This whole OL problem, 2009

Last year's post on this garbage.

I would say most of us agree that the offensive line has improved over last season, because damn, they could only go upwards from '08. Still, our offensive line is not getting the job done at all. We've faced 3 opponents who had undersized and/or young DLines, and we still cant generate push and control the LOS. We are running many more2-back I-formation plays, and against what we've faced, we should be racking up the yardage.

What do we expect?
Well FF and I only expect some damn improvement week to week, and be able to base block. No team is perfect and everyone has stuff to work on, but if you can't base block (block the man in front of you, man-man) then you can't do anything. No traps, none of this guard-pulling crap, nada.

Brad Scott says a "winning grade" is "75% or better". Thats bullshit. 75% is not winning football against FSU or Miami. 75% gets you 7-5 seasons, not 10-2 seasons. I would put that at 80-85%. You have to expect more to get more. It is a subjective grade based on whether a lineman hits his man/assignment, and his technique on those blocks.

Bear in mind that so far, most of our running plays have been designed to go right. The first two weeks, we ran Power quite a bit. We did not do bad running the ball, but we should be sticking it to MTSU and any inexperienced line with a sandpaper condom. I don't care if they stunt and slant or twist, there still should be open running lanes. There were not so many right-side power plays against BC and we ran inside plays more.

But to tell the truth, we are not missing assignments altogether. The sack against MTSU early was a missed assignment. GT's Morgan beat Lambert's ass up and down the field, but Cory wasn't missing his assignment, he just can't move his feet or keep his hands on anyone. We are BLOCKING the guy we're supposed to hit, but we arent PUSHING him anywhere, that comes down to technique. Its one thing to hit your man, but its another to knock him on his ass. When he bull rushes you, its not assignment that is the issue, its technique. Our technique is what needs work, thats what a coach is there for.

What do we know?
1. Cory Lambert, after beating Landon Walker out for the RT job in spring, still sucks. Danny Pearman says he basically forgot all his fundamentals against Georgia Tech, and I'm anxiously awaiting Pearman's comments again this week about it, because he tells you like it is.
Did you ever see somebody playing HS ball who was a foot taller and wider than everyone else on the field, and then couldnt do a damn thing? Thats what I think of when I see Lambert, a big baby. Hell he's one of the strongest players ON THE TEAM and he takes it like a $2 whore.

2. Antoine McClain was said to be a total monster in spring camp, and pretty much every article I read in May talked about how good he was and how he'd solidified his RG position, but in 3 games, I dont see any of that. He doesnt get raped like Lambert, but he doesnt get as much push as he could.
3. Landon Walker had the RT job last year, then decided to take the winter off and it carried through til August, because he thought he was top dog and wouldnt be challenged for the starting job. I really am more disappointed in him than anyone, because I felt towards the end of last year he was really coming on. Now, Pearman really hasn't praised him at all since joining the staff.
4. No help from the H/TEs in blocking, or at least not enough. It should not take moving Lambert over to LT, he should have the TE or a back held in protection helping him on Morgan. I want Napier to use the TE more, but if he's out on a pass pattern and we still dont throw it to him, and yet the RT needs help, what would you do? If the TEs we have can't block, teach a lineman how to play TE and line him up out there. You won't throw to him anyway so why not?
5. We dont run to the left side. I'll point out that we did try that some, and more against BC. Some of CJs runs against GT were cutbacks off designed right-side plays because they were overplaying the Power by slanting right. However if Thomas Austin is so good, and Hairston is the "Spiller of the OL" as Dabo says, why do we not have HUGE holes open on the left side and more run plays designed to go there? If the holes are there, then where are the plays? If the holes arent, then why are our two guys on the left side so highly rated?

This tells me that either Austin and Hairston arent the all-star types they've been made out to be, or Napier is dumb. Its one or the other. I'll give it to Hairston in pass blocking, and he definitely deserves accolades for that. He handled Morgan until Morgan ran himself out of gas last week against GT, and against Bammer and FSU last year, his absence was NOTICED. Yet I still dont notice him mauling people on run plays.

