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objective review of team mid season

BeachCanes said:
We have to stop recruiting CBs purely on measurables and athletic projections. Hate to use this sports cliche but we need some sticky "gamers" like Ricardo Allen.

I just feel like height and length might be a tad overrated in the college game. But we have some guys on the board who know their DBs; would love to hear their opinions.
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A great example was passing on Wildgoose. He's a pro now.
 
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Lol
Astcloud11 said:
I strongly disagree with calling Linebackers abysmal and then follow it up with saying our DB's are "average at best". Linebacking group has performed much better than our DBs so far in the year....while there seemingly isn't a single DB on our roster who hasn't already been responsible for a 50+ yard pass
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Lol i agree I think the Dbs is the worst position group on the whole defense , Stevenson is slow and should be playing safety , James Williams miss too many tackles , avantae Williams is average , kam is the best DB but also blows coverage once or twice a game , Dj Ivey the best practice player in the world but comes up small in the game , couch has been declining since his freshman year , Malik Curtis needs to switch to offense , and porter jr is nothing special.
 
BJ305 said:
Lol

Lol i agree I think the Dbs is the worst position group on the whole defense , Stevenson is slow and should be playing safety , James Williams miss too many tackles , avantae Williams is average , kam is the best DB but also blows coverage once or twice a game , Dj Ivey the best practice player in the world but comes up small in the game , couch has been declining since his freshman year , Malik Curtis needs to switch to offense , and porter jr is nothing special.
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Darryl Porter looking like Darrell Green in comparison to what we’ve seen so far
 
This slow, talentless team was better under the previous staff. The staff that got fired.

Objectively speaking, Mario and his staff have made the team worse. Maybe after another three recruiting classes we’ll be able to win against most teams by strictly out talenting them. Hopefully by 2025, we’ll be a nine win team.
 
DTP said:
This slow, talentless team was better under the previous staff. The staff that got fired.

Objectively speaking, Mario and his staff have made the team worse. Maybe after another three recruiting classes we’ll be able to win against most teams by strictly out talenting them. Hopefully by 2025, we’ll be a nine win team.
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We were 2-4 at this point under Manny last year.
 
DTP said:
We played Alabama and Michigan State at this point last year too. The other two losses were TVD’s first two starts against FBS teams.

We also didn’t get smoked by a terrible G5 team either.
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I know. It’s kind of an interesting comparison.

2021 Miami would likely have been lapped by Texas A&M. That’s the positive. At the same time 2021 Miami would have beaten MTSU.

An absurd amount of injuries whilst trying to install a new offense have really, really hurt this team and made it look perhaps worse than it is. I do think that it is going to be a STRUGGLE to win any game from this point forward due to the attrition, with 4 or 5 overall wins a realistic end point. We’re literally running out of bodies and we still have half a season left. It reminds me a lot of 2006.
 
Safety has been the most disappointing position on the team. Kitchens is solid, but he’s good for at least one head scratching blown coverage bust a game. James Williams has regressed. He can’t tackle and just doesn’t look like he’s comfortable out there. Avante has looked clueless.
 
GojiraCane said:
I know. It’s kind of an interesting comparison.

2021 Miami would likely have been lapped by Texas A&M. That’s the positive. At the same time 2021 Miami would have beaten MTSU.

An absurd amount of injuries whilst trying to install a new offense have really, really hurt this team and made it look perhaps worse than it is. I do think that it is going to be a STRUGGLE to win any game from this point forward due to the attrition, with 4 or 5 overall wins a realistic end point. We’re literally running out of bodies and we still have half a season left. It reminds me a lot of 2006.
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Injuries aside, a lot of the issues that have plagued them have been brought on by the staff themselves. Mainly the offense’s stubbornness. They played to keep it close against A&M instead of trying to actually win. Their insistence on running into 8 and 9 men fronts against MTSU hurt their chances of getting back into that game after spotting them a 21-0 lead. Obviously, there was some productive discourse between TVD and the staff during the bye week because we finally saw signs of life. Unfortunately it took them until the second quarter (and getting stoned inside the 1 yard line) for them to finally admit that they don’t have the players capable of running their preferred system and their best chance of scoring points (and winning games) is to use the quarterback in a way that better suits his talent. The whole off season, we heard that Josh Gattis would scheme around the talent available and then when the games started, he called plays like he was still at Michigan. The good news is, we still have another half season to get thing right. We should be able to get some of the injured guys back in the coming weeks and if we continue to put the onus on TVD to win us games, we have the chance to finish as a better team than the 2021 squad. The defense, at least the front 7, is markedly improved. If they can clean up the busted coverages and use the passing game to set up the run, they can salvage a decent year and build some momentum.
 
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We lack talent and have been hit hard by injuries.

I went back the other day and started watching highlights of our 16' and 17' teams and was shocked at how loaded those teams were with NFL guys.

We were a much more athletic and talented team. Manny really did a poor job developing the talent he acquired during his tenure as head coach
 
ideide1990 said:
As Bill Parcells famously stated 30 years ago, "you are what your record says you are." This statement sums up the team, we are 3-3 and a mediocre football team. Why? It clearly is a litany of administration coaching choices, recruiting and the lack of culture over the past 20 years. IMO, here is my humble evaluation of the roster and where we go from here:

1. We lack overall speed on both sides of the ball. Shockingly, as a South Fla school speed should never be an issue. Look at our skill people and back 7 on d and the absence of speed is glaring. Even FSU looks much faster than us 9will probably be the difference when we play). Clearly, Mario is aware of what he inherited and will upgrade the speed issue (Washington, Joseph and some others on the hook) db-wise, not sure we have answers there yet.

