Did Cohen have a discussion with the cigar boys re the DC hire?

[Bully13]

Ok guys. We've blown it 2 times in the past when the opportunity arose to take over this state. Let's not let it happen again. We've seen how money can be spent wrongly from our nemesis up north. Let's do it the right way. Let's pay this guy and bury tsun once and for all. Don't take a knee, punch it in and solidify our in state dominance once and for all.

[lamont]

Mullen finally figured out he cant coach everything. Having a losing season after two straight losses to your rival will scare your ass. He decided he needed "that guy" to handle the defense he could trust. Cohen told him to get it done and he would find the money to make it happen.

Good move by both our HC and our AD

[Bully13]

One thing I like about saban is he talks about how dangerous complacency is when things are as competitive as the are in college football. Time to get creative and throw the ko punch while the opponent is wobbly and their legs are weak. Looks like we're waking up and smelling the coffee. Keep the foot on the gas. Don't let up.

[Dolphus Raymond]

We have an opportunity to bury Ole Miss for a decade, and this hire should go a long way to ensure this occurs. Ole Miss is in deep s--t with the NCAA and facing crippling sanctions. Even if the best case scenario (for them) of say 20 over 4 were to come to fruition, it would take years for them to recover. (Twenty over four is a pipe dream for them at this point, IMO.) This hire tells me our AD is going to take the necessary steps to ensure this opportunity is not squandered.

[Todd4State]

Mullen finally figured out he cant coach everything. Having a losing season after two straight losses to your rival will scare your ass. He decided he needed "that guy" to handle the defense he could trust. Cohen told him to get it done and he would find the money to make it happen.

Good move by both our HC and our AD

I bet some of this is tied into Dan wanting an extension. Sexton and Dan probably went up to Cohen and told him what they wanted and Cohen probably told him that if he wants an extension he needs to ditch Sirmon and hire a legit top 25 DC, start recruiting better kickers that won't leave for dental school after three years (Got Army All-American kickers and punters coming in for OV's) and hopefully he told him to demote Hevesy and stop running midget running backs up the middle.

[Todd4State]

We have an opportunity to bury Ole Miss for a decade, and this hire should go a long way to ensure this occurs. Ole Miss is in deep s--t with the NCAA and facing crippling sanctions. Even if the best case scenario (for them) of say 20 over 4 were to come to fruition, it would take years for them to recover. (Twenty over four is a pipe dream for them at this point, IMO.) This hire tells me our AD is going to take the necessary steps to ensure this opportunity is not squandered.

The new December early signing period which is likely about to go into effect is probably going to hurt Ole Miss some too and at the same time I think it will help us immensely. Basically it means that Ole Miss won't be able to horde all of their top prospects together for one gigantic recruiting-palooza fest. It also means that we can get at least some of our guys squared away and committed and Dan won't have to "baby-sit" commits and can focus on the rest of our targets. Think this year type of excitement with fewer JUCO guys.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

I bet some of this is tied into Dan wanting an extension. Sexton and Dan probably went up to Cohen and told him what they wanted and Cohen probably told him that if he wants an extension he needs to ditch Sirmon and hire a legit top 25 DC, start recruiting better kickers that won't leave for dental school after three years (Got Army All-American kickers and punters coming in for OV's) and hopefully he told him to demote Hevesy and stop running midget running backs up the middle.

Sounds probable

[dawgday166]

Mullen finally figured out he cant coach everything. Having a losing season after two straight losses to your rival will scare your ass. He decided he needed "that guy" to handle the defense he could trust. Cohen told him to get it done and he would find the money to make it happen.

Good move by both our HC and our AD

Maybe that will free up Dan to work on getting his offensive rankings up there with Grantham's historical defensive rankings. If he can do that and manage games/clocks better I'd be a pretty happy mofo.

[Todd4State]

Maybe that will free up Dan to work on getting his offensive rankings up there with Grantham's historical defensive rankings. If he can do that and manage games/clocks better I'd be a pretty happy mofo.

I thought our offensive rankings were pretty good in general? At any rate the only problem I have on offense is I think our o-line could be better and even then they have their moments.

[DanDority]

I bet some of this is tied into Dan wanting an extension. Sexton and Dan probably went up to Cohen and told him what they wanted and Cohen probably told him that if he wants an extension he needs to ditch Sirmon and hire a legit top 25 DC, start recruiting better kickers that won't leave for dental school after three years (Got Army All-American kickers and punters coming in for OV's) and hopefully he told him to demote Hevesy and stop running midget running backs up the middle.
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Todd4State again.

[dawgday166]

I thought our offensive rankings were pretty good in general? At any rate the only problem I have on offense is I think our o-line could be better and even then they have their moments.

Not bad. In the 40's or below (1 at least in the 80's) every year except 2014 & 2015. Not close to the level of Grantham's D rankings the last 3 years at, not Bama or FL, but Lville with nothing but 3 stars (I think he may have had 3 4* on this past years D). Those Lville D rankings are impressive to me ... they just are.

ETA: And that's with Clemson and FL St. in same Division.

