Can someone explain to me....

[maroonmania]

who we lost from last year's team that is irreplaceable? Apparently losing so many irreplaceable players is why the pundits say we are dragging up the rear in the West.

To me our biggest losses may actually be Evan Sobiesk and Malcolm Johnson because I don't have a clue who will replace either of those guys and do a good job at the position. I'm also worried about safety but we will still likely be better at that position than we were last year (would be hard to be worse). We have guys that I feel very confident in to replace PSmith, McKinney, and the OL trio. Matt Wells was a unique defensive player but I think JT Gray will do well there and I can't help but feel one of the RBs will step up to replace Robinson.

[Schultzy]

Geoff Collins being gone will alone improve our safety play.

[Todd4State]

One thing the pundits don't know and realize is that Malik Dear is going to give us a different dimension on offense that we've never really had before since Dan has been here. He's our "Percy Harvin" ATH position that can play RB and slot WR for us and create havoc. He essentially replaces Josh Robinson in terms of our home run ability- but he doesn't have some of the negatives that Josh had (and I love Josh) such as trying to make a huge play every time or worrying about getting injured and losing millions and at the same time it will allow us to play Shumpert more where he can be the "power" back that plows over people but he also is a really good blocker and has good hands out of the backfield.

You add that with some known quantities such as Bear, Ross, Morrow, Fred Brown, Myles and even though we will miss Malcolm Johnson, I think Gus Walley is a solid option at H-back.

The only questions I have about the skill guys that I would like to see is maybe use Williams and Lee along with Shumpert like Jackie used Bouie/Davis and Dontae/Dicenzo- and he intended to use Keefer and JJ the same way. And the other question or thing I would like to see is make Deshun Dixon step up at H-back and replace Malcolm as the H-back/FB/TE guy.

I also don't think they understand that while we are losing some seniors on the o-line, I really think the biggest loss is Day, I think we upgrade our overall athleticism by starting Clayborn, Desper, and my guess is Warren starting at either LT or RT depending on how he looks, and if he can't handle the LT spot, I think we go with Senior at LT and Warren at RT with Elgton Jenkins maybe being a wild card at LT. Assuming we don't start Jenkins, we're starting guys that have been in the program for at least three years and have plenty of SEC experience whether it's in the form of starts or not.

On defense, I think we upgraded at d-line even with the loss of Preston Smith because we are going to play Jones and James more and at DT to go along with Ryan Brown and AJ Jefferson. I don't think they realize how much of an impact Gerri Green, Leo Lewis, and Traver Jung, as well as JT Gray for that matter are going to make- and I think they beat out Zach Jackson. We have inexperience at safety, but we've upgraded in talent with Peters, McLaurin and Bryant to go along with our two NFL CB's in Redmond and Calhoun.

Special teams is always going to be hairy under Dan, but I think that we might actually upgrade over Sobiesk with Devon Bell. He had a good freshman year kicking the ball and then his sophomore year where he struggled and was 6 for 14- he was still 4 for 5 from 40 yards in that year. Dan just has to understand that he's not Morten Andersen. But if Bell can handle the job from 40 yards out- that's essentially double Sobiesk's range. I'd like to see Deddrick Thomas and Dear returning kicks instead of Holloway. If Dan uses those two, I think we upgrade the return game a good bit.

So for me, it kind of comes down to whether Dan will use the freshmen a lot or if he stays with Deontay Evans and Zach Jackson.

[Todd4State]

Geoff Collins being gone will alone improve our safety play.

No doubt. It seems to me that Manny likes to basically keep one safety back in kind of a cover one look a lot while blitzing the other one a lot. I could see a guy like Coman thriving in a system like that.

[Homedawg]

Wells, clausell, smith and eulls are the guys I think we will miss the most. Go watch eulls on tape- he didn't get the credit he deserved. Wells, well he can't be replaced in the sense we don't have any lb that come close to covering like him. ......Oh yea I left off Malcolm.

[War Machine Dawg]

Don't overthink this. To the media, they see we lose: McKinney, Well, Smith, PJ Jones, Clausell, Day, and J-Rob. That's a lot of starts and yards. When you combine it with media laziness, I get why they doubt us. They don't take the time to look at production, snaps played, etc.

[Coach34]

The media pundits are simply looking at "starters"- not "production". Then they double down on it saying yet aGAIN- Mullen hasnt recruited well enough to compete for the SEC title. It doesnt matter that we could have as many as 7 guys drafted next April:

Prescott
Wilson
Malone
R. Brown
Jones
Redmond
Calhoun

[Dawgcentral]

Manny brings an entirely different blitz package. He doesn't creep up with a corner or safety, and send them automatically, which is more easily read by the opposing QB. That's the pressure we'll need to prevent the deep pass against isolated coverage, which beat the hell out of our secondary last year.

