Stagnant offense will cost our football team

[HYTCHYE ISLAND]

I’m telling you guys that the Izaiyah Cummings, Michael Drennen, and Dekel Crowdus’ of the world are going to transfer and or quit coming to UK. Until our coaches decide that the passing game and offense are a necessity in football, we are going to suffer in recruiting (see Jordan Watkins decommitment) and or Akeem Hayes (airing out his frustration on Twitter) about the boring/piss poor passing game. Jmo but I personally know a couple of young guys on our team that are very unhappy. Just hate to see it.

 

[HYTCHYE ISLAND]

One more thing, why in the hell aren’t we giving the ball to CRod more? Rose is a fumble machine and that stunt he pulled dropping the ball before reaching the goal line would’ve earned him a permanent spot on any other teams bench!

 

[HerrosHeroes]

Time for Stoops to make some changes for sure.

 

[IFerg1969]

I refuse to believe UK has so little talent at the QB, WR & TE positions that they can't at least have a competent passing game. The problem isn't talent, it's scheme and a complete lack of care on Stoops part about that aspect of the game. Oh, he pays it lip service. But, if he really cared about that part of the game, it would have been fixed by now.

These players are not being put in a position to succeed when throwing the football. For whatever reason, UK is an excellent run blocking team but are awful when pass blocking. Patrick Mahomes wouldn't be able to pass for more than a buck 30 in this offense.

If your passing game is only productive once in a blue moon, it's a bad scheme. If it requires 4 & 5 star talent across the board to just be serviceable, it's a bad scheme. Until Stoops puts some emphasis on that part of the offense and let's Gran do what he is capable of doing, it will continue to be terrible, no matter who the QB is.

 

[seccats04]

I’m telling you guys that the Izaiyah Cummings, Michael Drennen, and Dekel Crowdus’ of the world are going to transfer and or quit coming to UK. Until our coaches decide that the passing game and offense are a necessity in football, we are going to suffer in recruiting (see Jordan Watkins decommitment) and or Akeem Hayes (airing out his frustration on Twitter) about the boring/piss poor passing game. Jmo but I personally know a couple of young guys on our team that are very unhappy. Just hate to see it.

I agree. We have to get our younger WRs ready because the older ones we keep trotting out every week are not gonna cut it against the better teams we play. The ones we use now can’t get open and often drop the ball. Dailey had a terrible game last night. He’s been a good blocker in the past but maybe this new coach’s soft personality is rubbing off on the guys? Bouknight came from Oregon and that is a softer league. If his guys don’t improve a ton over the year we may see yet another coaching change at that position.

 

[RobJones1978]

Lol, it was one game that we won. Our offense played fine the first two weeks.

 

[HYTCHYE ISLAND]

Lol, it was one game that we won. Our offense played fine the first two weeks.

Yeah, tell that to the underclassmen that aren’t getting a decent chance to touch the ball and show they ARE worthy! You go ahead and tell em, I’ll sit back and watch the show afterwards! I’m telling you, we are going to lose the great underclassmen that can produce if given the opportunity, and any 4/5* guys we are recruiting! Who the hell would want to play in this pathetic offense?

 

[gamecockcat]

^Not the passing offense. It appears to me that there are several things working against our passing offense:
1. Coaches are very conservative in this phase. Way too many passing plays within 4 yards of the LOS.
2. Too many of our plays seem to take forever to develop. Some of that may be due to #3 but some may be scheme or just wrong play called for the situation.
3. Don't use the whole field. Almost every pass of any length is outside the hashmarks. Almost never see a slant or a quick timing throw to the middle.
4. OL is weaker on pass blocking than run blocking, for some reason.
5. Very average talent at WR and TE that plays significant snaps. I think there is good talent on the roster but not playing very much.
6. TW is slow to make reads, telegraphs who he's throwing to, waits too long to throw the ball and generally makes some poor decisions in the passing game.

Put all those together and you'll have a team that struggles to throw the ball. TW does have flashes when he looks confident throwing but they seem to be more the exception than the rule. Gatewood comes in, throws one pass and I can see a difference. JG obviously has a bigger arm but also has a lot more confidence in his ability to throw. Doesn't mean he's our best option just that he's got more of that QB attitude that TW doesn't seem to have.

I love winning and I thought MSU offense last night was horrible. I would be livid if our staff would have ignored the defense playing a 3-man front all night and never ran the ball. Somewhere between where UK's passing attack is now and that ridiculous showing by MSU last night is where we should be.

