Next Year

[The Jackal]

I don't hate the call. Given the game situation, that was the right time to do it.

Some of Hendrix's calls were aggressive, but that was due to the opponent. The best defense is to keep their offense on the bench. Playing a grind it out field position game against Samford is frequently a recipe for a loss.

[The Jackal]

I've been half paying attention, but we've got a commitment from a 6'3 315 OL/DL.

That's a big hombre.

[The Jackal]

Also, a thought on the offensive line.

The OL is considered, on average, one of the more difficult positions to recruit and develop. These guys need size, speed, agility, and that frequently takes time to develop. Unlike other positions, you probably don't get a lot of instant starters on the OL and the more experience and time a group has playing together, usually the better they will be.

That said, I think 2022 will really be the first time the full impact of Hendrix's recruiting on the OL will come to bear.

In 2017, Henrix's first year, Furman took one OL (Cole Neely). In 2018, they took one (Anderson Tomlin). Clark Daniel joined the team somewhere along the line as a transfer.

Starting in 2019, Furman started to really recruit OL in bulk. That 2019 class included Jacob Johanning, Evan Jumper, and Pearson Toomey, all of whom are now starters. The 2020 and 2021 classes also had multiple highly regarded recruits.

I would wager in 2022 we'll have as much depth and talent up front as we've had in years. The talent has been there, but as these guys keep playing together, getting in the weight room, and getting into the offense, I think we will see that play dividends. We started to see them really take over the last few games of the season, which bodes well for next season.

[Yadkin]

Spot on on the OL evaluation. Some position groups are ripe for quick(er) makeovers than others when a new coach arrives. FU's OL was the caboose in 2017, a unit that had an overloaded of young guys signed by the previous staff. Unlike some schools that run guys off, FU doesn't play that card too any great degree, even with inherited players. While there was obviously some quality talent among the 2017 group, there were also some major "can't play" duds the current staff had to wait out. The wait is now totally over, and CH has what he wants in terms of OL personnel.

[The Jackal]

Spot on on the OL evaluation. Some position groups are ripe for quick(er) makeovers than others when a new coach arrives. FU's OL was the caboose in 2017, a unit that had an overloaded of young guys signed by the previous staff. Unlike some schools that run guys off, FU doesn't play that card too any great degree, even with inherited players. While there was obviously some quality talent among the 2017 group, there were also some major "can't play" duds the current staff had to wait out. The wait is now totally over, and CH has what he wants in terms of OL personnel.

Fowler has spent a lot of recruiting spots on offensive linemen his last two years.

From a quick review of the press releases, Folwer brought in 9 offensive linemen in the 2015 and 2016 classes. So, my guess is there probably wasn't a lot of wiggle room for Hendrix to bring in 2 or 3 offensive linemen in the 2017 and 2018 classes given how lineman-heavy the '15 and '16 classes were.

This fall was the first season with all Hendrix recruits on the OL. Even in the spring, we started two Fowler recruits. In 2019, two years into Henrix's tenure, the offensive line still had 4 starters recruited by Fowler.

That's not a criticism of the Fowler-era holdovers. Many of them were good players. I just think it will be interesting to see what the OL looks like now that the roster is exclusively guys recruited and developed by Hendrix, many of whom are now 3-4 years into the program.

[The Jackal]

Listening to Saban's response at the 1:23 mark got me fired up.

[The Jackal]

Ryan Miller appreciation post.

After this season, Miller has 79 receptions for 1,384 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Thumbing through the record books, that puts him 18th all time in receiving yards and 4th all time in touchdowns. His 749 yards receiving this fall would be 9th all time on the single season ledger.

In players that primarily played TE, only Colin Anderson and Luther Broughton rank ahead of Miller in receiving yards. The only players (all WRs) ahead of him in TD receptions are Brian Bratton, Billy Risher, and Chas Fox.

