More on FSU...apparently they have lousy football facilities and are now moving to upgrade to Clemson/Alabama level. I do seem to remember that was one of the things Jimbo complained about FSU and one of the things he loved about A&M...football facilities. While recently FSU has been on the rocks, they had a long run of great recruiting and on the field success. Now days though I guess you have to have top notch facilities, even at Texas we are spending money to upgrade our facilities to keep up with the Joneses. _________________ Florida State on Wednesday unveiled new renderings for a long-anticipated stand-alone football facility that will bring the Seminoles in line with the top programs across the country. As rival Clemson gained headlines for its state-of-the art facility, Miami built its own facility for the first time and Florida unveiled plans for a stand-alone facility, Florida State started to fall further behind. The Seminoles have never had their own stand-alone football facility and share their current space with not only other sports but also student classrooms. Florida St. unveils lavish football facility mock-up
I can see how because of generally favorable year-round weather the southern programs have not felt the same urgency for indoor facilities as the northern programs. signed: Captain Obvious
The Gators are in the middle of upgrading also. Not just football but baseball and ladies softball are getting new facilities also.
An interesting article on the spread offense and how defenses are struggling. With spread offenses still dominating college football, coaches wonder whether they'll ever be stopped
RIP Leroy Keyes. He was a great college player at Purdue, those games between ND and Purdue during his career he was the best player on the field. Leroy Keyes, a two-time All-America running back at Purdue and a College Football Hall of Fame member, died Thursday at 74. Keyes is the only two-time consensus All-American in Purdue history, and finished third and second in Heisman Trophy voting in 1968 and 1969, respectively. He set team records for career touchdowns (37), points (222) and all-purpose yards (3,757), and in 1987 was voted Purdue's all-time greatest player as the program celebrated its 100-year anniversary. Keyes was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1990. He was selected No. 3 overall by Philadelphia in the 1969 NFL draft and played both running back and safety for the team. Purdue All-America RB Keyes dies at age 74
I believe the secret will be the ability to pressure the QB. Now if a team has 2 1st round wide receivers and a first round running back then it will be almost impossible to pressure the QB, but what I see is good qb's with 5 or 6/seconds to throw the ball just slicing up defenses.
R.I.P. Leroy Keyes. I never saw a college player like him before or since. He was equally outstanding on both sides of the ball. No surprise that he was voted the best player in Purdue's history.
Last year, just before COVID hit, I was at a Purdue golf outing in Naples and was going through the breakfast buffet line and started talking to a guy behind me in line...I saw by his name tag that it was Leroy Keyes. He was really friendly and nice and I talked about me being the nerd in the band and how I enjoyed watching him do his thing on the football field. I am NOT normally into selfies but I asked and he let me take one;
I watched some of the Ohio State spring game. Lots of talent, but it didn't look like any Qb really stood out I saw a few series with Miller and he definitely didn't look like ready to take the job, Stroud looked better and I didn't see McCord. Talk on ESPNU this week is that Ohio State receiver Corp is the best in college football. Need a trigger man though. Alabama Qb, Bryce Young, got high praise from the articles that I read. Offense will look a little different though with him. Georgia Qb, JT Daniels apparently has had a great spring and the Dawgs might have their most explosive offense in the Kirby Smart era.
Terry, I know from experience that an elite receiver corps can cover a lot of mistakes. Young seems to be a work in progress and our whole offense has to be rebuilt. Georgia with Daniels may be the offensive juggernaut this year.
Spring games generally are pretty limited as just a glimpse here and there. No tackling looks almost like flag football, but no injuries either. Yes, I agree we have a very talented receivers group. We have three potential good QB's. Personally I am not concerned about no decision at this stage of the game. Looking ahead to this fall, I hope a decision is made fairly early. Whoever starts will need most of the reps.
Irish lack elite level wide receivers, and we also lack elite level QB's. We have outstanding OL talent and same at TE and a really good group of running backs. But to be a serious CFP contender you have to have that QB /WR
Official Recruiting visits are good to go starting in June. This means recruiting will get back to somewhat normal, kids have been committing based on Zoom calls and not being able to meet the coaches or their potential teammates when they make a trip to the campus on their own dime. Some have said that they expect to see a fair number of kids flip/flop now that they can visit this summer.
One of the key factors, at least recently, has been elite QB/WR play by the truly elite squads. Last year, the talent at qB for Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson was just better than the rest of the schools. But those 3 schools have all lost their starter and will be playing a kid who has little experience at qB. Alabama did play Bryce Young, but he only attempted 22 passes. C J Stroud who seems to have a slight edge at Ohio State didn't attempt a pass last year as a freshman. The kid at Clemson who I can't pronounce nor spell his name did get to start and play 2 games a win over BC and a loss in OT at Notre Dame, he threw almost 100 times for almost 1,000 yards and looked damn good doing it. I think this is where Georgia and Oklahoma have an edge, both JT Daniels and Spencer Rattler have a lot of experience and were 5 star qB's coming out of HS. Elite Talent. The top returning QB's Sam Howell at UNC, probably doesn't have the team around him to be a CFP team. D'Eriq King at Miami, dazzling at times again unlikely he has the team around him. Matt Corral at Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin will make him a star, but again not going to win the SEC West. Brock Purdy at Iowa State, Cyclones are poised to have another great season...but with OU Brock not likely to be a CFP. That's where we are, the proven returning QB's are not at the usual suspects, Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson. Will this give somebody an opening? I won't be surprised.
Big name transfer. Joe Milton who started at QB for Mich last year has transferred to Tenn. In his first game as a starter he was really impressive, but after that he had problems and was eventually benched.
The Vols need all the help they can get right now in their situation. They seemed to have a decent young kid when we played them, but competition is always good.