[BostonCard]

I'm not buying the excuses. We knew Bright, Marx, and Schultz were all leaving after last season. Why is the dropoff so great? That is on recruiting and player development = coaches.

In addition, Kaden Smith is a consensus high draft pick at TE. We pretty much know he's gone this season. I don't buy that there's a dropoff from Schultz there. The biggest dropoff is at FB but again, the coaches knew he was gone two years ago and haven't recruited/developed a suitable replacement.

Some of the success on first down passing is because of the low frequency - teams prepare for the run and get surprised by the pass. But there's a better mix that produces good and more similar results between running and passing.

We have three recruited fullbacks on the roster, which is two to three more than most FBS teams.  Marx was our best fullback since Maricec (comparable or better than Hewitt).  Williams, a senior, was behind Marx for 3+ years; it's not surprise there is a drop-off.  Heimuli was on a mission for two years and is a redshirt freshman, and Jay Symonds is a true freshman.  A drop-off can be reasonably expected, just as one could have reasonably expected a drop-off after Hogan graduated; it's the magnitude of the drop-off that is disconcerting.

For CT and others, while I like power/counter a lot, the two critical positions are the fullback and the pulling guard.  We haven't had an excellent pulling guard since Josh Garnett, and while Bright was decent, the drop-off was noticeable.  This year, our left guard position has been a mess, and Herbig's strength is not pulling (though he is better than I thought he would be given his size).  We went from an excellent fullback to a so-so one.  Thus the drop-off from 2015 when we had Garnett pulling and Marx lead blocking to today, when we have Herbig or Fanaika pulling and Williams lead blocking is stark.

BC

[BostonCard]

I'm not buying the excuses. We knew Bright, Marx, and Schultz were all leaving after last season. Why is the dropoff so great? That is on recruiting and player development = coaches.

In addition, Kaden Smith is a consensus high draft pick at TE. We pretty much know he's gone this season. I don't buy that there's a dropoff from Schultz there. The biggest dropoff is at FB but again, the coaches knew he was gone two years ago and haven't recruited/developed a suitable replacement.

Some of the success on first down passing is because of the low frequency - teams prepare for the run and get surprised by the pass. But there's a better mix that produces good and more similar results between running and passing.

We have three recruited fullbacks on the roster, which is two to three more than most FBS teams.  Marx was our best fullback since Maricec (comparable or better than Hewitt).  Williams, a senior, was behind Marx for 3+ years; it's not surprise there is a drop-off.  Heimuli was on a mission for two years and is a redshirt freshman, and Jay Symonds is a true freshman.  A drop-off can be reasonably expected, just as one could have reasonably expected a drop-off after Hogan graduated; it's the magnitude of the drop-off that is disconcerting.

For CT and others, while I like power/counter a lot, the two critical positions are the fullback and the pulling guard.  We haven't had an excellent pulling guard since Josh Garnett, and while Bright was decent, the drop-off was noticeable.  This year, our left guard position has been a mess, and Herbig's strength is not pulling (though he is better than I thought he would be given his size).  We went from an excellent fullback to a so-so one.  Thus the drop-off from 2015 when we had Garnett pulling and Marx lead blocking to today, when we have Herbig or Fanaika pulling and Williams lead blocking is stark.

BC