📡 Hugh Freeze ‘happy’ for former Ole Miss assistant Dan Werner, not worried about advantage for Bama

[18Champs]

Hugh Freeze wishes it wasn’t with Ole Miss’ most dominant SEC West rival, but that’s the only gripe Freeze has about Dan Werner’s new gig.

Fox Sports reported Tuesday that Werner, the Rebels’ former offensive coordinator, had been hired in an off-field role at Alabama as an offensive analyst. Freeze fired the only offensive coordinator he’d had in his first five years in Oxford in December as part of a significant staff shakeup following a 5-7 season.

Freeze said he got a phone call about Werner’s candidacy for the position on Nick Saban’s staff and “talked to him all the way through it.”

“Hopefully I helped him,” Freeze said. “I don’t know if I did or not. He got it, so I didn’t hurt him. I think Dan is a heck of a football coach and even more of a quality man. He deserves any opportunity he gets, and I’m really happy for him. I hate that it’s in the SEC West, but that tends to happen.”

As for any advantage Alabama may get on Ole Miss by bringing Werner aboard, Freeze said he’s not worried about it.

Tyler Siskey made headlines in 2013 when he, then Alabama’s director of player personnel after being Ole Miss’ recruiting coordinator the year before, was spotted by TV cameras in the coaches’ booth looking through binoculars during Alabama’s game against the Rebels in Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Tide won 25-0.

Ole Miss is installing a new offense under Werner’s replacement, Phil Longo, that includes new terminology and will feature different hand signals than what the Rebels have used in the past.

“Everything’s totally new this year,” Freeze said.

It didn’t come as a surprise to Freeze that Alabama was interested in Werner, who directed some of the Rebels’ most prolific offenses, particularly through the air. Ole Miss has finished in the top 15 nationally in passing each of the last two seasons and set program records in 2015 for scoring, touchdowns, passing yards, total offense and 50-point games.

Some of the Rebels’ best performances under Werner came against the Tide, helping Ole Miss win two of the last three in the series. Ole Miss has averaged 36 points a game against Alabama the last three seasons while scoring 43 and rolling up more than 430 yards in back-to-back years.

http://www.oxfordeagle.com/2017/03/...rner-not-worried-about-advantage-for-alabama/

 

[TUSKtimes]

Having this dude in place will be more about Bama replicating what worked so well, which was plenty, and less about a single game. Getting a feel for how Freeze likes to do business can't hurt, but this is a very talented OC and he should be properly debriefed before his next gig. The borg had it right.

 

[TerryP]

Having this dude in place will be more about Bama replicating what worked so well, which was plenty, and less about a single game.

He's got a lot more insight to attacking SEC defenses than Weinke.

I wish they'd pass that 10th assistant addition this season--look for Werner to take that next season if it takes that long for it to get through the rules committee. That's been Saban's goal from day one.

 

[TUSKtimes]

He's got a lot more insight to attacking SEC defenses than Weinke.

I wish they'd pass that 10th assistant addition this season--look for Werner to take that next season if it takes that long for it to get through the rules committee. That's been Saban's goal from day one.

I would put his spread passing concepts right there with Petrino, as far as what works. Coach Saban has got a lot of diversity of thought on his staff and he never seems to shy away from a new idea. This OC is high octane.

 

[musso]

Coach Saban has got a lot of diversity of thought on his staff and he never seems to shy away from a new idea.

I'm not sure if I heard this on this board or from other people, but it makes sense to me: that Saban plans to leverage his ability to recruit by deploying both kinds of offense whenever needed. Under Nuss, we began implementing the hurry up, but McCarron wasn't a dual threat type. Under Kiffin, we further developed the HUNH with Sims at QB. Coaker was more traditional, but again we saw a lot of targeted possessions with quick snaps. And then last season, Kiffin had a more proto-typical spread option QB in Hurts, but as a true freshman, he was limited in some ways. I think Saban will always prefer the ball control, methodical offensive style which conserves the reps imposed on his precious D. However, he also wants to have the ability to match the explosiveness of any Ole Miss, Oregon, Auburn, etc. on the schedule whenever he can't stop someone. I think Saban believes because of how well he recruits, he can recruit the offensive players to execute both offensive styles when needed, whereas most HUNH schools run that offense out of necessity to compensate for any personnel deficiencies in the box.

