I returned home after the Clemson game, early Sunday, feeling like my dog had been run over by the town bully. Twice.
But, life goes on and there is a game to play next week .....
So as promised, here are my thoughts and a full report:
1) As an aside, I remain convinced having traveled to many NFL and College stadiums, that Clemson (along with Texas A&M), has the most welcoming and friendly fan base. For anyone who has ever been to the sewers that are Gainesville or Tallahassee, you'd appreciate the contrast.
2) I was with my friend, as his guest, an NFL Deputy GM that was there to scout the game. Oh, ****, let's be honest, he was mostly there to watch Lawrence, Etienne, and Brevin live, but it's interesting how they truly do watch all players (and coaches, by the way). Nothing much escapes their eyes. We got to the stadium fairly close to kickoff, as we were anticipating rain as was forecast. But did have time to walk a bit around and it is, as i said above, a rather friendly place.
3) we sat inside in a box, and with social distancing, was just basically us so we could talk freely. my friend is the youngest brother of one of my old Yale teammates, who played in the Big 10 in his college days, (had his career cut short by injury), and has been working in the NFL for a decent part of his professional life. So he had a lot of stories, one of which was how everyone in the NFL knows intimately how much cheating goes on with the schools whose names you know. And how little the NFL cares. Fun fact: the NFLPA has numerous "ethics" rules about agent conduct. However, there is no specific prohibition against knowingly breaking an NCAA rule to the detriment of a player or university. On that topic, no one in the NFL could care less.
4) Now on to the game .... We talked a lot of X's and O's throughout the night, from the same perspective, as we were both were college QB's. What impressed me was the scope of knowledge he had across all positions, and how he always framed individual performances in the context of what a player was being asked to do in the system being run. Anything in quotes, is directly from him, and where I piped in, and made my own observations, I will note that.
5) In the talent disparity: "on offense, only jordan starts for clemson. on defense, only Bolden and Phillips. and UM has a better punter and better kicker." No one else sees the field as a starter for Clemson on UM's starting 22/"24." I argued that Mallory was also as good as their starting TE, and he thought that was probably true
6) D'eriq is a competitor, a leader, and a great athlete. "his position in the NFL, though, is in the slot. he'll catch 40 balls a season by accident in the NFL in the right system." We both observed that his ball placement on deep throws isn't good enough for the NFL, and against certain coverages at this level, he has some problems. That being said, he's definitely a "big step up from what UM has had to endure recently," and good enough to win a lot of games.
7) the most talented NFL prospect in the UM QB room is TVD. (SIDE NOTE: the knowledge he had of the respective rosters, and the details he had in his ipad, down to even the backups and younger players was impressive and surprising). Thinks Trevor Lawrence is a terrific prospect, and as physically "talented as a Peyton Manning or an Andrew Luck. HIS CAVEAT: "he's going to the NFL having never played on a bad high school or college team he had the sole responsibility to make good. he will likely go to some 2 win NFL team. How's he react to that? He's got a good head for this game, but that's not a question that has an easy answer, and it affects how he plays as a day 1 starter which is what will be expected."
8) UM's WR room is weak, and he says the reason is "mark pope and harley are both slot guys being asked to play like they belong on the outside." neither is NFL caliber. Likens is respected, so it's not that they are being undercoached. Wiggins and the freshmen are all more talented than Pope and Harley, but are not ready to play well enough to beat a great team like Clemson. Jordan and Mallory are both going to play in the NFL.
9) Lashlee completely ignored any attempts to run outside zone and his decisions in the run game were "baffling, especially since the weakness of UM's line is guard play." (Tackle play has been better this year overall). Venebales "dared Lashlee to get out of his comfort zone, and Lashlee took the bait." The result was Lashlee called a game that played right into what Venebles wanted to do. i.e., keep the passing game on the perimeter, and stay out of two TE sets that could create conflicts in the middle of the field.
10) On defense, he says Silvera "disappears" for too many plays, and Ford disappears for too many series. Harrison-Hunte was "the best interior lineman on the field for UM." he said that it's our LB's that are the weakest link on the defense, not our corners. although corner play as compared to the elite teams is average at best. neither blades nor ivey have long term NFL futures, though blades is the better prospect. As to Blake Baker, he questions whether "setting edges is something he actually pays attention to." (said sarcastically, but in reality, our edge sets have been miserable all season). too many times, were were dead based on alignment pre-snap. as well as Roche graded out this game, he is generally too weak in the run game to be an every down NFL player. Philips is not NFL ready, (he needs one more year as he's been injured and needs to show more tape), "but he will be NFL good."
11) the team is good enough to beat some good teams, "but not nearly good enough to beat a great one." On defense, until we get serious play from our LB's and more consistency from our CB's, we will struggle. on offense, the line is being coached up beyond its talent this year, due "in part to change in the system and part to the coaching of justice." If you wanted to steal a player to switch sides from Clemson to Miami, (beyond the obvious of TL), given that any of the Clemson players could pretty much start for UM, he said: "steal just one LB and two OL from Clemson and it's a much closer ball game, even with the weak WR room at UM" They actually don't like it when kids who are not clear 1st or 2nd rounders leave early. "nobody wants to take an early entry guy if he's just 6th round talent. the extra year in college makes a huge difference when their talent is not draft elite." that being said, no one on UM's roster should spend "even more than 2 minutes thinking about leaving early other than Jordan or Bolden or Hedley. and they could all stay another year. "jordan's in line blocking needs work to be NFL ready, bolden needs development in some of his coverage skills. although, Hedley could punt for us next week. Cam'ron is 4th round right now, Blades maybe 6th or 7th, and Silvera the same. If Jordan leaves, and Mallory is the featured TE next year, and continues to develop, he's 3rd round talent or better."
12) On Manny: "with some of these kids, he needs to put his foot in their *** and leave it until they **** leather." (i thought that was hilarious and am going to steal that line). Thinks his style is too nice for the kind of kids he's got on the roster. "But he's young, and has been a head coach for all of 1 1/2 seasons. He has upside from here. Give it a season or two." Thinks ironically, that Golden in some ways may have left Richt with more overall talent than Richt left Manny.
13) On Sweeney: "Definitely a college coach. He stays in college, at Clemson, he has Nick Saban type college career. He goes to the NFL? He has a Nick Saban type NFL career." (that was his best line of the evening)
14) UNC is the "most dangerous team on the schedule after Clemson. by far. They are also recruiting exceedingly well."
15) some of the officiating in the ACC is "mind numbing," but that's not why the game was lost.
Anyway, that is pretty much what I can remember. Anything else pops into brain, I will add it.
Go 'Canes
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