Are we ready for a new kind of offense at USF?

[Hem]

Line size is fine

 

Unless shaw and pierre become workhorse backs, I don't see it yet. Our incoming boys are workhorses though (McCray, Tice, Swanson)

 

TE's yes....hopefully next week we can say yes to QB's too by landing either Mitchell or Bench.

[usfgrad84]

A lot of college programs have gone to the zone read-spread offense, like Leavitt installed, because in the overall scheme of things it is the best offense to run when you are at a recruiting disadvantage. In other words, you don't need to recruit high caliber depth at all positions to become competitive fairly quickly. Basically, you need to recruit a good athlete with some football sense at QB, a decent RB and some decent athletes on the line and your good to go.

The offense, in an oversimplified way, is not much different than playing a pickup game on the weekend with your friends. Spread the field, let the lineman get in the way of whoever is in front of them, put the ball in the hands of the best athlete on the field and let him do his thing.

When we couldn't recruit the tall prototype QB or top RBs and the the most difficult position to recruit, big, agile, football savvy lineman, it allowed us to be competitive quickly.

The one position that Holtz actually recruited fairly well was OL. If we can find a decent RB and the defense improves we can be competitive right away.

[usfbullrider]

Willie taggart is working hard to make if happen. I would have gone back to the spread but Willie was the best guy avail for this type of offense. Like others have said it seems skip was recruiting to partially run this type of attack its just taggart runs it 100% of the time.

[Flowers4Heisman]

The one position that Holtz actually recruited fairly well was OL. If we can find a decent RB and the defense improves we can be competitive right away.

 

Hmmm. Very interesting. I had no idea he did that. Great, if true. Leavitt had the worst time bringing in good linemen. Or maybe he didn't care about them.

 

I think like mentioned above, it's the offensive line that's going to be the crucial piece of the puzzle.

 

RBs, I think we actually have some good ones. Granted, they don't have the experience. It may be the rotating-RB again, but we'll get some yards, if there's run blocking. I mean in the old scheme, the RB was mainly there to keep the other team guessing.

 

Defensively, it may be something that we can count on. Heck, a former NFL defensive coach has got to be able to put together a group that can stop the likes of ucf and Houston. --One would think!

[smazza]

We need a QB.

 

 

a must to be a winning program in d 1 football

 

our o line were never stout run blockers and we never had depth before

 

it is a new season but we will find on soon  if we can run

 

 

coach t should get 2 years 

[Paisa el Toro]

Offensive linemen:

 

1) Reiter, Center, 6'3 273

2) Jacques, Guard, 6'3 306

3) Djulbegovic, OL, 6'5 289

4) Eatmon, OL, 6'6, 311

5) Gudmundsson, 6'4, 305

6) Jozwiak, 6'4, 300

7) Kaufman, 6'9 313 <- ****.

8) Lang, 6'5 274

9) Martin, 6'3 316

10) Smith, 6'5 291

11) Williams 6'5 287

 

Just looking at what is listed as of right now for our line. We also signed Hall out of GA. out of our last class, and he's listed at 6'4, 330lbs (according to 247sports). Though IIRC he might play D-line instead of O-line.

 

Point being guys, those are pretty big dudes. And those are basically the largest ones I found on the roster.

 

If one were to go look at Alabama's roster (http://www.rolltide.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/alab-m-footbl-mtt.html) or Stanford's (http://www.gostanford.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/stan-m-footbl-mtt.html) you can see that their guys really aren't that much bigger than ours. Our average linemen size is definitely brought down by a few of those lighter hybrid types (i.e Davis, who is a 6'5 258 RFr), but the average size is between 280-310.  (I know, Alabama's is around 310-315 (with two guys over 350), but the point is our line isn't that much lighter than theirs). Stanford's OG's are actually around 300 pounds, and the OT's are just a little bigger. 

 

Stanford's guys are all 6'4-6'7, and ours are between 6'3-6'5 (with 6'6 Eatmon and 6'9 Kaufman). So there is a slight height difference. 

 

I'm merely pointing out that size is not too much of an issue with our line. 

 

Looking at the rest of the offense, we may or may not necessarily have a workhorse back. Shaw comes and goes, shows up but doesn't put out the numbers. We'll have to see if McCray and Tice can help us there.

 

Our TE situation is ideal, given Taggart's systems and what we have right now. 

 

We have a pretty good WR corps. D'Vo, Griffin, Davis, etc. will be effective. The right QB would make our guys look like the best WR's in the NCAA, I think.

 

I'm not worried about the QB situation. I do feel that Taggart's system suits our current QBs and their skill sets better. However, I will admit they need more work. Like we all know already.

 

So overall? We can handle the new system. Just takes time (i.e spring and summer). 

 

 

Don't count on Kaufman, it seems like he's been injured since stepping foot on campus.

[Breedwell]

The one position that Holtz actually recruited fairly well was OL. If we can find a decent RB and the defense improves we can be competitive right away.

 

See below

 

Willie taggart is working hard to make if happen. I would have gone back to the spread but Willie was the best guy avail for this type of offense. Like others have said it seems skip was recruiting to partially run this type of attack its just taggart runs it 100% of the time.

 

 

IIRC Skip would try to get hybrid type offensive linemen. Leaner big guys who could get out in space and block and be more mobile.  

 

In fact, if you look at our roster, you see the following linemen:

 

Freshmen: 

Tucker. 6'4 265

 

RFresh:

Amichia, 6'4 265

Davis, 6'5 258

 

We have several Redshirt Sophomores that are bigger guys (smallest being Lang at 6'5 274), but I personally don't know who was recruited by Holtz.

 

Point being, unless I'm missing something, the linemen he picked up and have stayed on the roster are all tall guys with smaller weight. Or, hybrid-like OLine. 

 

 

 

me. 

 

 

Don't count on Kaufman, it seems like he's been injured since stepping foot on campus.

 

 

Yeah injuries suck, but I wasn't writing on injuries. Mainly on the bodies that we've got on campus. The fact that he's 6'9 and has so much weight isn't very good for his knees and ankles. They have to consistently hold up all of that weight, plus if he uses them for whatever reason (walking, jogging, football...)  and that must be very taxing.

 

Even so, he helped make my point, and that's what I wanted

 

-------------

 

We have the meat for a good line, but most of them are R-Soph or above And I'm not entirely sure how much impact Holtz made on his first class that was coming in when he got hired.

 

For that matter, I'm also not entirely sure how accurate my analysis is in terms of if the GoUSFBulls website is updated to reflect athlete's current year (i.e, their status for next year). If this is the case, R-Sophs and potentially R-Jr athletes would be potentially Holtz' kids. 

 

Either way, most of the guys he's brought in solo (so not riding off of the wave of Leavitt and such) are those smaller hybrid guys. 

[bull-71]

Line size is fine

 

Unless shaw and pierre become workhorse backs, I don't see it yet. Our incoming boys are workhorses though (McCray, Tice, Swanson)

 

TE's yes....hopefully next week we can say yes to QB's too by landing either Mitchell or Bench.

Our O line is better but lets face it..USF is not a priority recruiting destination

 

Florida still has dibs on that and other SEC schools..Depth has been a problem and Willie will have to have some alternative plans  ready if USF does not have the depth...

Some quality wins should help with recruiting  but thats the old chicken and egg story..

 

We have to hope to be injury free and a lot of that can be helped by our conditioning coaches..

 

Go Bulls.

[charsibb]

WTF does "who recruited who" have to do with anything any more?

 

It's all water under the bridge now. Let's look forward.

 

Go Bulls!