🏈 Next Year

[Tidestalker]

I'm more than willing to bitch about last night and all... But also into looking forward to next season. Some big shoes to fill on the squad and a lot of young talent needing to step up! Here are the issues:

1. Is Saban still up for it? Sure hope so...

2. We need a kicker. For real... We need a kicker. That shit tonight was enough to make Saban lose his mind.. So much so he had the kicker lead blocking. Damn

3. 2nd CB. It's an issue. Looked to me like Smith may have ruptured an Achilles or something along those lines... I'm assuming he will be healthy by next season, but even so... We need an upgrade. He's one of the least "aware" players we've ever had on the field, it had to drive CNS crazy. (EDIT - just remembered Diggs will be back. LET'S GOOOO!)

4. ILB. We've all heard Mack flirting with coming back... Hope he does. He has a lot to prove. Moses as well. But will Moody, Benton, or a freshman be ready to step in otherwise? That position was a disaster the last 6 quarters... Hard to stop good teams if your LB's aren't flying around making plays.

5. OLB. So we will have Lewis back, HOPEFULLY HEALTHY. That should be a huge upgrade. Jennings probably did enough to warrant a solid draft stock... Guessing he goes. If so, who's next? Anoma? We saw what our secondary could look like tonight with no pass rush and that was just painful. We really, really missed having game changing edge rushers the last 6 quarters. Maybe Chris Allen will be elite... Someone must step up.

6. DL. Huuuuuge question marks here. Q Williams covered up a lot of issues. 1 thing I cannot understand is why L. Ray was buried basically all season. He, Mathis, Barimore, and Wynn are up next. Someone needs to be the alpha.... Ray has the talent. Musika appears to be another JUCO flub... But maybe we can get a grad transfer to help with depth.

7. OL - Replacing Jonah and Piersbacher... If D. Brown can stay off the hippie lettuce that should pop Leatherwood to tackle. Or maybe big Womack slides in at tackle and leaves AL inside. Is it Owens or Ekiyor at center? We will need a good one!

Feel free to add to the list. Oh yeah... Punter. And, defensive coordinator? Did I say that out loud? RTR

 

[bamascw]

And yet another offensive coordinator.

 

[BamaMD]

I agree with your list. I love what our offense was able to accomplish this year, but I'm not sure why we can't put in an additional 10-12 plays utilizing the I-formation, split backs or something to show the defense a different look. How about utilizing things that have hurt the opposing team throughout the year or plays that have worked in the past? Did Locksley even try to exploit mismatches or did he just run his offense? That was one of the things I loved about Kiffin. He studied the game and found the mismatches. From a defensive standpoint, we have not adapted at all. We consistently played man coverage on 3rd and long. No zone. This game could have been so different with just a few offensive and defensive adjustments. I know Tosh is new and he will learn, but there appeared to be no half time adjustments. Finally, I'm not sure why we don't rotate our defensive front 7. We recruit at a high level and have a bench full of players not utilize our talent. Why not put in our young players if only for a few plays. It surely wouldn't have been any worse than Buggs and Davis who disappeared on a regular basis this year. All in all, a great year but a very disappointing end.

 

[rammerjammer]

And yet another offensive coordinator.

I don't think this is that big of an issue. Enos has been on the sidelines all year signaling in the plays that Locks has been calling. There will be continuity there.

 

[BamaMD]

And yet another offensive coordinator.

What is this, the 5th one in 4 years or something like that? Days like this make me miss Kiffin (minus the jet sweeps).

 

[50+yeartidefan]

Well...Roll Tide....
@Tidestalker ....you hit it...
But seriously...things went wrong....
Period....and snowballsed....happens to everyone....but just not to Bama in last dozen years...

 

[BamaFan334]

I'm more than willing to bitch about last night and all... But also into looking forward to next season. Some big shoes to fill on the squad and a lot of young talent needing to step up! Here are the issues:

1. Is Saban still up for it? From what I saw, there was no fire in him last night. Our whole team look defeated from the get go. I think with some rest and this killer class coming in he will rejuvenate the team and have them ready to take Clemson on again next year. Clemson is losing a lot of pieces to their defense which won them the game, but we have a lot coming back everywhere. I think Coach will be ready.

2. We need a kicker. Agreed. Missing the most extra points in D-1 football is unbelievable. it put us in a bind last night. Field goals weren't going to win the game, but they damn sure keep us in it to where we can extend the game and hopefully break through. Reichard coming in will hopefully help.

