How the Auburn Offense Declined.
by Acid Reign on Nov 7, 2008 9:05 AM CST
25 comments
Who's going to be playing on Sunday?
War Eagle, everyone. As we grind along towards a probable losing conclusion to this F. O. R. D. season, (or as the Joe Cribbs Carwash has decided: the 2008 Season of DEATH.) A look back on the real culprit of the disaster is in order. That culprit is, of course, a lack of playmakers on offense, at the skill positions. Arguably, we haven't had a freshman star successfully integrated into any playmaker role, since as far back as 2002. That's a long time in an SEC football program! We'll examine the history of skill player recruiting under the Tuberville administration, today.
At Ole Miss, and at Auburn early, freshman stars played early. Tuberville and his staff brought in some good ones, and put them on the field from the get-go, in Noel Mazzone's spread-out high-tech offense. Ole Miss featured such freshman stars as Grant Heard, John Avery, and Deuce McCallister. When Tuberville arrived at Auburn, wide receivers Ronney Daniels, Tavarious Robinson and Marcel Willis all played prominent roles as true freshman. Daniels, in particular, had one of the best seasons in history for an Auburn receiver. In 2000, Tuberville brought in rookie Rudi Johnson, and we saw how well that turned out. Deandre Green, Jeris McIntyre, and Robert Johnson made freshman impacts in 2000, also. In 2001, it was Carnell Williams, Jay Ratliff (a tight end, that first year) and Silas Daniels on the field early. In 2002, Tuberville took Auburn to Los Angeles, and started true freshmen Devin Aromashodu and Ben Obomanu at wide receiver. And who can forget Trey Smith's freshman performance against Bama, in the 17-7 shocker, Tumbled in T-Town?
In 2002, Auburn offensive excitement hit a new peak, as Bobby Petrino was coming in with a heck of a reputation. Alabama's Mr. Football quarterback Brandon Cox was coming in, and we signed Devin Aromashodu, Ben Obomanu, Anthony Mix, and Courtney Taylor, arguably the deepest and most talented receiver class in Auburn history. Then, something changed. Since 2002, it's been awfully rare to see a newcomer given the opportunity to shine. It took an injury to Rod Smith, last Saturday, for Chris Slaughter to get a serious look, and Slaughter responded with the best receiving game since Ronney Daniels.
After the Nall-ball fiasco in 2003, we struggled. I can, and have argued that the Nall offensive failure was due largely to dropped balls, but that's a subject for another column. This one focuses on recruiting.
Skill player-wise, 2003 was an absolute bust of a year, largely due to the departure of Bobby Petrino. Of all of the skill signees, the only ones who made any significant impact were Cole Bennett, and Carl Stewart. hardly electric playmakers. Bruce Edwards took his 4.4 speed to the baseball diamond. Kelcy Luke, Courney Denson, Ken Williams, and Kevin Williams rounded out the skill class of freshmen, and none made it through school. Some never even made to campus.
2004, was a tough recruiting season, even with the reaffirmation of Tuberville as our coach, and the hiring of Al Borges. Tuberville had survived Jetgate, but playmakers with options had already settled for a more stable situation elsewhere. Freshman skill players brought in were: Calvin Booker, Blake Field, Brad Lester, Mike McLaughlin, Jerald Watson and James Swinton. Rod Smith was an unsigned walk-on. Of those signees, only Brad Lester has made any significant contribution. The 2004 13-0 season was a great waste, as a recruiting tool. The only freshman to get significant playing time was Jerald Watson, who had his small frame run up the middle on most plays with a big Auburn lead. Watson transferred. At this point, recruits began to realize that Auburn was no longer going to play them early, and if they did, it was not going to be any sort of real offense. Failing to continue to run the full offense with those leads, was a BIG, big mistake! If you came to Auburn, you were going to toil in obscurity for 3 years or so, before you got any chance to do much.
In 2005, the message sent by the offensive staff during the 2004 season was realized. Despite a perfect season, we signed Montez Billings, Robert Dunn, Andrew McCain, Gabe McKenzie, and Tommy Trott. Prechae Rodriguez was a Juco signee. Again, no big time game-breakers. This was NOT a class one would expect, after a 13-0 season! We blew it, sitting on those leads... If not for Kenny Irons (a transfer), I think we'd have struggled a lot more, a lot sooner. Robert Dunn was one with the speed to contribute early, but it didn't happen.