 

[ekywildcat]

I agree the young guys need to get some PT, to keep them happy. Are Freshman still limited to four games to keep their redshirt or with the extra year I read about because of the China Virus, can they play more?

Looking forward to Bryce Oliver coming back! He looked like Randy Moss in the B-W game last year. If Gran ever calls plays like he did at Cincy, the scoreboards gonna look like a pinball machine.

 

[doc4UK]

The OP is right. We will never be able to recruit or keep SEC caliber WR if we do not show a balanced offense. This horizontal scheme does not work well in the SEC. Ask Mike Leach. Our goal must be 200 years s of passing and 150+ yards of rushing. 75 yards at home against a middle tier SEC team is cause for serious concern. TW or the scheme?

 

[WildCard]

^Not the passing offense. It appears to me that there are several things working against our passing offense:
1. Coaches are very conservative in this phase. Way too many passing plays within 4 yards of the LOS.
2. Too many of our plays seem to take forever to develop. Some of that may be due to #3 but some may be scheme or just wrong play called for the situation.
3. Don't use the whole field. Almost every pass of any length is outside the hashmarks. Almost never see a slant or a quick timing throw to the middle.
4. OL is weaker on pass blocking than run blocking, for some reason.
5. Very average talent at WR and TE that plays significant snaps. I think there is good talent on the roster but not playing very much.
6. TW is slow to make reads, telegraphs who he's throwing to, waits too long to throw the ball and generally makes some poor decisions in the passing game.

Put all those together and you'll have a team that struggles to throw the ball. TW does have flashes when he looks confident throwing but they seem to be more the exception than the rule. Gatewood comes in, throws one pass and I can see a difference. JG obviously has a bigger arm but also has a lot more confidence in his ability to throw. Doesn't mean he's our best option just that he's got more of that QB attitude that TW doesn't seem to have.

I love winning and I thought MSU offense last night was horrible. I would be livid if our staff would have ignored the defense playing a 3-man front all night and never ran the ball. Somewhere between where UK's passing attack is now and that ridiculous showing by MSU last night is where we should be.

Good post gamecock!

Without question, the game has become more offensive oriented over the past 10 years. But it seems this "run the ball, play good defense" is the kind of football Stoops wants to play.

Peace

 

[IFerg1969]

^Not the passing offense. It appears to me that there are several things working against our passing offense:
1. Coaches are very conservative in this phase. Way too many passing plays within 4 yards of the LOS.
2. Too many of our plays seem to take forever to develop. Some of that may be due to #3 but some may be scheme or just wrong play called for the situation.
3. Don't use the whole field. Almost every pass of any length is outside the hashmarks. Almost never see a slant or a quick timing throw to the middle.
4. OL is weaker on pass blocking than run blocking, for some reason.
5. Very average talent at WR and TE that plays significant snaps. I think there is good talent on the roster but not playing very much.
6. TW is slow to make reads, telegraphs who he's throwing to, waits too long to throw the ball and generally makes some poor decisions in the passing game.

Put all those together and you'll have a team that struggles to throw the ball. TW does have flashes when he looks confident throwing but they seem to be more the exception than the rule. Gatewood comes in, throws one pass and I can see a difference. JG obviously has a bigger arm but also has a lot more confidence in his ability to throw. Doesn't mean he's our best option just that he's got more of that QB attitude that TW doesn't seem to have.

I love winning and I thought MSU offense last night was horrible. I would be livid if our staff would have ignored the defense playing a 3-man front all night and never ran the ball. Somewhere between where UK's passing attack is now and that ridiculous showing by MSU last night is where we should be.

Excellent points. It does make you not trust the staff though when they say "Terry looks great, looks very comfortable with a command of the offense" prior to the season. Then, when the bullets start flying, this is the garbage we see in the passing game. It's more than a little frustrating.

 

[cat888]

Lol, it was one game that we won. Our offense played fine the first two weeks.

THIS..
We Scored almost as many points against Ole Miss as Ala. in a game our defense wasn't playing good.

 

[kb22stang]

I trust Stoops, he seems to have a pretty good idea of how to improve the UK program.

 

[Cobb4uk]

I trust Stoops, he seems to have a pretty good idea of how to improve the UK program.

Thanks, many don't understand our skill position (WR) has been upgraded the last couple cycles and out of our top commits 3 are WR. Wide Receiver position in college is a huge jump from HS, schemes and blocking assignments are much tougher, as well as the speed of DB's. Getting Coach Bouknight from Oregon will a benefit, this is his first year, that one reason we have commits of better quality. We do need to step up though to keep them. Having all our WR's healthily will benefits later in the year. I also think the TE's are going to be utilized more in the future.

