The real question
- Thread starter jte123
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There is no doubt that development of players will be very important if UK is to ever rise to the top of the SEC because lets be truthful it is going to be difficult for UK to get those more developed five stars and high four stars unless it becomes a top SEC team. The only way to get to be a top SEC team in that situation is player development. Bring them in redshirt them to give them time to develop both physically and mentally and coach them into a precision machine. Then hopefully you will have the players you need in the SEC when they are redshirted Juniors and Seniors.
We were just about able to get to a bowl game with a bunch of fresh/soph players who were frequently where they weren't supposed to be. I feel very confident that we can get to bowl games on a regular basis. Beyond that we will have to watch and see.
Yes, we're heading into year three, but to me that's irrelevant. I'm more interested in the years where the entire team is fielded by CMS recruits. I think he made huge improvements from year one to year two with mediocre talent. Turning this program around, with sustainability, is a long-term deal. It won't happen within three years.
IMO however improvement must be shown every year and improvement next year should at a minimum be at least a break even season with a minor bowl bid. I hope for better but that would be minimum to sustain the upward mobility of UK football. I agree there should not be idiots asking for Stoops head before the end of at least his fifth or sixth season but IMO progress must be maintained to keep the football program on track.
Stoops and Elliot in particular have a great record of developing talent at FSU. In 2014 FSU put more defensive players in the draft than any other team. Dawson has a pretty good record at Wva and most of our other coaches have had some success along the way. Where this staff lacked the last couple of years IMO is at the QB position, becasue we had no coach on the staff that had every played the position. With Dawson we have an opportunity to see some improvement there.
Also it's important to bare in mind that a team is not just a collection of players. The performance of a team will depend just as much on how these players play together as a unit and how well our coaches are able to put them in the best position to win. All of these things go together to create success.
The other question is whether Stoops and Co can control players. The repeat dumb mistakes by Barker and Baker are of real concern. Barker is who is going to lead us into the future? Not sure of that anymore. Not sure he cares enough about anyone other than himself and is the right person to lead other young men
You will start getting your answer this year.
Guys like Ramsey Meyers and Regie Meant will now be RS sophomores. Hatcher, Timmons, McWilson, McClain and others will be a juniors. It is altogether reasonable to start to talking about serious performance expectations for these guys and others in their position. They will be draft eligible at the end of the season.
However, they are the tip of the spear (other than JUCOs, already cycling out of the program) in terms of veteran players that this staff "owns". Others correctly observe that we cannot expect to really reap the harvest until the staff has some of its kids leaving the program after 5th years... 2017. However, 2015 will still be a season in which the staff finally has third year players it recruited. If we do not see significant improvement this season, I will start to grow concerned.
What is "significant improvement"? IMHO, 7-5 overall/ 4-0 non-conference/ 3-5 SEC, go compete well in bowl game, and hopefully bring home some minor hardware.
Guys like Ramsey Meyers and Regie Meant will now be RS sophomores. Hatcher, Timmons, McWilson, McClain and others will be a juniors. It is altogether reasonable to start to talking about serious performance expectations for these guys and others in their position. They will be draft eligible at the end of the season.
However, they are the tip of the spear (other than JUCOs, already cycling out of the program) in terms of veteran players that this staff "owns". Others correctly observe that we cannot expect to really reap the harvest until the staff has some of its kids leaving the program after 5th years... 2017. However, 2015 will still be a season in which the staff finally has third year players it recruited. If we do not see significant improvement this season, I will start to grow concerned.
What is "significant improvement"? IMHO, 7-5 overall/ 4-0 non-conference/ 3-5 SEC, go compete well in bowl game, and hopefully bring home some minor hardware.
I have always really liked the kid and how he was an ambassador for UK football after he committed. I was even willing to overlook his first brush with the law because we all do foolish things every now and then. But this last fiasco has me questioning his leadership abilities. While I understand they were doing nothing anything any different than any other college-aged boys, he still put himself before the team and the school. A true leader needs to be able to influence both on and off the field.
I will wait until all of this story unfolds before making judgment on Barker but I definitely wouldn't want my QB and leader leading other players into such situations if this is what happened. I know alcohol will cause young people to get into bad situations. I speak from experience having been in a few bad situation because of alcohol when I was a young pup.