2006 saw slightly better results, after again leading the SEC in offense in 2005. We signed Neil Caudle, Steven Ensminger, Mario Fannin, Michael Goggins, Tim Hawthorne, Alex Rose, Ben Tate, Chris Slaughter, and Terrell Zachary. Slaughter failed to qualify, but resigned in 2007. Those guys had some potential, but were hardly on par with some of the other SEC classes. We signed Caudle. Other schools were signing Tebow, Harvin, and Stafford. Ben Tate saw the only significant action, you guessed it, running it up the middle every late down, on the non-conference cupcakes.
2007 featured Kodi Burns, Quindarious Carr, Enrique Davis (didn't make it, now with Ole Miss), John Douglas, Chris Slaughter (re-signee), Bailey Woods, and and Brent Slusher. With the exception of Kodi, this was not a star class either. By this time, the talent drain was now in full effect on the field. Brad Lester was an electric player, when he wasn't hurt or suspended. Otherwise, we couldn't get open, couldn't run away from people, and couldn't throw it far down field. At one point, we were desperate enough to pull the redshirt off of a true freshman quarterback to have him run the read-option and quarterback draw.
2008 sported Darvin Adams, Harry Adams, Reggie Hunt, Phillip Pierre-Louis, Eric Smith, Vance Smith, Barrett Trotter, Derrick Winter, and DeRon Furr. Decent group, but hardly SEC-leading signees. The best of them, Pierre-Louis, got hurt on the first play of the season. Winter and Adams have played sparingly, but never looked to seriously. Eric Smith has played the most, due to our MASH-unit running back corps.
This year, we have some stars lined up, if they stick. But, we'll continue to struggle, unless there's some sort of commitment to playing real offense, not sitting on leads, and getting the stars the ball, with opportunities. Ask yourself this: since the star class of 2002, which Auburn skill player signees are NFL material? The answer: Only Brandon Jacobs and Kenny Irons, and both of them were transfers. Bottom line: we haven't signed an NFL-caliber skill player, as a freshman since 2002.
While our conservative play-calling style has won a bunch of games over the past six years, the well is now running dry. We need to return to Tuberville's early head-coaching roots, where stars can come in and make an immediate impact. Until we do that, we'll struggle every year on offense. I believe Tommy Tuberville knows this, and it's why he's made recruiting skill a job requirement, for his next offensive coordinator.
0 recs |
25 comments
|
Email
Print
Comments
Position Coaches
Some of these kids were projected to be big play makers. Hawthorne, Rose, Trotter, Mackenzie, Caudle, and Dunn were all expected to be potential stars. Many of these had offers from the likes of Georgia and Florida, among others. The point of your post is that we’re not signing talent. My question is: is it that or are we squandering great talent? I think even Aromashadu and Obamanu didn’t become as big time as they could’ve been. Knocks on all the AU receivers are that they don’t run routes well (sound familiar?) The position coaches are not taking these kids and making NFL talent with the exception of Gran. Pugh, Ziemba, and Leon Hart were all top of the entire country as offensive lineman that could have gone anywhere, and Mccain was supposed to be exceptional. Do you think all of these kids were just overrated? Certainly not all of them will work out. But time after time we’re seeing the same trend. Tony Bell? One of the top safties in the south. Where is he? The list seems to go on. Some of these are replaced by the Rod Smith’s and Sen’Derrick Marks of the world, but we haven’t taken a big recruit since Caddilac and turned them into NFL stars. I think a lot more responsibility lies with the coaching of these kids rather than the recruiting. We’re top 25 every year and usually near top 10.
Agreed we wasted the undefeated season and didn’t use that well, but all in all we’ve had sound recruiting. It’s time to get a brand new offensive staff (Texas Tech’s staff anyone?) that can teach these boys to block, throw, and catch.
That's an interesting observation...
…..Still, you see wide receivers who can’t run a simple out and shake off a defender, or get open deep against press coverage, or running backs who can’t turn the corner and get caught from behind… They don’t really coach speed, do they? I’d agree that recruiting, AND training these kids is lacking. How much of each, that’s where it gets gray.
bchappelle....