3. 2nd CB. Diggs will be back as you mentioned, but we are also bringing in a big class of defensive backs. I think we have so many that one is bound to stick. Surtain II will be a stud for us, Diggs is going to do well, so hopefully Jobe will continue to work and get to that point of being there for the defense next season. Eddie Smith has done well in practice, Jaylen Armor-Davis, Jeffrey Carter, Brandon Turnage, Marcus Banks, and maybe Christian Williams give us a lot of hopeful opportunities.

4. ILB. Not sure why folks are down on Dylan Moses. He was a Butkus finalist and all over the field for us this year. Mack had a decent year, but I started seeing holes in his game the past few games. He just needs to be a leader, set his defense up, and then react. Both of these guys will be absolute terrors next year, bet on that. Shane Lee, Kaho, Christian Harris, Chris Allen, and Moody give us a lot of options to increase depth and push our starters.

5. OLB. A lot like inside, we have depth here that should allow us to utilize a pass rush and get pressure on good offenses.

6. DL. We will need some help here. I think Raekwon should stay another year, but I know Buggs and Williams are gone. I'm with you on LaBryan Ray. No clue where he went, but he shows every time he is on the field. I saw him playing hard last night. He will be a guy we need to step up. Barmore, and DJ Dale will be needed, as well as Young.

7. OL - Wondering here if Evan Neal can come in a take left tackle over while we keep the right side the exact same for continuity purposes. Womack could plug where Leatherwood is if we need to move Leather wood back to left tackle with Jonah leaving.

 

[EasyTider]

So consensus of opinion on juniors who’ll declare are:

92, 73, 8, 14, 99 & 82?

 

[Tidestalker]

So consensus of opinion on juniors who’ll declare are:

92, 73, 8, 14, 99 & 82?

Sounds about right to me. IMO #8 and #92 are the painful losses. Coming into this season there's no way we could've seen that coming... And in order to win National Championships, as we've seen, you need STUDS. Not just do your job guys. Those 2 guys were special all season (Jonah as well but we have OT's) and replacing their studliness seems like a long shot. By the end of next season we will need 2 more guys to dominate games the way they did.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

@Tidestalker ....
They tend to show up....
Bama and end of dynasty talk ...is Saban washed up....and its all Dabo n Clemson as greatest ever will be the most irritating talk.... the new darlings..
people will forget how Bama dominated them equally last year...( not quite as big a blowout...but still)....
Just 8 1/2 months.....till ko..

 

['65 Cobra]

1. It's tough today, but we need to step back and take a breath and not over-react. We had a great season and Clemson wanted it more. They were the better team last night. Now, having said that:
2. Our Coordinators - The last three games - our toughest opponents all year - IMHO, showed a real inability to make adjustments on the fly. Love Locksley, but as opposing defenses figured out how to defend our O, he made few adjustments. Tosh seems incapable of making adjustments during the game. Locks is gone, but what do we do about Tosh? I think he needs some help.
3. EDGE - we need a standout EDGE rusher (or two). Clemson's O-line will likely have 3 or 4 NFL draftees - they are awesome. Still, we got NO pressure. We may need to be willing to play young guys more.
4. ILB - Mack especially and Moses to a lesser degree can't cover. It's a real liability.
5. Offense - We have a lot of returning skill players on O which is awesome. The problem is... What of the O-Line? Move Leatherwood to the left? Who plays center? Can Enos take better advantage of the running game?
6. Defense - A lot of players to replace, but a lot of talent ready to move up. We need to be able to play young guys. However, Tosh needs help.
7. Final thought. As I reflect, in years past, we always had that one player on both offense and defense who were known and active and vocal leaders on the field. That's one thing Jalen was really good at. Tua needs to take that step next year - take the leadership role and own it and become active about it. On defense, who will that be? Mack never really owned it this year. We need active, vocal, and demonstrative field generals on both sides of the ball.

 

[We All Bleed Crimson]

How can we avoid the coaching turnover? When we get a good one, we need to hang on to him for a while. These kids are having to learn some new things every year. Looking at Clemson's DC, he has been there for years now, even though schools have shown interest in making him the head coach. This year's O and D looked very different. The offensive difference is obvious. On D, we were not that close to what we have had for many years. The coaching carousel will eventually catch up to a program due to the lack of continuity. Even if the overall scheme is similar, the teaching of techniques is as individual as the coach teaching them.
This makes what Saban has done even more impressive since he has to replace players and coaches on an annual basis.