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2015 Buckeyes Football
- Thread starter AZ_
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buckeyefan
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Hopefully they give 6'4 Torrance Gibson some reps at wr.
AZ_
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Didn't even travel with the team last week and has missed a ton of practice time with a high ankle sprain.
Wouldn't be counting on it.
TheLand1287
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I feel the Buckeyes will clean up some of the mistakes... penalties, turnovers, red zone inefficiency, defensive miscues, etc.
My concern, not really for this week's game because Maryland is awful, but for the rest of the season is the WR position. We knew going into the year that losing Devin Smith and Evan Spencer to graduation was going hurt from a production and leadership standpoint. But now losing both Noah Brown before the season and Corey Smith in the IU game has left the WR cupboard pretty bare.
Sure, we have "playmakers" in guys like Marshall, Braxton, Samuel, and Wilson but they aren't really TRUE WR's. Most of them are all still learning that position after being former QBs or RBs. Marshall, more so than the others, being the exception as he's more experienced at playing WR. But really our only proven TRUE WR now is Michael Thomas. Then, after him, there's a bunch of young and unproven players who have 2 combined career catches between them in Johnnie Dixon, Jeff Greene, James Clark, Parris Campbell, Terry McLaurin, and KJ Hill.
I think the rest of our season goes as these guys go. To me it looks like a lot of the inconsistencies and breakdowns in the offense come from our stable of H-Backs playing a position that's new to them and the growing pains associated with that. Learning how to run routes, read defenses, block in the run game, etc. These guys are explosive talents, and the ceiling is so high for this offense when it starts to click for them, but until then it's a good thing we're getting wins however we can.
In the meantime, I would like to see more zone-reads with Braxton or J.T. at QB and Elliot or Samuel at RB. Direct snaps to Braxton and straight handoffs to Zeke are too predictable.
I would like to see us throw more bubble screens to Braxton and the other H-Backs to get them out in space, rather than trying to have them run WR routes all day.
I would like to see more of the H-Backs go in motion with Zeke in the backfield to keep the defenses honest.
The talent is there. Getting more creative with the playcalling is something they can do now to improve some of the offensive struggles, especially in the red zone. The WR position, whether it's the H-Backs continuing to learn how to play the position or the young unproven guys getting the reps, is just going to come along slowly game by game.
My concern, not really for this week's game because Maryland is awful, but for the rest of the season is the WR position. We knew going into the year that losing Devin Smith and Evan Spencer to graduation was going hurt from a production and leadership standpoint. But now losing both Noah Brown before the season and Corey Smith in the IU game has left the WR cupboard pretty bare.
Sure, we have "playmakers" in guys like Marshall, Braxton, Samuel, and Wilson but they aren't really TRUE WR's. Most of them are all still learning that position after being former QBs or RBs. Marshall, more so than the others, being the exception as he's more experienced at playing WR. But really our only proven TRUE WR now is Michael Thomas. Then, after him, there's a bunch of young and unproven players who have 2 combined career catches between them in Johnnie Dixon, Jeff Greene, James Clark, Parris Campbell, Terry McLaurin, and KJ Hill.
I think the rest of our season goes as these guys go. To me it looks like a lot of the inconsistencies and breakdowns in the offense come from our stable of H-Backs playing a position that's new to them and the growing pains associated with that. Learning how to run routes, read defenses, block in the run game, etc. These guys are explosive talents, and the ceiling is so high for this offense when it starts to click for them, but until then it's a good thing we're getting wins however we can.
In the meantime, I would like to see more zone-reads with Braxton or J.T. at QB and Elliot or Samuel at RB. Direct snaps to Braxton and straight handoffs to Zeke are too predictable.
I would like to see us throw more bubble screens to Braxton and the other H-Backs to get them out in space, rather than trying to have them run WR routes all day.
I would like to see more of the H-Backs go in motion with Zeke in the backfield to keep the defenses honest.
The talent is there. Getting more creative with the playcalling is something they can do now to improve some of the offensive struggles, especially in the red zone. The WR position, whether it's the H-Backs continuing to learn how to play the position or the young unproven guys getting the reps, is just going to come along slowly game by game.