As we all know, out offense has been serviceable against our season opponents, but has been shut down in the playoffs. So, to compete we have to get better. Some people  want to blame it on Kelly’s offense, but our problems go beyond that. So, given the need for improvement, here’s areas I think we need to work on/improve. Thoughts?

QB Recruiting 

We need to sign the Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields et al. Every year.  These are guys who can beat you deep and beat you with your legs. We haven’t had that guy and he’s not on the roster. We need someone in the portal and every year bringing in a big fish. We have to convince these Qb’s that our offense is going from plodding Tight End U to dynamic NFL U. We’ll always get great Tight Ends. We need to stretch the field. 
 

QB Coach

We need a guy dedicated to the position, not Tommy Rees doing two jobs. Let Rees game plan. The QB coach can work on mechanics, reading defenses etc. 

Elite Speed Wide Receivers

Though we have upped our game (Chase Claypool etc) we still don’t have elite game speed receivers who can consistently catch the ball. Tight End U and lots of possession receivers isn’t going to get it done. We need elite speed guys. 
 

New O-line coach

We have had lots of elite O-lineman, but haven’t dominated like we should.   Quinn was Kelly’s good old boy and it showed  Bring in someone great  to take us to the next level  

Keep up the RB recruiting 

With an elite Qb and wide receivers, we could have won a NC with Kyren, Chris T and Diggs  We’ve got Chris T, Diggs and Estime  We’re good there  Keep it going  

 

Edited December 14, 20213 yr by Frankus

1 hour ago, Frankus said:

As we all know, out offense has been serviceable against our season opponents, but has been shut down in the playoffs. So, to compete we have to get better. Some people  want to blame it on Kelly’s offense, but our problems go beyond that. So, given the need for improvement, here’s areas I think we need to work on/improve. Thoughts?

QB Recruiting 

We need to sign the Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields et al. Every year.  These are guys who can beat you deep and beat you with your legs. We haven’t had that guy and he’s not on the roster. We need someone in the portal and every year bringing in a big fish. We have to convince these Qb’s that our offense is going from plodding Tight End U to dynamic NFL U. We’ll always get great Tight Ends. We need to stretch the field. 
 

QB Coach

We need a guy dedicated to the position, not Tommy Rees doing two jobs. Let Rees game plan. The QB coach can work on mechanics, reading defenses etc. 

Elite Speed Wide Receivers

Though we have upped our game (Chase Claypool etc) we still don’t have elite game speed receivers who can consistently catch the ball. Tight End U and lots of possession receivers isn’t going to get it done. We need elite speed guys. 
 

New O-line coach

We have had lots of elite O-lineman, but haven’t dominated like we should.   Quinn was Kelly’s good old boy and it showed  Bring in someone great  to take us to the next level  

Keep up the RB recruiting 

With an elite Qb and wide receivers, we could have won a NC with Kyren, Chris T and Diggs  We’ve got Chris T, Diggs and Estime  We’re good there  Keep it going  

 

How about just sign one…ever. Qb recruiting has been awful, but even I do not believe it’s realistic to sign a stud EVERY year. 

1 hour ago, Frankus said:

We need to sign the Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields et al. Every year.    

You lost me here...

1) Joe Burrow was a low ranked 4* player https://247sports.com/Player/Joe-Burrow-36575/

2) Trevor Lawrence is a generational QB

We have signed plenty of QBs ranked higher than Joe Burrow was coming out of high school. If you expect any school to sign a generational QB every year, you are delusional.

QBs are hit and miss just like every other position

Sorry, but sometimes fans of teams just are not realistic when it comes to recruiting. Elder06 is a prime example.

1 hour ago, NDhoosier said:

You lost me here...

1) Joe Burrow was a low ranked 4* player https://247sports.com/Player/Joe-Burrow-36575/

2) Trevor Lawrence is a generational QB

We have signed plenty of QBs ranked higher than Joe Burrow was coming out of high school. If you expect any school to sign a generational QB every year, you are delusional.

QBs are hit and miss just like every other position

Sorry, but sometimes fans of teams just are not realistic when it comes to recruiting. Elder06 is a prime example.

yes QBs are hit and miss.  It's unfortunate ND has whiffed on QB for the past 20+ years.

 

1 hour ago, NDhoosier said:

You lost me here...

1) Joe Burrow was a low ranked 4* player https://247sports.com/Player/Joe-Burrow-36575/

2) Trevor Lawrence is a generational QB

We have signed plenty of QBs ranked higher than Joe Burrow was coming out of high school. If you expect any school to sign a generational QB every year, you are delusional.

QBs are hit and miss just like every other position

Sorry, but sometimes fans of teams just are not realistic when it comes to recruiting. Elder06 is a prime example.

There are a lot of questions here and I think the question boils down to what kind of offense does coach Freeman intend to have. Does Rees have an offensive philosophy and if so is that what CMF is going to follow? Is Rees going to continue CBKs philosophy?

A lot of open questions. I thought about this yesterday looking at the difference between Slovis and Bo Nix. They are different weapons in two different types of offense. Is Rees going to move towards a traditional pocket passing offense or are we going to continue to recruit athletes like Buchner? (Also Book, Wimbush, Zaire and Golson)

I have to wonder if this question of offensive identity doesn't influence the thinking of some recruits. 

1 hour ago, drakan said:

yes QBs are hit and miss.  It's unfortunate ND has whiffed on QB for the past 20+ years.