 

[TUSKtimes]

I'm not sure if I heard this on this board or from other people, but it makes sense to me: that Saban plans to leverage his ability to recruit by deploying both kinds of offense whenever needed. Under Nuss, we began implementing the hurry up, but McCarron wasn't a dual threat type. Under Kiffin, we further developed the HUNH with Sims at QB. Coaker was more traditional, but again we saw a lot of targeted possessions with quick snaps. And then last season, Kiffin had a more proto-typical spread option QB in Hurts, but as a true freshman, he was limited in some ways. I think Saban will always prefer the ball control, methodical offensive style which conserves the reps imposed on his precious D. However, he also wants to have the ability to match the explosiveness of any Ole Miss, Oregon, Auburn, etc. on the schedule whenever he can't stop someone. I think Saban believes because of how well he recruits, he can recruit the offensive players to execute both offensive styles when needed, whereas most HUNH schools run that offense out of necessity to compensate for any personnel deficiencies in the box.

We got a taste of the best of both worlds in the latter part of the season when Bo came into his own against LSU. We were going nowhere fast and he started powering through the middle of their defense. That power was felt through Florida and Washington and was working wonderfully against Clemson. I think Saban hit on the recipe for the happy balance for that Bama team and what they did best, run. Unfortunately, we ran out of Bo.

You brought up an interesting point about Saban's recruiting and his belief system. I don't think from his rant the other day that he believes the loss by Clemson means his scheme needs to be overhauled, tweaked yes, but he sounded defiant and resolute. I think he has the unique personnel to tweak power and speed with any scheme he chooses and be ultra successful.

 

[musso]

We got a taste of the best of both worlds in the latter part of the season when Bo came into his own against LSU. We were going nowhere fast and he started powering through the middle of their defense. That power was felt through Florida and Washington and was working wonderfully against Clemson. I think Saban hit on the recipe for the happy balance for that Bama team and what they did best, run. Unfortunately, we ran out of Bo.

You brought up an interesting point about Saban's recruiting and his belief system. I don't think from his rant the other day that he believes the loss by Clemson means his scheme needs to be overhauled, tweaked yes, but he sounded defiant and resolute. I think he has the unique personnel to tweak power and speed with any scheme he chooses and be ultra successful.

I agree. With Bo (a legitimate inside AND outside running threat), we had the perfect fall back option when our passing game went cold.

As for reading into Saban's rant, I feel like it was more about his resentment about the NCAA than about any wrong assumptions of how the offense might change. Having studied him for 10 years now, I think any little annoyance was inevitably going to set him off and draw out of him his frustrations about the latest rules.

As for the Clemson loss, the only real complaint I had was Saban not using any of his last two TOs before Clemson's final TD in order to get a look at how Clemson lined up and to prepare for another pick play like the previous TD. That just wasn't like Saban at all. Everything else, given the disruption of Kiffin's dismissal, our passing game limitations, the amazing play of the Clemson receivers and Watson, I can't really complain. I felt like Saban went into that game thinking, yes Clemson has a great offense, but I have possibly the best defense I've ever had. I also have a true freshman QB who has struggled for the latter half of the season. I'm going to play conservative on offense, lean on Bo, try hard not to turn the ball over, and force Clemson to beat my defense. He knew that playing from behind would be nearly impossible with our passing problems, and the Clemson pass rush would be hard for Hurts to manage. So I don't think, based on that game, Saban needs to change anything. We simply got beat by a few exceptional throws and receptions and of course, like you said, an injured Bo.

 

[alagator]

Having studied him for 10 years now, I think any little annoyance was inevitably going to set him off and draw out of him his frustrations about the latest rules.

I disagree.

He had the NCAA and this proposal on his mind and planned on saying something about it before the presser. The question gave him the opportunity. He was going to get that out there. It was a matter of when.

 

[musso]

I disagree.

He had the NCAA and this proposal on his mind and planned on saying something about it before the presser. The question gave him the opportunity. He was going to get that out there. It was a matter of when.

We don't disagree. That's why I used the word "inevitably."