FL Cane
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- Aug 26, 2018
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Overall, an average start to the 2020 campaign. The team wasn't spectacular, but they weren't bad. At the least, we didn't lose to a C-USA team (pathetic I know, but with 2019 anything was possible), and we didn't really show any film for Louisville. Overall here are my grades for each position, let me know what you guys think.
QB --> B+: King excelled in the run game, bailing out our OL and gashing UAB a number of times. Had that been N'Kosi or Jarren back there, we'd been talking about our OL giving up five sacks, again. On the passing game, he needs to get into a rhythm. He missed some wide-open guys (especially down inside the ten) that probably would've put is in the 45 point range had he been on the mark. Also didn't turn the ball over or make any dumb decisions, which has been lacking the past few years. He's a special talent, and he'll only get better as we open up the playbook.
RB --> A+: Cam Harris is the real deal and showed out. He's as much a threat in the passing game as he is on the ground. Knighton and Chaney also showed flashes, and they're going to be a force for years to come. One area of concern with Cam is his vision, there were a number of times that he made the wrong cut and ran straight into a defender (rather than bouncing outside into the flat where he had space and the angle). Even with an average OL, these guys ripped off 250+ yds on the ground. No issues here, we're loaded.
TE--> C+: Hard to grade this group as we really didn't use them whatsoever this game. Brevin had two nice catches including the TD, and there didn't seem to be any blocking issues upfront. Overall, I think this was by design. Brevin and Mallory are going to factor heavily into our offense, and my feeling is that Lashlee didn't want to show anything on film to Louisville.
WR--> D: Not a good game at all from the WR's. They had issues getting separation all game long and really didn't factor into the equation. We don't have a clear WR1 at this position and it shows. We need someone to emerge here consistently, otherwise, we're going to need to hope that someone randomly shows up every game. To be fair, it's also hard for these guys to show out when we were so run-heavy, but when they had their chances they didn't capitalize.
OL--> C-: Definitely looking better than the disaster from last year, but that's because we have a QB in King that isn't a statue in the pocket. If not for him, they'd be looking at a D-/F grade. They did enough in the run game to give our RB's and King opportunities to move the ball, but we still have issues with pass protection. The hope is that when we open up our playbook, we'll scheme better and cover some of these issues.
Overall Offensive Grade--> C+-: We didn't turn the ball over, ran for over 350+ on the ground for the first time in forever, didn't give up 5 sacks, and scored 31 points (unheard of last year). Factor in a lack of spring practice to install the offense and, overall, being run-heavy and vanilla (hoping it was vanilla), we were good enough. Nevertheless, we CANNOT miss wide open WR's in the endzone and downfield. Ok to do against a team like UAB, but if we do that against Louisville we're not winning. Lots of improvement needed on this side of the ball, here's to hoping that as we continue to play and open up the playbook, we get more explosive.
DL--> Run Defense - B+/Pass Rush - D-: Overall our DL did well enough. UAB didn't get much going in the run game, though they did gash us a few times. The biggest concern here was that UAB always seemed to shed the first tackle. Lucky that our guys swarm to the ball. On our pass rush, it was non-existent. We just couldn't consistently get to UAB's QB, and he had a pocket to throw from all night. It was as if we were always a second late. Have always been a skeptic of Todd Stroud, but our Pass Rush has to get better.
LB--> B: This unit played average, nothing special. Didn't make any big mistakes or blow any pass coverages they had to pick up, but this group wasn't a force. Hoping that we see them a bit more active in the coming weeks because we need it.
DB--> Ivey-F/Everyone Else- C+: Doesn't look like Ivey has made much progress from last year, at least at this point. Still does not turn his head when in pass protection, and doesn't take advantage when he's in position for a big play. Has a habit of trailing his WR, but doesn't have the speed to make up for it. As for everyone else, there were a number of times UAB's WR's made some easy catches. Against better talent and scheming, we'd get torched. This is a position where we need to get better. Credit to Blades btw, he looks like our best DB.
S--> B: Nothing to really talk about here, our safeties didn't have to worry about making a game-saving tackle or being a last line of defense in a lot of cases. Hall, Bolden, and Carter are solid back there.
Overall Defensive Grade --> B+: Our defense gave up only 14 points, got off the field most of the time on third down, and didn't give up any huge plays. Nevertheless, this is against inferior talent and a better team would've taken advantage. Right now our Pass Rush is average at best, and our DB's are suspect. This unit needs improvement, and unfortunately, they need a better DC. Some of the coverages Blake calls on third still blow my mind, and ever since 2017 it seems like it takes a miracle for us to force a turnover or two in a game. Hopefully, like the offense, they get way better as the season goes on.
K--> A+: Seriously, we have a kicker that made his FG AND had no issues with his XP's. Borregales is solid, and we won't have any issues here all season. Unlike last year, we can make a 30-yd field goal. Also, he had no issue making that sure all his kicks were touchbacks.
P--> A+: Hedley is only going to get better. To think two years ago we could never flip the field. Now, we do it almost every time we punt.
Overall ST Grade --> A+
Overall, I'm hoping that our lackluster offensive performance was more of an effect of the design of our game plan instead of our actual potential. Seems obvious that Lashlee was going Vanilla most of the game because once we opened up the playbook a bit we started scoring. Pretty clear that they didn't want to give Louisville any tape for next week. As for Manny, really wish his game management skills would be better. No reason why, with 2 TO's and 24 seconds left in the first half deep in their territory that he doesn't call a TO rather than burning the clock to two seconds. Had he done that instead of burning clock, with the gash that King made, we'd at least have had a FG. As for the defense, Baker needs to be way better and our guys need to live up to their potential.