Thomas Austin can pass block as well, but on Powers and traps, where he has to pull, several times he just doesnt HUSTLE into the hole. Several times he looked tentative and was tip-toeing over there and didnt know who to block. With CJ behind you, you have to RUN over, lower those hips and explode on the first man you see, and he doesnt have that motor switched to ON on some of these plays. If these two are supposed to be our best, then they will get the most criticism from us, and a lack of hustle and fundamentals is what pisses both of us off.

I know the staff has said Hairston will be ok with his sprained MCL, but if he can't go against Jerry Hughes (TCU) or what Miami/FSU will throw in terms of speed, we are in deep deep trouble.

Whose fault is this? Brad Scott's. He has been OL coach since Spence came on staff. He is regarded as one of the best? By who? Show me who comes calling for him? Brad can recruit in this state, and has built many contacts, but what good does it do us to recruit and not develop? Was that lesson not learned over the last 9 years? If you bring them in and they do nothing, its on the coach. Its either bad evaluation in the beginning, or bad development; either way its on Scott.

Look at the OL recruits we have brought in, star ratings by Rivals:
2005:
Thomas Austin - 3
Jamarcus Grant - 3
Barry Humphries - 3
Corey Lambert - 4
Quentez Ruffin - 3
Ruffin is gone, Grant never has been able to do anything. Humphries screwed himself off the team with behavior. Lambert was chased by everyone in the southeast.

2006:
Chris Hairston - 3
Jamal Medlin - 3
...and thats it. This was a smaller class in terms of numbers, and the key went to Defense that year in recruiting. Medlin was a total miss, and unfortunately, can't play. In hindsight, Clemson hurt themselves NOW by going with a smaller class THEN. We should've oversigned.

2007:
Mason Cloy - 3
Wilson Norris - 3
David Smith - 3
Landon Walker - 4
This is the class that comes in after the 2006 season, when the OL play and lack of depth hurt us at the end of the year (remember VT?). Cloy starts at Center, Smith and Norris have been 2nd string Guards.

2008:
Dalton Freeman - 4
Antoine McClain - 4
Kenneth Page - 4
Matt Sanders - 3
Our highest rated OL class coming in. Freeman is 2nd Center, McClain starts at RG, Sanders has been a long-snapper. Page hasn't done anything at all.

2009:
JK Jay - 4
Brandon Thomas - 4
Jay comes in and immediately pushes for RT, WTF? A true frosh should never challenge for the starting job at RT at a place like Clemson. If not for his back, he'd likely be starting by now. Thats a pretty sorry state of affairs. Thomas is also redshirting. Clemson expected Thomas to RS either way, but Jay was expected to help at Tackle.

2010-Projected:
D. Beasley (G)-3
Kalon Davis (G/T)-3
Gifford Timothy (T)-3
Reid Webster (T)-3
All of these are tall enough, and will be over 300lbs before they really play, but where are the 4/5 star players? Timothy is a "project" tackle. Kalon Davis will likely be the best of this class, but we'll see.

3-star players should all be capable of starting by their upperclassman years, or be good solid contributors minimum. 4 star players should contribute early, and with coaching play professionally. Definite starter by upperclassman. 5 star players could play as freshmen at most places, and with a good work ethic and some coaching should certainly play on sunday. Where are the 5 star linemen if Scott can recruit?

Why is Scott so valued then? I realize the coaches divide areas and don't only take positions to recruit, but the position coach signs off any recruit. Position coaches pick em, the coach assigned in that area recruits em to a certain point when the position coach gets involved again. Brad missed on 4 players here altogether: Lambert, Medlin, and Grant....possibly Page. As highly rated as Page was, he should contribute. These guys cant even step on the field without getting whipped.

Also, look at the split between G and T by numbers. We have brought in classes full of Guards. Is it any wonder we have issues at tackle? 2005 was a good split, 2006/2007 has one tackle, 2008 has none. 2010 seems to be an admission that they missed on some guys. If he can't evaluate a guy as being able to play tackle when you need tackles the most, he shouldn't be here. Don't move them all inside because they cant play on the edge, find a coach that can teach them how to play on the edge. Can Pearman turn it around? I hope so. Clearly Scott can only evaluate Guards, so he got moved to interior line coach, but our interior linemen are the ones that get the push up front, and they still cant do it.