You nailed it. I don’t see a problem with the talent…..the whole star system is flawed. Alot of the kids that are 3 star are just as talented physically as the 5 stars with the major difference being the system or coaching that they were subjected to previously. There just can’t be that much difference between the 40th ranked and the 1st ranked WR in the country at least not physically. Some kids need a little more growth physically and mentally some just need coaching up. Tubervilles staff has historically done a good job in turning those 3 stars into NFL talent…(WR has been the weakest link) but that was with an offense that is very far removed from what was installed (I use that term loosely) this season. Our current players at least the bulk of the redshirt freshman through upper classmen were recruited for 3 yards and a cloud of dust and do not fit the system (stating the obvious I know) some can make the adjustments some can’t. Point is I don’t think the finger should be pointed towards the talent coming in as much as the transition to a new offense. Our current position coaches don’t seem to be able to teach the system (old dogs new tricks). Tuberville will get it fixed, his buddies are tenured he’s done his part for them, now he has to find a new crew for the new system.
rearranging the deck chairs
Let’s narrow this discussion a bit and focus on this coaching staff’s evaluation and development of talent at the QB position.
I’m interested in knowing when do think CTT and this coaching staff first knew that AU didn’t have a QB who would be ready to play in the SEC when Brandon Cox was finished playing due to (scheduled) graduation or season-ending injury?
Surely, this coaching staff knew it last spring.
If, this coaching staff didn’t know it before then, that’s a problem.
If, this coaching staff knew it before then, and did nothing about it, that’s a bigger problem.
The QB position is the most important position on any football team. If this coaching staff can’t recruit and then get at least one guy ready to play QB in 2-3 years, worrying about how this coaching staff may be able to fix all the other things that are wrong with this team right now is just rearranging the deck chairs — to coin a phrase.
This boils down to two things: Responsibility and accountability.
Quarterbacks...
…..We’ve recruited Jason Campbell, Brandon Cox, and Kodi Burns in ten recruiting classes. The others were all blue-collar level.
2 QBs in 10 recruiting classes
What do you mean by “blue-collar level?” I suspect you mean that you believe that all the QBs that this coaching staff recruited after the year 2002 turned out to be not talented enough to be a starting QB in the SEC.
Is it that this coaching staff cannot evaluate and/or develop talent at the QB position? Or is it that talented high school QBs do not want to play at AU? Either way, one good SEC QB … and, one adequate SEC QB in ten recruiting classes is woeful.
I’ll say it again, If this coaching staff can’t recruit at least one QB in 2003, or 2004, or 2005, or 2006 … and, get that QB ready to play when Brandon Cox either goes down to injury or finishes his eligibility … then, worrying about how this coaching staff may be able to fix all the other things that are wrong with this team right now is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
QB
Agreed QB is most important position, but for the most part you can’t truly have a guy ready to go without him playing through some tough games. Exceptions would be Tebow (man-child) and David Green (who had lineman that gave him enough time to tie his shoes and still throw downfield). Arguably throw in Stafford. Mostly across the SEC, to truly win the division, you have to have an experienced QB. Across the state at UAT, JPW is nowhere near the athlete that Burns or Todd or probably even Caudle is. But he’s hardened. He’s played under the lights with 90,000 screaming drunk cajuns. He’s taken hits from the best DE’s in the game (Auburn). Go back and look at how many division title’s have been won w/ 1st year QB’s. Pretty short list I’m sure.
I still believe strongly that Burns can be one of the best in the country. I do. I think this game against Ole Miss will make him better. He threw for epic yards and ruined it with INT’s. This is part of learning. Campbell went through it. Burns can be that good.
Off
i look at it as an offensive recession, hopefully to be followed by huge gains. don’t sell to soon.
I fully agree...
….that we have to let Kodi play. I enjoyed the 2nd half of the Ole Miss game, because at LEAST we tried to win the game. Tuberville’s comments about the running game this week are worrisome, with our two biggest games of the year coming up. I shudder to think of a shotgun-handoff-heavy game plan against Amen Corner!
Shotgun Handoff
There’s a stat I’d like to see: Average yds / carry on the option read shotgun handoff. At what point do you throw in the towel on a play that normally gets you absolutely nowhere. On the rare occasion where KB or formerly Todd ran, it showed promise. Most of the time though, it put us in 2nd and 9. But please at some point someone on that staff has got to either come up with another run play from shotgun or just scrap it and toss the ball downfield. You can say we don’t have the right personnel or whatever, just quit pounding sand and get slightly creative.
This is a rough argument.
To argue that we don’t play freshman enough and recruit playmakers to make impacts early is a tough argument. Auburn fans, including the majority here, insist on redshirting. Take for example, how many TrackemTiger readers were upset that we pulled Kodi Burns off of redshirt last season, even though he was probably that player that, as a freshman, could make the biggest impact for us?