Though a redshirt junior, he is not listed as a graduating player. If he comes back for another season, I expect he will blow by the receiving marks for TEs. He's within about 200 yards receiving of both Broughton and Anderson on far fewer catches. For instance, Miller's caught 79 balls to Broughton's 123, but for close to the same yardage, which speaks to what sort of explosive threat he is out of the position.

I would also put good odds on him ending up as the second all time touchdown receptions leader. Chas Fox's 26 receiving touchdown mark seems ambitious, but Bratton and Risher's 18 seems pretty attainable.

I'm not sure we the fans appreciate getting to watch a guy that is arguably the best to ever play for Furman at the position.

[The Jackal]

More Miller

Posted these in the Samford thread, but useful to show his impact.

Here, he comes off the line and runs right up the field at Edwards, Samford's good safety. Fakes him so hard he falls down. You aren't going to see too many TEs put a safety on his rear end in coverage without touching him.

Also makes an impact without catching the ball. This looks like a fake pitch home run ball where Furman is trying to hit Miller downfield. He draws the linebacker and both safeties deep. No Samford defender is there to pick up Abshier out of the backfield.

[palafan]

Just for curiosity's sake.

Jace Wilson had close to the same number of completions in 7 games that Darren Grainger did in 13 games as a redshirt freshman. Wilson had a better completion percentage and significantly more yards per game passing than Grainger.

I expect if Wilson had played the same number of games, he'd have blown by Grainger's offensive production.

Does that mean anything? No. It potentially suggests that Wilson is already ahead now of where Grainger was at a further point in his career when he became a starter (having already been in the program a few years)

Jayce doesn't have Grainger's wheels. Grainger turned busted pass plays into many yards, many times.

[Paul C]

Jace may not have Grainger’s top end speed, but he’s every bit, if not more elusive.

What Jace needs to be more effective as a runner is a little more lower body strength to escape arm tackles. That will come over time.

[palafan]

Jace may not have Grainger’s top end speed, but he’s every bit, if not more elusive.

What Jace needs to be more effective as a runner is a little more lower body strength to escape arm tackles. That will come over time.

I just hope he doesn't get a girlfriend.

[Paul C]

Jace may not have Grainger’s top end speed, but he’s every bit, if not more elusive.

What Jace needs to be more effective as a runner is a little more lower body strength to escape arm tackles. That will come over time.

I just hope he doesn't get a girlfriend.

[FUBeAR]

Jace may not have Grainger’s top end speed, but he’s every bit, if not more elusive.

What Jace needs to be more effective as a runner is a little more lower body strength to escape arm tackles. That will come over time.

I just hope he doesn't get a girlfriend.

It’s undefeated.

[Davemeister]

Jace may not have Grainger’s top end speed, but he’s every bit, if not more elusive.

What Jace needs to be more effective as a runner is a little more lower body strength to escape arm tackles. That will come over time.

I just hope he doesn't get a girlfriend.

Would it be better if he gets a boyfriend?

[The Jackal]

Furman updated their online roster. Classes reshuffled, departing players removed, new signees added.

It takes too much brain power to figure out where guys fall with COVID eligibility and what their class is or should be. Just a few of note:

- Ivan Yates looks like he took a redshirt and is listed as a R-Sophomore. I know Blackshear left early, but if you add a healthy Yates and Chizik back to what I saw out of Morris and Robinson, that's an excellent group of CBs heading into next year.

- A couple of guys played in a few games and then redshirted this fall. I expect we will count on them heavily in '22.

- Matt Sochovka is listed as a grad student. He was injured in the A&T game, I believe. Having him back next year will be huge for the defensive front.

- Not sure what combination the coaching staff will want to go with, but we're going to be looking at a deep offensive line. You can see Hendrix plan here a bit - virtually the entire offensive line has redshirted along the way, and we'll have a sizable contingent of guys with a lot of playing time and a lot of depth.

- I see a few positions - namely RB, TE, and WR - where we'll have a group of older players, but not much tested depth behind them.