Woke up too early this morning and got bored. Decided to watch some of the JSU film and play coach.
- #53 Devante Danzey may have been drunk during this game. He's filling in for Avery Young, right? He missed just about all of his blocks. He fell over a bunch of times after tripping on his own feet. He more waddled around looking for blocks and often missed them. Did I mention he fell over a bunch?
- #71 Brandon Smith is inconsistent. When he locks onto a guy, he drives them far and into the ground. But I'd say 50% of the time, he loses his footwork and sometimes has the tendency to lean forward. I know he's freakishly tall and broad, but he's got to work on his fundamentals.
- Kris Frost has regressed. That was Jake Holland bullshit. That kind of pussy-footing, "receive the block" softness needs to get out of Auburn football. I'd rather see a true freshman go balls out with missed assignments than a freaking senior taking on blocks like they're giving out hugs.
- Some of the play calling was awful. Perhaps Malzahn just doesn't have confidence in Johnson or he's just stubborn about what he wants to call. There was one play where Louis comes in motion and Johnson gives it to Barber up the middle. There were not only 8 in the box, they were all lined up no farther than 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage. No check. No option. Just the give up the middle and the safety was free to make the tackle in the backfield. That's not on the line. That's on Malzahn who typically is the one to call the audible.
- Chandler Cox is not ready to play college football. I know he's a true freshman and I know I said I'd rather a true freshman over a soft senior, but he missed a ton of blocks. One in particular was supposed to be a double team. Louis engaged with a defensive end, and when Cox came in to deliver the second blow, he just bounced backwards and disrupted the running back. Tackle for a loss because the RB was stalled by Cox and #53 Danzey completely missed his block.
- All of our offensive linemen have a tendency to lean forward when taking on pass rushers during a pass play. They aren't sitting back and working their feet. They're taking a step back and then leaning/lunging forward to hit the rusher. That's high school level bullshit.
- With all of this said, JSU really did play a great game. A few of those catches were insane and extended drives to tire out our defense. Their play calling was flawless, and their quarterback made excellent reads. Quick decisions with accurate throws. I'd take him over Jeremy Johnson right now for sure.
EDIT - I really can't get over how awful Kris Frost was in this game. I need to stop watching this or I'm going to be in a bad mood today.
EDIT2 - Looks like we did run the read option a good bit this game. Johnson misread it at least three times.