What WR group? North was basically it in 2013. Smith and Croom weren't really even serviceable yet and Pig hadn't hit his stride. Dobbs also couldn't hit the broadside of a barn during that game.
Because literally everyone outside of Pig was injured at some point and only Pearson was back to 100% by Vandy/Iowa. And neither Worley nor Dobbs had time in the pocket to wait for receivers to get open.
Pig isn't really a big play or end zone threat at WR. He's a guy who will pick up 10-15 yards in space. Look at the South Carolina game. That's his forte.
Eh. Malone, Johnson, and Pig looked fine in the spring game. Croom and North are still hurt and Smith isn't even close to 100%. No Pearson. Also, our DBs are really good.
I don't know how you can call Z a bad coach when there has been major and obvious improvement from Pig, Croom, Smith, and Johnson under his tenure. WRs not getting open in two seconds isn't his fault. A bad OL handcuffs the offense.
Hurd should have rushed for 1,200+ last season but no one calls out Gillespie because it's obvious the OL didn't perform up to par. Same thing with the WRs.
1. Pig was our leading receiver in 2013...followed by North, Neal, Croom, Johnson and Smith. Why exactly weren't any of them "serviceable" after a summer, fall camp and 10 games of the season? Kinda helps make my point about Azzani imo. You say Dobbs couldn't hit the broad side of a barn that game and I'm not gonna argue that he really good....but couldn't at least half the problem have been that his WRs couldn't get open vs Vandy's second string DBs and give him good targets to throw to?
2. Literally? All teams have nagging injuries to multiple position groups every year. Fact is, we had 1 WR who missed the majority of the season due to injury, Josh Smith. Pearson was injured early, but played in 11 of 13 games.... North was injured late, but he played in 10 games and was already having a disappointing season prior to his injury. Croom played all 12 reg season games and was injured during bowl practice. Malone played all 13 games, J Johnson 11 games. The WR position was supposed to be our deepest and most talented position....good, well-coached groups, in addition to having their best most talented players perform well and consistently, have other guys step up in the case of injury. I don't think either happened particularly much last year.
3. I agree that Pig wasn't a real big play or endzone threat, primarily because of his size. Problem was, neither were our 6'3-6'5 guys under Azzani.
4. By all accounts, especially Jayson Swain, the WRs were very disappointing throughout the Spring. If you listen to his show, he was constantly verbalizing his disappointment and frustration with how they were catching the ball most of the Spring. He was also less than impressed with their O&W game overall performance. Did you see the 1 on 1 competition vs the DBs?? The WRs didn't win a single rep....something like 0-8...eh, that's not good.
5. Haven't said Azzani is a "bad coach", but I will say I don't think he's shown that he's a "good coach" at all. Pig has improved, but North regressed imo last year. Honestly, what did Croom do? Nice TD catch vs Georgia, nice catch and run vs Kentucky.... what else? I recall everybody ripping him after the Oklahoma game. Pearson was having a bad Spring before his suspension, Malone by all accounts isn't showing much improvement at all, Wharton and Jenkins transferred, Johnson caught about 10 balls last year....what improvement?
As far as the OL, yeah, they were epicly bad last year....maybe our supremely talented group could've helped them and the QB out more by getting off coverage and getting much better separation than they did.
5. Gillespie didn't have a deep RB rotation of supremely talented athletes running all over the place like Azzani had. He had 1 outstanding freshman still learning and adjusting to the college game and a slow footed senior who won't get a sniff from the NFL. Azzani had/has at least 3, maybe 4 NFL prospects he's working with.
Bottom line, we just disagree. You think Azzani is a fine coach dealing with a rash of injuries who's made the best of his situation.....I don't.
