What we knew and what we don't...sort of

Moonman

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This is gonna be long. So if you have a short attention span maybe you should go read another thread. I recommend the 10,000th Butch thread. Those are always good for some mindless bull****.

Anyways, 2020 was a unique season to say the least. There were plenty of questions going into spring after a disastrous end to the 2019 campaign...and that was even before the whole Fauci virus thing hit.

What this post is gonna be about is what we knew or didn’t know then, compared to what we know and may or may not know now.

Let’s get started.

What we knew (QB):

We had a new QB who was almost guaranteed to be 110% better than the debacle we had at QB in 2019. Also, a new OC.

What we didn't know:

How the marriage of King and Lashlee would look on gameday.

What we know now:

King flourished under Lashlee. Here's where King ranked statistically in 2020 among returning P5 starting QBs entering 2021:

Total offense: #6
Passing yards: #5
Passing yards per game: #10
Rushing yards per game: #8
Completion percentage: #12
Yards per attempt: #6
Yards per completion: #14
Passing efficiency: #5
Passing touchdowns: #4
Points responsible for: #4
Points per game: #7

Led by D'Eriq King, Lashlee's offense produced 34 points and 440 yards per game.

Unfortunately, as we all know King injured his knee in the bowl game. While he's on pace to return in the fall, we don't really know how the knee will affect his play in 2021.

At Auburn, both Nick Marshall and Sean White improved in every passing category in their second year(s) with Lashlee. I think we can expect a mature, driven D'Eriq King to perform at a high level in 2021.

What we knew (RB):

With Deejay Dallas departing early for the NFL, there was no doubt that Cam'Ron Harris was our #1 back entering 2020.

What we didn't know:

Could Harris handle the load? Would freshmen Chaney and Knighton be ready to step in and contribute right away?

What we know now:

Harris started strong but a then had a three game stretch in which he gained a grand total of 35 yards on 28 carries. Chaney and Knighton combined for 537 yards and 4 touchdowns on the season. Harris bounced back and averaged a respectable 60 yards per game over the final 5 games of the season, but I think it’s obvious that Harris is not the guy. He’s got above average speed and below average contact balance. He’s elusive enough to make the average defenders miss, but he’s not going to bad plays into good plays which is something a #1 running back must do. I think it’s pretty clear that Chaney is a back with special traits. He will eventually be the starter. Knighton is a weapon who will be difficult to keep of the field. He’s got elite explosiveness and is tougher than he looks. At the very least we know we have options entering 2021, which is more than we could say 12 months ago.

What we knew (TE):

We knew we had an all-American talent with a durability problem in Brevin Jordan.

What we didn’t know:

Was the Will Mallory that showed up in the final four games of 2019 the guy we could count on moving forward, or was that just a tease?

What we know now:

Mallory is explosive and can be a match-up nightmare if he’s targeted and focused, but he tends to disappear and doesn’t seem to be a prime-time player.

Is there another tight end on the roster who gives us an x-factor? Yes, I believe Elijah Arroyo is that guy. The question is will he be ready for immediate playing time in the fall coming off injury?

What we knew (OL):

The 2019 OL was the worst I’d seen in 35 years as a CANES fan. Just in case anybody needs a reminder, we were 127th (dead last) in sacks allowed and 120th in rushing offense in 2019. It was almost certainly impossible that we could be worse.

What we didn’t know:

Was is the coaching, or did we just have a bunch of **** scrubs on the OL?

What we know now:

It was probably a little bit of both. We still allowed too many sacks and our rushing offense was not reliable enough to keep opposing defenses honest in 2020. I think it’s clear now that we had so many questions entering 2020 that it was impossible to have enough answers. Zion Nelson is better than he performed in 2019. That’s obvious now. Ousman Traore is not a P5 lineman. That’s obvious now. Scaife is better at tackle. That’s obvious now. Jakai Clark needed a redshirt year. That’s obvious now. Navaghn Donaldson needed to get healthy. That’s always been obvious. Corey Gaynor is scrappy and a leader, but he is what he is. That’s obvious now. You could argue that some of these thing were predictable, but the question is; could anyone have been expected to answer every one of these questions with the correct answers in an offseason that was cut short by the “pandemic”?

Here’s what I know. The OL is in better shape now than it was 12 months ago. It’s clear now that we have at least eight guys we can expect to play at a high enough level that we can run an offense. Do we have enough talent to be dominant? Probably not yet...but do we know enough now that we can competently run our offense? I believe so.

What we knew (WR):

Nada. Nothing. Zip. Zilch.

We literally had nobody returning at WR in 2020 who we could point to and say “yeah this guy could be our #1 guy”.