 

[Blouman]

Each of the tight ends had completions

 

[HYTCHYE ISLAND]

If we want to recruit and keep the explosive guys like Drennen, Cummings, and Crumes they have to first be given the chance to show what they can do first! No way could it be so difficult to use and succeed with a slot wr like Drennen! Get a little creative with the offense for once! Geez.

 

[UKandBaconLover]

If we want to recruit and keep the explosive guys like Drennen, Cummings, and Crumes they have to first be given the chance to show what they can do first! No way could it be so difficult to use and succeed with a slot wr like Drennen! Get a little creative with the offense for once! Geez.

Maybe but this ain't high school. They can't just practice and play football. They have to actually pass college classes. Seems I remember Drennen being mentioned as a guy that needs a little growing up off the field. It wouldn't surprise me that a lot of these younger guys maybe need a little of that off field maturing as well. You've got to prove you can get things done in the classroom before you get a chance to show what you can do on the field. Just another element to consider.

 

[K_TIME]

Excellent points. It does make you not trust the staff though when they say "Terry looks great, looks very comfortable with a command of the offense" prior to the season. Then, when the bullets start flying, this is the garbage we see in the passing game. It's more than a little frustrating.

This has been my main argument with the entire Terry Wilson QB handling..

1. Terry is a Sr and been in this offense for his 3rd year....and Gran/Stoops are still so quick to run no offense to the point of running freaking QB Draws, quick passes to flats too much, etc...It looks like the same playbook we limited Terry to in 2018 as we were afraid of him making a mistake. If we are still terrified of Terry....why is he still the QB.
2. It is painfully obvious the staff is still scared to throw middle of the field with him. Maybe an occasional play action to TE...but the rest are quick screens to WR, check down to RB in flats
3. I'll concede DeMarcus Harris has been pretty awful at WR....but Ali has been fine, Hayes looks like our quickest WR...now we get Bryce Oliver back. Those guys will not be all SEC WR but they'll be fine if we can actually throw a legit passing scheme to get them the balls. Keaton Upshaw is a really good looking TE...so wehy we don't get him the ball is all coahces or Terry. Play some of the kids like Cummings, etc.. and just get over Harris, Epps, etc... and we'll be fine at TE/WR.

Why we invest so much into Terry to basically be terrified to throw the ball shows Stoops is just spouting coach talk when ti comes QB spot.

 

[vhcat70]

Thanks, many don't understand our skill position (WR) has been upgraded the last couple cycles and out of our top commits 3 are WR. Wide Receiver position in college is a huge jump from HS, schemes and blocking assignments are much tougher, as well as the speed of DB's. Getting Coach Bouknight from Oregon will a benefit, this is his first year, that one reason we have commits of better quality. We do need to step up though to keep them. Having all our WR's healthily will benefits later in the year. I also think the TE's are going to be utilized more in the future.

What I understand is that the WR's we are playing are inadequate as a whole. The top recent WR recruits you are referring to presumably are Drennen & Crummes & no idea who else you are referring to. Yet they are not playing over the inadequate. High quality WR's play as FR's or at least as RS-WRs. We have one WR with size, Cummings & he was hardly highly rated. Net, I'm not buying what you call upgrades.

 

[MudererofCrows]

THIS..
We Scored almost as many points against Ole Miss as Ala. in a game our defense wasn't playing good.

Ole Miss defense is historically bad. They are on pace to break the all time record for most yards allowed per game. People hanging their hat on that game lack perspective.

what our offense actually is is more indicative of the Miss State and Auburn games: very very mediocre with poor QB play, scheme and coaching.

 

[K_TIME]

What I understand is that the WR's we are playing are inadequate as a whole. The top recent WR recruits you are referring to presumably are Drennen & Crummes & no idea who else you are referring to. Yet they are not playing over the inadequate. High quality WR's play as FR's or at least as RS-WRs. We have one WR with size, Cummings & he was hardly highly rated. Net, I'm not buying what you call upgrades.

At this point who cares about their HS ratings...they are collegiate players now competing for spots.

DeMarcus Harris has been a huge negative so far. Clevan Thomas is slow for a slot WR. Epps is hurt alot and wasn't that good before getting hurt. So if Cummings and Drennan have good talent...they should be able to beat out these dudes for snaps as those dude are not good college players IMO.