Oh come on, you are almost as old as me, surely you can't remember anything that long ago.
LOL
I don't think the players went over there looking for a fight, in fact some of them probably think they are lovers instead of fighters, more likely the reason they were out on the town. It seems they ran into a player that WAS looking for a fight, and sometimes chit happens. No one really knows the exact situation yet, and maybe never will, but I guarantee you that UK will treat it a lot more seriously than Thug U did with their eight thugs or that UL would (or has in the past). If Baker was face to face with a 300# lineman (how big was he?) with the new attitude of "win at all cost" (even if you end up in prison for it) then I can have a little empathy for someone hitting a big guy with a bottle-----IF that is even what happened. If two guys were holding him, then I have NONE, a LOT of unknown facts in this case yet.
We are not living in the society that I grew up in, the word "fair play" seems to be outmoded in a lot of places, just win baby. A good example is all the fans that watch the barbaric behavior on TV that they call whatever they call it, where you kick a man when he is down. It is becoming part of our culture.
Back on topic, as I have said several times, I think most of these coaches were hired for their proven coaching ability, and I am excited to see what our new OC can do, especially since he should have a lot more talent and experience to work with. The unbelievable recruiting they have done so far is just a huge bonus to me, and proof that Stoops knows what he is doing in recruiting, his biggest coup hiring (and keeping) Marrow and the emphasis on Ohio. Seems to me if the is that smart and able to communicate with young recruits he should be smart enough to have a staff capable of coaching them up also, and redshirting as many true frosh as possible is just another very good sign.
Several other EXCELLENT recruiters on this staff also, and a lot of you forget that UK is not just a "basketball" school now, instead of the football program being on minimum maintenance for over a decade (many decades actually) these coaches have a LOT to show players that UK is serious about football FINALLY.
In a class with only 15 commits they already have TWICE as many four stars as the 10 class (which had NONE the day before NSD) and SEVEN 5.7s, near four stars, compared to four total in 10 (THREE of the four added on NSD) with ZERO two stars in the class so far compared to eight in that class. There is NO doubt in my mind that this staff will do better with that talent, since the four star AND three of the four 5.7s in that class did absolutely nothing on the football field.
Several other EXCELLENT recruiters on this staff also, and a lot of you forget that UK is not just a "basketball" school now, instead of the football program being on minimum maintenance for over a decade (many decades actually) these coaches have a LOT to show players that UK is serious about football FINALLY.
In a class with only 15 commits they already have TWICE as many four stars as the 10 class (which had NONE the day before NSD) and SEVEN 5.7s, near four stars, compared to four total in 10 (THREE of the four added on NSD) with ZERO two stars in the class so far compared to eight in that class. There is NO doubt in my mind that this staff will do better with that talent, since the four star AND three of the four 5.7s in that class did absolutely nothing on the football field.
Good post! I agree with what you are saying, but it's hard for me to define "significant improvement" on wins and losses. I like to see how we compete in every game against the big boys and the little boys. For instance, the Florida game last year was "loss", but we easily should have won that game as it came down to the very end (and then some).
This coming year is the year I feel we should show marked improvement. Whether our win/loss record is better will be determined by how well the other SEC teams on our schedule has improved also.
Hopefully, considerable improvement will be there to give the coaches, staff, and the fans confidence that Stoops can get it done. If we falter this year, then the clock will start ticking and their will be pressure on the staff to produce sooner, rather than later. I really don't want to see that.
Well, while I'm sure many will disagree, I think they have done a very marginal job with the QB position. I believe Dawson has more true experience coaching/developing QBs than did Brown.
Notwithstanding exceptional talents, I believe most college players really start showing "development" in their 3rd year. With that in mind, look at how the 2013 class and whatever is left of the 2012 class (e.g., Tiller, Blaylock, Towles) play this year.
Peace
I think this will be a huge year for the future of the program. We have to at least stay competitive through 90% of our SEC games. Can't have total breakdowns like we did against LSU, UGA, and TN. There is no way that a division one team should let another team score on every possession like we did against Georgia last year. With a head coach that is a defensive guy, you have to be good on his side of the ball. We have to start showing significant improvement on that side of the ball. I don't think the wins and losses are as important as not getting steamrolled by three or four schools. Recruits see these type of games and see a program that is years away from being a factor in the conference.
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