CU WR Stellato commits to UK

[Soupbean]

Good point, football teams are much more than just a collection of players. The best teams have synergy developed between the players which normally comes from reps and coaching. You can have 10 guys in sync doing their correct thing on any given play and if the 11th does the wrong thing the play can fail.

No question. Plus when you are playing in sync and with a single purpose you just play faster as a team because there’s less wasted motion. Everyone’s mind is in it so they all react quicker.

I can hear all the military folks saying to themselves, “No Sh#%!”

 

[Catfanlou]

I don’t understand why our offense did not feast on quick short passes . Out of Qb hands in less than two seconds . Slants, hitches, flat, screens, comebacks, curls instead of long passes . We need to use their speed attacking our qbs against the defense .

 

[gamecockcat]

I don’t understand why our offense did not feast on quick short passes . Out of Qb hands in less than two seconds . Slants, hitches, flat, screens, comebacks, curls instead of long passes . We need to use their speed attacking our qbs against the defense .

No shit. I agree with you wholeheartedly. Many, I mean MANY, other posters have posted the same sentiment/question. Tell me Barrion Brown on a short cross wouldn't have been so much more effective and a better use of his skills than throwing bombs his way. I am still dumbfounded by how poorly our offensive game plan was designed and the selection of plays utilized throughout the season. Hamdan was obsessed with pushing the ball down the field despite a terrible OL who couldn't hold blocks, QBs who were not good at long throws and receivers who were bad at 50/50 balls. Definition of insanity...

 

[Rembrandt90]

I don’t understand why our offense did not feast on quick short passes . Out of Qb hands in less than two seconds . Slants, hitches, flat, screens, comebacks, curls instead of long passes . We need to use their speed attacking our qbs against the defense .

Because quick, short passes don't work against press coverages and packed defenses.

You may have noticed that a lot of quick, short routes got jumped by opposing defensive backs, leading to pass deflections, interceptions, and some pick-6s. That happens when you throw quick, short passes to receivers who are well covered. It gets even tougher when your QB can't read coverages or when your receivers can't run accurate routes on pace.

Opposing DCs are smart. That's why they are SEC coordinators. They look at film and quickly see that UK's OL can't block blitzes or quick edge rushers. So they press our receivers and rush our QB with tactics they have seen on film from our previous games. This makes them vulnerable to a hitch and go route, but only if our OL gives our QB enough time to find the receiver and the QB can actually hit the receiver.

We have just summed up why Stoops and Hamdan are replacing their QB, WRs, and almost all of their OL. Stoops says he can fix this. I believe he is sincere. We will see if he can actually put a productive SEC OL on the field, because that is a prerequisite. On the whole, I like the changes so far. Stellato and Dowdell are big gets. Calzada, unlike Vandagriff, has a high floor. But we still need a new SEC caliber LT, and it would be nice to snag one more big, athletic receiver. There is still time.

 

[gamecockcat]

Because quick, short passes don't work against press coverages and packed defenses.

You may have noticed that a lot of quick, short routes got jumped by opposing defensive backs, leading to pass deflections, interceptions, and some pick-6s. That happens when you throw quick, short passes to receivers who are well covered. It gets even tougher when your QB can't read coverages or when your receivers can't run accurate routes on pace.

Opposing DCs are smart. That's why they are SEC coordinators. They look at film and quickly see that UK's OL can't block blitzes or quick edge rushers. So they press our receivers and rush our QB with tactics they have seen on film from our previous games. This makes them vulnerable to a hitch and go route, but only if our OL gives our QB enough time to find the receiver and the QB can actually hit the receiver.

We have just summed up why Stoops and Hamdan are replacing their QB, WRs, and almost all of their OL. Stoops says he can fix this. I believe he is sincere. We will see if he can actually put a productive SEC OL on the field, because that is a prerequisite. On the whole, I like the changes so far. Stellato and Dowdell are big gets. Calzada, unlike Vandagriff, has a high floor. But we still need a new SEC caliber LT, and it would be nice to snag one more big, athletic receiver. There is still time.

I'm a bit confused. UK has a bad OL and almost never has time to throw long. But we can't throw short because of press coverage, QB unable to read the defense and receivers don't run crisp routes. So,we should not throw at all? Seems like a lot of other teams throw short passes all the time as does the NFL. I don't disagree with your observations in total, but you're painting a picture that suggests we shouldn't throw short or long - what's left?

