Vincent doesn't look fat at all and we really never got a chance to see if he has his speed back because he couldn't break out. I think he was ineffectve for three reasons. 1. LSU was determined to try to establish a running game and USL seemed to know it. They were stacking the box and daring Russell to throw while Vincent was in. Once Jimbo got out of the first two drives (probably scripted) and started throwing the ball, USL had to get back in pass defense and holes started opening up. 2. The offensive line started off really poorly with a bunch of missed assignments. They were not opening up big holes and had trouble dealing with 8 in the box. We are going to see more of this if they don't improve. 3. Vincent just doesn't seem to find the hole as well as Broussard. He runs srraight into the pile a lot. Broussard seems to take the handoff at 2/3 speed, watches the blocking, and doesn't shift into high gear until he spots the seam and hits it. Vincent doesn't seem fat or slow to me, but he does need a big hole to run through and we may see more of them if Russell forces the defense to respect the pass.
JV does not look fat or slow (we saw that on the pass he caught) He looks terrifed of hitting the hole. Its almost like he is happy with his 03 season and doesnt want to get hurt and screw up his chances in the NFL.
I think he's timid hitting the hole b/c he knows he's not a power back that will break a lot of tackles. He seems to be always searching for a hole to run through. He needs space to be successful, like he had in '03. Unfortunately for him, we haven't had a dominant run blocking OL since '03. That's why we need AB this year. He can break through arm tackles and pick up some yards when nothing is there.
- OL looked terrible in the 1st half, finally made some holes for AB in the 2nd half and for Scott and Williams. Don't know if those were still the starters though. The OL really scares me right now for the running game. Those guys are going to struggle in the SEC if they don't improve. This was ULL and they struggled making holes. - JV looked terrible on the run plays but a lot of that was the OL not helping out. Personally I think he has gotten too big and lost a lot of quickness. You can blame it on the knee injury but the same was true last season b4 the injury. He is too big and bulky, it has really slowed him down. - JR looked absolutely great. Yes he had open WR's but he hit every one of them and the touch on the passes are100% better. The WR's had really good hands, too. MF and RP would have no trouble filling in for any games if they had too. I have confidence in all 3 of these guys running offense. Even with the 1 pass by RP on the roll out, you can see he will be special and Flynn looked steady and great too. The 1st TD pass by JR was incredible, he really didn't get to take a full step in to the ball and it went 60 yds. There is no better QB in CFB that can throw the long ball better, IMO. - AB looked great, but he needs to shed 20 lbs. That will make him much better and quicker. He looks like he has full confidence or at least close to 100% confidence in the knee. - The other RB's looked great also. Hester was solid, Scott and Williams will be fun to watch and are really good RB's. If JV doesn't improve I hope these guys get some PT because they will special. I feel good about everything but the O-line, I'm really nervous about how they can handle a defense like Auburn or Tenn. They have to improve. The pass protection was fine but the running lanes weren't there in the 1st half.
I didn't like Hester as a RB. He is good enough to have a some hand-offs in a blow out, but he is a better FB & we have more talented guys than him for RB. JaMarcus threw for 250 yards in in less playing time than Chris Leak. I didn't look up Cox's stats, but I'm pretty confident Russell will be the best QB in the SEC & one of the top 5 in the country this year. Flynn looked okay. There's no doubt who our starter is. Vincent looked okay, but as mentioned, it was tough to tell. If we would have had a power back loosen up their Dline & had some better run blocking, Vincent would have looked a lot better. But regardless, I was hoping to see some more out of him.
thought it was good we came out in nickel to start the game, looked like a 3-3-5 to counter USL's gimmicky offense. the more i see of pelini's schemes the more i am impressed with how sound they are. gonna have to hide our linebackers again this year. none are true lb's except beckwith. ali is decent but thats about it. dorsey as advertised. o-line pretty shabby for the run but USL had 8, 9 even 10 in the box at times daring us to throw leaving 1 on 1 with a slightly talented group of wr's on the other side. not a smart plan I didnt think. was that jared mitchell who absolutely crushed that guy on the last td run? holy shiite, that was brutal. good to see him not in a twins uni if so. jv--slow, apprehensive as I expected. broussard-must be a gamer like rohan was. when the lights came on and he got his chance he somehow looked like the same guy before injury. every earthling who saw him 2 weeks ago swore he was nowhere near his old self. not even close. well if this is half of a healthy alley, i cant wait to see more. hester-still getting far too many carries. stick to blocking and give back the pics of les so this can stop. RP--good to see ryan get some time and complete his first pass as a tiger. tell ryan miller to stop stepping on his feet. oh, one prob with rp. he wasnt paying attention of what was going on during the game. when the crowd started chanting his name to go in, he was yucking it up with a linemen nowhere to be found. maybe a small gripe but important imo. keiland and scott both showed glimpses of excellence even if in short order. wide receivers and jr seemed to have a nice rhythm/chemistry and should have a good year. i just remembered lafell is just a redshirt freshman. thats a good thing. a perrilloux/keiland/lafell 3 headed monster could become one of thes best producing offenses here ever. zenon--this dude is a football player. smallest dude on the field yet plays like the biggest. nose for the ball. each win helps me forget les miles cant speak english and my confidence in him goes up another small notch with each win. jimbo is a goner after this year as is jr. **offtopic--this cutcliffe acquisition looks to be the biggest of the offseason. ainge and UT O already have done a 180 and playing with confidence they didnt have all last year. good job ole myth. freaking idiots.
I like him in short yardage situations, especially on the goal line. He knows how to follow the fullback block and is hard-nosed.
Well, we expected him to leave in 2003, 2004, and 2005, as well. Either Jimbo is waiting for a top-tier SEC head coach job (which may be difficult to get without previous head-coaching experience) or he is happy being the highest paid assistant in the country with good job security. $400,000-plus is more than many head coaches make and comes with none of the stress of the head coach job. I think he was smart to decline Delaware and Mississipi State (coaches graveyards), but if a school with the potential to win came along, he just might take it to punch his ticket with some head-coaching experience. Jimbo really wants to be the next head coach at Auburn or LSU. Three or four years at a place like Oklahoma State or BYU might set him up nicely for such a job.
one other thing, well 2 really. the stadium looks great. hadnt seen it in awhile but that facelift has done wonders and it doesnt look old and needing to be bleached anymore. the other thing, what was up with that UStthL dude spandex-wearing dancer. really whats up with that.