There's a chance we'll give up more rushing yards this year, but the difference will be marginal. We have more talent all around, so it's a matter of mixing things up and taking advantage of tendencies worked out in the film room.

[maroonmania]

Special teams is always going to be hairy under Dan, but I think that we might actually upgrade over Sobiesk with Devon Bell. He had a good freshman year kicking the ball and then his sophomore year where he struggled and was 6 for 14- he was still 4 for 5 from 40 yards in that year. Dan just has to understand that he's not Morten Andersen. But if Bell can handle the job from 40 yards out- that's essentially double Sobiesk's range. I'd like to see Deddrick Thomas and Dear returning kicks instead of Holloway. If Dan uses those two, I think we upgrade the return game a good bit.


As far as FG kicking goes, I just want accuracy, which Sobiesk gave us last year from about 42 yards and in which was fine for me. I don't have a lot of confidence that Bell can routinely put it between the posts from any distance but I'll wait and see. Having a strong leg is a very distant second priority for me. Any FG beyond 45 yards is just a luxury for us, Mullen has never had a FG kicker that had a clue where the ball was going when kicking a long FG anyway.

[Todd4State]

As far as FG kicking goes, I just want accuracy, which Sobiesk gave us last year from about 42 yards and in which was fine for me. I don't have a lot of confidence that Bell can routinely put it between the posts from any distance but I'll wait and see. Having a strong leg is a very distant second priority for me. Any FG beyond 45 yards is just a luxury for us, Mullen has never had a FG kicker that had a clue where the ball was going when kicking a long FG anyway.

I think that is Dan's fault because I think he has asked Bell to do some things in the past that were unrealistic of him. Dan has been quoted by an announcer as saying that Bell can hit field goals in practice from 65 yards out. But if you look at the statistics, Bell has been very accurate from 30 yards in- but very inaccurate from beyond 40 yards. I think it's a case of Bell having the leg strength potential- but having an actual range of only 30 yards. What happens is as fans, we see the misses and we've unfairly criticized Bell to the point where I think it shook his confidence- when he has been put into a position to do something that he isn't capable of doing.

In 2012, Bell was 10 of 14 from 40 yards in- including 6 of 10 from 30-39 yards. And interestingly enough, he was a very solid 4 of 7 from 40-49 yards that year.

In 2013 Bell was only 6 of 14 total, but he was basically automatic from 30 yards in going 4 of 5. Now he lost his job because he went 1 of 4 from 30-39 yards and then 1 of 5 from further than 40 yards out.

So, based on the stats if things hold true, he's pretty much automatic from 30 yards in (90%)- which is essentially what Sobiesk was for us. That means we have to get to the 23 yard line. If he's kicking from 30-40 yards out, he's 50%. That's the issue for him. He's actually about the same from 40 yards out as he is between 30-39 yards- (42% from 40 yards+)

It's also worth noting that Bell has had three field goals blocked in his career- and the question is how many were truly Bell's fault and how many were the special teams units fault (bad snap, bad hold, protection breakdown, etc.) That I don't really know.

[maroonmania]

I think that is Dan's fault because I think he has asked Bell to do some things in the past that were unrealistic of him. Dan has been quoted by an announcer as saying that Bell can hit field goals in practice from 65 yards out. But if you look at the statistics, Bell has been very accurate from 30 yards in- but very inaccurate from beyond 40 yards. I think it's a case of Bell having the leg strength potential- but having an actual range of only 30 yards. What happens is as fans, we see the misses and we've unfairly criticized Bell to the point where I think it shook his confidence- when he has been put into a position to do something that he isn't capable of doing.

In 2012, Bell was 10 of 14 from 40 yards in- including 6 of 10 from 30-39 yards. And interestingly enough, he was a very solid 4 of 7 from 40-49 yards that year.

In 2013 Bell was only 6 of 14 total, but he was basically automatic from 30 yards in going 4 of 5. Now he lost his job because he went 1 of 4 from 30-39 yards and then 1 of 5 from further than 40 yards out.

So, based on the stats if things hold true, he's pretty much automatic from 30 yards in (90%)- which is essentially what Sobiesk was for us. That means we have to get to the 23 yard line. If he's kicking from 30-40 yards out, he's 50%. That's the issue for him. He's actually about the same from 40 yards out as he is between 30-39 yards- (42% from 40 yards+)

It's also worth noting that Bell has had three field goals blocked in his career- and the question is how many were truly Bell's fault and how many were the special teams units fault (bad snap, bad hold, protection breakdown, etc.) That I don't really know.

From 30 yards in he better be just about automatic, that means we've made it to the 13 yard line. You aren't that much further than an extra point from that range. Bell really is going to need to up the accuracy from 30-40 yards. Sobiesk was 12-14 in FGs last year so he didn't miss hardly any from anywhere though we all know he wasn't asked to kick any really long ones.