Football question

[WichitaSooner]

IMHO only JFF needs to be gone

DeMarco might be the worst running back coach in the country.

 

[Eielson]

DeMarco might be the worst running back coach in the country.

Not happy with our RB room, but this is not even close to true.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Not happy with our RB room, but this is not even close to true.

He sucks. Brings in highly regarded guys and they are all average at best, and our playing time decisions are ridiculous. The only good decision he (and the rest of the staff) have made in years was not playing the quitter Barnes on Friday.

 

[Eielson]

IMHO only JFF needs to be gone

He definitely needs to go. He did a decent job calling plays at the end of the year considering he had both hands tied behind his back, which I think is why he was retained, but the TE room simply isn't where it needs to be, even if the production we got from a converted LB was near-miraculous. We're literally talking about a LB that the greatest LB coach of this century gave up on. We need 2-3 TEs for this offense, and it's been hard enough to even get one.

BB is the only one definitely safe. I was ready to move on from him, but we got excellent production considering the youth and opponents. Fasusi and the guys we have coming in for 2027 are on a completely different level than guys like Sexton and Taylor that tapered off.

Demarco would be somebody to consider moving on from, but he's an excellent recruiter, and none of these guys like Sawchuk have gone on and taken their game to another level. Barnes likely won't either. He got excellent production from guys like Eric Gray in Lebby's system.

Haven't been thrilled with our WRs, but not sure we can fully blame our WRs coach. It was almost entirely injury related last year. This year we had great production from Sategna. Burks' issues I think were predominantly from our QB playing through a broken thumb. Likely not a coincidence he went over 100 yards in both big games where our QB wasn't wearing a brace (Alabama, Michigan). Make or break year for Emmett Jones.

 

[Eielson]

He sucks. Brings in highly regarded guys and they are all average at best, and our playing time decisions are ridiculous. The only good decision he (and the rest of the staff) have made in years was not playing the quitter Barnes on Friday.

Based on what?

He came in 2020 and got excellent production from Rhamondre.

In 2021, we squeezed every ounce out of Kennedy Brooks.

In 2022, Eric Gray showed out of this world progression. One of the most impressive things I've seen coaching-wise at OU.

In 2023, we got 6.2 YPC out of Sawchuk, who went down to 4.5 at FSU.

The last two years have been poor overall, but why look at 2 years of data when you have 6? This year would have looked much different if X were healthy. I have plenty of gripes, but it's not like we are seeing our RBs leave and thrive under other coaches.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Based on what?

He came in 2020 and got excellent production from Rhamondre.

In 2021, we squeezed every ounce out of Kennedy Brooks.

In 2022, Eric Gray showed out of this world progression. One of the most impressive things I've seen coaching-wise at OU.

In 2023, we got 6.2 YPC out of Sawchuk, who went down to 4.5 at FSU.

The last two years have been poor overall, but why look at 2 years of data when you have 6? This year would have looked much different if X were healthy. I have plenty of gripes, but it's not like we are seeing our RBs leave and thrive under other coaches.

I don’t give him much credit for what happened under Riley. Say what you will about Lincoln, but he is the guy responsible for the offensive production on teams he coaches, and it is always excellent.

I look at the four years since, and yes, Gray was a success story. Can’t give him too many pats on the back for Sawchuk since he also had him behind Barnes for a lot of his time here, even though Barnes was never a good runner. He had the issue with Walker, which hurt us that season (benching him for the first quarter in Lawrence).

And saying that about X is pure speculation. Part of being a good back is being available and being able to produce through injuries. But even without him, we had two other highly recruited backs on the roster. We have gotten nothing from Tatum in two years. Whether that is because Tatum doesn’t love football, isn’t focused, doesn’t know the play book, whatever … Murray is the guy who recruited and coaches him. Part of his job is to find a way to get the most out of guys. And Ott … I can’t put too much of that on Murray since Brent and Nagy are the two guys who bear responsibility for bringing him in, but it still continues a trend of us having disgruntled backs over the past three seasons.

It’s been pointed out many times, but take away two or three runs by X this season, and we have had a total lack of explosive runs. Yes, our line hasn’t been good for the most part, but even on the rare occasions when a play is blocked well, our backs just don’t make guys miss in space. If a play is blocked for 10 yards, that’s what our guys get. They don’t turn it into a 25 or 30 yard play by making a guy miss. Since Gray graduated, our running back room has resided near the bottom of whichever league we are in.