I have a hunch we'll just get Bryce Oliver back to take Harris's spot at WR and that is the only change we'll see at WR core for most of 2020.

 

[CB3UK]

I just dont think they trust Terry not to throw a pick over the middle, or the receivers to get enough seperation going deep. I dont think Gran, who lit up the scoreboards on Cincy, suddenly got stupid when he came here. He knows what our players deficiencies are and calls it conservatively to limit turnovers.

 

[bigbluedon]

That and Gran does what Stoops tells him to do which is virtually run, run and run some more. I am ready to see a change somewhere.

 

[vhcat70]

At this point who cares about their HS ratings...they are collegiate players now competing for spots.

This was in reference to another post that claims we've recently upgraded our WR talent and yet those players aren't seeing the field. Just trying to figure out what poster means.

 

[Cefiro]

Time for Stoops to make some changes for sure.

Rose must have blackmail on Stoops, I think I saw he’s fumbled in 6 of the last 7 games.

 

[Pelosigalore]

A qb that can’t throw with receivers that can’t catch is a bad combo. Good receivers make their QBs look good. They make difficult catches as well as the easy ones.

 

[Freetaxreturn]

I just dont think they trust Terry not to throw a pick over the middle, or the receivers to get enough seperation going deep. I dont think Gran, who lit up the scoreboards on Cincy, suddenly got stupid when he came here. He knows what our players deficiencies are and calls it conservatively to limit turnovers.

That begs the question then CB3, why in the hell is he starting ?🍺

 

[Girthang]

A stagnant offense would cost any team, so yes, if we have one, it will cost us also. Football 101

 

[Jtf2217]

I agree the young guys need to get some PT, to keep them happy. Are Freshman still limited to four games to keep their redshirt or with the extra year I read about because of the China Virus, can they play more?

Looking forward to Bryce Oliver coming back! He looked like Randy Moss in the B-W game last year. If Gran ever calls plays like he did at Cincy, the scoreboards gonna look like a pinball machine.

Doesn’t matter if you play every snap eligibility does not count.

 

[CB3UK]

That begs the question then CB3, why in the hell is he starting ?🍺

Lol preaching to the choir

I think there are games, like Ole Miss, where they do pretty solid and dont get credit.

There are games where it seems like Terry struggles making reads or doesnt play with confidencw. He definitely seemed unsure v Auburn this year.

And then there are games where it seems like our receivers just dont get open or drop good passes.

Its frustrating as hell.

My personal opinion is do something and do it well. For us thats run the hell out of the ball. But mix things up enough, not just play call wise but area of field as well, to loosen D for our bread and butter plays.

 

[bigbluedon]

We have receivers that’s can catch. Stoops just won’t play them

 

[RobJones1978]

We have receivers that’s can catch. Stoops just won’t play them

You’re right, Stoops likes to play receivers who can’t catch, QBs who can’t throw, Defenders who can’t tackle and corners who can’t defend the pass. It’s really what’s made him successful here.

 

[Oak_Hill]

I’m telling you guys that the Izaiyah Cummings, Michael Drennen, and Dekel Crowdus’ of the world are going to transfer and or quit coming to UK. Until our coaches decide that the passing game and offense are a necessity in football, we are going to suffer in recruiting (see Jordan Watkins decommitment) and or Akeem Hayes (airing out his frustration on Twitter) about the boring/piss poor passing game. Jmo but I personally know a couple of young guys on our team that are very unhappy. Just hate to see it.

You any relation to Jaleel Hytchye former corner from the class of 2013 that transferred from UK?

 

[HYTCHYE ISLAND]

You any relation to Jaleel Hytchye former corner from the class of 2013 that transferred from UK?

No, sorry no relation to him. Was a big fan of his as a recruit and a UK commit. Spoke to him a few times and he seemed really happy here, I guess it just didn’t work out as planned for him here?

 

[Oak_Hill]

No, sorry no relation to him. Was a big fan of his as a recruit and a UK commit. Spoke to him a few times and he seemed really happy here, I guess it just didn’t work out as planned for him here?

Thanks for the reply. I remember getting him in that first class and I was so excited that he committed to Kentucky. I was disappointed to see him leave. I hate that things didn’t work out for him at Kentucky.

 

[bigbluedon]

You’re right, Stoops likes to play receivers who can’t catch, QBs who can’t throw, Defenders who can’t tackle and corners who can’t defend the pass. It’s really what’s made him successful here.

Good one..