The Exodus

[Buzz Killington]

Thank God.  Because I was worried about who would teach the young guys to act.

I'm just thankful he was ok after that.

[Snaggletiger]

I'm just thankful he was ok after that.

Gus had Anthony Come On Swain come back and work with the guys in the off season.  I'm just hoping that Big Kat can pass down the knowledge to the younger players.  It's an art form that's not easily learned.   

[CCTAU]

The rumor mill hinting that Grimes may be out.
Are things actually changing....

[Godfather]

The rumor mill hinting that Grimes may be out.
Are things actually changing....

I don't think Grimes is a problem, I think Herb Hand was.  I think Grimes is still trying to build back.   Could be wrong though.

[CCTAU]

I don't think Grimes is a problem, I think Herb Hand was.  I think Grimes is still trying to build back.  Could be wrong though.

I haven't heard too many people who think Grimes is a good coach.
I also don't think Chad is a big fan either.

[Snaggletiger]

Speaking of The Exodus, Wil Appleton just entered the Continuum Transfunctioner.  Who is Wil Appleton, you ask?  Why, he's only the QB who holds the all-time completion percentage record at Auburn University. 

This one stings!!!

Changing gears, I'm actually quite curious (And Bi) to see what, if anything, Morris can do with Nix.  I was talking to a HS Corch not named my BIL this weekend.  Well, my BIL was there, but that's beside the point.  There were two glaring problems with Nix this year, IMO.  One is accuracy, or lack thereof.  Thanks Captain Obvious.  The other is something I've harped on all season, which is his quick tendency to bail on the play and make an Onterrio-esque sprint for the sidelines.  Countless times, I've thought he had a clear pocket and should simply step up and find a receiver.  I was told nay-nay. 

As we've all observed, it seems that 80% or 242/315ths of the patterns for our receivers are outside the numbers.  This is troof!  I was told that Nix has one initial read.  If that WR is not open, he is coached to head to the sidelines because quite frankly, that's where all the receivers are.  It was also pointed out, correctly, that this is exactly what Jarrett Stidham did quite often.  So all those times I thought Nix was panicking and running like a scalded dog for cover, the reality is.....that's just Gus. 

I've always heard you guys and others talking about the lack of QB coaching, but I'm thinking if this is really how Nix and all his predecessors have been taught, how the hell do we win more than 3 games a year?

I have no idea if Morris is a good hire or if he'll be anything more than a glorified, highly paid, clipboard holder.  But the way I see it, Malzahn had better let go of the reins and turn that shit over to him and at least give him a shot.   

[wesfau2]

I have no idea if Morris is a good hire or if he'll be anything more than a glorified, highly paid, clipboard holder.  But the way I see it, Malzahn had better let go of the reins and turn that shit over to him and at least give him a shot. 

He rotated 6 QBs over two years.  One was his 3 year starter at SMU.  Each time he rotated in a guy that hadn't taken the #1 snaps that week there was a bump in production.  The less coaching he did to the kids, the better they were.

Dude can't do shit for a QB.

[Kaos]

He rotated 6 QBs over two years.  One was his 3 year starter at SMU.  Each time he rotated in a guy that hadn't taken the #1 snaps that week there was a bump in production.  The less coaching he did to the kids, the better they were.

Dude can't do shit for a QB.

QB play at Arkansas was hideous.  Some of the worse I’ve ever seen. Ever. And I coached or covered high school ball featuring teams like Greene County, South Lamar, Patrician, Kingwood, Hale County, Akron, Keith....

What Morris allowed on the field at Arkansas was worse than anything I saw from those teams and worse.

Fuck Gus.  Fuck the buddy hire.  I hate it. 

[Godfather]

He rotated 6 QBs over two years.  One was his 3 year starter at SMU.  Each time he rotated in a guy that hadn't taken the #1 snaps that week there was a bump in production.  The less coaching he did to the kids, the better they were.

Dude can't do shit for a QB.

QB play at Arkansas was hideous.  Some of the worse I’ve ever seen. Ever. And I coached or covered high school ball featuring teams like Greene County, South Lamar, Patrician, Kingwood, Hale County, Akron, Keith....

What Morris allowed on the field at Arkansas was worse than anything I saw from those teams and worse.

Fuck Gus.  Fuck the buddy hire.  I hate it.

You guys both talk about revisionist history.  Morris was QB coach for one of the greatest QB's to ever be at Clemson before Deshaun Watson and then recruited and was QB coach for Watson.

