Percy Harvin Effect

[Reason2succeed]

We've all complained about the WRs this year. They've been called the midgets and worse. After Bear, Fred Ross, and the dismissal of Fred Brown our coaches failed to recruit high quality X receivers for this offense. Todd, Couch, and Mitchell were simply a reaction to the realization that we had no size at WR.

Granted I agree that HF, as a former WR coach himself, was on a mission to recruit by any illegal means necessary every WR away from us however there is another factor. I believe that Mullen became obsessed with trying to find the next Percy Harvin.

We all remember Percy Harvin. 5'11 tough, elusive with game breaking speed. Mullen thought Donald Gray, Malik Dear, Deddrick Thomas, Gabe Myles, Keith Mixon were going to be the next PH. For various and sundry reasons it has not happened. Most notably the fact that Percy played surrounded by big time WRs and TEs. However, it looks like Gonzales and Mullen are turning the page. In our recruiting there are no slot receivers. Every WR is an X or a TE body.This bodes well for the future.

While I understand that this year we have a glut of slot WRs I would love to see what Kylin Hill would do from the slot. If anyone on this team has the chance to be the next PH it is KH.

[Hasu Dackds]

We don't use any of our WRs like Mullen used Harvin back in 2008. We don't do many zig-zagging speed sweeps. Maybe it's because none of them are fast enough. I happen to believe Mixon could do it, but I digress.

[CadaverDawg]

We don't use any of our WRs like Mullen used Harvin back in 2008. We don't do many zig-zagging speed sweeps. Maybe it's because none of them are fast enough. I happen to believe Mixon could do it, but I digress.

We use Mixon poorly. Kid is a playmaker, but we fail to put the ball in his hands

[Cooterpoot]

We use Mixon poorly. Kid is a playmaker, but we fail to put the ball in his hands

Agree. How many jet sweeps have we seen this year? Damn near none. How much motion? Damn near none.

[Lord McBuckethead]

Just hand Mixon and Gabe Myles the dang ball and see what happens.
I would jet sweep a team to death and then pull it or pitch it to Aeris half the time. Make the DE pay attention to just another thing.

Or heaven forbid, put Gray in the slot. He isn't catching anything on the outside anyway. let him match up on a lb and see him own the guy.

[Bothrops]

We don't use any of our WRs like Mullen used Harvin back in 2008. We don't do many zig-zagging speed sweeps. Maybe it's because none of them are fast enough. I happen to believe Mixon could do it, but I digress.

Mixon and Thomas could do that. They both quick.

[Cooterpoot]

Look, we've struggled with recruiting. It's not just WR. We appear to finally have coaches on staff that understand how to recruit better, but there's no excuses for the lazy assed recruiting Hev and Gonzo have engaged in the last couple of years. I also think we struggle to handle juco recruiting, as evidenced by the number of redshirts we use on them and the lack of skill guys we're pulling. Our coaches got comfortable and the recruiting really fell off, even from the mediocre recruiting we were doing. You can survive one weak class, you can't survive two. We've also lacked support staff for recruiting until the last couple of years.

[Turfdawg67]

Look, we've struggled with recruiting. It's not just WR. We appear to finally have coaches on staff that understand how to recruit better, but there's no excuses for the lazy assed recruiting Hev and Gonzo have engaged in the last couple of years. I also think we struggle to handle juco recruiting, as evidenced by the number of redshirts we use on them and the lack of skill guys we're pulling. Our coaches got comfortable and the recruiting really fell off, even from the mediocre recruiting we were doing. You can survive one weak class, you can't survive two. We've also lacked support staff for recruiting until the last couple of years.

Don?t you get tired of posting the same crap in every thread. Jeez, have a counterpoint, Cooterpoot.

[Todd4State]

Don?t you get tired of posting the same crap in every thread. Jeez, have a counterpoint, Cooterpoot.

Don't you get tired of trying to be the board's mother?

[Turfdawg67]

Don't you get tired of trying to be the board's mother?

Not yet, but with kids like y’all I do drink more... as any successful Mom should.

Shitty WRs: check
Crappy OL: check
Hev sux: check
Mullen job hunting: check
Check down aren’t cool: check

Got it!! Agreed! Move on...

[Todd4State]

Not yet, but with kids like y’all I do drink more... as any successful Mom should.

Shitty WRs: check
Crappy OL: check
Hev sux: check
Mullen job hunting: check
Check down aren’t cool: check

Got it!! Agreed! Move on...

