The secondary was god awful last season.
A new, highly regarded coach was brought in, but the same flawed players were returned to the field with a familiar result.
Bad players or bad coaching? Bad recruiting or bad development? All of the above?
If a player is terrible and you keep sending him out there and he plays teriribly is that on the player or the coach?
Coach Jennings was well thought of before getting here. So was coach Rhodes. Yet the same players don’t learn. Blame the players or the coaches? The position coach or the coordinator?
These are the real questions that need to be explored before making knee-jerk moves.
All the dbs look to have low football IQ? Do they really? Bad recruits or bad development?
I would love to know what Coach Rhodes thinks after dealing with this defensive mess for almost a year?
Is our defensive scheme to complex? It looks very vanilla but I have heard some speak of the read dictated alignments being complex.
I actually think pass coverage is the only area on the defensive side that has improved. Pulley is a keeper. I still think underneath linebacker coverage is pitiful and safety tackling other than against ole miss has been way below par. This defense can’t set the edge, cannot tackle, cannot cover any running qb whatsoever and surprisingly gets very little pass rush. Did I mention our inability to stop the run at all. But coverage I think has been better. It’s everything else.
I can’t believe I am writing this. But I believe Robb Smith has to go. Period. Two years of below average defense. Makes too much money for the defense to be this poor.
Go get one of the Charlie’s.
I think Pulley and Collins are solid. That’s about it for this D. The safeties stink and the linebackers aren’t much better. The D line stinks too considering their rep when the season started.
I agree
I don’t think firing Robb will do any good. He was fine with better players like Flowers, Philon, Mitchell, Spaight, and Gaines.
The problem is recruiting has been poor - he bears some of that blame as does the head coach with the defensive background who has veto power on every offer we make. That being said, he’ll probably be the sacrificial lamb because that’s the way it works.
Who knows - perhaps it will work. If not, and things don’t improve, the guy responsible for the program will be the one held accountable.
Give Robb Alabama talent and we are afraid he leaves us for NFL.
Nine returning starters but few with SEC talent unfortunately.
He’s as good a coordinator as talent he has.
Most are.
My biggest gripe, against these no huddle offenses, the defense is seldom ready for the snap.
Another, the defense is not playing with intensity. I’m not sure how to make that happen. Great defenses play with their hair on fire.
Saying " Fire Robb" is easier than really asking the tough questions about program management, recruiting, player development, and player retention, etc. that are at the root of our problems.
Those questions and the difficult answers to them are at odds with the widely embraced narrative that our coach is building a “solid foundation” and doing it the right way." Inconvenient truths if you will.
So, let’s fire our DC mid season and brew up a magical solution to the lack of speed and athleticism .
Exactly! Solve recruiting deficiencies against the bigs in our conference and Smith and anyone else wins big.
We ask too much of coaches to beat the bigs with half the talent.
New coaches whatever.
We have good coaches.
We have built in deficiencies of talent.
We need AD to be innovative to get top talent.
What is AD’s plan?
Luck Into a coach that can overcome what AD and Admin ignore or blames on a coach?
Give our coach some sec big time talent consistently and look out.
Keep doing what we are doing expecting different results with lack of talent?
Crazy
Is Robb Smith a charismatic and effective recruiter? I think we can do much better…must do better at this level. Need more effective recruiters everywhere on staff.
Nonsense
This is the best recruiting staff ever assembled at the UA.
So we’ve been told
If Coach Smith doesn’t have the horses for the D he wants to run, he must change his scheme to one they can run. He has to adapt. I would submit the results of last year and this as evidence that he has problems adjusting to his players ability - or lack thereof. He either needs to change the scheme (Can we do that on a 1 week bye?) or we need to hire a successful DC (after the season) that has shown he can adapt to personnel and make the needed changes to be successful. In the interim, Coach BB needs to find someone that can adjust to the personnel.