There are only a hand full of true impact players that can come in as a freshman and make real impacts at a big time program each year. And I really believe that Auburn is going out and recruiting some of those players, we just can’t coach them for crap. How many other programs can brag that they have managed to get 2 or 3 Four-star receivers every year for the past 4 or 5 seasons? Auburn can. A team like Florida, given our 2002 receiver recruits, would have sent them all in the first two or three rounds of the NFL draft. Each would have had at least one 1000 yard season. It is a rarity when a receiver comes into college and can run big time routes, that is a coached thing, and our coaches seem to not be able to coach it.
Neil Caudle was a big time recruit that hasn’t been coached along or played when the time arose. I went and looked at the qb class of 2006 and here are the players that were ranked above Caudle that year:
1. Stafford UGA
2. Mustain Started at Arkansas as a freshman and transferred.
3. Juice Williams Illinois starter
4.Josh Freeman KSU starter
5. Pat Devlin PSU starter
6. Kevin Riley Cal starter
7. Neil Caudle 0-3 in two seasons at Auburn
However, glance at qb recruits BELOW Caudle and you find the likes of Sam Bradford, Christian Ponder of FSU, Nick Stephens of UT, and Alex Cate is splitting reps at Oklahoma State. Do you really think it is lack of talent? Tubberville and company are recruiting good players but lack the ability to coach the talent and shape them into next level stars.
Since Rudi Johnson came and left, Auburn has arguably been the number two school in country for recruiting running backs, with USC being a solid number 1. This is why we have freshman running backs that can come in and play right away when given the chance.
I would, and could, argue all day that it isn’t our recruiting that is hurting. If you constantly recruit in the top 15 classes for 5 years, your program should be in and around the top 10 constantly, unless your coaching is poor. Our skill position coaches have always been mediocre at best and it is now finally catching up with us.
I hate to break it to you but....
Tubs is part of the problem. Like I have said on other posts I think if Tubs stays he should pick who he wants to go to war with but I think this post more than ANY other shows that the game has passed Tubs by. It happens to a lot of the greats, we saw it with Pat Dye and we see it happening again. He has been living on defense since 2005 and just not putting out a competitive offensive squad because his assistants just can’t coach up the skill players. Its so obvious that he needs new blood, but other than change co-ordinators, he isn’t really making the tough decisions to make the program better. Seriously,how can you totally blame Borges and Franklin for what has happened to the offense when you can’t get adequately talented play from your QB and WR’s? Nall has been passable with the O-line but even they have struggled to maintain discipline this year. The RB’s still do fine when given a fighting chance in the I-formation so I’m giving Gran a pass. But Ensminger and Knox are HORRIFIC, Tim Hawthorn and Slaughter we’re supposed to be big time playmakers and they barely have seen the field. Dunn also is not enough of a factor and I do I even need to mention the QB play? Its been well documented that our guys are very rough mechanically and not getting any better as the season progresses. How the heck does Neil Caudle, a supposed blue chip recruit, not even make it on the field with the way Cox, Burns and Todd have played. Cox was so beat up his last two years on the plains, he was only good for handing the ball off and Caudle still sat on the sideline. Its amazing.
Look, I appreciate everthing Tubs has done, but we are sliding badly into mediocrity (or worse) and if Auburn doesn’t act to rectify this situation soon its just going to get worse. If Tubs doesn’t make wholesale changes after the season and bring in a talented OC that get us moving in the right direction quickly you might as well go ahead and call the moving vans. I know everybody hates to hear that but you know its the truth. The fan base that has seen us become a yearly factor in the SEC race and annual Bama beater is not going to idly sit by while we turn into a yearly afterthought and that is CURRENTLY where we are headed. I know Tubs got us to this point , but his recruiting magic has worn off and he is making serious strategic errors in the management of the program and that needs to change. We all think Tubs is a smart guy, but you have to be honest, he hasn’t really shown us that he is this year. We have been outcoached in every game this year, save ULM and MSU, where we lost the 2nd half in every game, even when we won. Southern Miss would have beat us had we played another Qtr and even UT has us on the ropes the whole second half. We have not made adjustments and we have not taken advantage of our strengths. Thats basic stuff, and even though I know we have had plenty of injury problems, our gameplans and schemes have exacerbated them, not diminshed them. Tubs has his work cut out for him at years end and I hope he gets lucky with the guys he brings in…including recruits because he doesn’t have much time left. He has got to show some real improvement and some imaginative strategic thinking because…hey, that’s what the competition in the SEC demands. Recruits in the SEC have a slew of great coaches to choose from and if we have a guy that can’t get a coherent and cohesive offensive system on the field we are going to get the bottom of the barrel skill guys coming to Auburn. It will effect the defensive recruits too if they know they are going to play 2/3 of the game and open themselves up to risk of injury. I know if I was an opposing SEC coach I would be talking that up to potential Auburn recuits.