So why is Scott here?

Impressions before looking at the film....BC 25-7

Holy shit what an ugly game offensively. I would not say the offensive line ever controlled the front for BC. If we cant control the front against MTSU, GT, or BC, who can we beat up front? My general impression of the playcalling was that it was FUCKING AWFUL, but I'll wait til I watch it again to pass judgement on Napier for the day.

Artistic rendition of Clemson's OL play:



Special teams was outstanding though.

-Parker is hitting open spaces early, but two throws were poor. The first was underthrown into what looked like a Cover 2, with the LB playing deep middle zone (almost like a Tampa 2). That ball shouldve been about 5-10 yards ahead of the WR. Never underthrow balls down the middle. Missed opportunity. The 2nd was another bad throw, and it appears behind the receiver, who is cutting an out/corner route. Parker doesnt seem to notice the underneath zone player.

All in all, he took a step backwards today and looked young. TCU plays a matchup zone different from BC (more like what Clemson plays), so lets hope the zone defense wasnt what caused issues.

-4-3 Under look during most of this game, and we look damn good, excellent penetration and bad technique by their front line. K. Alexander is playing quite a bit on early downs. I have not seen domination by a Clemson DL like this over BC, ever. They always always give us fits up front, and today we beat them SOUNDLY.

-The fumble was that their QB pulled out from under Center too soon, dont apply bedroom principles to football son. We get the ball in the redzone.

-Korn comes in, floats one in the flat again a little, but they defended it excellently, dont like the play call. They then blitzed him on 3rd down and the right side gave up penetration. Don't put that one on Korn, the right side didnt block on Spiller's 1st down carry either. 4 plays -8 yards, AWFUL. Clemson should be ahead a minimum of 20-0 by now. We are able to move the ball on them, and get the ball in the redzone and cant do shit?

BC however is playing very sound fundamental zone defense, so they deserve credit. They drop to their spots and pay attention, and good zone defense gets really tight in the red zone.

-Clemson is hitting an inside/zone handoff play, very few HB Power plays, a contrast to last week.

"Clemson can get jiggy with you"-Doc Walker is good for at least one dipshit comment per half. I wish to God they'd get rid of Steve Martin.

-Ellington just dropped a pass that hit his numbers for the 1st down at the end of the first half. 16-0, should be 20-0 at least, but given how well we could move it, it could get to 27-0.

137 yards for CU, -2 total yards for BC at halftime.

-I like that Clemson is going for it on 4th downs, because our Defense is playing lights out, but we have got to get more push up front. The 2nd 4th & 1/2 we went for was a HB Power play and the interior line went nowhere but backwards.

-McDaniel's pick, looked like we were in matchup Cover 2, but maybe I didnt see Hall.

Then the lightning delay begins, effectively a 2nd halftime. Chris Hairston is badly injured it seems, and trainers are helping him off the field. I hear its a Sprain. Jamarcus Grant is not dressed today due to fever. Taylor is not playing today because of a violation of team rules.

-We come back out, and the offense STILL cant do anything, and the Defense looks flat. We cant take the extra halftime to make adjustments? BC's QB capitalizes because McDaniel and/or Maye are coming into the B/C gaps on blitzes and not slowing down and watching the pass rush develop a little. If they had their QB would not have been able to scramble. Perhaps shouldve run McDaniel on a delayed blitz.

-Ellington had only one hand on the football on the fumble; he was carrying it high. Bad things happen with Korn in the game today.

-On their only TD, Clemson blitzed and the flexed WR got a little bump and got behind the coverage. I didnt see who missed him, but looks like the FS had to pick the TE or the #2 receiver, picked the TE, and couldnt recover. I think that was a mistake by a LB, who shouldve picked up the TE at the LOS. The CB picked up #1 to his side like he should, and stuck with him into the flat, and the FS should usually pick up #2.

