The questions and concerns I see are the following:
- No matter the DC this is Lea’s defense. They are running what he wants them to run
- There has been little improvement in tackling SEC opponents for two years now.
- All layers of the defense- DL, Lb’s and secondary still take bad angles and/or lose leverage consistently game over game.
- Most concerning is the veteran players keep having this happen to them - Mahoney, Barr, Orji, veterans in the secondary, etc. Even Kane Patterson is doing this now when I did not see that happen at Clemson when he played.
- QB play
- This is a quandary
- Swann is probably gone for the year due to concussions
- The play calling with Wright is all over the board. If he is a runner, put him in better position to make plays with the read option. There are too many times, the play design does not leverage his running ability to keep the defense guessing. Last night several times there was no faking after a hand off and the back side paid no attention to his ability to run
- There are other play designs with bootleg/run/pass option that he could run but see no design for them.
- What about Seals? Is he washed up? Has VU written him off? That is a mystery. Hell Hugh Freeze played his 3rd string QB yesterday for Liberty and beat Arkansas at their place.
- Glad Swann seemed to look at other receivers after his first pass was to a double covered Shepperd. But why wait so long when after the Bama, UGA AND Ole Miss games they were shutting Shepperd down? Why hasn’t Lynch designed more packages to the the TE’s and other receivers involved?
All in all, this staff seems really stodgy in not finding more creative designs offensively and defensively after scouting opponents to put them in better positions. Maybe that is a reflection of Lea as a personality and the Corbin philosophy of coaching that gimmicks do not work. However, at some point you know enough about your personnel and the opponent to be crafty and make some good play designs. Not to bring up an old record, but Franklin always had this edge. Watson Brown had that edge as an OC at Vandy. Stallings had his great play designs. If you watched Hugh Freeze call plays yesterday he was very creative with his calls and play designs to get first downs playing without his top running back and with his 3rd string QB - Finally, I want Lea to be the guy. He is a solid guy and well intentioned. Believe he feels worse than anyone about this. So far, he has not really shown he has the ability to execute better with what he has. That is concerning.
- He needs to start showing improvements in these areas and not use the excuse he needs better players. He has to steal some games he should not have won.