Anyway, we face a tough road ahead of us, and Tubs has it harder still. I really wish him luck and I hope he takes a good look in the mirror and decides to make the tough decisions that he knows need to be made.
On what day did the Lord create Bear Bryant and couldn't he have rested on that day too?
Tuberville deserves the chance to right the ship.....
If he can’t make significant improvements next year then let he search begin but he has earned the mulligan plain and simple. You have to appreciate what the man has done at AU and if you do then you should understand why he deserves the shot.
There ain't no mulligans in football!
Definition of Mulligan: Most simply put, a “do-over.” Hit a bad shot? Take a mulligan and hit it again. Mulligans are played only when expressly agreed upon by all partners in a friendly match, and are never allowed when the official rules are being followed (i.e., in a tournament or handicap round). Mulligans are most commonly played on the first tee, or played as one mulligan per nine holes.
Well there is no double negative....
in intelligent speech. Pardon the analogy. I will say it in simpler terms so the limited minds can comprehend…… Tuberville deserves and has earned the pass for the bad year. And no I am a single digit handicap….I don’t take mulligans only hacks take mulligans. Bring it on.
In English, the double negative makes a positive ... you could look it up
A double negative occurs when two forms of negation are used in the same sentence. In some languages (or varieties of a language), negative forms are consistently used throughout the sentence to express a single negation. In other languages, a double negative is used to negate a negation, and therefore, it resolves to a positive. In English, the double negative makes a positive.
No Jr. a double negative in math does but not english.....
I may be a Science nerd but I’m not devoid of grammar skills.
Either way
“Ain’t” ain’t a word and nobody uses double negatives unless they are a backwoods ass or a sleezy lawyer. If you want to say something, say it. I don’t need to here a bunch of philosophical crap about double negatives. Maybe y’all should be on the vandy site.
by GumptownTiger on Nov 12, 2008 2:20 PM CST up reply actions
so basically your arguing that there "are"....
mulligans in football since you insist upon using the double negative and you are defining it in the same terms as a math equation. hmmmmm.
Fini
I’ve found my way to this blog because I’m interested in AU football. I’m not here to antagonize other people nor piss off self-appointed-content-police like Gumptown Tiger.
I’ve got a perfectly good reason for entitling my post "There ain’t no mulligans in football!" – however cryptic it might have been.
And, while I did not bring up the subject of "double negatives" — I will cop to keeping it going even though "double negatives" had absolutely nothing to do with the original point of my post.
If you would like to continue our discussion about my original response to your post, I suggest we do so off this board. My email is: DevilWithTheBlueDressOn@hotmail.com
Wouldn’t want to offend the self-appointed-content-police now, would we?
It was a joke dude
maybe you should change your name to xanax and take one
by GumptownTiger on Nov 14, 2008 2:37 PM CST up reply actions
Spot on !!!!
How many of the past seasons has Tuberville coached that Auburn was still talking about opening up the playbook four or five games into the season. Seems to me to be one of the most consistent themes in the Tuberville era. Or here recently …“I don’t want to give them more than they can handle” Geez ..seems like all Auburns QB’s get nursed along…why?
Coaching would be my guess, Auburn has a defensively minded head coach and nailbiting and playing not to win seems to be a staple product. I can’t recall starting the year off solid..or winning a non-conference road game which was supposed to be a key factor in becoming a national championship caliber team, or finishing off teams that seemed to be inferior. Another year of high expectations down the drain. AU will have two bowls this year…Iron Bowl and Toilet bowl..and we have already won the latter of the two…so that can be added to Tub’s good stats of bowl wins that some Auburn faithfuls keep clinging too…..I promise you there won’t be another contract extension without a crystal football ….developing surely blows so the end of the year evaluating might blow as well.. 6 million dollar bailout..if not Tubs will hire another scape goat. Even if we get a good off. Cord. He will get picked up by another program
Auburn Elvis
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2010 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