-2nd Lightning Delay, Raycom said they were live streaming, and have fucked it up. Thank you WLOS for ditching the real Clemson fans in the upstate and going to show Nebraska, I dont give a fuck about ABC and the size of this market. Thank you Raycom for promising live streaming, and not having the damn good sense to buy bandwidth so people can watch it.

-I didnt see the next drive that resulted in a FG but did see the highlight of Jones making a big catch and run. CJ is officially out with that toe injury from MTSU.

-Clemson started to be able to run the football, which is all you can do here now, and cant get a drive going. A huge punt pins them at the 1, and then Tuggle throws a deep route inside towards the Safety J.Meeks and he picks it off. Korn comes back in. Ellington bounces one outside down to the 11, watch Korn come up right behind him. Korn goes nowhere on the next play, but does keep the clock moving by taking a sack, and we have to kick it AGAIN. Defense holds and we take the knee.

The defense and special teams are the only highlight to this game, so heres the link to find the new Block-C DF-style caps. Much better than the fucking hideous blue one in Tiger Town.

BC Preview

Record: 2-0, defeated Northeastern and Kent State handily.
Head Coach: Frank Spaziani, longtime DC at Boston College and a former assistant under George Welsh at UVA.

AthlonSports Preview

Offense-Jagz and OC Steve Logan are gone, as is much of their pass-happy West Coast flavor. They are attempting to transition back to a balanced offense with former NFL coordinator Gary Tranquill (also a coach for UVA under Welsh, and OC at UNC in the early '00s) and the offense had a difficult time adjusting to the new scheme in spring ball.

They return their 2008 receptions leader Rich Gunnell and their top RB Montel Harris (900 yards in '08) and Josh Haden (479yds), but their other WRs are very tall guys. All but one OL is back, and its a mammoth OL. This is the only thing that worries me about BC: their OL has always given us fits.

For the most part, they are a pro-style 1-2 back offense, with some no-huddle. There are similarities with their offense and Clemson's in that respect. Its not a mystery, as Kevin Steele says he has faced Tranquill before and its pretty conventional. Steele says both backs are small and tend to hide behind the big OL, and yet are able to break tackles well in film.

How would you describe a Gary Tranquill offense?

"NFL, traditional. He's going power running game, he's going to formation you to death. Every game there's going to be a wrinkle or two in there formation-wise, something out of unbalanced or motioning or shifting or something that's going to get you discombobulated. You've got to refocus and get it corrected quick. There will be something."

I watched about half of their game against Kent State, and was surprised at their OL play, they were having fits. Steele was asked about that:

What did you make of Kent State's defensive line against Boston College? It looked like they gave B.C. a little trouble.

"There's more in their portfolio than Gary has shown. They were pretty basic in the first two games. I think they were trying to establish themselves physically and take care of the ball. Gary, the guy has coached a bunch of snaps. You've got two freshman quarterbacks. Maybe he held it back because he didn't need it. And being early in the season with two young quarterbacks, you probably don't need to put that much on their plate. I'm sure that's part of it. I mean, those guys are brand new - brand new.

Defense
-BC has really lost a great deal of what made them so good against us the last few years. They lost more of their front-7 talent than anyone in the conference. BJ Raji was a 1st rd pick at DT, and Ron Brace was a 2nd rounder. At MIKE, last year’s ACC defensive player of the year Mark Herzlich was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and will miss the season. Mike McLaughlin, who finished 2nd in tackles last year with 89 (and 10.5 TFL), ruptured his Achilles tendon during spring conditioning. The 3rd LB graduated. They lose only the starting safety from last season's squad that was tied with Florida for INTs at #1.

Schemewise, its pretty traditional like Georgia Tech. A base 4-3 that zone blitzes mostly on early downs and plays a safe 3-5-3 on definite passing situations. They dont trick you, but they do generally tackle well and play good coverage without having the best recruits in the country.

Clemson finally got the BC monkey off our back last year (27-20) in what was likely Dabo's most pivotal win as HC, and recall it was a game Bowden would've lost. Then they turned around and won their last 3 games and the Atlantic Division. Its hard to think that they will have success against our defense with a RS Fr. QB running the show. They will be able to run the ball, but if we stack the box that wont continue. Similarly, with them losing two NFL DTs and LB Mark Herzlich (ACC Def. POY), I dont see their defense posing a terrible amount of trouble for us. Clemson should be able to pound the ball inside and use that to open up the passing game.

