Coach 57
12-16-2014, 09:30 PM
I'm sure nobody is holding their breath for my .02 & a defensive minded coach's perspective on the matter but I felt led to offer them up. So here goes, I'll try to keep this as brief as possible.
What EXACTLY was Geoff Collins?
Geoff was a GOOD LB coach. He brought a lot of enthusiasm to the heart & brain of our defense. No matter how good your DL is, if your 2nd level is bad...it'll make the whole defense suffer (take it from a DL coach). Because there will be times in a game where the offense will go with a quick 2 step drop from the QB and those 2-4 guys (depending on the personnel grouping your in) will make ANY secondary & DL look below average. Football is the ULTIMATE team sport. 1 guy misses his assignment and the whole unit/team will suffe including guys that aren't even on the field. Collins controlled the "vital organs" of our defense with his intellect and did his best to pass that on to guys like BMac & Benny & Richie. But he had a WHOLE lot of talent too. Talent will only get you so far. It's when the RIGHT kid meets the opportunity to learn and sops it up like a stale piece of cornbread and infuses his physical ability with the knowledge passed down. As someone who knows, the hardest aspect of Collins that we WILL miss in the Orange Bowl will be his position coaching NOT his overall defensive scheme (more on that in a sec). But as good as he was, there are other/better LB coaches out there. One thing that has been overlooked is that not only is Dan a good talent evaluator but he's been pretty good at picking position coaches too. I trust he'll get the RIGHT guy no matter who it is.
Was Collins that good of a defensive signal caller?
Yes and no. Go back one year, we played OM in a very physical game with our 3rd string true freshman QB. But go back, I hate to burst the bear or dawg fans' bubble but Freeze's best weapon is NOT Bo or Treadwell. It's a guy that didn't play last year in the EB. I'm not going to go all X's & O's on you here but in HS & CFB the biggest areas for huge plays are between the hashes. Some use motion to find man2man and use posts, but others use the TE with basic seams to get the mismatch on either the S (the TE is too big) or OLB (too fast). Evan Engram is OM's secret weapon and is basically a slot WR that can chip & release his butt off! Going into that game people thought I was crazy (around here not this board) because as I began to really look at this game we had NO matchup for Engram. He dropped an almost sure fire TD early in that game. Which should've tipped Collins off that he's (Freeze) was going to wear us out using him. Why didn't Collins throw out the poor scheme we had and attack that guy at the LOS coming off his routes? It's what teams that beat them did. Collins is a decent play caller, but he's not GREAT. So in that regards I'm really not worried at all, it COULD be an upgrade in that area and again I trust Dan's coaching eval.
Got juice?
I'm not busting on the guy but where was the "juice" in A&M late? LSU late? Good gracious UAB? How many times did teams drop EASY balls Va this defense? Go back & look at the drops Vs A&M. What was it like 11+? Auburn had guys open too that dropped passes. We were LITTERALLY a few caught balls away fro being back (possibly) in the Liberty Bowl. Where was the "juice"? There were times when our defense looked GOOD, but once he (his scheme) got "found" that was it. In coaching there is a saying that says "you better learn to adapt, because once you get FOUND that's it."
Recruiter?
Was he REALLY that good of a recruiter? Not really. Was he a great motivator? Absolutely.
Let's put a bow on this thing. I'm grateful for his mind & his ability to motivate our boys to play hard. I'm grateful for the years of service he had to this university. But in this business, it's cut throat literally sometimes and I think he'll do good for a few years at UF but will always be a floater type of coach. Never making a job last longer than a short stint. I don't think he's HC material at this point in his career any more than Ed O is. But he'll motivate the crap out of his boys but after s while the luster fades and it becomes a thinking man's game. Could he be a good HC? That's up to his ability to adapt & learn. Coaches are egotistical & hardheaded mostly, we'll see. So long Coach Collins....NEXT!
What EXACTLY was Geoff Collins?
Geoff was a GOOD LB coach. He brought a lot of enthusiasm to the heart & brain of our defense. No matter how good your DL is, if your 2nd level is bad...it'll make the whole defense suffer (take it from a DL coach). Because there will be times in a game where the offense will go with a quick 2 step drop from the QB and those 2-4 guys (depending on the personnel grouping your in) will make ANY secondary & DL look below average. Football is the ULTIMATE team sport. 1 guy misses his assignment and the whole unit/team will suffe including guys that aren't even on the field. Collins controlled the "vital organs" of our defense with his intellect and did his best to pass that on to guys like BMac & Benny & Richie. But he had a WHOLE lot of talent too. Talent will only get you so far. It's when the RIGHT kid meets the opportunity to learn and sops it up like a stale piece of cornbread and infuses his physical ability with the knowledge passed down. As someone who knows, the hardest aspect of Collins that we WILL miss in the Orange Bowl will be his position coaching NOT his overall defensive scheme (more on that in a sec). But as good as he was, there are other/better LB coaches out there. One thing that has been overlooked is that not only is Dan a good talent evaluator but he's been pretty good at picking position coaches too. I trust he'll get the RIGHT guy no matter who it is.
Was Collins that good of a defensive signal caller?
Yes and no. Go back one year, we played OM in a very physical game with our 3rd string true freshman QB. But go back, I hate to burst the bear or dawg fans' bubble but Freeze's best weapon is NOT Bo or Treadwell. It's a guy that didn't play last year in the EB. I'm not going to go all X's & O's on you here but in HS & CFB the biggest areas for huge plays are between the hashes. Some use motion to find man2man and use posts, but others use the TE with basic seams to get the mismatch on either the S (the TE is too big) or OLB (too fast). Evan Engram is OM's secret weapon and is basically a slot WR that can chip & release his butt off! Going into that game people thought I was crazy (around here not this board) because as I began to really look at this game we had NO matchup for Engram. He dropped an almost sure fire TD early in that game. Which should've tipped Collins off that he's (Freeze) was going to wear us out using him. Why didn't Collins throw out the poor scheme we had and attack that guy at the LOS coming off his routes? It's what teams that beat them did. Collins is a decent play caller, but he's not GREAT. So in that regards I'm really not worried at all, it COULD be an upgrade in that area and again I trust Dan's coaching eval.
Got juice?
I'm not busting on the guy but where was the "juice" in A&M late? LSU late? Good gracious UAB? How many times did teams drop EASY balls Va this defense? Go back & look at the drops Vs A&M. What was it like 11+? Auburn had guys open too that dropped passes. We were LITTERALLY a few caught balls away fro being back (possibly) in the Liberty Bowl. Where was the "juice"? There were times when our defense looked GOOD, but once he (his scheme) got "found" that was it. In coaching there is a saying that says "you better learn to adapt, because once you get FOUND that's it."
Recruiter?
Was he REALLY that good of a recruiter? Not really. Was he a great motivator? Absolutely.
Let's put a bow on this thing. I'm grateful for his mind & his ability to motivate our boys to play hard. I'm grateful for the years of service he had to this university. But in this business, it's cut throat literally sometimes and I think he'll do good for a few years at UF but will always be a floater type of coach. Never making a job last longer than a short stint. I don't think he's HC material at this point in his career any more than Ed O is. But he'll motivate the crap out of his boys but after s while the luster fades and it becomes a thinking man's game. Could he be a good HC? That's up to his ability to adapt & learn. Coaches are egotistical & hardheaded mostly, we'll see. So long Coach Collins....NEXT!