QB --> B+: King excelled in the run game, bailing out our OL and gashing UAB a number of times. Had that been N'Kosi or Jarren back there, we'd been talking about our OL giving up five sacks, again. On the passing game, he needs to get into a rhythm. He missed some wide-open guys (especially down inside the ten) that probably would've put is in the 45 point range had he been on the mark. Also didn't turn the ball over or make any dumb decisions, which has been lacking the past few years. He's a special talent, and he'll only get better as we open up the playbook.
RB --> A+: Cam Harris is the real deal and showed out. He's as much a threat in the passing game as he is on the ground. Knighton and Chaney also showed flashes, and they're going to be a force for years to come. One area of concern with Cam is his vision, there were a number of times that he made the wrong cut and ran straight into a defender (rather than bouncing outside into the flat where he had space and the angle). Even with an average OL, these guys ripped off 250+ yds on the ground. No issues here, we're loaded.
TE--> C+: Hard to grade this group as we really didn't use them whatsoever this game. Brevin had two nice catches including the TD, and there didn't seem to be any blocking issues upfront. Overall, I think this was by design. Brevin and Mallory are going to factor heavily into our offense, and my feeling is that Lashlee didn't want to show anything on film to Louisville.
WR--> D: Not a good game at all from the WR's. They had issues getting separation all game long and really didn't factor into the equation. We don't have a clear WR1 at this position and it shows. We need someone to emerge here consistently, otherwise, we're going to need to hope that someone randomly shows up every game. To be fair, it's also hard for these guys to show out when we were so run-heavy, but when they had their chances they didn't capitalize.
OL--> C-: Definitely looking better than the disaster from last year, but that's because we have a QB in King that isn't a statue in the pocket. If not for him, they'd be looking at a D-/F grade. They did enough in the run game to give our RB's and King opportunities to move the ball, but we still have issues with pass protection. The hope is that when we open up our playbook, we'll scheme better and cover some of these issues.
Overall Offensive Grade--> C+-: We didn't turn the ball over, ran for over 350+ on the ground for the first time in forever, didn't give up 5 sacks, and scored 31 points (unheard of last year). Factor in a lack of spring practice to install the offense and, overall, being run-heavy and vanilla (hoping it was vanilla), we were good enough. Nevertheless, we CANNOT miss wide open WR's in the endzone and downfield. Ok to do against a team like UAB, but if we do that against Louisville we're not winning. Lots of improvement needed on this side of the ball, here's to hoping that as we continue to play and open up the playbook, we get more explosive.
DL--> Run Defense - B+/Pass Rush - D-: Overall our DL did well enough. UAB didn't get much going in the run game, though they did gash us a few times. The biggest concern here was that UAB always seemed to shed the first tackle. Lucky that our guys swarm to the ball. On our pass rush, it was non-existent. We just couldn't consistently get to UAB's QB, and he had a pocket to throw from all night. It was as if we were always a second late. Have always been a skeptic of Todd Stroud, but our Pass Rush has to get better.
LB--> B: This unit played average, nothing special. Didn't make any big mistakes or blow any pass coverages they had to pick up, but this group wasn't a force. Hoping that we see them a bit more active in the coming weeks because we need it.
DB--> Ivey-F/Everyone Else- C+: Doesn't look like Ivey has made much progress from last year, at least at this point. Still does not turn his head when in pass protection, and doesn't take advantage when he's in position for a big play. Has a habit of trailing his WR, but doesn't have the speed to make up for it. As for everyone else, there were a number of times UAB's WR's made some easy catches. Against better talent and scheming, we'd get torched. This is a position where we need to get better. Credit to Blades btw, he looks like our best DB.
S--> B: Nothing to really talk about here, our safeties didn't have to worry about making a game-saving tackle or being a last line of defense in a lot of cases. Hall, Bolden, and Carter are solid back there.
Overall Defensive Grade --> B+: Our defense gave up only 14 points, got off the field most of the time on third down, and didn't give up any huge plays. Nevertheless, this is against inferior talent and a better team would've taken advantage. Right now our Pass Rush is average at best, and our DB's are suspect. This unit needs improvement, and unfortunately, they need a better DC. Some of the coverages Blake calls on third still blow my mind, and ever since 2017 it seems like it takes a miracle for us to force a turnover or two in a game. Hopefully, like the offense, they get way better as the season goes on.
K--> A+: Seriously, we have a kicker that made his FG AND had no issues with his XP's. Borregales is solid, and we won't have any issues here all season. Unlike last year, we can make a 30-yd field goal. Also, he had no issue making that sure all his kicks were touchbacks.
P--> A+: Hedley is only going to get better. To think two years ago we could never flip the field. Now, we do it almost every time we punt.
Overall ST Grade --> A+
Overall, I'm hoping that our lackluster offensive performance was more of an effect of the design of our game plan instead of our actual potential. Seems obvious that Lashlee was going Vanilla most of the game because once we opened up the playbook a bit we started scoring. Pretty clear that they didn't want to give Louisville any tape for next week. As for Manny, really wish his game management skills would be better. No reason why, with 2 TO's and 24 seconds left in the first half deep in their territory that he doesn't call a TO rather than burning the clock to two seconds. Had he done that instead of burning clock, with the gash that King made, we'd at least have had a FG. As for the defense, Baker needs to be way better and our guys need to live up to their potential.