[Gutter Cobreh]

Maybe that will free up Dan to work on getting his offensive rankings up there with Grantham's historical defensive rankings. If he can do that and manage games/clocks better I'd be a pretty happy mofo.

Make that two of us. The key is "managing games/clocks better". That in and of itself could have lead to multiple wins for us over the past couple seasons. Adding Random's comment about managing every aspect of the game is true, and if Mullen indeed changes this part - I'm pumped about the next couple years!

[Homedawg]

Not bad. In the 40's or below (1 at least in the 80's) every year except 2014 & 2015. Not close to the level of Grantham's D rankings the last 3 years at, not Bama or FL, but Lville with nothing but 3 stars (I think he may have had 3 4* on this past years D). Those Lville D rankings are impressive to me ... they just are.

ETA: And that's with Clemson and FL St. in same Division.

Sounds great but now he gets to play w our talent against our schedule. Dude gave up mor to kentucky at home than we did on the road. He didn't invent defensive football. I'm i glad we got him over sirmon? Yeah. But this isn't a problem solver w our talent. Just sayin

[dawgday166]

Sounds great but now he gets to play w our talent against our schedule. Dude gave up mor to kentucky at home than we did on the road. He didn't invent defensive football. I'm i glad we got him over sirmon? Yeah. But this isn't a problem solver w our talent. Just sayin

We had five 4* and one 5* playing a lot on the D side of the ball this year. Talent level isn't even comparable.

[Jarius]

Sounds great but now he gets to play w our talent against our schedule. Dude gave up mor to kentucky at home than we did on the road. He didn't invent defensive football. I'm i glad we got him over sirmon? Yeah. But this isn't a problem solver w our talent. Just sayin

Which means he should do just as well or better considering we have recruited better defensively than Louisville. He also played Kentucky with 18 scholarship defensive players because hey had so many injuries. He had top 20 defenses for 3 straight years at a school that was competing in he ACC after recruiting AAC talent in the years just prior to his arrival.

[Really Clark?]

Sounds great but now he gets to play w our talent against our schedule. Dude gave up mor to kentucky at home than we did on the road. He didn't invent defensive football. I'm i glad we got him over sirmon? Yeah. But this isn't a problem solver w our talent. Just sayin

Well they had a lot of injuries at the end of the year on defense but Jackson throwing 3 picks and fumbling the ball at the end of the game to allow Kentucky a chance to win has played a lot into that loss. They had 6 key defenders out for the bowl game as well and was out there the whole game since the offense did absolutely nothing. Got to look at the whole game and background to understand it wasn't just the defense

[dawgday166]

Make that two of us. The key is "managing games/clocks better". That in and of itself could have lead to multiple wins for us over the past couple seasons. Adding Random's comment about managing every aspect of the game is true, and if Mullen indeed changes this part - I'm pumped about the next couple years!

We certainly have lost more than our share because of that. Also I tend to feel Dan doesn't adjust too well at half when getting shutdown on O some in first half.

I just think this may free Dan up to focus on O more. Be more creative. Devise ways to score in red zone against Bama. Things like that. I think he's better than what his average rankings are. If you combine what I believe Dan is capable of and what Grantham appears to be capable of, we just might be pretty darn good more consistently than we are ... for at least over the next 2 - 4 years or so maybe.

[Homedawg]

We had five 4* and one 5* playing a lot on the D side of the ball this year. Talent level isn't even comparable.

So you are saying we were talented on defense this year? If so, you've lost it...

[Homedawg]

Which means he should do just as well or better considering we have recruited better defensively than Louisville. He also played Kentucky with 18 scholarship defensive players because hey had so many injuries. He had top 20 defenses for 3 straight years at a school that was competing in he ACC after recruiting AAC talent in the years just prior to his arrival.

I'm just saying those that think he's about to come in a make a quick turn around just because will be the same ones cussing him next year. Or wait, cussing Mullen because he won't let grantham run "his" defense.... Bookmark it and I hope I'm wrong. But we are relying on jucos to be half way decent on defense. That's a fact.

[dawgday166]

I'm just saying those that think he's about to come in a make a quick turn around just because will be the same ones cussing him next year. Or wait, cussing Mullen because he won't let grantham run "his" defense.... Bookmark it and I hope I'm wrong. But we are relying on jucos to be half way decent on defense. That's a fact.

Didn't realize that was what you were saying. That do sound about like the way it will likely be too.

[dawgday166]

So you are saying we were talented on defense this year? If so, you've lost it...

According to the recruiting rankings we weren't that bad talent wise. I tend to believe it was mostly coaching this past year.

[Homedawg]

According to the recruiting rankings we weren't that bad talent wise. I tend to believe it was mostly coaching this past year.

Recruiting rankings as rule show you have to recruit well to be successful. However, they fail at times and they did in this case, we weren't talented. Period.

[dawgday166]

Recruiting rankings as rule show you have to recruit well to be successful. However, we weren't talented. Period.

Ok .. I tend to think it was there, but not coached properly. Talent does not equal bad fundamentals or being put in positions where you are less likely to be successful.

