Dont Under estimate Dawson as OC

[CATFANFOLIFE87]

Teach you're right Towles has to improve this year. He needs to improve as much this offseason as he did last offseason. I was a little less critical of him because it was his first full season as a starter so some of his struggles were understandable. If this offense is going to reach its potential it starts with getting consistency at QB

 

[murpack]

Also remember the running game fell off the second half of the season, putting more pressure on the passing game to produce while taking away the play action pass which slows down opposing pass rushers.
This post was edited on 3/9 4:41 PM by murpack

 

[502cats]

I'll be happy if I don't see anymore than one QB draw a quarter. It's a good play as long as it isn't called every time the offense takes the field. Especially more than once on a single drive.

 

[Kooky Kats]

I don't care what personnel deficiencies we had, Brown got Towles smashed by year's end by running way too many QB dives. Towles couldn't hit the broadside of a barn the last three games.

I think he was just worn out.

 

[BlueRaider22]

Originally posted by 502cats:

I'll be happy if I don't see anymore than one QB draw a quarter. It's a good play as long as it isn't called every time the offense takes the field. Especially more than once on a single drive.

Unfortunately, we may not be there yet. One of Towles better attributes is his ability to run. And when we are still trying to develop the line.......the entire receiving corps......etc.......the QB draw is a simple play that can help to move the sticks. We "shouldn't" have to do it as much though.....

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Originally posted by BlueRaider22:

Originally posted by 502cats:

I'll be happy if I don't see anymore than one QB draw a quarter. It's a good play as long as it isn't called every time the offense takes the field. Especially more than once on a single drive.

Unfortunately, we may not be there yet. One of Towles better attributes is his ability to run. And when we are still trying to develop the line.......the entire receiving corps......etc.......the QB draw is a simple play that can help to move the sticks. We "shouldn't" have to do it as much though.....

Towles is, at best, our 4th best runner. Scrambling or the true read option is one thing. But if we're going to line up with a designed run, Towles is not the one who should be carrying the ball.

 

[Shew]

Originally posted by bigblueinsanity:

Originally posted by BlueRaider22:

Originally posted by 502cats:

I'll be happy if I don't see anymore than one QB draw a quarter. It's a good play as long as it isn't called every time the offense takes the field. Especially more than once on a single drive.

Unfortunately, we may not be there yet. One of Towles better attributes is his ability to run. And when we are still trying to develop the line.......the entire receiving corps......etc.......the QB draw is a simple play that can help to move the sticks. We "shouldn't" have to do it as much though.....

Towles is, at best, our 4th best runner. Scrambling or the true read option is one thing. But if we're going to line up with a designed run, Towles is not the one who should be carrying the ball.

Truth, especially when considering our lack of depth at qb now.

 

[BlueRaider22]

As a former LB there is little that's scarier than having to worry about RBs and QBs running. Absolutely Towles is not as good as our RBs, but it doesn't mean that it's not effective. With a poor line, a poor passing game, and against the best defenses in college football, Towles ran for 6 TDs at basically 4 yards/carry. Nobody is saying that we should run him 10-15 times per game. But with the line and the passing game still in development you need to exploit what you can to score. Towles will run this yr.

 

[jnewc2]

To be honest, we really don't know what we have in Dawson just yet. Until he actually goes out there and runs his own offense (without an offensive guru like Holgerson having major control) we won't know what we have. We'll just have to take a wait-and-see approach.

Honestly, I'm much more worried about our defense. IMO it was the worst Kentucky defense that I've seen in my lifetime, which is saying something. It won't matter if we have Oregon's offense if we're giving up around 50 points a game like we did last year.

The defense HAS to improve and IMPROVE DRAMTICALLY because if it doesn't this team will struggle mightily to even win an SEC game. IMO Stoops and Eliot are under quite a bit of pressure to improve that defense dramatically this year, because the debacle that we saw on that side of the ball last year just won't cut it.

 

[Rhavicc]

Originally posted by jnewc2:
To be honest, we really don't know what we have in Dawson just yet. Until he actually goes out there and runs his own offense (without an offensive guru like Holgerson having major control) we won't know what we have. We'll just have to take a wait-and-see approach.

Honestly, I'm much more worried about our defense. IMO it was the worst Kentucky defense that I've seen in my lifetime, which is saying something. It won't matter if we have Oregon's offense if we're giving up around 50 points a game like we did last year.

The defense HAS to improve and IMPROVE DRAMTICALLY because if it doesn't this team will struggle mightily to even win an SEC game. IMO Stoops and Eliot are under quite a bit of pressure to improve that defense dramatically this year, because the debacle that we saw on that side of the ball last year just won't cut it.

Hate to be the guy to render one of your paragraphs somewhat useless, but if you've been reading the practice reports, you'd see that the coaches all firmly believe that the defense has improved exponentially all around. Especially in the front 7, despite no longer having Bud and Za'Darius.