BC Visits Tigertown

Here is what the Tigers need this weekend

Some pure physical play. Obviously, we will be watching what happens up front. Traditionally, Clemson gets pushed around and beat up against the Eagles. BC has been so much bigger and more physical than Clemson since the two schools started playing each other again earlier this decade.
Admittedly, I don't know much about the '09 Eagles (and I don't think that I am alone being ignorant about BC) other than they have beaten the crap out of Northeasten and Kent State.

Here is what the guys at ESPN think: Gameday Preview

Dr. B has done an excellent job breaking down Spaz's defense. An interesting note will be the QB play from BC, and specifically who will be under center for the Eagles. Fr. Justin Tuggle and 25 year old freshman Dave Shinskie have shared snaps for the first two games of the season. Shinskie obviously played some minor league baseball before enrolling at Boston College. With such a lack of experience at the QB position and large bodies on the right side of the offensive line, I would suspect the Eagles will try to assert the running game early. BC does not, however, have a beefy tough tailback that can deliver tough hits.

This game should give Tiger fans a good look at how physically prepared the team has gotten over the off season, and the first full game loo at Landon Walker. By now everyone knows about his slack practice attitude, and hopefully he has made the proper adjustments to become a good offensive lineman for the Tigers this season.

Bottom line for Saturday is that Clemson is much more talented than BC overall. The play of our linebackers will be important, assuming BC gets the normal push that they have gotten over the past few years up front.

First off, Clemson will have to avoid the GT loss hangover. After hearing the players and coaches for the past week, I personally do not think this will be a problem. Dabo is upbeat and has openly stated that he will not let last week's heart breaker affect the balance of the season.

What we will be looking for is the elimination of silly mistakes. Clemson will not be successful this week or any week with missed tackles, poor blocking, and dropped passes. Clemson certainly will not be successful with poor trick play decisions. We want to see Clemson get back to the basics...just line up and beat someone without all the bells and whistles. We want to see four full quarters of good fundamental football out of the Tigers.

On a side note, TDP has listened to all the bitching and moaning and moved the TCU game to 3:30.

Dye quits, Dye doesn't quit

Per M. Plyler, Dye will practice with the Tigers today, and has reevaluated his decision to quit the football team. Dye will not participate in this week's game against BC.

Why in the hell a player would quit two games in makes no sense. I guess Dye realized the poor judgment displayed by deciding to quit this early and has done the best thing he could do, return to the football program. I will be eager to see the effort and attitude that is shown throughout the course of this season. When he entered Clemson, I had high hopes and was looking forward to seeing Xavier play at Clemson. With our lack of quality depth at receiver (and no one who has clearly separated as the #3 receiver), he could see playing time over the season...

Dye up and quits

Jr WR Xavier Dye has quit the team 2 games into the season. He asked for his release and it was granted, largely because he was demoted to 2nd team X in favor of Brandon Clear after his drop against MTSU. Dye never played a snap against GT.

EDIT: Dye seems to have changed his mind. He will now be known as Xavier Favre.

From Dan Scott's show:

"I’ve had the opportunity to visit with Xavier a couple of times. I have talked to him about some different things, but he seems to be looking for maybe a different opportunity somewhere else or whatever. We're just kind of working through that process.

"I’ll just say I love Xavier Dye. Just one of the best kids I've ever been around. He’s just worked really hard. But at the same time, competition is a tough thing sometimes.

"We’ve only played two games. It’s a long season. But this is a competitive enviroment. It’s not about who you like and all that kind of stuff. This is a game of performance and when you're in a competitive situation where it’s really close and it’s a lot of competition, you've got to perform. And if not, you've got to give somebody else an opportunity.

"I don’t think he liked where he was at this time after two ballgames. But again it's disappointing to me that he doesn't want to hang in there."

