Confirmed New RB Coach - Matt Merritt (from USF)

[BALLHAWKU]

Can he recruit

 

[Ghandi]

Can he recruit

We’re about to find out.

He’s going into Bama for a high end RB that everyone in the SEC wants

 

[EudocimusAlbus]

Mario's been hitting on position coaches (JT and Nicholson). Besides, RB is one of those positions where the kids got it, or he doesn't. Yeah some things can be coached up but rarely is a RB coach going to turn a ****** RB into a good one.

well, our staring RB pretty much trucks over people, not sure how much coaching is involved there.

 

[Atom Atlas]

 

[Canezum5]

well, our staring RB pretty much trucks over people, not sure how much coaching is involved there.

Seeing as how there are far more nuances to playing the position than simply running the ball id say, a good amount.

At every level angles and holes change. The amount of available yards and reading block angles changes. The speed and physical ability changes.

The expectations of blocking and running routes change. A RB coach absolutely plays a key role in helping young backs understand these changes and teach them the little techniques to gain/create yards with their natural running ability.

The way you guys undermine the importance of coaching is disrespectful to the game.

 

[TRick72]

Seeing as how there are far more nuances to playing the position than simply running the ball id say, a good amount.

At every level angles and holes change. The amount of available yards and reading block angles changes. The speed and physical ability changes.

The expectations of blocking and running routes change. A RB coach absolutely plays a key role in helping young backs understand these changes and teach them the little techniques to gain/create yards with their natural running ability.

The way you guys undermine the importance of coaching is disrespectful to the game.

The holes may change but you always hit them all the same…..

 

[Canezum5]

The holes may change but you always hit them all the same…..




























View attachment 281928

Facts. No chest to chest. Push up position only. We aint making love....

 

[JustAFanHTX]

Shhhhhhh. We don’t need to know this. We need something to make conspiracy theories about until September.

My bad. Really dig the hire. Im a big fan met him twice. Got to see him recruit and felt like he recruited the entire room. Won’t be a RB coach very long. Oc in the near future for someone

 

[FrancisSawyer]

It's nice to have international flavour on the staff, since he's from Germany. And as the game grows internationally, i.e. Canada, Mexico, Europe, etc. its nice to have people who the kids can relate too.
While I'm not even near Miami, I hear the city itself is a cosmopolitan city itself, so the staff reflects the vibe and population, starting with the Cuban.

Where exactly are you if you don’t mind me asking?

 

[BS85]

How’d that big money staff work out in Mario’s first year? Also pretty sure both of our coordinators are making around a million per

i was being very literal, they should save money with these moves

 

[FrancisSawyer]

if it helps with creativity in the run game from that system then it’s worth it.

This was my take away as well. Supposedly Merritt is a very bright young coach and offensive mind who will be an OC sooner than later. This is exactly what is needed on this offensive staff. There was no way IMO that Dawson would be able to make this all work by himself. We desperately needed to bring someone in with a good offensive mind to collaborate with Dawson. The goal here is to establish a level of professional chemistry where ideally the the product is more than the sum of its parts.


You specifically mention the running game and I couldn’t agree more. If Merritt can somehow add a play or two to the three total run plays we already have in Dawson’s book then it’s a win. If Merritt can infuse some variety and even some creativity into the archaic design of Dawson’s offense then even better. As it stands currently, whenever you see us put a TE in motion(gasp) then the defense knows that it’s a run and the TE will be a lead block to the side he is motioning towards. When we are in goal line and a WR goes in motion the defense knows it’s a pass to the motion WR. Whenever you see us line up with WRs in a bunch formation then the defense knows the it’s going to be a bubble screen 80% of the time. My hope is that the offense was seriously dumbed down for TVD because the entire offense was far too much for him to process otherwise. My hope is that with Cam Ward at QB that Dawson will be able to utilize his entire playbook which would include a much more diverse running game.

 

[Arehel]

Where exactly are you if you don’t mind me asking?

Northern Ontario Canada

 

[FrancisSawyer]

Northern Ontario Canada

Interesting! The Kenora District? Greater Sudbury? Thunder Bay? Pickle Lake? Are you from there or did you move there for work? I’m just genuinely curious.

 

[Golsen82]

My bad. Really dig the hire. Im a big fan met him twice. Got to see him recruit and felt like he recruited the entire room. Won’t be a RB coach very long. Oc in the near future for someone

Dawson's replacement

 

[Arehel]

Interesting! The Kenora District? Greater Sudbury? Thunder Bay? Pickle Lake? Are you from there or did you move there for work? I’m just genuinely curious.

Haha all good, live and grew up Greater Sudbury, born in Elliot Lake. Lived in Ottawa and Kitchener/Waterloo in my 20s for school and work.

