I've been wary about the defense for three years now, to be fair. The offense fixed a lot of problems there. But, the defense has been maddening for some time now, with some of the absolute worst performances I've seen from a UT D in my lifetime. It really has to be fixed.
I've always thought fixing the defense would take time as we bring in more talent. I didn't expect a ton this year, but if it's not markedly better next year, it's a problem.
I think part of the reason I was sort of tuned out this off season is because I didn't think we were going to be very good this year. While hopeful, I've never been sold on Milton, even after the bowl game, and despite promising replacements, I felt losing the receivers we lost would be a huge hit to the offense. And I expected nothing out of the defense. Just felt like we were a bit overrated (more of a fringe Top 25 rather than a fringe Top 10). So far, we've looked more than a bit overrated. We've just looked bad. I do think the 2nd half performance against Florida was solid, even dominant, at times, albeit held back by odd officiating. The terrible first half performance masked how well we played in the 2nd half, but I'm not sure how good we can even feel about outplaying a team as bad as Florida for a half.
We are going to find out more this year about whether Heupel is the guy than we have so far. Everything from Missouri 2021 to Clemson (minus Purdue and South Carolina) suggested the program was in good hands. Things just feel bad.
Do you think our receivers are bad? I think our line/Milton is more the issue. Guys have been wide open fairly regularly and go unseen or missed on throws from what I’ve seen. Then again I only watched all of these games the one time so I may be missing something.
I don’t think they are bad but Hyatt is running by NFL dbs like college and Ced was a beast. Announcers even mentioned we looked down at wr. Bru isn’t the fastest. Neither is Ramel. Squirrel is small. Thornton doesn’t look great. Only squirrel explodes off the line with speed like Hyatt did.
Keyton and Bru were plenty good enough last year with Hooker. Squirrel isn't getting the same opportunities Hyatt did, they aren't running switch routes
Keyton and Bru also benefitted from being on the field at the same time as Hyatt and at times both Hyatt and Tillman. It's a complicated thing, but to me it just looks like Milton doesn't quite get how to play the position and throw the ball accurately and with touch all at the same time. The coaches also seem to know it, and it affects the whole offense.
My sense is they want to buy time until they feel Nico can. I wonder how soon they test this theory. Based upon everything I’ve seen, I’d be shocked if Iamaleva, Imaleava…..Nico isn’t a gamer. Dude had the Hawaiian-Pacific Islander chill down pat.
I stupidly just watched every offensive snap from the 1st half of ‘22 Clemson and ‘23 Florida. The play calling looks markedly different from Clemson last year. Why is that? Same QB, same RB rotation, same WR corps. That game wasn’t called like they thought the QB couldn’t execute the offense. Saturday featured 4 new OL and a new OC. It’s possible this is an OC issue, but with Heupel’s involvement in the offense, that seems unlikely. That leaves the OL. Time may prove you correct, but the altered play calling scream “our OL, and especial our interior, suck.” When you can’t run the inside zone against a 5 man box with a 0 technique, that’s on the IOL, not the QB. When you can’t run the deep choice series because the QB is getting pressure in his face before the WR hits the stem of the route, that’s on the IOL, not the QB. I’ll happily criticize the coaching staff for not having better options on the IOL than Ollie Lane or Dayne Davis or a Texas castoff, but thinking they went away from switch releases and option routes with the top of the route 12 yards downfield because of the QB doesn’t ring true when we can’t punish teams on the ground for sitting in dime packages all day or keep the QB upright long enough to throw the ball more than 3 yards downfield.
So explain it to me like I’m 5. Why, with the same QB, the same RBs, the same WRs, but 4/5 different starters on the OL, are the play calls different than the Clemson game? You’re a smart poster. You know damn well there’s more to poor offensive line play than hE oNlY gOt SaCkEd OnCe.
Milton can't run the offense. He sucked against Vandy and wasn't anything great against Clemson. Teams aren't manning up, they're playing 3 deep and making Milton make reads....he can't do it. The backs averaged over 4 yards a carry in Gainesville, the line wasn't as bad as it seems because Milton just stands there. He has very little awareness in the pocket
Milton cannot make quick reads and decisions, he just can't. I want nothing more than for him to have a Heisman worthy season but he'll be lucky to leave the UTSA game with his job
