(On the guys transferring out – I think this is a good thing for both sides from my perspective. It may give the guys a chance to land somewhere that they can be a contributor and enjoy what time they have left to play the game. For us it forces Pruitt to some degree away from his PE teacher mode where he’s trying to play everyone. One of my biggest criticisms of him is he doesn’t seem to be able to honor his commitment to the team or the fans to put our best players on the field. The more options we can take away from him the less indecision, if that is what it is, he will have to deal with. I wish the guys moving on nothing but the best. jmo.)
Big Orange Hotline recap from Monday night. (Bob Kesling, Pat Ryan, and Jeff Francis).
Pat opened by saying we’re not playing well on either side of the ball and he’s not sure we’re coaching well on either side either.
He said Pruitt had defended one of the unsportsmanlike penalties on the offensive line by saying they actually teach cleaning the pile and sometimes some officials call it and sometimes they don’t. Pat said that was stupid coaching.
Pat thought the bye week came at a good time. Jeff didn’t necessarily agree. Jeff said it just gives everyone 2 weeks to feel like crap.
They’re not sure on the QB situation but if we do change QBs we’re basically starting over. Pat said Bailey is the future for this staff. Jeff said you play the QB that gives you the best chance to win some games.
Pat said you do not play 2 deep secondary if your linebackers can’t cover anybody. Jeff said if you can’t affect the QB you have no chance. Pat said our linebackers are getting sucked in by run fakes and are leaving the middle of the field open in our zone coverage scheme.
Bob interjected that Pruitt has said that our defense is not going to scare anyone.
Bob also said that after the game he was in the locker room and you could tell that a lot of the guys were really hurting. Jeff said the guys are not enjoying playing the game of football.
They talked about the need to have thick skin if you want to play college football. They said in situations like we are in now everyone should expect hard coaching. Imagine, Pat said, Nick Saban in this situation. Do you really think he’s not ripping into players? They talked about the respect a lot of Pruitt’s former players have shared publicly about him. One difference they noted is that Saban has a stable of players on his roster for every position group so with him next man up is not a big issue.
Pat and Jeff went back to the QB discussion. Pat related a story about his pro days when he was in New York competing with Kenny O’Brien one year. Pat was the veteran and O’Brien was the new kid. A reporter asked him if it would affect the older guys on the team if he as the veteran got beat out. The reporter was asking about the loyalty of his teammates. Pat said the guys were his friends, buddies, but he was under no illusion that they wanted the guy out there who gave them the best chance to win.
Pat said JG has had his shot. He and Jeff sort of got into an argument – sort of, on this point. Jeff said you go with the guy that gives you the best chance to win some games. He said one of his years here they started off 0-6. He said everyday he was worried about keeping his job as the QB. Johnny Majors stuck with him. After than 0-6 start they had a bye week. During the bye week they fired Ken Donahue as the DC, came back from the bye and went 5-0 to finish the season. The next year they won the SEC championship. Pat challenge him to say that he had been playing as bad as JG. Jeff conceded the point.