I think they could be. I see less confidence and leadership from Jefferson now than I saw from him as Freshman. Lee repeated the same mistakes week in and week out. I'm not even going bother to pull up the stats on Crowton and his offenses..... I actually like Miles, but if he's not willing to replace Crowton, he can go too. I said the same thing about Sean Payton and Gary Gibbs, and Payton made the move. We know how well that's worked out.
Athens, Alabama. Man, another Bama man at QB for the Tigers. Recently had a nice article on Stephen Rivers who is 6'6' short arm, quick release. Looks awkward on film but a thing of beauty in person. Got a feeling will look like his brother.
There are some that will tell you it's not a matter of Miles not being willing to let him go, but more a matter of him not being allowed (by Aleva) to let him go. That's a whole other thread though.
I think when you look at our current roster, we have a large amount of youth (i.e. Soph/Junior) starters and a large number of Freshman contributors. Barksdale is the only Sr. of note on the O-line. Tolliver (and to some extent Richard Murphy) is the only Sr. in a group of extremely talented skill-position players If the D-line continues it's solid play, we're young and very talented there. Same for the secondary. So, IMO, YES. This team--especially the one we could field next season would be a title contender. Again, IF we had solid QB play.
We need to do something THIS YEAR to figure out what we can do to get a decent offense. We have 1 team on our schedule that's been impressive so far this year, and that's Bama. This year isn't over yet. Personally, I think it's moving Shepard to RB. Ridley had some good runs late in the game and ended up with some good stats, but there were so many cutback lanes open early in the game and I was getting sick of Ridley running right into the back of the linemen. He started taking the cutback lanes later in the game and got some huge runs. Maybe the coaches did their job and pointed it out to him. That would be a refreshing change.
I agree, Bama looks solid! But we will play them close, and we will play them physical! Shep at RB - No way...at least not full time. RB's do so much more than just cut back, hit wide open holes and run. They pass block, they take nasty hits, they need size and strength that RS doesn’t have just yet.....he may fit as a RB in a spread situation, but not the I Ridley running good late in the game was clearly LSU's depth, against a tired and winded Vandy D-Line. We won, I am happy, but too many 3 & outs, and no ability to pass the ball. It's '08 & '09 all over again unless we can spread the ball and become an offensive threat. Yes Defense wins championships, but lack of Offense loses championships too! If we cant pass, we become too one dimensional, predictable, and beatable!
Yes, I think we are. With decent QB play, we could be really good. Defense ver solid. Running game looked better on Sat night. If our opponents had to fear a quick pass or even an occasional slant we could really attack.
I don't agree with the Crowton-bashing. Crowton's track record as an OC is off the charts. He had top-rated offenses at La Tech, BYU and Oregon. We won a :crystal:with a Crowton-lead offense and put up gaudy numbers offensively. You mean to tell me you (and everyone else that say Crowton ought to leave) just all of a sudden FORGOT how to be an OC???? You want to know what is the formula for success in a Crowton-coached offense??? A CEREBRAL QB! Tim Rattay was/is NOT a great QB. He was a SMART QB with accuracy! and made it to the NFL for awhile. Crowton had Clemens at Oregon--again, a CEREBRAL signal-caller that actually made it to the pros. Crowton had Flynn and we won our 2nd title. Flynn is now the backup in Green Bay. Crowton has had success with just about EVERY QB he's had as a starter until Flynn's departure. JLee. Thrown into the starting role before he should have. Crashed and burned. JJ. To his credit, he didn't turn the ball over like Lee did--but I think it was because JJ was scared to share Lee's fate and be relegated to the bench....but 2 years as the "starter", and he's not progressing. Crowton's offense has worked. Crowton's offense WILL work. But you can't tell me Crowton's offense is easily run by a Freshman and you CERTAINLY can't tell me that JJ has the QB- I.Q. of Rattay, Flynn and Clemons. I've got news for all of you. Crowton's offense is NOT the problem. The problem is we don't have the capable QB running it. And please, don't give me the "Well, it's Crowton's job to coach them up!" response to that either. I could be the QB...or you could be the QB...but there's ONLY so much Crowton can teach you/mold you, etc. If your talent has reached it's ceiling, it doesn't matter who's coaching you. We've been extremely unfortunate in the QB recruiting area. And be honest, it hasn't been from lack of effort. Miles, for his many faults, has shown to be an excellent recruiter. His top 10 classes speak for themselves. Miles had a line of QB's until RP's departure threw it off. We recruited Garrett--whom I though was a great signee at the time. Kid looked to have a lot of potential but turns out he was a little short on "want" and left. We get Shepard. He gets moved to WR where I don't think anyone can complain about his production there so it's best left alone. It's not like he's rotting on the bench. We get Zach Lee. A top-rated QB in the class. Its not our fault he picked a path of baseball. Now we have commitments from Rivers and are working on more. The position hasn't been ignored. If anything, it's been a focal point. We've just had bad luck in retaining them for various reasons none of which should be thrown at Miles' feet in negative light.