 

[Brooklyndee]

What about Skinner?

He was starting to emerge when forced into action the prior season. I’ll give you scheme changed, but how do you explain just a complete lack of further development?

Skinners biggest issue was the same as moss. He couldn't put on good healthy weight. My mind we should've simply lined him up out wide. But I do understand his hands were even more skeptical then Riley or Mccormick which says alot. So can you really justify lining a project up out wide who can't catch or have a tight end on the field who is undersized and can't catch or block? I would've loved to figure him out as the kid is a match up nightmare all over the field. He's the one I didn't want to lose out of the transfers.

 

[EudocimusAlbus]

Seeing as how there are far more nuances to playing the position than simply running the ball id say, a good amount.

At every level angles and holes change. The amount of available yards and reading block angles changes. The speed and physical ability changes.

The expectations of blocking and running routes change. A RB coach absolutely plays a key role in helping young backs understand these changes and teach them the little techniques to gain/create yards with their natural running ability.

The way you guys undermine the importance of coaching is disrespectful to the game.

not you bro, not you, respected your posts and i wasn't disrespecting anyone's job nor the game, was eluding to our boy Fletcher who's a truck and has very little wiggle. Come on b

 

[Ghandi]

Skinners biggest issue was the same as moss. He couldn't put on good healthy weight. My mind we should've simply lined him up out wide. But I do understand his hands were even more skeptical then Riley or Mccormick which says alot. So can you really justify lining a project up out wide who can't catch or have a tight end on the field who is undersized and can't catch or block? I would've loved to figure him out as the kid is a match up nightmare all over the field. He's the one I didn't want to lose out of the transfers.

Yes, I agree he couldn’t put on weight.

I think he’s still 230lbs as of this post. It wasn’t for lack of effort, but the kid is an ectomorph to the “T”.

My issue is with his decline (or lack of development) in the hands department. An experienced TE Coach would see the slide in confidence and performance and give the kid drills to do.

That didn’t happen.

This is why I’m not a fan of Woodiel. TE today is not what it was even 10yrs ago. It’s a position that requires a ton of development because you have to get WR and OL skill to be effective.

To be clear, I don’t think Skinner belonged on the field because of the lack of physicality. My concern is the rapid decline in his ability to even catch a ball. When he was in there, it looked like he was trying to slam his hands together like two skillets

 

[Gi0logy]

This was my take away as well. Supposedly Merritt is a very bright young coach and offensive mind who will be an OC sooner than later. This is exactly what is needed on this offensive staff. There was no way IMO that Dawson would be able to make this all work by himself. We desperately needed to bring someone in with a good offensive mind to collaborate with Dawson. The goal here is to establish a level of professional chemistry where ideally the the product is more than the sum of its parts.


You specifically mention the running game and I couldn’t agree more. If Merritt can somehow add a play or two to the three total run plays we already have in Dawson’s book then it’s a win. If Merritt can infuse some variety and even some creativity into the archaic design of Dawson’s offense then even better. As it stands currently, whenever you see us put a TE in motion(gasp) then the defense knows that it’s a run and the TE will be a lead block to the side he is motioning towards. When we are in goal line and a WR goes in motion the defense knows it’s a pass to the motion WR. Whenever you see us line up with WRs in a bunch formation then the defense knows the it’s going to be a bubble screen 80% of the time. My hope is that the offense was seriously dumbed down for TVD because the entire offense was far too much for him to process otherwise. My hope is that with Cam Ward at QB that Dawson will be able to utilize his entire playbook which would include a much more diverse running game.

This guy has primarily only worked on the RB side of things. So if what we needed on the offensive staff is a guy that can come in and help bring more versatility to our running game when we already have Mario and Mirabal also heavily focused there...then consider me concerned.

You may be right in that Merritt actually knows a lot more about instilling creativity into an offense but there is absolutely nothing that shows he's actually influenced anything outside of the run game so far in his career. Everything points to him being your typical RB coach that can probably coach, develop, and recruit a little bit.

Now I do imagine he'll contribute to the run game coordination but I'm not expecting anything groundbreaking there. IMO this is a hire that was based on bringing in a young, hungry, and high energy guy that they expect to take major strides when it comes to recruitment now that he's at a blue blood program.

 

[canadianhurricane]

Interesting! The Kenora District? Greater Sudbury? Thunder Bay? Pickle Lake? Are you from there or did you move there for work? I’m just genuinely curious.

Haha all good, live and grew up Greater Sudbury, born in Elliot Lake. Lived in Ottawa and Kitchener/Waterloo in my 20s for school and work.

It's nice to have some fellow Canadian Canes fans!!