If you're drinking over that- you're taking it way too seriously. Which one of the coach's wives are you?

The thing that you are glossing over is a lot of people have also talked about:

Shitty WRs- How we have at least two if not more 4 star WR's coming in.
Crappy OL- Someone did a deep analytical post about how good they are doing.
Hev sux- It's very simple- if he improves his recruiting the criticism would stop. Just like Dan fixing special teams has stopped the criticism there. Hev may be on the way to doing that.
Mullen job hunting- Who is talking about that?
Check down aren't cool- They aren't. But who is complaining about it.

Guess what? People are going to talk about SPORTS on a SPORTS message board. This isn't a sunshine pump board. There is a good balance between the good and the bad. If you don't like reading the bad- well tough shit buttercup. Most people call it like we see it good and bad. If you don't agree with something negative come back with some tangible reason why they aren't right- something you rarely if ever do on this board. You suck. Period.

[stalkingpoon]

Harvin had the luxury of playing with the likes of Aaron Hernandez, Riley Cooper and Louis Murphy. He had playmakers around him. I think if we had some legit playmakers on the outside and at TE, it would open up things that would could do with our slot guys.

[Hasu Dackds]

Harvin had the luxury of playing with the likes of Aaron Hernandez, Riley Cooper and Louis Murphy. He had playmakers around him. I think if we had some legit playmakers on the outside and at TE, it would open up things that would could do with our slot guys.

This is true but we don't even see these plays against teams where we hold a talent advantage, like BYU.

[CadaverDawg]

This is true but we don't even see these plays against teams where we hold a talent advantage, like BYU.

Exactly.

I feel like Dan always tries to spread the ball around and be balanced in all aspects, but when you only have 1 or 2 playmakers at WR, you need to create ways to get them touches. There's no excuse for the lack of involvement of Donald Gray so far this year. No, he's not getting much separation outside at 5'9....so it is our HC/OC's job to find other ways to get him involved, and the same goes with Mixon. Run a damn reverse for goodness sakes, we don't even ever try a basic reverse. Jet sweeps, reverses, how about lining Gray or Mixon up in the wildcat? Something. Nope, not us. How about we create a package where we run some triple option like Fitz ran in HS? Not 10 plays, but like 2, just to confuse the defense and give us a chance at a big play. The lack of creativity & utilizing our best players is frustrating as hell.

And speaking of playmakers....as much as I love the A-Train, Kylin Hill & Nick Gibson are much bigger HomeRun threats at RB. So while I'm fine with Aeris getting the lions share, we need those two touching the ball more to give us a HR threat beyond Fitz's legs.

How about a Diamond set with 2 or all 3 of our stud RB's? Too creative, I know.

[Barking 13]

Exactly.

I feel like Dan always tries to spread the ball around and be balanced in all aspects, but when you only have 1 or 2 playmakers at WR, you need to create ways to get them touches. There's no excuse for the lack of involvement of Donald Gray so far this year. No, he's not getting much separation outside at 5'9....so it is our HC/OC's job to find other ways to get him involved, and the same goes with Mixon. Run a damn reverse for goodness sakes, we don't even ever try a basic reverse. Jet sweeps, reverses, how about lining Gray or Mixon up in the wildcat? Something. Nope, not us. How about we create a package where we run some triple option like Fitz ran in HS? Not 10 plays, but like 2, just to confuse the defense and give us a chance at a big play. The lack of creativity & utilizing our best players is frustrating as hell.

And speaking of playmakers....as much as I love the A-Train, Kylin Hill & Nick Gibson are much bigger HomeRun threats at RB. So while I'm fine with Aeris getting the lions share, we need those two touching the ball more to give us a HR threat beyond Fitz's legs.

How about a Diamond set with 2 or all 3 of our stud RB's? Too creative, I know.

I must spread more reputation around.. It just won't let me ever give you any...

[Dawg61]

Exactly.

I feel like Dan always tries to spread the ball around and be balanced in all aspects, but when you only have 1 or 2 playmakers at WR, you need to create ways to get them touches. There's no excuse for the lack of involvement of Donald Gray so far this year. No, he's not getting much separation outside at 5'9....so it is our HC/OC's job to find other ways to get him involved, and the same goes with Mixon. Run a damn reverse for goodness sakes, we don't even ever try a basic reverse. Jet sweeps, reverses, how about lining Gray or Mixon up in the wildcat? Something. Nope, not us. How about we create a package where we run some triple option like Fitz ran in HS? Not 10 plays, but like 2, just to confuse the defense and give us a chance at a big play. The lack of creativity & utilizing our best players is frustrating as hell.

