Our weakest Link - prefered 4 wideouts for SMU

[Punter1]

Stewart would have been solid if not for injuries. Literally everyone you listed could/would run circles around Austin and Austin had his own drop issues in his career as well.

So all those guys are better than Austin yet they couldn't beat him out last year??
I'm not saying Austin was anything great...but I'd take him in a second over Heights, Hunt, D Davis and Thomas.

 

[Limp Lizard]

I just can't see it as merely talent. The receivers would not have been recruited if they could not catch the ball. They just need to catch the ball, whatever it takes. Maybe the new WR coach's methods will finally start to take hold as the weeks go on and the catches will come. Coach Burns had coached receivers that caught very well (14-15-17) and not well at all (16). Somehow many here thought he could not coach receivers because he had not "played the position." Once a "real" receiver was hired, lots of ballyhoo here, but we will see: improvement or several steps back. The drops could be a mental thing...certainly mentality plays a large part, such as a whole team having "the fumbles" for a season or a stretch. Time will tell. We are all of two games into the season. And I am sure the coaching staff finds the extremely confident suggestions on this board on how to stop the drops....cute.

If I had a dollar for every time I have read posts on this board bemoaning the entire season after two or three games. Not ready to panic after two games. Really not until 5 or 6. Just keep winning.

 

[Bob]

I thought the hiring of Malcom Kelly was supposed to help the drop hands problem?

Maybe the wide receivers are catching Kenny Hill in practice and aren't used to the football coming right at them.

 

[CountryFrog]

I know WR has been an issue but we've all been really excited about T Hunt, and now he has a game where he drops one easy catch and doesn't make what would've been a really tough catch and so he just sucks now?

 

[CountryFrog]

Barber coming back healthy will fix a lot of this I think.

 

[MinFrog]

Hot sports take: by the end of the year, I bet our WRs are a strength of the team.

 

[berryfrog95]

Hunt looked insane at Texarkana High....where did that confidence go??

 

[Wog68]

Yep, and add in Reagor, Barkley, Barber and tight end Pro Wells and move Sewo around, RB, HB, Tight End, and slot - he has hands. With our stable of RB's, there is no reason we cannot run a number of plays with a 2 back set

This would be the old pro set. We have the line to run it, and I'm guessing the opposing coaches might not know what it is.

 

[Moose Stuff]

I thought the hiring of Malcom Kelly was supposed to help the drop hands problem?

Maybe the wide receivers are catching Kenny Hill in practice and aren't used to the football coming right at them.

One dude can’t drastically improve the catching ability of 19-21 year olds in a couple months.

 

[VA Froggie]

No one likes the way the balls were dropped but lets don’t forget that you don’t have to throw bullets when a toss may be just as effective especially with the receiver is only fifteen yards away.....

 

[4th. down]

One dude can’t drastically improve the catching ability of 19-21 year olds in a couple months.

Maybe by next fall we can see a major improvement but we cannot do it in games if we don't do it in practice - 1 on 1 and 2 on 2 secondary vs our receivers. May get an injury or two but we will get better and spend more time in practice on it. 7 on 7 and pass skelly drills have their benefit but our receivers need to be challenged in practice as the ball hits their hands.

 

[Wexahu]

Maybe by next fall we can see a major improvement but we cannot do it in games if we don't do it in practice - 1 on 1 and 2 on 2 secondary vs our receivers. May get an injury or two but we will get better and spend more time in practice on it. 7 on 7 and pass skelly drills have their benefit but our receivers need to be challenged in practice as the ball hits their hands.

I'm not sure "better hands" is something that can easily be taught. I think we probably have some athletic guys that just aren't natural receivers so we'll have to work around that to some degree. I'm sure they are being challenged in practice, a year ago GP was saying we had the same issues and the guys that were catching the ball in practice were going to be the ones playing in games. And here we are. The QBs are partly to blame as well though, it's not like a lot of these drops are on well-times, well-places throws. But still gotta catch more of them.

 

[Billy Clyde]

It's not a "teaching" thing by the time they get to this level. There is something infectious that seems to happen, it's like a baseball team where suddenly the entire order is either knocking the cover off the ball, or can't fall into the ocean and hit water. You see the same thing in other teams sports- Basketball shooting streaks, etc.

Was it Pro Wells who had the catch last week slightly out of the end zone? Whoever that was, we need more of THAT, but in bounds, please.

 

[jake102]

So all those guys are better than Austin yet they couldn't beat him out last year??
I'm not saying Austin was anything great...but I'd take him in a second over Heights, Hunt, D Davis and Thomas.

I’d take Collins, one footed JR and Delton at WR over those guys and Austin right now. They’re awful

 

[Frogo]

Hunt looked insane at Texarkana High....where did that confidence go??

Pardon the quibble, but it's Texas High. The school on the other side of the state line is, naturally, Arkansas High. Because it's Texarkana, they can do that.

 

[Billy Clyde]

Pardon the quibble, but it's Texas High. The school on the other side of the state line is, naturally, Arkansas High. Because it's Texarkana, they can do that.

This is promising.

 

[CryptoMiner]

So all those guys are better than Austin yet they couldn't beat him out last year??
I'm not saying Austin was anything great...but I'd take him in a second over Heights, Hunt, D Davis and Thomas.

Thomas did beat them out until he was injured and the others were just starting out.

 

[4th. down]

I'm not sure "better hands" is something that can easily be taught. I think we probably have some athletic guys that just aren't natural receivers so we'll have to work around that to some degree. I'm sure they are being challenged in practice, a year ago GP was saying we had the same issues and the guys that were catching the ball in practice were going to be the ones playing in games. And here we are. The QBs are partly to blame as well though, it's not like a lot of these drops are on well-times, well-places throws. But still gotta catch more of them.

5 minutes a day ain't gonna cut it (1 vs 1 and 2 vs 2) - we see the results of that - hello world.

 

[4th. down]

It's not a "teaching" thing by the time they get to this level. There is something infectious that seems to happen, it's like a baseball team where suddenly the entire order is either knocking the cover off the ball, or can't fall into the ocean and hit water. You see the same thing in other teams sports- Basketball shooting streaks, etc.

Was it Pro Wells who had the catch last week slightly out of the end zone? Whoever that was, we need more of THAT, but in bounds, please.

Yep, and he needs about 5 touches/game. Why not, he has hands. The only thing holding him back is that he's a tight end which for Sonny is a no-no.

 

[frog-hat]

Hopefully they’ll ditch the jogging and soft throws in pre-game. Once they’re loose, which they are by then, simulate the game speed as much as possible.