2. TVD is a good college QB, who seems to be a one trick pony (Lashlee spread is only offense he can comfortably run). I am not sure you can win in today's College landscape with an immobile QB, while also having a below average line. Just a bad recipe.

3. Running backs are ok, nothing special. Our two best guys, Chaney and Citizen are not available, and the rest are serviceable with Parrish being a good portal pickup.

4. Wide receivers, are nice size, but as mentioned no break away speed. I would say every receiver on Bama is faster than our guys. Just some bad recruiting by Richt/Diaz,Likens, etc.

5. Oline is just horrid. Total finese and would dare say our best lineman are frosh or currently playing at IMG and Pancake in Massachusetts. Mario and Mirabel must be shaking their heads every day seeing these junior and senior lineman practice and play.

6. Dline shows promise, but we need to get bigger and stronger. Mario and his staff brought in some very good players (imagine Dline without Mesidor, Jackson, etc.) I think portal will be used quite a bit here next year.

7. Linebacker play is abysmal. Again, horrible recruiting by Manny and guys are too small or too slow. Best guy is Wesley and that is a damning statement, as a true frosh should never be your best player. Guys like Huff, Steed, pure busts. K. Smith and C. Smith appear to be JAGS. Bryant, Washington and Aguirre should help, but portal is necessary big-time.

8. DB's are at best average-too many bad habits, and can only play man to man, yet aren't fast or big enough to play man. Safeties are brutally bad, Avante is clueless on a good day, while Kam and James make as many mistakes as good plays in every game. We need major portal help here, while hoping we can recruit better. So far we have basically struck out in secondary.

Lastly, a couple of major areas I would like to touch upon, which regardless of not having enough talent, signify the current state of program.

1. We are not a smart football team. Our players simply do not have football IQ. As Jimmy Johnson has said repeatedly, ".......smart players are a necessity to winning games." Our best teams had the smartest players, Ed Reed, Ray Lewis, Leon Searcy, Bryant McKinnie, Vince Wilfork, Mike Barrow and Jonathan Vilma , etc. Besides being great players they were all really high football IQ guys. I watch TVD (not running down time clock with lead, TeCoury hitting a guy 5 yards out of bounds, Avante and James Williams not understanding basic concepts, penalties on every other play etc. Some of these mistakes are not correctable, just dumb football.

2. There is a culture on this team that Mario recognizes must be changed, unfortunately can't be done in 9 months. Kirby was 8-4 year one and almost lost to Nichols State at home, Nick lost 12 games his first 3 years at LSU. They both inherited bad rosters and more importantly bad cultures. Our players are used to losing close games and become easily dejected when things go astray. That has been happening since 2005, and isn't changed overnight.


3. Everyone says we have to "keep south fla players home." I would counter that by saying, we have to keep the "BEST players home. Urban Meyer rarely recruited South Fla, as he felt they were generally poorly coached and had a sense of entitlement. Bama, Georgia, etc. poach the best receivers, dlinemen, backers, rb's and db's, but don't go overboard with South Fla talent. Typically, this area is void of qb, oline and te talent. Bottom line, this is where Alonzo should and will have his greatest impact. We have to get better at talent selection and acquisition. We have simply been really bad at recruiting. Mario/Alonzo will fix this issue. At the end of the day, it is really about the 'Jimmy and Joes." Remember, Coker, Ed O, Chizek, Les Miles all won titles, and none are x and o geniuses. They had great assistants and managed not to ***** up crazy talented rosters. Give Mario 2 more years to replenish this roster and watch what happens.
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You hit that out of the ball park in terms of your roster eval. Great job and I am in full agreement.
 
I agree on the assessment of south Florida. People underestimate how many of our great players aren’t from here. We need great players from anywhere…. Enough with the 3 star in Miami is 4-5 elsewhere… that **** is done
 
Just a few mid season bowl projections I have seen that i believe are all in the last week. Basically proving no one has a clue what to expect from this team.

Vs Minnesota in the Pinstripe
Vs Utah in the Holiday
Vs ND in the Reliaquest
Vs Miss St in the Gator
 
A lot of your roster analysis was on point. The concerning thing about the coaching so far has been that all the new players brought in over the offseason with the exception of a Mesidor and Colbie Young I guess seem to have regressed from their level of play at their previous schools and/or have been making the same bonehead mistakes the rest of the team makes. Skinner as mentioned before not getting out of bounds against UNC, Agude and Caleb Johnson have both played at a 2nd team All PAC-12 level in the past, Caleb Johnson can't even get on the field and Agude is unnoticeable most of the time, Daryl Porter had a pretty productive freshman year at WVU, Darrell Jackson came on late last year at Maryland and was expected by some to be a force right away, he's been decent but not needle moving, Parrish had slightly better numbers last year in the SEC, Sagaplou and Denis spent time with Mirabel and Mario at Oregon and were both in the 2 deep and now that they are here seem to be no different than the Gaynor's and the countless other average OL that we have been trotting out for years.

All this talk of Mario having to change the culture, etc might have some validity. But so far Mario and this All star assistant coaching staff haven't proven that they can even make winners out of players that had nothing to do with the poor culture and Manny.
 
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HurricanePhilly said:
Just a few mid season bowl projections I have seen that i believe are all in the last week. Basically proving no one has a clue what to expect from this team.

Vs Minnesota in the Pinstripe
Vs Utah in the Holiday
Vs ND in the Reliaquest
Vs Miss St in the Gator
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Oh no please not Utah.
 
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