Onto 2022.. Reasons for optimism/concern

[KnightLife1994]

Optimism

• Gavin Wimsatt - No explanation needed but we (the members of our fan base) need to be patient with him. Keeping perspective that he will make mistakes that young QBs make will be important for us (again, the members of our fan base).
• I actually think our OL will be decent next year. Tons of freshman coming + Oneill, Sutton, Gus, Brown, Pierce. Sutton was playing well before injured and the younger guys got thrown into the fire and got better as the year went on. Wouldnt be surprised if Jacob Young started as well.
• Kyle Monongai - He was RB1 IMO. He was able to have patience and be able to find holes the best out of all of our running backs this year. I love Pacheco and think he’s a loyal son but I think this is Monongai’s backfield next year.
• Freshman WR Brown coming in - we need speed.
• Tyreem Powell - Beast. Add 20 lbs to his frame and he is going to be animal
• Secondary - I actually thought they were decent at corner. We played a lot of freshman and inexperienced guys at corner/Igbinosun at safety vs Sparty. The experience will be immensely helpful. See below:
• Alijah Clark - Really liked what I saw from him in the action he played. Same with Desmond Igbinosun (Both FR!)
• Kessawn Abraham - What a great year he had. He stepped into that role and really performed well. He will be a senior and having an older guy will be helpful.
• Max Melton - Our best corner IMO. Not much more needs to be said there.
• Longerbeem I thought got invaluable minutes and played well. Needs to put on weight.
• Izien being a sr is huge. He was big in the run game.
• Our run defense was pretty good most of the year.
• Korsak being back is going to be so big.

Reasons for concern

• We had an inability to cover the middle of the field. That’s not talent, that is scheme. OSU exposed us there, MSU Exposed us there, Maryland exposed us there. Im not sure the reason. Either safeties dropping too deep, corners not passing guys off properly out of their Zones, linebackers too late/dont drop at all? We need to get that cleaned up. I know Schiano creates the Defense but smith is the one calling the plays - Schiano needs to take over as DC.
• We also have an inability to cover anyone who leaks out of the backfield as check down. RB, TE doesnt matter. Many times this year teams would fake a handoff and do a short roll the opposite direction to dump off to a rb or te. It’s hard to cover but a few times yesterday Abraham bit in too hard and it left the flats open and was killed.
• We have no pass rush against average to good OLs. Lewis needs to add 30 lbs to his frame and that will help but we need to get bigger and fasted on the DL or we will continue to get picked apart with QBs having time all day to throw.
• Avery was a liability at safety and should be replaced by Desmond Igbinosun who will be young but thats more of a question mark then a concern.
• Linebackers were decent but we will miss O3 and Maddox-Williams.
• Offensively we need to kill the Langan package once and for all. Just line it up and hand the ball off in short yardage situations. Especially down near the goal line.
• The single most frustrating thing this year was our redzone offense. Gleeson has got to figure that out as the red zone play calling was so bad and killed us many times. Haskins is huge - needed to being throwing him Jump Balls in the end zone. Alaimo same deal. Then we get into the red zone and here comes Langan. Everyone in the world knows where its going and most times our 11 cant line it up with their 11 and shove it down their throats. We waste so much time with this misdirection nonsense in the red zone as well. We need to throw the ball into the end zone and get less predictible and more vertical. Every offense we play against seems to have some sort of play action and their TE/FB is wide open against us - we need this!
• The run, run, pass, punt offense was back in full form this year. We showed no creativity in playcalling. That needs to get better and hopefully will with GW. I think Gleeson is the guy - he was handicapped by a bad QB and shuffling OL.
• Some of our WRs need to really develop this off-season or we need to hit the portal. Washington got no burn this year which I thought he would be more productive. Thought he had a nice game yesterday- need him to keep developing. Same with Youngblood - if he can develop into a nice slot guy he is a weapon. Cruickshank - hopefully he comes back. For the arguement that they get no separation. We were really hurting Maryland with 5-7 yd speed outs with washington/haskins yesterday. We havent seen that all year - we ran no quick game. This is a staple of a spread offense and we need to utilize more next year. Essentially is like a 5 yard run and keeps the DBs creeping up to pop a big play.
• Jai Patel will be a huge asset. Our fg kicking was not good this year.

 

[mdk01]

Generally quite reasonable, though I'm not as optimistic about the OL. I disagree about totally scrapping the Langan package. One thing I would do is have him pass a few times in short yardage situations. No defense schemed for that possibility after the first 2 B1G games.