Not talented all over. Hurting at CB. We'll see next year maybe.

[KB21]

The defensive performance of this team in 2016 was the perfect storm of bad things that happened. First, they had an inexperienced coordinator that failed to communicate what he wanted done at the level the players needed. Second, they entire defensive staff was overhauled. There were communication and chemistry issues because of that. Third, they were making a scheme change. Fourth, the majority of the talent on defense were young, inexperienced players. They may have been highly rated out of high school, but they were clearly inexperienced.

There were instances where the coaching staff didn't pick up on tendencies the offense was giving. There were even more times where the defenders were in a position to make the play and simply didn't make it. There were instances where the players were simply overmatched.

Fans have a tendency to give an illusion of control to one person, and that person either gets all the credit or all the blame for any successes and failures of the team. In the case, there is this illusion that Peter Sirmon could control the outcome of his defense, and in the same sense, there is this illusion that Todd Grantham is going to make this a top 20 defense just by his mere presence.

The bottom line is this. The majority of the outcomes on the field is controlled by the players on the field. When you are in a position to make a play, you have to make the play. If you don't, then your unit is not going to perform.

From a coaching standpoint, what you have the most control over is the message that is being given to the players and the ability to get the players to trust you. This is where Peter Sirmon failed in his first year. He failed to develop the trust with the players, and as a result, the players were never sure of themselves on the field. This wasn't about the scheme or how the scheme isn't made for the SEC. The spread offense used to not be made for the SEC as well.

[Jarius]

I'm just saying those that think he's about to come in a make a quick turn around just because will be the same ones cussing him next year. Or wait, cussing Mullen because he won't let grantham run "his" defense.... Bookmark it and I hope I'm wrong. But we are relying on jucos to be half way decent on defense. That's a fact.


Actually we are just relying on him to not be completely in over his head like Peter Sirmon was. We had some personnel issues on defense last year but we did not play up to our potential. Every single returning starter on defense got worse under Sirmon except Jamal Peters. Linebackers were horrible and that's what he specializes in.

[dawgday166]

I do expect a huge jump next year in our D ranking. I don't expect to be in top 20 tho. 2018 ... different story.

Next year ... Anything from 30 - 60 or so is reasonable to expect IMO. Anything below 30 is a huge improvement.

[Todd4State]

The defensive performance of this team in 2016 was the perfect storm of bad things that happened. First, they had an inexperienced coordinator that failed to communicate what he wanted done at the level the players needed. Second, they entire defensive staff was overhauled. There were communication and chemistry issues because of that. Third, they were making a scheme change. Fourth, the majority of the talent on defense were young, inexperienced players. They may have been highly rated out of high school, but they were clearly inexperienced.

There were instances where the coaching staff didn't pick up on tendencies the offense was giving. There were even more times where the defenders were in a position to make the play and simply didn't make it. There were instances where the players were simply overmatched.

Fans have a tendency to give an illusion of control to one person, and that person either gets all the credit or all the blame for any successes and failures of the team. In the case, there is this illusion that Peter Sirmon could control the outcome of his defense, and in the same sense, there is this illusion that Todd Grantham is going to make this a top 20 defense just by his mere presence.

The bottom line is this. The majority of the outcomes on the field is controlled by the players on the field. When you are in a position to make a play, you have to make the play. If you don't, then your unit is not going to perform.

From a coaching standpoint, what you have the most control over is the message that is being given to the players and the ability to get the players to trust you. This is where Peter Sirmon failed in his first year. He failed to develop the trust with the players, and as a result, the players were never sure of themselves on the field. This wasn't about the scheme or how the scheme isn't made for the SEC. The spread offense used to not be made for the SEC as well.

Very true. In the next couple of years we could conceivably field a defense of all four star players if we wanted to. Not saying that we should necessarily- just that if we wanted to we could.

DE- Fletcher Adams ****, Semper Fi All-American, RS Fr.
DT- Jeffrey Simmons *****, Army All-American, Fr. this year.
DT/DE- Kobe Jones ****, RS this year
DE/OLB- Marquis Spencer ****, True Fr. this year.

OLB- Gerri Green ****, RS So., Semper Fi All-American
MLB- Leo Lewis ****, RS Fr., Under Armour All-American
OLB- Potentially Willie Gay ****, HS senior, Army All-American

CB- Jamal Peters ****, So. in first year at CB, Army All-American
CB- Jamoral Graham ****, Jr.

S- Mark McLaurin **** by scout I think; So.
S- Brian Cole **** out of HS; JUCO; Under Armour All-American

That doesn't even inclue Rivers who was a four star himself.

[ScottH]

Nope.

[Martianlander]

Any way you look at it this is a defensive coaching upgrade. If he is just "average" next year I expect two to three more wins, and "above average"-who knows?

[Turfdawg67]

Recruiting rankings as rule show you have to recruit well to be successful. However, they fail at times and they did in this case, we weren't talented. Period.

How about we bookmark this too. Our D will be vastly improved this year and it will come from the ones that played last year... Adams, Spencer, Lewis, Green, Peters, McLaurin, Simmons and Graham. Period.