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The "depth" conversation

B Run

B Run

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I may be wrong so please correct me if I am, however the last few years I have heard Miami has a "depth" problem, especially in regards to recruiting. Yet the "depth" players that were being spoken of seem to be stepping up in big ways now...so the question is, is the "depth" conversation a little overblown? It seems like with the right coaching, "depth" isn't necessarily the issue it is made out to be.

Side note: not suggesting there is zero importance to it

Thoughts?
 
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It's not overblown. Think about where we'd be with injuries at RB now like last year. Top 2 injured then the third goes down and the next man up scores the winning TD. Last year we had to plug in a 3rd string guy from UAB off the street. No amount of coaching would fix that.

Depth is a lot better but not ideal. One thing that always stood out to me when watching the great early 2000 teams was how guys would sub in and the production wouldn't drop *at all*. McDougle would go to the bench and Jamaal Green would come in and get sacks. Bibla would get a rest and Ed Wilkins would come in and road-grate people. McGahee would get a breather and Geathers is breaking huge runs.

We're not quite there yet, but getting closer, especially at WR and OL.
 
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Trav said:
It's not overblown. Think about where we'd be with injuries at RB now like last year. Top 2 injured then the third goes down and the next man up scores the winning TD. Last year we had to plug in a 3rd string guy from UAB off the street. No amount of coaching would fix that.

Depth is a lot better but not ideal. One thing that always stood out to me when watching the great early 2000 teams was how guys would sub in and the production wouldn't drop *at all*. McDougle would go to the bench and Jamaal Green would come in and get sacks. Bibla would get a rest and Ed Wilkins would come in and road-grate people. McGahee would get a breather and Geathers is breaking huge runs.

We're not quite there yet, but getting closer, especially at WR and OL.
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You just reminded me of this NY Times article about the "seven members of Miami's 2001 OLine." It's a really interesting read if anyone hasn't seen it...and very representative of the era.

 
Trav said:
It's not overblown. Think about where we'd be with injuries at RB now like last year. Top 2 injured then the third goes down and the next man up scores the winning TD. Last year we had to plug in a 3rd string guy from UAB off the street. No amount of coaching would fix that.

Depth is a lot better but not ideal. One thing that always stood out to me when watching the great early 2000 teams was how guys would sub in and the production wouldn't drop *at all*. McDougle would go to the bench and Jamaal Green would come in and get sacks. Bibla would get a rest and Ed Wilkins would come in and road-grate people. McGahee would get a breather and Geathers is breaking huge runs.

We're not quite there yet, but getting closer, especially at WR and OL.
Click to expand...
That brings up another good point... it's not just if someone gets injured (which is certainly important), but having depth that you can count on means that players can get rest without a huge drop off. As you said, we used to be able to rotate basically the entire DL w/o much of a drop off, now we have guys playing pretty much the entire game hoping they dont get injured, never mind being able to keep them fresh.
 
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We had a true freshman start at QB because we have only 3 total QBs on the roster and the guy who is a year older than him struggles to hit the broad side of a barn (nice expression boomer) with his passes. Most teams have 4-6 scholarship QBs on roster. We have three.

The OL talent drops off significantly after about OL #7 (5 starters, plus McCoy and Samson who is hurt).

I could go through all the groups, but I'm already bored. The issue is the talent level drops off significantly in certain position groups quickly.
 
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cway313 said:
What position do we have depth at?
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I wouldn't say we have great depth at OL. But if you look at the way we started the season vs where we were last year. You had guys playing last year like Sagopalu that looks buried on the depth chart this year.

Flagg is coming off the bench vs a starter. K smith no longer sees the field. Those are all big steps in the right direction. Clearly Mario needs more time to build the depth to where we want it, but it's night and day from last year.

Last year's team could have been another 7/8 win team but the injury bug hit hard and our depth was atrocious.
 
[]_[] swag said:
I wouldn't say we have great depth at OL. But if you look at the way we started the season vs where we were last year. You had guys playing last year like Sagopalu that looks buried on the depth chart this year.

Flagg is coming off the bench vs a starter. K smith no longer sees the field. Those are all big steps in the right direction. Clearly Mario needs more time to build the depth to where we want it, but it's night and day from last year.

Last year's team could have been another 7/8 win team but the injury bug hit hard and our depth was atrocious.
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You are talking about better starters. Our backup OL isn't better.
 
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B Run said:
I may be wrong so please correct me if I am, however the last few years I have heard Miami has a "depth" problem, especially in regards to recruiting. Yet the "depth" players that were being spoken of seem to be stepping up in big ways now...so the question is, is the "depth" conversation a little overblown? It seems like with the right coaching, "depth" isn't necessarily the issue it is made out to be.

Side note: not suggesting there is zero importance to it

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
We have more depth than people want to admit. We don't beat A&M or Clemson without it. We may not be natty ready but we are a top 15 team
 
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