A guy quits 2 games into a season for being demoted? What the fuck? Wouldn't you have the damn good sense to ride the season out and try to get better instead of missing the year of football, and practice to get better in the meantime? Clear is not so far ahead in talent that Dye couldnt get his job back even by TCU.

Dye left Greenwood HS before his senior season because he felt he was getting no exposure, and went to Byrnes. That was dumb in itself. Some transfer issues, as I recall, kept him out for the first half of the year. Now he quits and wants to start at some smaller school. Not a team player. My understanding is that he can quit and play at a 1-AA school next year, not this year, and have 2 years to play 2.

That pattern won't serve him well in life.

I understand some people think he might've been thrown under the bus for the crucial drop, when Ford drops several. Some say he was asked to move to another position and had to learn new things. Youre a Jr, you should know those things if you had your head in the playbook and worked on catching routine passes, it wouldn't be an issue to read coverage and run a route from another spot.

He needs to take time and think this through carefully before he seals the deal.

Inside the Clemson offense: Spiller's TD Play, Pro Wing X Over

Here we have a breakdown of the TD play to CJ Spiller last week.


The Play
In this "Ace X Over" or "Pro Wing X over" play, the number one receiver (X) runs inside to a deep post over the top to exploit the defensive coverage. X is normally the first QB read on the play, and is meant to draw the FS and CB away from the sideline; if he's open the QB is meant to hit him. His side is the two-WR side, so the progression is likely deep-to-short.

Specifics
X (Jacoby) runs a post, which is a straight run 10-12 yards and then a 45 degree cut inside. The CB on him might be playing zone, but is responsible for the deep post and must stay with him. It is a route used to stretch the defense vertically and open holes underneath.

The H-back follows underneath on a wheel route. A wheel route is simply that the RB runs out on a little flare route (a little curve to the sidelines) and then runs vertical. A flare would be to run out and stop, while the wheel continues. Wheels are useful because the defender will bite when the guy turns around to look at the QB, and come in thinking its just a little dump pass, then the receiver runs right by him. As such, its very useful when they are trying to jump your "out" routes.

The Z receiver (Ashe) runs a Dig/Square-In route. Off the line, he is trying to sell a GO route (straight vertical) and then when he gets to the route depth (10-15 short dig, 15-18 deep) he cuts inwards parallel to the LOS on the Square-In. A dig is just a little different, in that he cuts to show a post initially and then parallel inwards, but we cant tell from this footage.

The TE and Taylor stay in to block. Taylor decleats the blitzing LB. The play is designed to look deep and then short, as most pass plays are, but the QB progression through his reads can change, in general, based on his presnap coverage read (e.g., out to in, or long to short).

A simple variation, if they could handle the DE better, would be to run Ashe a little deeper on his Square-In, and run the TE on the same route (a drag) underneath him.

The Defense
Watch closely what the defense is doing in the play. They align in a 4-3, with the FS aligned about 10-12 deep and over the TE, and the SS about 4x6 off the line (6 off and 4 yards wide). At the last second, GT shows their hand and the WILL comes up to show a zone blitz.

On the snap, this initially looks like straight Cover 3 to both of us, but watch the rest of the play and that FS. The SAM reads run first, and sits over in the flat zone. The FS aligns over the top of the TE, and isnt watching the post at all. If anything this might be 1/2, 1/4, 1/4 Cover 3, but perhaps a combo coverage (zone + man). His hips open to the strong side (he would never focus that much on one side of the field in a straight 3) and he sits instead of backpedalling. They have to be playing zone (on the TE's side) because the strongside corner is not to be found on the dig route and the FS's head is on a swivel (and looking into the backfield) and eventually turning to run with the Z when he comes across the field.

Then watch the Wolf (GT's LB/SS hybrid). His eyes start in the backfield and he immediately moves with Spiller. We don't think the GT defense realized that Spiller was lined up in a wing spot when this defense was called. They probably saw Taylor come in and checked to this play without looking to see he was the tailback. By the time the SS realized what was going on, Spiller had his shoulders turned up field and the defender was totally screwed.

A very similar play (with the TE running underneath) is used by USC in this video on QB Reads, check it out.