I'd like to see a link to this. Until then I call bull crap
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If Mullen just plays the oldest players, then we are ****ed. That's complete bull shit.
This.
The whole 'Ugh! Our coaches are too stupid to realize that X (who we haven't really seen anything of yet) is clearly a better option than Y' thing is getting old fast.
I'm not saying the coaches are infallible, but ours make the right decision 95% of the time. They have reasons for every decision they make. People were worried about us using Holloway too much last year as well, and he got 36 of his 45 carries against USM, UAB, South Alabama, UTM, and Vandy. The only other game he got more than 1 carry in was A&M, and he ran it 5 times for 76 yards and a TD in that game.
Our coaches aren't stupid. They're not going to send Holloway out there to carry it 10-15 times against LSU. The only time he's had more than one carry against a legit opponent, he tore it up. Perhaps this is because the coaches knew of a weakness Holloway could exploit? They don't have any more interest in getting stuffed at the LOS than we do.
They hardly ever do this when it isn't justified. I'd like for somebody to give me 5 examples. Everybody points to Perkins vs. Robinson, but a) that's about the only real example, and b) perhaps there were reasons for it? Things Perkins did that we didn't see that much that Robinson couldn't do? Or perhaps Robinson just wasn't doing the things he needed to do until last year?
And it wasn't like Perkins hadn't just come off a 1,000 yard season averaging 5 ypc. And he ran up the middle his Jr as well. People act liked Perkins was a 300 yard back going into his Sr year. Which he played at less than 100%. I like Robinson as a person and he is talented. But I wish he had played with more Perkins attitude. He probably doesn't fade away at the end of last year. And maybe that's why he didn't play more. If he became the guy during Perkins Sr year would he have been as effective last year? Never know and it could have went either way.
And at some point that bullshit is going to cost us wins and high value recruits. Guys like Peters, McLaurin, etc. don't come to school to sit for a year. Some positions need it, like OL and DL, but others don't. You were just blasting Mullen on Sunday for not playing Lee & Williams. RB ought to be the easiest position in football for guys to play early and/or have an immediate impact. Seniority shouldn't mean dick for that position.
Talking about taking it to an extreme. People that played a lot as fr, either true or redshirt, r. Brown, Ryan brown, Preston smith, Chris jones, b. Brown, Gabe Myles, Dak, d. Wilson d. Day, b. Claussell, j. Malone, do I need to keep going? Shit. Please stop that we don't play young guys. We play them when they are ready. And lately we have actually had some talent in the upper classes that we didn't have to start puppies. It's not fun starting tr fr on this league. It typically leads to getting ones ass beat. Mullen and company are doing it the right way, I think they have proven it to this point. But carry on. I'm sure someone will. And if it isn't about this, it will be about new tailgating trailers or whatever, just as long as we have plenty to butch about around here.
It's true that sometimes Coach Mullen plays older players over younger players but I think it's just because he usually trust the older players more. Whether that's right or wrong can be debated but I think it's crazy to think he plays someone based solely on their age.
He obviously doesn't always play players based on age because a true freshman scored our first offensive touchdown of the year and it wasn't a true freshman that the "experts" thought would play a lot so Coach Mullen must know a little bit about what he is doing.
Look, I can at least understand possible reasons for some of the other situations like not playing Lee or Williams or maybe even Gerri Green that much because other players AT THAT POSITION were getting the time. Since when did Torrey Dale become an interior DT?
That's a problem though. We don't recruit enough elite talent that we can just have a steady assembly line of elite talent juniors/redshirt sophs ready to step in when out seniors graduate. When we land an elite talent guy, we need that guy on the field more often than not because it's unlikely he's behind another elite talent guy. Like with peters, market and kovan don't have high ceilings. Peters might struggle with the mental side of things, but the sooner he's out there, the sooner he's learning, and his pure athleticism should allow him to make plays our other safeties are just incapable of making, even if they play a little smarter. To maximize out talent on the field, we need to be willing to play our talents regardless of age. Bama can afford to sit 5* talent 2-3 years and still have elite talent. We can't.