Again shitty head coach does not equal shitty coordinator.  We all agree that Steele is great well he was winless at Baylor...winless.  Look I get it...it's Gus so the hire probably sucks, especially because it's the offensive side of the ball, but jesus lets play a game with him as OC before we all crap on him.

CCTAU: Back on the topic of Grimes we had a good offensive line when he was here for his first stint then Herb Hand came in and it went to shit.  Again I'm just not sold on it being Grimes.

[Snaggletiger]

I know it's comparing apples to sirloin steak, but it's amazing to me how Arkansas digressed so much under Morris after what he did at SMU.  I can see how he was a hot prospect after taking the Stangs from 2-10 to 7-6 in 3 years.  They had improvement all three years.  In checking the numbers in 2017 for Ben Hicks, his QB, they were:

276/472 58% 3,569  33 TD  12 INT. 

Not overwhelming in a pass happy, wide open conference, but not too shabby either.

Compare that to his time at Arkansas.

2018  208/372  56%  2,582  19/7

65/137  47%  738  2/2

Nick Starkel, transfer from A&M, got more reps this season but he was Ah-Bis-mull too.  Again, I know you can't really compare SMU to even an SEC dreg.  But how do you go to the depths of not even sniffing an SEC win in 2 years?  I have to think either Bulemia left it in Jimbo Fisher level crappy, or the culture there was horrible, or whatever.  Their season pretty much mirrored our 2012 nightmare.   

[wesfau2]

QB play at Arkansas was hideous.  Some of the worse I’ve ever seen. Ever. And I coached or covered high school ball featuring teams like Greene County, South Lamar, Patrician, Kingwood, Hale County, Akron, Keith....

What Morris allowed on the field at Arkansas was worse than anything I saw from those teams and worse.

Fuck Gus.  Fuck the buddy hire.  I hate it.

We're simpatico here!  Whoa... Sandworms.  Ya hate em, right?  I hate em, too!

[wesfau2]

You guys both talk about revisionist history.  Morris was QB coach for one of the greatest QB's to ever be at Clemson before Deshaun Watson and then recruited and was QB coach for Watson.

Again shitty head coach does not equal shitty coordinator.  We all agree that Steele is great well he was winless at Baylor...winless.  Look I get it...it's Gus so the hire probably sucks, especially because it's the offensive side of the ball, but jesus lets play a game with him as OC before we all crap on him.

CCTAU: Back on the topic of Grimes we had a good offensive line when he was here for his first stint then Herb Hand came in and it went to shit.  Again I'm just not sold on it being Grimes.

Dude is riding Boyd, Ellington, Hopkins and (riding the hardest with the least justification) Watson for all he can.  Joe Moorehead could've won the ACC with that talent.

Is he what we saw half a decade ago with superior talent or is he what he's shown recently with average talent?

I think he's more the latter than the former.

[Kaos]

You guys both talk about revisionist history.  Morris was QB coach for one of the greatest QB's to ever be at Clemson before Deshaun Watson and then recruited and was QB coach for Watson.

Again shitty head coach does not equal shitty coordinator.  We all agree that Steele is great well he was winless at Baylor...winless.  Look I get it...it's Gus so the hire probably sucks, especially because it's the offensive side of the ball, but jesus lets play a game with him as OC before we all crap on him.

CCTAU: Back on the topic of Grimes we had a good offensive line when he was here for his first stint then Herb Hand came in and it went to shit.  Again I'm just not sold on it being Grimes.

So the showing against Minnesota doesn't count? 

I'll stop bitching (eventually) but I want it noted for the record that I was opposed to this hire even before it was proposed.  When I heard some say it might be a possibility -- or even a good idea -- I was aghast. It's a butt-buddy hire and I absolutely loathe it.  I hated it before it even happened, dreaded the idea from the jump.  

I'll be happy to be wrong but it's a circumstance with which I'm not familiar.  

[wesfau2]

The rumor mill hinting that Grimes may be out.
Are things actually changing....

Confirmed.  He gone.

[Kaos]

Confirmed.  He gone.

Malzahn hires new OL Coach

Auburn, AL
December 7, 2020

Auburn head football coach Gus Malzahn moved quickly to fill the gap left on his coaching staff when offensive line coach J.B. Grimes stepped down. 

"We're pleased to welcome Hector Ramirez to our staff," Malzahn said.  "We appreciate everything J.B. did for us and we wish him well, but we're excited to bring some new ideas and innovation to the staff.  