Our leading returning WR in 2020 was Mike Harley, a 5’9” 165 lb senior slot receiver with 68 career receptions. Dee Wiggins and Mark Pope had 27 and 19 career receptions respectively. Our great hope was Jeremiah Payton who had one, uno, a single reception entering 2020. We were in deep ****.

What we didn’t know:

Was Mark Pope finally gonna live up to his 5* hype in year three?

What we know now:

Big ******* NOPE on Pope...but surprisingly, Mike Harley is actually pretty fxckin’ good! Also, Keyshawn Smith might actually be the steal of the 2020 recruiting cycle. Actually, we don’t know this yet, so maybe I should step back a little but. However, we at least know that two out of three of our starting receivers are somewhat competent. Rambo is without a doubt an improvement over Pope and/or Wiggins. Pope is now the 3rd string slot receiver behind Restrepo. Wiggins is now behind Rambo. Payton is...I don’t know what the fuxk Payton is but it doesn’t matter because Brinson and Smith are probably about to push everyone else’s *** to the portal. The bottom line is, we’re in much better shape today than we were 12 months ago.

So I’m gonna cut this here it’s god**** long as fxck already and let y’all do what you do.

I’ll be back with the defense at some point...or maybe I won’t. Whatever.
 
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tenor (3).gif
 
This is gonna be long. So if you have a short attention span maybe you should go read another thread. I recommend the 10,000th Butch thread. Those are always good for some mindless bull****.

Anyways, 2020 was a unique season to say the least. There were plenty of questions going into spring after a disastrous end to the 2019 campaign...and that was even before the whole Fauci virus thing hit.

What this post is gonna be about is what we knew or didn’t know then, compared to what we know and may or may not know now.

Let’s get started.

What we knew (QB):

We had a new QB who was almost guaranteed to be 110% better than the debacle we had at QB in 2019. Also, a new OC.

What we didn't know:

How the marriage of King and Lashlee would look on gameday.

What we know now:

King flourished under Lashlee. Here's where King ranked statistically in 2020 among returning P5 starting QBs entering 2021:

Total offense: #6
Passing yards: #5
Passing yards per game: #10
Rushing yards per game: #8
Completion percentage: #12
Yards per attempt: #6
Yards per completion: #14
Passing efficiency: #5
Passing touchdowns: #5
Points responsible for: #4
Points per game: #7

Led by D'Eriq King, Lashlee's offense produced 34 points and 440 yards per game.

Unfortunately, as we all know King injured his knee in the bowl game. While he's on pace to return in the fall, we don't really know how the knee will affect his play in 2021.

At Auburn, both Nick Marshall and Sean White improved in every passing category in their second year(s) with Lashlee. I think we can expect a mature, driven D'Eriq King to perform at a high level in 2021.

What we knew (RB):

With Deejay Dallas departing early for the NFL, there was no doubt that Cam'Ron Harris was our #1 back entering 2020.

What we didn't know:

Could Harris handle the load? Would freshmen Chaney and Knighton be ready to step in and contribute right away?

What we know now:

Harris started strong but a then had a three game stretch in which he gained a grand total of 35 yards on 28 carries. Chaney and Knighton combined for 537 yards and 4 touchdowns on the season. Harris bounced back and averaged a respectable 60 yards per game over the final 5 games of the season, but I think it’s obvious that Harris is not the guy. He’s got above average speed and below average contact balance. He’s elusive enough to make the average defenders miss, but he’s not going to bad plays into good plays which is something a #1 running back must do. I think it’s pretty clear that Chaney is a back with special traits. He will eventually be the starter. Knighton is a weapon who will be difficult to keep of the field. He’s got elite explosiveness and is tougher than he looks. At the very least we know we have options entering 2021, which is more than we could say 12 months ago.

What we knew (TE):

We knew we had an all-American talent with a durability problem in Brevin Jordan.

What we didn’t know:

Was the Will Mallory that showed up in the final four games of 2019 the guy we could count on moving forward, or was that just a tease?

What we know now:

Mallory is explosive and can be a match-up nightmare if he’s targeted and focused, but he tends to disappear and doesn’t seem to be a prime-time player.

Is there another tight end on the roster who gives us an x-factor? Yes, I believe Elijah Arroyo is that guy. The question is will he be ready for immediate playing time in the fall coming off injury?

What we knew (OL):

The 2019 OL was the worst I’d seen in 35 years as a CANES fan. Just in case anybody needs a reminder, we were 127th (dead last) in sacks allowed and 120th in rushing offense in 2019. It was almost certainly impossible that we could be worse.

What we didn’t know:

Was is the coaching, or did we just have a bunch of **** scrubs on the OL?

