Our offensive philosophy never truly gelled. Can anyone answer the question, "what offense are we?" Now, yes, we showed success at times running the ball. We had great success with Tua through the air. But, what happened to the OL in the process? They became pass blockers primarily in attitude and execution. What was stunning to me about last night was that when we decided to run on multiple plays in a row....something clicked. I'm excited about Enos because I think we are built for what he likes to run...."Arkansas with talent"

4. Depth is coming. Young DBs will get better. Young DL are arriving that will surprise a lot of people. Need one more ILB in this class, and I'll be happy.

5. There's enough talent that does not have a ring that this will motivate them. Nothing has been given to them, and they will have to go earn it. Plus, we'll have about 11 guys with good junior years who could go pro. That's motivation enough.
 
bigjue24 said:
I think he will coach this next season with Clemson in mind. It will be interesting to see the results.
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The problem is that Dabo coached this entire year for yesterday's game. It's why he got rid of a 4th year QB that took them to the playoffs for a true freshman. He knew he'd need that to beat Bama and he knew his schedule would be weak enough that it wouldn't hurt him.

Saban has to worry about *getting* to the playoff. He's got to be able to beat TAMU and LSU and AU and UGA and *then* hopefully Clemson.
 
CoachJeff said:
DBs - yes, DL - I'm not sure. We didn't have depth in 2018 and all 3 starters will be gone. I'm not sure how we expect depth there.
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We don't know for sure Davis is gone. Jennings could be back, too.

Ray and Mathis improved as the season progressed. There are some guys in this recruiting class that could very well be key contributors in 2019.
 
CoachJeff said:
The problem is that Dabo coached this entire year for yesterday's game. It's why he got rid of a 4th year QB that took them to the playoffs for a true freshman. He knew he'd need that to beat Bama and he knew his schedule would be weak enough that it wouldn't hurt him.

Saban has to worry about *getting* to the playoff. He's got to be able to beat TAMU and LSU and AU and UGA and *then* hopefully Clemson.
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This is my thinking as well. The SEC grind gets us every year. We are beaten up at the end of the season. Just once I would love to see what we could do if we were completely healthy at the end of the year.
 
RTR91 said:
We don't know for sure Davis is gone. Jennings could be back, too.

Ray and Mathis improved as the season progressed. There are some guys in this recruiting class that could very well be key contributors in 2019.
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I'd be a little surprised if Jennings left. I think it would be smart for Davis to stay. And I'm still holding out hope until Q officially declares.
 
RTR91 said:
We don't know for sure Davis is gone. Jennings could be back, too.

Ray and Mathis improved as the season progressed. There are some guys in this recruiting class that could very well be key contributors in 2019.
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Id be more surprised if Davis stayed than QW. There's no one coming back on the D-line that I'm excited about. Not like when J. Allen came back or it was Payne's time to shine. That said, I wasn't excited about QW, so maybe someone will come out of nowhere, but it's not a good idea to count on that sort of thing.
 
The loss was the result of problems that accumulated over the course of the year. New coordinators still getting their sea legs were also having to contend with injuries changing their options before the season and throughout. And I suspect it took a mental and emotional strain on everyone, particularly with being labelled the inevitable champion before the season even started.

Frankly, what we need moving forward is a little less change.
 
CoachJeff said:
The problem is that Dabo coached this entire year for yesterday's game. It's why he got rid of a 4th year QB that took them to the playoffs for a true freshman. He knew he'd need that to beat Bama and he knew his schedule would be weak enough that it wouldn't hurt him.

Saban has to worry about *getting* to the playoff. He's got to be able to beat TAMU and LSU and AU and UGA and *then* hopefully Clemson.
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True ... we have to play a what should be a better A&M team in College Station and depending if the Barn gets their stuff together, we have to play them in West Georgia. As much as the nation may disagree, we constantly have a much harder road to make it to the CFP than most conferences.

As of now, the only conference challenger Clemson has is Syracuse ...
 
Several need to reconsider leaving. Other than Q, everyone’s draft stock had to go down. Especially D Thompson.
 
I have one more point I forgot about:


4. We need to play more defensive linemen and edge rush LB players during the season and leverage our impressive depth. I don't really care if they can't do one or several things at a high level yet. There are maybe 3 teams we play every year that can beat us, throw them out there for meaningful snaps doing regular defense...use the new redshirt participation rules to our advantage too. I'm tired of us having the deepest 85-man roster in terms of talent but having about the same number of people who can contribute as a school with only a quality top 40 members on the roster. As uncomplicated as we were on defense this year, we certainly coulda just thrown bodies out there especially situationally.
 
Before the apparent injury, a friend of mine mentioned that Saivion Smith was supposedly ready to go to the NFL. That's his choice obviously, but I'm not sure he would get drafted at all.
 
CaliforniaTide said:
Before the apparent injury, a friend of mine mentioned that Saivion Smith was supposedly ready to go to the NFL. That's his choice obviously, but I'm not sure he would get drafted at all.
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There was a report from a site last week saying some scouts were being told Savion was looking at declaring. Even before the injury last night, he would most likely be behind Diggs and Surtain next year assuming Diggs returns healthy.
 
I think he may've ruptured his Achilles too so there is no certainty for 2019 at this juncture. He could be looking at a medical hardship eligibility waiver for the 2019 college football season rather than the 2019 NFL Draft.
 
rgw said:
I have one more point I forgot about:


4. We need to play more defensive linemen and edge rush LB players during the season and leverage our impressive depth. I don't really care if they can't do one or several things at a high level yet. There are maybe 3 teams we play every year that can beat us, throw them out there for meaningful snaps doing regular defense...use the new redshirt participation rules to our advantage too. I'm tired of us having the deepest 85-man roster in terms of talent but having about the same number of people who can contribute as a school with only a quality top 40 members on the roster. As uncomplicated as we were on defense this year, we certainly coulda just thrown bodies out there especially situationally.
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Agree totally. If Williams and Davis declare as expected then I don't see how we don't see that next year at least with the d line. The only players returning with any real playing time are Ray and Mathis. I would expect the redshirts and incoming freshmen to get ample opportunity to see quality playing time. Hopefully Lewis and Allen return healthy and Jennings stays. Enoma should factor in as well but he really needs more bulk. I really hope some of these incoming freshmen are physically ready to contribute...
 
One thing we should start doing is commit blatant pass interference and just see if we can get away with it. I swear, last night clemson could have grabbed our receivers, gave them a wedgie, and threw them into the stands to keep them from catching the pass and the refs still wouldn't have thrown a flag.
 
Saban has shown us time and time again that he takes setbacks and uses them as a springboard to big improvements. Until he proves otherwise, I am going to trust that he will do the same once again. I can't lie. Last night was hard to watch, but I watched every play. I was pretty disappointed, but without all of the griping and moaning. Sure, the refs missed a few calls but I would guess they missed some the other way as well (funny how we never see those). But when I turned the TV off, all I could think was "I would hate to be the next team Alabama plays." I wouldn't want to face them at all next year. Coach Saban will turn this around and make the best of it.
 
DzynKingRTR said:
One thing we should start doing is commit blatant pass interference and just see if we can get away with it. I swear, last night clemson could have grabbed our receivers, gave them a wedgie, and threw them into the stands to keep them from catching the pass and the refs still wouldn't have thrown a flag.
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They called PI on us at an important part of the game. Kept their drive alive and they scored..
 
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