 

[krup]

The problem with the Langan package is that it isn't really a package at this point, it is pretty much one play. He is an effective enough runner and QB that if sometimes he did the dive, sometimes he took it outside with an option to pitch, and sometimes he faked either and passed the ball instead (especially to a releasing TE which is another thing we don't do enough in all situations), it would be tough to defend.

Early on in the history of the "Langan package", there was a game where he just ran it 8-10 times and the other team couldn't stop it. After that, the coaches seemed to totally overestimate our ability to win the LOS and get the first down (especially when there was more than a yard to gain), and we overused Langan. There were definitely situations in the last few games I would have rather seen Wimsatt's speed in there instead of the total predictability with Langan.

 

[bigmatt718]

I'd fire Smith and get a new DC in here. We don't want Schiano calling plays...that's an NFL thing where the game is 80% X's and O's and 20% players. HS/college it's 80 players, 20% X's and O's. Hire Ant Camp as DC and make Brown co-DC.

 

[KnightLife1994]

The problem with the Langan package is that it isn't really a package at this point, it is pretty much one play. He is an effective enough runner and QB that if sometimes he did the dive, sometimes he took it outside with an option to pitch, and sometimes he faked either and passed the ball instead (especially to a releasing TE which is another thing we don't do enough in all situations), it would be tough to defend.

Early on in the history of the "Langan package", there was a game where he just ran it 8-10 times and the other team couldn't stop it. After that, the coaches seemed to totally overestimate our ability to win the LOS and get the first down (especially when there was more than a yard to gain), and we overused Langan. There were definitely situations in the last few games I would have rather seen Wimsatt's speed in there instead of the total predictability with Langan.

This. Its one play - run right to the A-gap.

 

[78CollegeAve]

Give up on developing a Bergen Catholic connection. Let Nunzio go and bring in an up and coming recruiter who can handle the TEs and hopefully teach them to block. Need to develop a Plan B recruiter for when Fran inevitably gets an HC job.

 

[RUGuitarMan]

I still think that many are discounting the overall lack of B1G level talent on the roster that the new staff inherited. By all evaluations I’ve read, RU ‘s talent level was in the 65 -75 range nationally, in the Kansas range and behind a number of G5 schools. The talent level is being addressed but we have a way to go to be real competitive in the B1G. Beside the OL improvement which is going to take a few more years in my opinion, they need to address the lack of playmakers on offense. They will need to hit the portal for WRs, don’t think the current players on the roster are athletic enough for this level beside Criuickshank (hurt) and Melton (gone). . Need more speed and athleticism at DL and LB. I like what I see with the young DBs and I like Monangai at RB. Hopefully Wimsatt will be the difference maker many think. I would not expect him to have a big freshman year, that is being unrealistic.

 

[KnightLife1994]

I still think that many are discounting the overall lack of B1G level talent on the roster that the new staff inherited. By all evaluations I’ve read, RU ‘s talent level was in the 65 -75 range nationally, in the Kansas range and behind a number of G5 schools. The talent level is being addressed but we have a way to go to be real competitive in the B1G. Beside the OL improvement which is going to take a few more years in my opinion, they need to address the lack of playmakers on offense. They will need to hit the portal for WRs, don’t think the current players on the roster are athletic enough for this level beside Criuickshank (hurt) and Melton (gone). . Need more speed and athleticism at DL and LB. I like what I see with the young DBs and I like Monangai at RB. Hopefully Wimsatt will be the difference maker many think. I would not expect him to have a big freshman year, that is being unrealistic.

Agreed. Given that our schedule will be even more difficult next year id be okay with anything from 4-8 to 6-6. I dont think any of those 3 records derails progress

 

[RutHut]

Jacob Young was a great athlete on the banks, but I don't think he could play O-line. Obviously, continued concerns about the O, especially losing Bo. Defense could be improved next year, with a lot of young talent making some plays and flashing talent this year, as covered in another thread.

 

[KnightLife1994]

Jacob Young was a great athlete on the banks, but I don't think he could play O-line. Obviously, continued concerns about the O, especially losing Bo. Defense could be improved next year, with a lot of young talent making some plays and flashing talent this year, as covered in another thread.

LOL good catch - meant jacob Allen 😂

 

[RCBeta79]

Jacob Young was a great athlete on the banks, but I don't think he could play O-line. Obviously, continued concerns about the O, especially losing Bo. Defense could be improved next year, with a lot of young talent making some plays and flashing talent this year, as covered in another thread.

I miss Jacob young on the court too!

Yes, Jacob Allen.