And speaking of playmakers....as much as I love the A-Train, Kylin Hill & Nick Gibson are much bigger HomeRun threats at RB. So while I'm fine with Aeris getting the lions share, we need those two touching the ball more to give us a HR threat beyond Fitz's legs.

How about a Diamond set with 2 or all 3 of our stud RB's? Too creative, I know.

I agree with all of this. Good post. Donald Gray is our Percy Harvin. He needs to get plays called for him like Harvin got. He has a ton of make you miss. We see it on PR/KR. It's a little too late in his career now though to suddenly be getting RB touches but Gray is the dude we should have been using as Percy Lite. Mixon is also that guy. We have enough weapons on offense. We don't call plays tailored to those weapons though. We just call plays. I'd like this to change. I'd like the plays that get called be specifically designed to utilize a specific players skill set. For example the Couch td vs BYU. We should be attempting that over the top bomb pass to Couch 3-4 times a game every game moving forward. Specifically that exact same play. I doubt we see that play called for Couch more than 1-2 times more the entire year though. Saban on the other hand would know that is something he can exploit on defenses with Couch now and he would attempt that exact same play five times a game every game. Another play we should be running the hell out of is the speed option. Fitz with Kylin Hill. Over and over. Defense collapse on Fitz he pitches it to Hill. Defense doesn't collapse on Fitz he fakes the pitch and is ten yards upfield before the defense can even react. This play with Fitz's speed should be getting used ten times a game. Mix in a wide receiver reverse with it and it's a lethal play call. Mix in a pass off the WR reverse and it's a touchdown every time.

[Lord McBuckethead]

I agree with all of this. Good post. Donald Gray is our Percy Harvin. He needs to get plays called for him like Harvin got. He has a ton of make you miss. We see it on PR/KR. It's a little too late in his career now though to suddenly be getting RB touches but Gray is the dude we should have been using as Percy Lite. Mixon is also that guy. We have enough weapons on offense. We don't call plays tailored to those weapons though. We just call plays. I'd like this to change. I'd like the plays that get called be specifically designed to utilize a specific players skill set. For example the Couch td vs BYU. We should be attempting that over the top bomb pass to Couch 3-4 times a game every game moving forward. Specifically that exact same play. I doubt we see that play called for Couch more than 1-2 times more the entire year though. Saban on the other hand would know that is something he can exploit on defenses with Couch now and he would attempt that exact same play five times a game every game. Another play we should be running the hell out of is the speed option. Fitz with Kylin Hill. Over and over. Defense collapse on Fitz he pitches it to Hill. Defense doesn't collapse on Fitz he fakes the pitch and is ten yards upfield before the defense can even react. This play with Fitz's speed should be getting used ten times a game. Mix in a wide receiver reverse with it and it's a lethal play call. Mix in a pass off the WR reverse and it's a touchdown every time.

Or speed option with a passing option. let couch post route that thing. Keeps the safety from crashing the party.

[Dawg61]

Harvin is an elite college HOF player. We don't run Harvin type plays tailored for one player's explosiveness because we don't have a HOF player like that. Everyone has been trying to find another Percy but those guys only come around once a decade. Has there been another player in college as explosive as him that is both a RB & WR since he left Florida? I am drawing a blank.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GdpKSfNckbg

[bostondawg]

Uh...

Percy Harvin was a ridiculous 5* receiver. The number 2 overall player in his class, number 1 WR. One of the best high school WRs in the past twenty years. You don't just recruit low 3* WRs who happen to be 5'11" and hope they're "the next Percy Harvin." Their height was literally the only thing those players have in common. Nor do I think Dan was looking for the next PH, because the next PH ain't gonna be a low 3* recruit. I think we were just bad at recruiting WRs, and the ones we got just happened to also be midgets. Haha. I don't think there was some intentional effort by our staff to find the next Harvin.

[CadaverDawg]

Uh...

Percy Harvin was a ridiculous 5* receiver. The number 2 overall player in his class, number 1 WR. One of the best high school WRs in the past twenty years. You don't just recruit low 3* WRs who happen to be 5'11" and hope they're "the next Percy Harvin." Their height was literally the only thing those players have in common. Nor do I think Dan was looking for the next PH, because the next PH ain't gonna be a low 3* recruit. I think we were just bad at recruiting WRs, and the ones we got just happened to also be midgets. Haha. I don't think there was some intentional effort by our staff to find the next Harvin.

This^