 

[CATFANFOLIFE87]

jnewc2 I can't say I totally agree with your post. You make it sound like Dawson is a complete unknown. He wasn't just Holgorsen's clipboard boy. He gameplanned their offensive strategy for every game. He called down the plays from the box and Holgorsen would roll with it or change the playcall. Dawson has said that Holgorsen would change the play once out of every 4-5 plays so 75-80 percent of the play calls were Dawson's. I'm sure Dawson will have tendencies of his own that will differ from Holgorsen but it's not like we are getting someone that's completely unproven. Dawson left WVU because people have that perception of coordinators that work under head coaches that coach the same side of the ball whether it's fair or not

I don't share same distain for our defense that you have. If last year was the worst defense that you've seen in your lifetime then you must have been born last year. I'm pretty sure we had more takeaways than the last 2-3 seasons combined. Don't you remember the Nuclear Minter defense where every receiver was open by 10-15 yards. Our defense played well enough to win in all but 3 games last year (LSU, UGA, UT). The defense got shellacked in those three games there's no denying that. If the offense was given plenty of chances to beat Mizzou and they no showed. The defense played their best game all year against #1 Mississippi St and Heisman hopeful Dak Prescott. The offense had 3 chances to to tie or take the lead at the end of the game and they couldn't get us anything. The offense did almost nothing against Vandy the defense won us that game. We were a dropped pick away from beating Florida and UL.

Our defense wasn't great I'm not saying that but they weren't historically bad either. The offense has to be able to sustain drives and keep the defense off the field. Too often last year we got killed in time of possession and the defense would spend the whole game out there. We wore down in the second half and teams took advantage. Some of our shortcomings can only be solved with recruiting. I think the coaches did a great job of putting our guys in a position to make plays but we'd miss tackles and drop interceptions. We're still have corners/linebackers that were Joker recruits and until this year we severely lacked depth. The coaches have done a great job of improving guys like Tiller, Quinn, Douglass, Forrest, ect but they will still be at a disadvantage against top flight SEC players because they lack the height, length, strength, agility, or speed to consistently compete at this level. The coaches can't be blamed for that though all they can do is play the hand they were dealt and make the most of what they came into. I think they've done quite well at that all things considered.

This year the offense should be much better at keeping the defense off the field. The defense will be deeper so it should be able to stay fresher. We should be able to make more of the tackles and interceptions we missed the last two seasons because of that. The defense has come a long way since the Nuclear Minter days but it's a process. I'm excited about some of the strides in seeing on defense

 

[mdeer1]

I like Shannon but he didn't call any plays nor is he a strong recruiter


Good luck
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[Rhavicc]

Originally posted by mdeer1:
I like Shannon but he didn't call any plays nor is he a strong recruiter


Good luck
Posted from Rivals Mobile

Been quoted saying that he suggested plays to Holgorsen, and about 75-80% of the time, Dawson and Holgorsen agreed on the plays called by Dawson. The ones that they didn't agree on, obviously it was Holgorsen's call.
And being in the same recruiting region as Marrow in Ohio, and having to compete against UK, Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, and other recruits didn't exactly do him any favors.

 

[C1180]

Originally posted by 502cats:

I'll be happy if I don't see anymore than one QB draw a quarter. It's a good play as long as it isn't called every time the offense takes the field. Especially more than once on a single drive.

The QB draw or run is a good tool because it makes the defense account for the QB and weakens their pass defense. I do not want it to be the featured part of the running game but if you have a QB that can run you would be foolish to not make the defense account for him.

It is true that Towles could get injured running the ball but he is a big boy built like a tight end and IMO can take punishment. You do know he could just as easily get injured on a passing play.

IMO Towles will tell you that he is willing to do what it take for his team to win. and if that includes running the ball because that is what the defense is giving he is all for it.

 

[C1180]

Originally posted by Rhavicc:

Originally posted by jnewc2:
To be honest, we really don't know what we have in Dawson just yet. Until he actually goes out there and runs his own offense (without an offensive guru like Holgerson having major control) we won't know what we have. We'll just have to take a wait-and-see approach.

Honestly, I'm much more worried about our defense. IMO it was the worst Kentucky defense that I've seen in my lifetime, which is saying something. It won't matter if we have Oregon's offense if we're giving up around 50 points a game like we did last year.

The defense HAS to improve and IMPROVE DRAMTICALLY because if it doesn't this team will struggle mightily to even win an SEC game. IMO Stoops and Eliot are under quite a bit of pressure to improve that defense dramatically this year, because the debacle that we saw on that side of the ball last year just won't cut it.

Hate to be the guy to render one of your paragraphs somewhat useless, but if you've been reading the practice reports, you'd see that the coaches all firmly believe that the defense has improved exponentially all around. Especially in the front 7, despite no longer having Bud and Za'Darius.

Jnewc2 is not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to talking football and truthfully with some of his post I question whether he is even a UK fan. It is true that the UK defense had some warts last year but it was not near as bad as Jnewc2 would have us believe.

I have this to say about last year. If you want to blast UK blast them for their special team play. That was much worse than the play of either the Offense or the Defense. The play of the kick coverage teams and the kick return teams was shall we say just plain bad.