jaybone
Well-known member
I decided to start a new thread instead of continue posting on the Pinstripe Bowl thread.
In a nutshell, a lot of our fanatic fans (and I include myself) are frustrated with some of the conservative runs within the RPO that leave us 2nd and 9. And most of us are frustrated/down on the defense.
There are some outlier fans who are "warning" us that we have essentially hit our ceiling and we either shouldn't expect anything more out of Wake football or Clawson, or both.
I am of the opinion that Clawson has "finished" the reclamation project he started when he took the job. Like Bowling Green and Richmond and Fordham, he has turned around a program heading in the wrong direction by implementing a system. This system takes four years. Essentially getting to a place where 3rd and 4th year players are in the 2-deep and only supplanted by extraordinary underclassmen. This can be seen in wide receivers. The two 3-9 seasons, WR was essentially our strength with Hines, Wade, and Cortez Lewis only to be supplanted by younger players (and Bachman) who were just better than they were or pushed them to work harder (Bachman).
So now what? I take Clawson at his word that he is going to review the full season and come up with some changes. I do think we have too many throw away plays off the RPO, especially on 1st down. We are too predictable. I am of the opinion that our offense is not predicable, but Newman's reads are predictable. He is a more conservative QB than Hartman and that makes our offense more predictable. I do understand that he had three receivers he trusted and he lost two of those, but he really does have to be coaxed into taking chances. He often does so after a few good throws but not before.
I think Clawson was successful getting 7 or 8 games into the season before injuries started to really kill our depth. I think his new system of practicing and ramping players up worked. I expect he will stick with it. At least two of our three significant injuries were due to players trying to do something they probably shouldn't. Sage reaching wide for a possible fumble exposing his whole shoulder and Strnad trying to one arm tackle FSU's Cam Akers. Both "mistakes" proved season ending. These are the only two injuries I saw that could have been avoided. Hard to teach a competitor to pull back but DBs are now taught that to avoid 15 yard penalties and ditto for shots on the QB.
Next year, I expect Hartman to play in just about every game. I think he runs the RPO more aggressively. I would think his skillset will work well against everyone except Clemson/ND type talent. There is no denying Newman's talent and size. All this talk about him transferring is a bit laughable. Unless someone at OU is talking to his mother, it is silly. If anything, he would make the shortsighted decision to go pro to allow Hartman his time. Having gotten to the Pinstripe Bowl early and watching our QBs warmup, Hartman is Hollywood - he's Baker Maysfield if allowed. He can lead a program. He can probably annoy a coach, but he's an energizer bunny. Newman keeps his head down and is more a work horse. He'll make a perfect backup QB in the pros IMO - sort of like Jacoby Brissett with Colts. In warmups, Michael Kern has a better arm than both of them, and that is not a knock on Hartman or Newman. We are set at QB.
I digressed a little bit. I think Clawson will play Hartman and Newman in every game unless one is hurt. I think the differences they bring in running the RPO could keep defenses off balance.
I also expect us to rotate units in defensively more aggressively early in the season. Unless we decide to slow down on offense, our defense just absolutely needs more depth. From within. Clawson left Strnad out there for just about every play until he was hurt. I get it. He was our best linebacker by far. but that flew against the training metrics he used in camp. I think we should rotate guys the way teams do in the NFL. It means redshirt freshmen and sophmores need to play more. I also want us to move guys around on defense. I think offenses got better at being to design schemes against us because other than how we cover in the back, we sort of do the same thing in the front 7 all the time. I am no football sophisticate, and I understand we did well on 3rd downs and we blitzed some corners a play or two a game successfully, but I think our players are smart enough to move around and give a QB and coordinator different looks from series to series and maybe down to down. We look like the Dallas Cowboys out there on defense most of the time: 11 guys lined up about the same on every down ...
I don't think we'll get that top 25 ranking in the pre-season I hoped we'd have earned over the last 4 or 5 games (we didn't), but with Boogie and Sage coming back, we'll look pretty good on paper. The App State game will be huge, and I am psyched it is at home against another new coach. It will be a great game, I expect, and if we can win that one with a packed crowd, I think we will likely be ranked early ...
All that said, until Clawson starts winning some 4-star recruiting battles, I have to agree somewhat with our internal critics. While I enjoy watching 8-9 win teams that are well coached and hope we keep Clawson until he retires, 9 wins seems to be our ceiling without a bump in recruiting. The emergence of Donovan Greene at the end of the year, without even losing his redshirt speaks to what legit 4-star talent can do a team with really good coaching. There is nothing about our program I am more excited about than thinking of Greene and Sage training all off season together. Greene can learn a lot from Sage. Hoping Groulx emerges next year as well. He looked a bit lost on offense in the few plays I focused on him in the Pinstripe bowl.
We do need to win some 4-star talent recruiting battles on the defensive side. I don't know enough about recruiting to suggest how that can be done. I like our staff as recruiters. If we continue to run fast on offense, anybody recruited on defense is going to have a chance to be on the field for a lot of snaps. Our games essentially have 25% more snaps than the average college game. That is a lot of opportunity to get a sack, tackle, interception, etc....
