We sit in the South End Zone, as some of you all know, and I was watching the Ole Miss QB's warm up like every other team that does the same thing in every other home game, before switching my view to the Tigahs...I noticed something of particular interest to me, & I resolved to mention it to the readership here... Lane, Flatt, & Spurlock, with each and EVERY throw they made warming up, looked in the exact opposite direction of the throw's intended direction. This was something they did without fail, on each rep, each snap, each throw, each time they got snapped the ball. I started saying to myself, "Well, that's a smart way to teach your QB to warm up. Perfect practice makes perfect, after all." I then switched over to the North End Zone, and watched LSU warm up... JaMarcus, Marcus, Matt, and even the walkon continually stared down each receiver before delivering the pass, no matter what type of pass they were running. This is something they did without fail, on each rep, each snap, each throw, each time they got snapped the ball. Look, it's something small, minor, and pretty much insignificant...But, God's honest truth, I wondered, "Well, Cutcliffe groomed Peyton & Eli, and Romaro Miller was damn good, too. What's WRONG with doing it their way?" Does anyone have any better suggestions for at least TRYING to teach our signal callers to look off their primary intended target?
Well I talked about Jamarcus staring down his receivers in an earlier post. Matt Mauck was also very bad at doing this and honestly he threw poorly against most of the good teams. Yes we won a National Championship with him but it was mostly because of defense and running game. He was much better than what we have now but he definitely stared down receivers too much. You simply can not have a very good passing team against good defensive backs if you do that. Rohan would look all over the field and you never knew where the ball was going. That keeps corners and safeties from cheating on you. The coaches must fix this. Manning Senior probably taught Cut that drill. I don't like the Mannings too much but they know how to develop QB's.
Another thing. Remember how Saban has been complaining throughout the year about Russell throwing to the wrong receiver. I think that since they have been pounding that into his head so much, now he makes DAMN SURE that he zeroes in on who he is supposed to throw to. This has made things worse. Just my opinion. Fire away.
I'm not 100% sure how CNS structures his staff, but since defense is his specialty, it appears to me that he works closely with Muschamp to create schemes and gameplans and gives alot of freedom to Fisher to develop the offense. I'm not sure who the QB coach is, but it's really something that needs to be evaluated at the end of the year. JR has a world of potential, but he is still a work in progress and needs help developing his talent.
If we have the same QB coach that coached Davey and Mauck, then I don't think the problem lies with him. Whoever was QB coach at that time did a heck of a job, and I suppose it's the same person that we still have on staff. Fire away anyone who knows the particulars on the QB coach. I just hope JR turns it all around next year. He will definitely have a lot more confidence coming into next year if he works hard in the offseason, knowing that this will be his team next year (no more sharing duties). What's between the ears is usually 90 % of what makes a great QB anyway. Confidence is an intangible you can't teach. He doesn't have that right now.
Mauck threw an LSU record 28 TDs last year. He wasn't overly prone to staring at his receivers that I can remember.
I remember him doing it badly against good teams. Now one thing we have realized is that Mauck was very accurate and made good decisions. Broncos are very impressed with how accurate he is. Whan you have Clayton and Devery running by people and you are accurate, you can get away with staring down.
Perhaps somebody should mention this with a call in to Saban's radio show. We have a lot of knowlegeable people here on this forum, and though Saban is a great coach - giving ideas couldn't hurt right?