Did they? Quinn (NFL draft pick and amazing college player), Clausen (NFL draft pick), Golson (multiple year starter who did pretty well, could have done better if not for the suspension), Kizer (NFL draft pick), and Book (NFL draft pick). They also signed Phil J. who will probably be a NFL draft pick; he left because he did not want to be behind Book, another NFL draft pick, for another year. They got more out of Rees than anyone would have thought they would.

Wimbush is probably the biggest disappointment that I would chalk up to poor development. He had plenty of raw talent that could have been used better.

Edited December 14, 20213 yr by NDhoosier

5 hours ago, NDhoosier said:

You lost me here...

1) Joe Burrow was a low ranked 4* player https://247sports.com/Player/Joe-Burrow-36575/

2) Trevor Lawrence is a generational QB

We have signed plenty of QBs ranked higher than Joe Burrow was coming out of high school. If you expect any school to sign a generational QB every year, you are delusional.

QBs are hit and miss just like every other position

Sorry, but sometimes fans of teams just are not realistic when it comes to recruiting. Elder06 is a prime example.

I didn’t say anything about ranking. I’m talking about talent evaluation. 

13 hours ago, Frankus said:

I didn’t say anything about ranking. I’m talking about talent evaluation. 

ranking is talent evaluation.... Joe Burrow was also not that good his first few years. Transferred from OSU to LSU because he wasn't good enough to start.

10 minutes ago, NDhoosier said:

ranking is talent evaluation.... Joe Burrow was also not that good his first few years. Transferred from OSU to LSU because he wasn't good enough to start.

Perhaps a better way of saying it would be that his talent had not matured enough for him to be able to start given the depth ahead of him at Ohio St. Not quite related but still hard to believe that Quinten Nelson did not play as a freshman given that he will be probably make the NFL Hall of Fame.

41 minutes ago, jbrown_9999 said:

Perhaps a better way of saying it would be that his talent had not matured enough for him to be able to start given the depth ahead of him at Ohio St. Not quite related but still hard to believe that Quinten Nelson did not play as a freshman given that he will be probably make the NFL Hall of Fame.

agreed, but with Joe Burrow, he did not play that well at LSU the year prior. He final season was truly a shock to most people, even LSU fans.

On 12/15/2021 at 8:56 AM, NDhoosier said:

ranking is talent evaluation.... Joe Burrow was also not that good his first few years. Transferred from OSU to LSU because he wasn't good enough to start.

No it’s not. If ranking always equaled talent Gunner Kiel wouldn’t be selling cars. 

On 12/14/2021 at 12:05 PM, Frankus said:

As we all know, out offense has been serviceable against our season opponents, but has been shut down in the playoffs. So, to compete we have to get better. Some people  want to blame it on Kelly’s offense, but our problems go beyond that. So, given the need for improvement, here’s areas I think we need to work on/improve. Thoughts?

QB Recruiting 

We need to sign the Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields et al. Every year.  These are guys who can beat you deep and beat you with your legs. We haven’t had that guy and he’s not on the roster. We need someone in the portal and every year bringing in a big fish. We have to convince these Qb’s that our offense is going from plodding Tight End U to dynamic NFL U. We’ll always get great Tight Ends. We need to stretch the field. 
 

QB Coach

We need a guy dedicated to the position, not Tommy Rees doing two jobs. Let Rees game plan. The QB coach can work on mechanics, reading defenses etc. 

Elite Speed Wide Receivers

Though we have upped our game (Chase Claypool etc) we still don’t have elite game speed receivers who can consistently catch the ball. Tight End U and lots of possession receivers isn’t going to get it done. We need elite speed guys. 
 

New O-line coach

We have had lots of elite O-lineman, but haven’t dominated like we should.   Quinn was Kelly’s good old boy and it showed  Bring in someone great  to take us to the next level  

Keep up the RB recruiting 

With an elite Qb and wide receivers, we could have won a NC with Kyren, Chris T and Diggs  We’ve got Chris T, Diggs and Estime  We’re good there  Keep it going  

 

QB Coach

ND's current job descriptions have QB coach/offensive coordinator grouped together and college programs are only allowed a certain number of coaches. What your saying has happened before though Matt Lafluer was the QB coach, however if memory serves that forced Scott Booker to coach TE/Special teams. Not impossible for a Special teams coach to coach a position too. Polian did it under Weis not under Kelly though

But the typical division of labor is QB/offensive coordinator  DC/linebacker coach which is interesting that spot is open.

 

New O-line coach- Agreed  reports say Quinn won't be retained. Chris Watt is a popular name in the rumor mill. Of course, Harry Hiestand but I think Harry might not coach anymore

 

Speed at WR, its strange if ND gets speed like Lenzy the precise routes fall apart. If they get pure size he's Usually a

possession.  Receiver. Size, speed and route running are rare. Your right Chase Claypool who has some of each. 

 

Rbs.

As long as we have coach Lance Taylor who coached great ones at Stanford I like our chances

 

2 hours ago, Frankus said:

No it’s not. If ranking always equaled talent Gunner Kiel wouldn’t be selling cars. 

talent evaluations are not always right.

The rankings of recruits are literally talent evaluations. No, they are not always right... in fact, they are probably about 50/50. The talent evaluation put Gunner Kiel as a 5* prospect; that talent evaluation was incorrect.