Toe

Someday, maybe the corners of Memorial Stadium won't look like they're made out of Tinker Toys...

Starting McCaffrey shouldn't have happened either, so...

Probably sums it up:

^ Well, at least he completed a couple short passes in that video, even if they were against air...

Well, that does make me feel a bit more optimistic about him - he's at least somewhat open to playing other positions.

He's mostly just throwing shoulders in that clip. I think the only actual tackle he made was on a guy who didn't have the ball...

And I'm betting that Ohio State told him that, and he wound up overcompensating and playing soft when he saw the field for them.

You mean Crouch wasn't being butthurt about not being the guy under center?

@BigRedBuster Yeah, I was thinking specifically of Toure, Manning, and Kolarevic when I wrote that. I'm more interested in lower division guys who have proven themselves than guys with lots of hype but no results to date.

I'd say I'm still more cautiously optimistic, rather than over the moon like you'd normally be when you bring in a 5* guy. I've said before: for every Justin Fields in the transfer portal, there's ten Tate Martells. I'd be more excited about a guy who has actually shown he can play at a high level on a college field (even at a lower level). I still wanna know which position they're planning to have him play (or at least start out at). Any word on that?

*eyes glaze over, skips reading most of the thread*

January, to be exact. As I said in the post.

So did he drop his previous top three from January? Or were they non-commitable offers or something? Or just making sure he uses every OV he has available?

I think our O-line is a bit underrated TBH. They were absolutely atrocious most of the 2020 season, but at this point they're not one of my bigger concerns. Maybe not 'good', but maybe 'solidly average'. I think people tend to fixate on a few things (like Jurgens's snaps, which also weren't nearly as bad last year as they were in 2020) and miss the bigger picture there. I'm more worried about the WRs and RBs.

@Mavric Also we had an intern/grad assistant coaching QBs.

Here's another good look at quarterbacks and offenses. One chart sums up a lot for me... Have I said enough times yet that the problem with the offense isn't Martinez, it's the guys around him? https://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/2021/1/22/22243300/advanced-stats-season-review-part-2-offense-epa-cpoe-jeff-sims-success-efficiency

They pick QBR as the best metric. Last season, Martinez was in the top 25... https://www.espn.com/college-football/qbr

Oh, that's part of it, certainly. But my point is more that Solich never quite established himself as The Guy In Charge after Osborne left, and wasn't firmly in control. The Crouch vs Newcombe situation was handled poorly from a leadership standpoint, culminating in Solich driving up to Omaha and sucking up to Crouch. Supposedly, Osborne's other assistants still sorta looked at him as the RB coach, and didn't treat him with the same respect as they did Osborne, and started to slack off on things like recruiting. As mild-mannered as Osborne was, he didn't tolerate any BS from anyone on the team or his staff, and fundamentally I think that's one of the biggest areas where Solich was lacking.

Still on the roster, but apparently on the way out?

In hindsight, I consider chasing after Crouch to be the first sign that Solich was losing control of the team. Won that battle but lost the war. Pretty sure we don't have to worry about Frost chasing McCaffrey. But I do wish I could've been a fly on the wall when our coaches heard Luke was transferring again!

Speaking of 'would you take him back?' guys...

This ain't the 1980s, Boomers. You don't make more money by waiting around and hoping maybe the company will throw you a few extra scraps one day, you make more money by finding a company that'll pay you what you're worth. The ones who don't get left behind and taken advantage of.

Wake me up when he's on the roster.

Kinda surprised USC is still moving up so much in the post-Pete Carroll era.

@BartonHusker Why hello there, table from two pages ago!