In a nutshell, a lot of our fanatic fans (and I include myself) are frustrated with some of the conservative runs within the RPO that leave us 2nd and 9. And most of us are frustrated/down on the defense.
There are some outlier fans who are "warning" us that we have essentially hit our ceiling and we either shouldn't expect anything more out of Wake football or Clawson, or both.
I am of the opinion that Clawson has "finished" the reclamation project he started when he took the job. Like Bowling Green and Richmond and Fordham, he has turned around a program heading in the wrong direction by implementing a system. This system takes four years. Essentially getting to a place where 3rd and 4th year players are in the 2-deep and only supplanted by extraordinary underclassmen. This can be seen in wide receivers. The two 3-9 seasons, WR was essentially our strength with Hines, Wade, and Cortez Lewis only to be supplanted by younger players (and Bachman) who were just better than they were or pushed them to work harder (Bachman).
So now what? I take Clawson at his word that he is going to review the full season and come up with some changes. I do think we have too many throw away plays off the RPO, especially on 1st down. We are too predictable. I am of the opinion that our offense is not predicable, but Newman's reads are predictable. He is a more conservative QB than Hartman and that makes our offense more predictable. I do understand that he had three receivers he trusted and he lost two of those, but he really does have to be coaxed into taking chances. He often does so after a few good throws but not before.
I think Clawson was successful getting 7 or 8 games into the season before injuries started to really kill our depth. I think his new system of practicing and ramping players up worked. I expect he will stick with it. At least two of our three significant injuries were due to players trying to do something they probably shouldn't. Sage reaching wide for a possible fumble exposing his whole shoulder and Strnad trying to one arm tackle FSU's Cam Akers. Both "mistakes" proved season ending. These are the only two injuries I saw that could have been avoided. Hard to teach a competitor to pull back but DBs are now taught that to avoid 15 yard penalties and ditto for shots on the QB.
Next year, I expect Hartman to play in just about every game. I think he runs the RPO more aggressively. I would think his skillset will work well against everyone except Clemson/ND type talent. There is no denying Newman's talent and size. All this talk about him transferring is a bit laughable. Unless someone at OU is talking to his mother, it is silly. If anything, he would make the shortsighted decision to go pro to allow Hartman his time. Having gotten to the Pinstripe Bowl early and watching our QBs warmup, Hartman is Hollywood - he's Baker Maysfield if allowed. He can lead a program. He can probably annoy a coach, but he's an energizer bunny. Newman keeps his head down and is more a work horse. He'll make a perfect backup QB in the pros IMO - sort of like Jacoby Brissett with Colts. In warmups, Michael Kern has a better arm than both of them, and that is not a knock on Hartman or Newman. We are set at QB.
I digressed a little bit. I think Clawson will play Hartman and Newman in every game unless one is hurt. I think the differences they bring in running the RPO could keep defenses off balance.
I also expect us to rotate units in defensively more aggressively early in the season. Unless we decide to slow down on offense, our defense just absolutely needs more depth. From within. Clawson left Strnad out there for just about every play until he was hurt. I get it. He was our best linebacker by far. but that flew against the training metrics he used in camp. I think we should rotate guys the way teams do in the NFL. It means redshirt freshmen and sophmores need to play more. I also want us to move guys around on defense. I think offenses got better at being to design schemes against us because other than how we cover in the back, we sort of do the same thing in the front 7 all the time. I am no football sophisticate, and I understand we did well on 3rd downs and we blitzed some corners a play or two a game successfully, but I think our players are smart enough to move around and give a QB and coordinator different looks from series to series and maybe down to down. We look like the Dallas Cowboys out there on defense most of the time: 11 guys lined up about the same on every down ...
I don't think we'll get that top 25 ranking in the pre-season I hoped we'd have earned over the last 4 or 5 games (we didn't), but with Boogie and Sage coming back, we'll look pretty good on paper. The App State game will be huge, and I am psyched it is at home against another new coach. It will be a great game, I expect, and if we can win that one with a packed crowd, I think we will likely be ranked early ...
All that said, until Clawson starts winning some 4-star recruiting battles, I have to agree somewhat with our internal critics. While I enjoy watching 8-9 win teams that are well coached and hope we keep Clawson until he retires, 9 wins seems to be our ceiling without a bump in recruiting. The emergence of Donovan Greene at the end of the year, without even losing his redshirt speaks to what legit 4-star talent can do a team with really good coaching. There is nothing about our program I am more excited about than thinking of Greene and Sage training all off season together. Greene can learn a lot from Sage. Hoping Groulx emerges next year as well. He looked a bit lost on offense in the few plays I focused on him in the Pinstripe bowl.
We do need to win some 4-star talent recruiting battles on the defensive side. I don't know enough about recruiting to suggest how that can be done. I like our staff as recruiters. If we continue to run fast on offense, anybody recruited on defense is going to have a chance to be on the field for a lot of snaps. Our games essentially have 25% more snaps than the average college game. That is a lot of opportunity to get a sack, tackle, interception, etc....
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