Somewhere in the second quarter I think, I was doing what I seemingly do most games, and most seasons over the past 15 years or so. I'm waiting for this team to wake up. I'm waiting for everything to click and the team to show that they're the ones with the superior athleticism, size, talent, and will. And then just sort of occurred to me, I'm waiting for something that's not coming.
There's just something deeply wrong with the entire program. And what I do, and we all do, as is our natural inclination, is to try to look for that one thing. Well it's Diaz, we just need a new head coach. Well it's the OC, it's the DC, it's our linebackers, it's our OL, our receivers still can't catch, our quarterback is short and coming off an injury. It's our tackling. It's our preparation. It's our S&C.
But, it's all those things, and it's so much more. I get accused of being a Diaz slurper, and I'm not. I think it was another really risky higher. Another guy with no experience, and some degree of success as a coordinator, but not a whole lot to indicate that he had some kind of great coaching pedigree. But what's funny is people acting like he's suddenly the problem. As if Coker, Shannon, Golden, and Richt never existed somehow. Yea I get how things imploded under Coker and Shannon, but Golden was what half this board is clamoring for again right now. A guy who turned around a fledgling program and made them respectable. And how did Richt forget to coach? Sure UGA had a ceiling but things never imploded on him like they did here in 2018. What happened?
And how is it Lashlee forgot everything? How is it he got a bunch of guys to put up massive #s at SMU with a bunch of guys Miami wouldn't even recruit. The comp isn't THAT dramatically better here. You certainly can't say that about an App St.
I'm watching the App St game and I'm seeing a bunch of kids that Miami wouldn't have even sent a letter to pushing around our big 4 star recruits with elite offer lists.. And then rub their faces in the dirt and tell them about it. And yes we made enough plays to find a way to win, but how did we get to this level when we're life and death with a decent G5 team... Again. Yea they have chips on their shoulders, but so do all the G5 kids on teams that get served up to P5 schools early in the season before the conference schedules. And unless you're FSU, the talent disparity takes care of itself, no matter how bad those kids want to prove their worth.
But not with us. There's almost this pervasive rot that never goes away since the 2005 Peach Bowl. Like it seems they're doing what they need to do in the off-season to train and prepare but once the lights come on there's not an extra gear to meet the challenge. Yea some weeks there are, but it's never consistent. The difference in the way a Tyrique Stevenson plays, with physical abandon and toughness every play, compared to everyone else is so jarring you almost feel like he doesn't belong on the field with these guys. And then you start to realize why guys like him choose to go other places. Because kids like that are watching us play, and turnover chains and TD rings and models on the beach and everything else is nice and fun but it's gilded and these guys are football players. They're watching what's happening on the field and that edge just isn't there. It's about WAY more than scheme.
They're seeing what we see and they're just not interested. Now I think we've started to get some of those type of guys. I think James and Avante are those type of dudes. But the rot is still there. And it can't be fixed with one recruiting class. Yea these kids want to win. They want to play for championships. But want to and making it happen are two different beasts. And the former greats like Michael a Irvin occasionally in their ear or Ed Reed on staff and in their ear EVERY DAY can't just flip a switch and make it happen.
I don't know the answer, and I don't know if there are any easy ones, or any at all. And my only defense of Manny is that he tires to address the obvious problems. But he's in over his head, just like the last 3 guys. If/when we move on from the Manny regime, it'll be another top to bottom cleanse, but the cleanse will have to go so much deeper than any of these guys realized. Who's up for that?
There's just something deeply wrong with the entire program. And what I do, and we all do, as is our natural inclination, is to try to look for that one thing. Well it's Diaz, we just need a new head coach. Well it's the OC, it's the DC, it's our linebackers, it's our OL, our receivers still can't catch, our quarterback is short and coming off an injury. It's our tackling. It's our preparation. It's our S&C.
But, it's all those things, and it's so much more. I get accused of being a Diaz slurper, and I'm not. I think it was another really risky higher. Another guy with no experience, and some degree of success as a coordinator, but not a whole lot to indicate that he had some kind of great coaching pedigree. But what's funny is people acting like he's suddenly the problem. As if Coker, Shannon, Golden, and Richt never existed somehow. Yea I get how things imploded under Coker and Shannon, but Golden was what half this board is clamoring for again right now. A guy who turned around a fledgling program and made them respectable. And how did Richt forget to coach? Sure UGA had a ceiling but things never imploded on him like they did here in 2018. What happened?
And how is it Lashlee forgot everything? How is it he got a bunch of guys to put up massive #s at SMU with a bunch of guys Miami wouldn't even recruit. The comp isn't THAT dramatically better here. You certainly can't say that about an App St.
I'm watching the App St game and I'm seeing a bunch of kids that Miami wouldn't have even sent a letter to pushing around our big 4 star recruits with elite offer lists.. And then rub their faces in the dirt and tell them about it. And yes we made enough plays to find a way to win, but how did we get to this level when we're life and death with a decent G5 team... Again. Yea they have chips on their shoulders, but so do all the G5 kids on teams that get served up to P5 schools early in the season before the conference schedules. And unless you're FSU, the talent disparity takes care of itself, no matter how bad those kids want to prove their worth.
But not with us. There's almost this pervasive rot that never goes away since the 2005 Peach Bowl. Like it seems they're doing what they need to do in the off-season to train and prepare but once the lights come on there's not an extra gear to meet the challenge. Yea some weeks there are, but it's never consistent. The difference in the way a Tyrique Stevenson plays, with physical abandon and toughness every play, compared to everyone else is so jarring you almost feel like he doesn't belong on the field with these guys. And then you start to realize why guys like him choose to go other places. Because kids like that are watching us play, and turnover chains and TD rings and models on the beach and everything else is nice and fun but it's gilded and these guys are football players. They're watching what's happening on the field and that edge just isn't there. It's about WAY more than scheme.
They're seeing what we see and they're just not interested. Now I think we've started to get some of those type of guys. I think James and Avante are those type of dudes. But the rot is still there. And it can't be fixed with one recruiting class. Yea these kids want to win. They want to play for championships. But want to and making it happen are two different beasts. And the former greats like Michael a Irvin occasionally in their ear or Ed Reed on staff and in their ear EVERY DAY can't just flip a switch and make it happen.
I don't know the answer, and I don't know if there are any easy ones, or any at all. And my only defense of Manny is that he tires to address the obvious problems. But he's in over his head, just like the last 3 guys. If/when we move on from the Manny regime, it'll be another top to bottom cleanse, but the cleanse will have to go so much deeper than any of these guys realized. Who's up for that?
![crossover22[]_[]](https://data.canesinsight.com/avatars/m/2/2075.jpg?1518149361){kind=avatar}