"Auburn has a great tradition of producing some fine offensive linemen and we're going to continue that. I believe we can win championships here and we're gonna."  

Ramirez is currently the assistant manager of the Auburn, Alabama Waffle House and one of Malzahn's closest friends in the town.  

"We're going to work hard with Hector to get him up to speed, but I gotta tell you it's going to be great having somebody working with me every day who I'm really familiar with.  I've had a chance to watch Hector work and I'm really comfortable with his ethic and his ability to juggle multiple tasks.  

"We're a running team and victories at Auburn start on the offensive and defensive line.  It's the same at Waffle House.  I've seen Hector handling a couple of hundred drunk college students and keeping that line moving while his staff scrambled like crazy to get all those orders filled.  He was great under pressure.  Just unflappable.  My waffles were always perfect. That ability to multi-task and that attention to detail is what we're looking for.  

"Scattered, covered, smothered, capped, chunked and topped.  That's what our offensive line is going to be with Hector leading them." 

Malzahn met Hector about eight years ago and said that he often designs plays at his standard Waffle House table using the salt shaker as QB, butter for the receivers, a balled up straw paper as the running back and jelly packets for the offensive line. 

Over the years, Hector has joined Malzahn and helped him move the jelly around.  Sometimes Hector just needed the jelly for another table, but other times he did help Malzahn generate some ideas.  Legend has it that Hector designed the offensive line set for Malzahn's famous whirlybird plays.  

"That thing's gonna work," Malzahn said of the dipsydoodle bird play.  "We're gonna keep coming back to it until it does. Hector's gonna be a big help with that."  

Ramirez signed a four-year deal worth approximately $450,000 per year, a step up from his current $51,000 salary at WH.  

"It's not that much,"  Malzahn said of the salary.  "My BMW cost more than that." 

[wesfau2]

Too likely to be funny.

But funny.

[Kaos]

Too likely to be funny.

But funny.

Maybe Reese Dismukes.  He's selling insurance in Montgomery.   

[Godfather]

Maybe Reese Dismukes.  He's selling insurance in Montgomery. 

I figured Lee Ziemba


HE is thinking about the job but he's got a guy on the other line talking about boxes.

[Godfather]

So the showing against Minnesota doesn't count?

He had no input, in that game.

What you guys are actually truly missing is (you think it really matters Eddie?) Meaning Morris ain't gonna be the one to fuck up our shit.  Gus is/will continue to do so. 

Those of us hopeful about Morris are hopeful for one reason and one reason only.  This might be the first time we will actually have an independent Offensive Coordinator. 

Morris might be the only guy (outside of probably Hugh Freeze) that Gus might actually release and let him be OC.  He ain't ever going to let anyone else do it.  I mean come on guys you think Lashlee or Lindsey or Dilly Dilly were actually developing our offense?   bahahahhah  So at least we get to see an independent OC that can focus on his job and maybe develop something.  You guys act like we had other options.  We can go back to Gus as OC (which will probably happen in game 5) it isn't going to matter.  We will be 3-5 losses.  My point is bitching about Morris...who the fuck cares...our problem is and will always be Gus.  I'm just hoping maybe Morris is a helping factor.  

But go complain about Morris because he will be the scapegoat if it doesn't work, and we will still have Gus on the sidelines after he takes back the offense for the 75th time and we still lose 3-5 a year.

/endrant 

[Snaggletiger]

He had no input, in that game.

What you guys are actually truly missing is (you think it really matters Eddie?) Meaning Morris ain't gonna be the one to fuck up our shit.  Gus is/will continue to do so. 

Those of us hopeful about Morris are hopeful for one reason and one reason only.  This might be the first time we will actually have an independent Offensive Coordinator. 

Morris might be the only guy (outside of probably Hugh Freeze) that Gus might actually release and let him be OC.  He ain't ever going to let anyone else do it.  I mean come on guys you think Lashlee or Lindsey or Dilly Dilly were actually developing our offense?  bahahahhah  So at least we get to see an independent OC that can focus on his job and maybe develop something.  You guys act like we had other options.  We can go back to Gus as OC (which will probably happen in game 5) it isn't going to matter.  We will be 3-5 losses.  My point is bitching about Morris...who the fuck cares...our problem is and will always be Gus.  I'm just hoping maybe Morris is a helping factor. 

But go complain about Morris because he will be the scapegoat if it doesn't work, and we will still have Gus on the sidelines after he takes back the offense for the 75th time and we still lose 3-5 a year.

/endrant

The one on top....that's me.

The one on bottom....that's your post.