 

[bigblueinsanity]

I don’t understand why our offense did not feast on quick short passes . Out of Qb hands in less than two seconds . Slants, hitches, flat, screens, comebacks, curls instead of long passes . We need to use their speed attacking our qbs against the defense .

One can only wonder, because our offensive attack was the opposite and killed us because we didn't have the OL for it.

We should've had barion on crossers all game long vs anyone that plays man. That's where he feasted as a freshman. Instead im guessing his nil conditions ruled that out because it was obvious we were mandated to throw it deep to him.

I guess we'll see what happens this year. It is possible our offense was just hamstrung by nil divas, which you could definitely see during coen's return.

 

[Rembrandt90]

I'm a bit confused. UK has a bad OL and almost never has time to throw long. But we can't throw short because of press coverage, QB unable to read the defense and receivers don't run crisp routes. So,we should not throw at all? Seems like a lot of other teams throw short passes all the time as does the NFL. I don't disagree with your observations in total, but you're painting a picture that suggests we shouldn't throw short or long - what's left?

You are misinterpreting.

It is very difficult to base an offense on short passes because a short passing game can be defeated by press coverage. Evidence? Look what happened to our short passing game in 2024, as I described.

To complete short passes, receivers have to be open. Throw the football into the seams and to the longer sideline routes. That forces the cornerbacks to back off the line of scrimmage and the safeties to back out of the box. Then your shorter passing lanes will open up. Best of all, run the football effectively and force safeties to become run conscious. Then the seams open up. But you have to have an effective OL to do any of that. In 2024, we had an ineffective OL and thus an ineffective offense.

If you were asking what an OC can call when his OL sucks, it's fundamental. Almost all offensive linemen find run blocking simpler than pass blocking, especially when they are learning their assignments. So the OC must work his offensive linemen harder in fundamentals of run blocking and press them to improve. If the running game improves, then the safeties have to move up into the box and the seam routes will open up. Without an intermediate passing game, it is very difficult to establish a short passing game because the CBs crowd the line of scrimmage. It's basic.

I hate to kick a dead horse but it has been obvious to me that Yenser didn't teach fundamentals of sound run blocking very well. Wolford is a better fundamental coach than Yenser but Wolford inherited a disaster. I will be surprised if our 2025 OL isn't a lot better.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

It is very difficult to base an offense on short passes because a short passing game can be defeated by press coverage. Evidence? Look what happened to our short passing game in 2024, as I described.

It was actually very productive when we used it. Outs to dane key picked up several key yards vs ole miss and other big gains. Then injuries derailed a good thing. That plus our love for the taking shots that usually resulted in sacks.

It all depends on personnel. Can your wrs get off press? Dane could, which is why he thrived. Can your qb get the ball out there vs the best dbs? Thats arm talent and timing. Does your oc have sufficient counters and shots to make sure dbs aren't just sitting/jumping short routes? Im not convinced we do.

 

[gamecockcat]

You are misinterpreting.

It is very difficult to base an offense on short passes because a short passing game can be defeated by press coverage. Evidence? Look what happened to our short passing game in 2024, as I described.

To complete short passes, receivers have to be open. Throw the football into the seams and to the longer sideline routes. That forces the cornerbacks to back off the line of scrimmage and the safeties to back out of the box. Then your shorter passing lanes will open up. Best of all, run the football effectively and force safeties to become run conscious. Then the seams open up. But you have to have an effective OL to do any of that. In 2024, we had an ineffective OL and thus an ineffective offense.

If you were asking what an OC can call when his OL sucks, it's fundamental. Almost all offensive linemen find run blocking simpler than pass blocking, especially when they are learning their assignments. So the OC must work his offensive linemen harder in fundamentals of run blocking and press them to improve. If the running game improves, then the safeties have to move up into the box and the seam routes will open up. Without an intermediate passing game, it is very difficult to establish a short passing game because the CBs crowd the line of scrimmage. It's basic.

I hate to kick a dead horse but it has been obvious to me that Yenser didn't teach fundamentals of sound run blocking very well. Wolford is a better fundamental coach than Yenser but Wolford inherited a disaster. I will be surprised if our 2025 OL isn't a lot better.

Good explanation - thanks.

