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Searles is not the Answer for Offensive Line Coach

Searles was actually my least favorite hire on the new staff - mostly based on the Olines i watched in his last 2 stints at VT and Texas. What i watched on tape was not good.

I didn't judge Banda bc it seemed Diaz really liked him and he was a young, energetic guy who seemed perfect for recruiting. I really didn't know anything about Hartley or Richt Jr to judge them, although i'm judging Richt Jr a LOT now bc i don't see the benefit.....he doesn't call plays, the gameplans have not been good, and the QB play has suffered this year.
 
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The line has actually improved from last year. Searles is working with a bunch of jags at the moment.
 
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bigsonnyu said:
I totally agree!! When you recruit an OL, one of the most important attributes is the kid's feet. There are plenty of big guys around, but see if the mutha can do a few jumping jacks before you accept his commitment!

IndayArtHauz said:
tcgrad1014 said:
Ibis Wingz said:
IndayArtHauz said:
That's an equipment issue, not Searles. Problem was clearly McDermott's skates.
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How do you explain St. Louis?
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St. Louis (/seɪnt ˈluːɪs/)[SUP][10][/SUP][SUP][11][/SUP][SUP][12][/SUP] is an independent city[SUP][13][/SUP] and inland port in the U.S. state of Missouri. The city developed along the western bank of the Mississippi River, which forms Missouri's border with Illinois. In 2010, St. Louis had a population of 319,294; a 2015 estimate put the population at 315,685,[SUP][8][/SUP] making it the 60th-most populous U.S. city and the second-largest city in Missouri after Kansas City. The St. Louis metropolitan area includes the city as well as nearby areas in Missouri and Illinois; with an estimated population of 2,916,447, it has the largest metropolitan area in Missouri and is the nineteenth largest in the United States.
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This is a start. But with OL it's all about the feet. Has anyone seen St. Louis' arches? Think our OL might all have bad feet.
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I'm not going to excuse the coach, but he doesn't have a lot to work with and the part about their feet is 100 percent true.

I mentioned it numerous times last year how frustrating it was seeing us try to run a screen or seeing our OL pull / move at all. We had these players out there running and not laying their bodies on anyone time and again. They were the equivalent of a runaway truck without breaks going down the mountain and a curve is up ahead. You watch other teams run basic plays asking the OL to move, it's almost amazing to me since I forget what that looks like watching us play.

I also think the OL is frustrated quite a bit. You can see it in their looks back when BK is sacked due to him holding onto the ball rather than throwing it out of play. Sometimes the frustration comes from a back missing a block as well. There's other times where BK all but tackles himself while any non blockfooted QB would've moved into space or taken off.

BK is what he is, but he looks like he's running in quicksand at times. This last week there was a play where he literally tried going, took three steps, and hadn't even moved a hard. Another time, he looked around, basically spinning in place with plenty of space to move up in the pocket, wrapped the ball up, and just waited for the sack. Add in the fact that when he does move, he has an almost uncanny ability to run to where there's even more pressure.

The OL needs work, but what it needs is anyone's guess.
 
For you Xs and Os types, is it a scheme/personnel issue? Are we a zone blocking scheme with power players or vice versa?
 
Our OL still looks slow, fat and out of shape. One off-season can't erase the damage Golden and his crew did fattening up these kids.
 
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Footwork (or lack of it) is what jumped out at me while watching that gif. Man, it's bad all around.
 
I'm not defending Searles, but at VT and Texas he was able to improve rushing yards per game during his time there. Georgia was a different story.

Searles.JPG
 
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AUcane said:
For you Xs and Os types, is it a scheme/personnel issue? Are we a zone blocking scheme with power players or vice versa?
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We've tried it all man and nothing is working. We've seen it all, mentioned that above. In fairness, they've been asked to do a lot. BK has been asked to make more reads than ever before. There's some confusion and we've yet to establish any kind of identity at any position. You also have one back who's decent at picking up the rush, another who is God awful.

Bottomline, series to series we've seen different looks, formations, blocking schemes, you name it. We're an offense without an identity. Those with the playbook are the only one's who could accurately answer that question because it often looks like we have players on different pages. That's why I say confused.

I meant to add this before, but Linder will be good if he can ever get moved back inside. Appreciate his effort, but he's a collosal liability at tackle, but I'm guessing the best we have.
 
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The problem is a little of everything.

1 . Golden loved bug fat unathletic guys rather than looking for athletic guys with good feet.
2. Coley had them doing soft zone blocking. We are now more of a man/drive blocking team
3. Golden didn't recruit enough numbers or high caliber athletes we have guys out of position and too many guards, not enough tackles.
4 . Kaaya has bad feel and doesn't the ball out of his fans fast enough.
5. Richt isn't helping enough with not enough max protects and chip blocks being called.
6. Searels hasn't done a great job with technique.
 
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AL CANE said:
Searles sucks. Give me Kehoe any day of the week over him. All Kehoe did was pump out NFL draft picks yet everyone on here hated him.
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Keyhole and Searles are the 2 worst offensive line corches in the history of college football. Even in 2002 Keyhole's oline was godawful.

While it's only been 7 games, somehow Searles has found a way to be an even worse oline coach than Keyhole so far.
 
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