What we know now:

It was probably a little bit of both. We still allowed too many sacks and our rushing offense was not reliable enough to keep opposing defenses honest in 2020. I think it’s clear now that we had so many questions entering 2020 that it was impossible to have enough answers. Zion Nelson is better than he performed in 2019. That’s obvious now. Ousman Traore is not a P5 lineman. That’s obvious now. Scaife is better at tackle. That’s obvious now. Jakai Clark needed a redshirt year. That’s obvious now. Navaghn Donaldson needed to get healthy. That’s always been obvious. Corey Gaynor is scrappy and a leader, but he is what he is. That’s obvious now. You could argue that some of these thing were predictable, but the question is; could anyone have been expected to answer every one of these questions with the correct answers in an offseason that was cut short by the “pandemic”?

Here’s what I know. The OL is in better shape now than it was 12 months ago. It’s clear now that we have at least eight guys we can expect to play at a high enough level that we can run an offense. Do we have enough talent to be dominant? Probably not yet...but do we know enough now that we can competently run our offense? I believe so.

What we knew (WR):

Nada. Nothing. Zip. Zilch.

We literally had nobody returning at WR in 2020 who we could point to and say “yeah this guy could be our #1 guy”.

Our leading returning WR in 2020 was Mike Harley, a 5’9” 165 lb senior slot receiver with 68 career receptions. Dee Wiggins and Mark Pope had 27 and 19 career receptions respectively. Our great hope was Jeremiah Payton who had one, uno, a single reception entering 2020. We were in deep ****.

What we didn’t know:

Was Mark Pope finally gonna live up to his 5* hype in year three?

What we know now:

Big ******* NOPE on Pope...but surprisingly, Mike Harley is actually pretty fxckin’ good! Also, Keyshawn Smith might actually be the steal of the 2020 recruiting cycle. Actually, we don’t know this yet, so maybe I should step back a little but. However, we at least know that two out of three of our starting receivers are somewhat competent. Rambo is without a doubt an improvement over Pope and/or Wiggins. Pope is now the 3rd string slot receiver behind Restrepo. Wiggins is now behind Rambo. Payton is...I don’t know what the fuxk Payton is but it doesn’t matter because Brinson and Smith are probably about to push everyone else’s *** to the portal. The bottom line is, we’re in much better shape today than we were 12 months ago.

So I’m gonna cut this here it’s god**** long as fxck already and let y’all do what you do.

I’ll be back with the defense at some point...or maybe I won’t. Whatever.
Imagine King's stats with even an average OL, let alone a good-great-elite unit upfront. And then WRs who can catch??

Cam and company with an OL that has push instead of getting pushed in? What could have been, what could have been.

To say Miami's OL remains trash is an insult to Oscar.

Kudos on Justice for starting to inch the position group back towards respectability.

Expect massive "step backwards" against Bama (IF Bama doesnt have 5+ sacks and 5+ TFLs that is embarrassing for them)--can they/will they [Miami] shake it off?

Real progress measures will be against MSU and rest of ACC. Can they improve by year end and put our Canes in a spot to appear in ACCCG? The entire season rests on OL performance. Maybe WRs making consistent catches will take some pressure off as well, but it is truly about the big beef in the trenches.

We shall see.
 
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Lot of effort in the OP. Good points too. I think the OL will definitely be better as will the WR position by default with transfers out, Rambo in and other guys getting more playing time. Not sure what will happen on D but I’m curious to see your takes on the DE and LB spots.

This one’s for you man…

AA434F71-DEE6-4E3B-BC49-93965CC0C9C6.gif
 
King flourished under Lashlee. Here's where King ranked statistically in 2020 among returning P5 starting QBs entering 2021:

Total offense: #6
Passing yards: #5
Passing yards per game: #10
Rushing yards per game: #8
Completion percentage: #12
Yards per attempt: #6
Yards per completion: #14
Passing efficiency: #5
Passing touchdowns: #5
Points responsible for: #4
Points per game: #7

Then Jake Garcia looked half decent in a spring game with a diluted offense where he couldn't get hit, and should definitely start over King.

Some of you are absolutely f**king retarded.

Separately, expect the OL to be much improved this season. Lot of guys with a lot of playing experience and a few years in the weight room.
 
Then Jake Garcia looked half decent in a spring game with a diluted offense where he couldn't get hit, and should definitely start over King.

Some of you are absolutely f**king retarded.

Separately, expect the OL to be much improved this season. Lot of guys with a lot of playing experience and a few years in the weight room.
You're one with many friends I can tell.
 
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Then Jake Garcia looked half decent in a spring game with a diluted offense where he couldn't get hit, and should definitely start over King.

Some of you are absolutely f**king retarded.

Separately, expect the OL to be much improved this season. Lot of guys with a lot of playing experience and a few years in the weight room.
Dude, why are you so mad? What’s objectionable about what he said about King in the OP?
 
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