In general, I thought we abandoned the running game early in too many games and, when we did abandon it, we threw longer passes more often than was warranted and necessary. To your point, we rarely worked the seams when we had the running game going, electing to attempt to push the ball down the field with personnel ill-suited to execute.

I never got the impression Hamdan found his rhythm in any game. Felt like there were way too many plays that seemed completely random, leaving me thinking 'WTF was THAT call' frequently. I often posted that our play calling felt like Hamdan was pulling plays out of a hat with seemingly no rhyme or reason guiding him.

OL must get better and Hamdan also needs a great deal of improvement if we are going to surpass this year's record.

 

[sefus12]

Good explanation - thanks.

In general, I thought we abandoned the running game early in too many games and, when we did abandon it, we threw longer passes more often than was warranted and necessary. To your point, we rarely worked the seams when we had the running game going, electing to attempt to push the ball down the field with personnel ill-suited to execute.

I never got the impression Hamdan found his rhythm in any game. Felt like there were way too many plays that seemed completely random, leaving me thinking 'WTF was THAT call' frequently. I often posted that our play calling felt like Hamdan was pulling plays out of a hat with seemingly no rhyme or reason guiding him.

OL must get better and Hamdan also needs a great deal of improvement if we are going to surpass this year's record.

I also think getting Brown off the field will be addition by subtraction.

 

[billoliver40]

I got the feeling Barrion wasn’t into the short routes or crossing patterns.

 

[Soupbean]

Because quick, short passes don't work against press coverages and packed defenses.

You may have noticed that a lot of quick, short routes got jumped by opposing defensive backs, leading to pass deflections, interceptions, and some pick-6s. That happens when you throw quick, short passes to receivers who are well covered. It gets even tougher when your QB can't read coverages or when your receivers can't run accurate routes on pace.

Opposing DCs are smart. That's why they are SEC coordinators. They look at film and quickly see that UK's OL can't block blitzes or quick edge rushers. So they press our receivers and rush our QB with tactics they have seen on film from our previous games. This makes them vulnerable to a hitch and go route, but only if our OL gives our QB enough time to find the receiver and the QB can actually hit the receiver.

We have just summed up why Stoops and Hamdan are replacing their QB, WRs, and almost all of their OL. Stoops says he can fix this. I believe he is sincere. We will see if he can actually put a productive SEC OL on the field, because that is a prerequisite. On the whole, I like the changes so far. Stellato and Dowdell are big gets. Calzada, unlike Vandagriff, has a high floor. But we still need a new SEC caliber LT, and it would be nice to snag one more big, athletic receiver. There is still time.

This is all true and its not as easy as it sounds to do. And the antedote to all of that is WR that can exploit the man coverage. Strong WR that can run good routes. I just thought we had a couple of those in Key and Maclin and even our TEs. Slants are a little harder work if the DBs are jumping routes and jumping into space and if DLine are getting their hands up, but we should have been able to pull off more short 6 and 7 yard timing out patterns with success, or short digs and curls. And we could have used the backs out of the backfield better the same way IMO.

 

[sieken]

This is all true and its not as easy as it sounds to do. And the antedote to all of that is WR that can exploit the man coverage. Strong WR that can run good routes. I just thought we had a couple of those in Key and Maclin and even our TEs. Slants are a little harder work if the DBs are jumping routes and jumping into space and if DLine are getting their hands up, but we should have been able to pull off more short 6 and 7 yard timing out patterns with success, or short digs and curls. And we could have used the backs out of the backfield better the same way IMO.

That's why Demi was brought in in the first place, he was good catching it out of the backfield. Hopefully the continuity of having Hamden here a second year improves the versatility on offense.

 

[Soupbean]

That's why Demi was brought in in the first place, he was good catching it out of the backfield. Hopefully the continuity of having Hamden here a second year improves the versatility on offense.

Yeah I agree with Rembrandt in that there was no question Hamdan was handcuffed in a lot of ways in what he could and couldnt do due to problems up front, problems at QB, but still think he was off his game last year in scheming around those things and underused some assets we had. I was a BIG Hamdan guy coming into last year and am looking for him to have a big bounce back year in 2025

 

[trueblujr2]

Have you seen the schedule..? I see three wins max...hope I'm wrong

It's basically the same as last years just home and away games flipped. We lost games we shouldn't have. We were better on paper than several of the teams we played. I'd like us to get wins in some of those games.