Changing my tune: Think maybe Heupel should keep Banks

#27
#27
Banks had an enigma of a defense this year.

Gave up a lot of yards and points but did create disruption with a lot of sacks and takeaways.

Me thinks they news to drop some serious cash on elite players. Ty Redmond should be an absolute dawg the next 2 years.
 
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#29
#29
bpalmer28 said:
I’ve watched him. And I’ve noticed his defense getting better year after year for 4 consecutive years leading up to 2025. His ability to scheme resulted in us having one of the best defenses in the SEC last year. This year was bad. Needs to convince Heupel he can fix it.
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Last year's defense played 2 good offenses and got handled easily!!! Banks can not coach!!! He also coaches safeties and they have been terrible!!!
 
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#33
#33
West Vol said:
The defense got better last year because we had an elite DL and played against the worst lineup of passers we’ve seen this century.

He shows blitz way too early, routinely puts defenders miles behind the line to gain, leaves the middle of the field so hilariously wide open it would be impossible not to exploit it. He seems to not understand QBs can scramble. His linebackers never know where to go. The safeties, the position he coaches, are and have been for years by far the worst position on the team. He also is terrible at picking up tendencies. UGA ran the same motion run play against us about 10 times in a single drive and ripped us every single time.
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2024 SEC Passing Yards
3. Carson Beck 3,485
5. Taylen Green 3,154
6. Jalen Milroe 2,844
11. Diego Pavia 2,293
DJ Lagway/Graham Mertz combined for 2,706
Michael Van Buren/Blake Shapen combined for 2,838
Will Howard had 4,010
While not necessarily an elite group, it is hardly the worst lineup this century.
For reference, Julian Sayin and Ty Simpson are considered two of the top QBs in the country this season. Simpson has thrown for 3,056 and Sayin has thrown for 3,065.
 
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#36
#36
deatojl said:
2024 SEC Passing Yards
3. Carson Beck 3,485
5. Taylen Green 3,154
6. Jalen Milroe 2,844
11. Diego Pavia 2,293
DJ Lagway/Graham Mertz combined for 2,706
Michael Van Buren/Blake Shapen combined for 2,838
Will Howard had 4,010
While not necessarily an elite group, it is hardly the worst lineup this century.
For reference, Julian Sayin and Ty Simpson are considered two of the top QBs in the country this season. Simpson has thrown for 3,056 and Sayin has thrown for 3,065.
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We got gimpy Mertz and freshman with no experience Lagway. Mertz was making us look stupid before he went out and even Lagway converted that huge third and a mile on us. Howard and Beck killed us.
 
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#37
#37
In my non-expert opinion, Banks has two major flaws.
1. He is blind. Preseason, he doesn’t know which unit(s) is/are weak until our opponents expose and exploit our defensive weakness over and over. After the season ends, he fills the weakness, without realizing theres another hole due to graduation, transfers, poor player evaluation, injuries, etc. Repeat. Wouldn’t it be nice to see and get the right Jimmies and Joes BEFORE the season starts? And maybe add a slimmer of depth?
2. He is stupid. He keeps throwing scissors when our opponents keep throwing rocks. If by some miracle he throws a paper, the next series, he goes back to scissors. Wouldn't it be nice if he could anticipate, compensate, and adjust to counter our opponents? And maybe catch them by surprise once in a while?

And add other trivialities such as bend and break against good opponents, poor tackling, taking bad angles, Sunseri-like zone, huge cushions on 3rd and short, can’t ever defend the slant, penalty extending drives, personal lack of effort in recruiting, letting known dual threat QBs run wild, missed assignments, not motivating the players, yada yada yada….

Yeah, let’s keep Banks. We didn’t learn our lessons and should’ve given Dooley, Butch, and Pruitt more time too!
 
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#40
#40
DiderotsGhost said:
First off: we weren't 14th in the SEC. That's based on garbage stats (pure yardage; not advanced stats that take into account turnovers, # of plays, etc).

Based on FPI's defensive efficiencies, we had the #4 defense in the country last year and #21 the year before. We had a slew of injuries this year and finished #41, which is above-average, but still below where we want to be. Btw, Vandy's offense was #1 in the country.


My take: whether we keep Banks or not should 100% be Heupel's decision. Not the fans. Not the boosters. Not the AD.

There are good reasons to keep Banks. There are some valid reasons to move on. But 1 loss shouldn't determine it. So many great DCs have had bad losses and gotten better as a result of it.

But something has to change. If it's not personnel, then Banks needs to be a bit less dogmatic in his approach. We just kept blitzing when it made no sense. We never adapted to Pavia's scrambling; and it was more schematic / play-calling then the players not executing.

I'm definitely not in the "FAHHHRR EVERYONE" camp. Banks has been pretty good overall, but Heupel has to decide whether he can evolve his game or whether we need to move on. I don't feel like anyone else has the first-hand view that Heupel does to be qualified to answer that question. This isn't like Sal Sunseri where even a blind person could see that he had to go.
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Not taking Bank's side but my take on why we were not as good as we could have been and should have been is we had a lot of injuries. This made Banks go lighter on the full speed tackling (hitting) in practice to keep what he had left healthy. Going "thud" in practice doesn't translate as well to Saturdays when you got to get them on the ground. The answer is to get more depth but in the NIL era that's more difficult. But coaching is more than X's and O's its figuring these issues out!
 
#42
#42
I’ve said the entire time we would never win a champioship with Banks. It’s his scheme. It doesn’t work well in the SEC. He had his shot. It didn’t work out, Josh has gotta make a hard decision and move on. The schedule gets harder and there’ll be tons of changes when new coaches in the conference.
 
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#43
#43
bpalmer28 said:
Is it Banks fault we wasted NIL dollars on Boo or that his top 2 CBs missed the entire season? I think maybe if we strengthen the middle of our defense (DT, MLB, S) Banks and the rest of our staff together can figure things out.
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That's half the defense, though. In year 5, if you still have to figure out half of your area of responsibility, then you're the problem. Of course if he had great players at every position they could cover up his ineptitude. That's exactly what happened last year. Talent and experience (multiple 4th and 5th year guys) dominated the unit.

Losing McCoy and Gibson definitely hurt, but this defense wasn't just a couple starters at CB shy of being good, let alone great. There were holes everywhere. In fact, you could reasonably argue that the backup CBs (Hood and Redmond) were still the brightest defensive spots given their relative inexperience.

I still think you have to make an example out of someone given the all-time bad nature of this defense. Banks is responsible for the biggest overall weakness (total defense) and the biggest positional weakness (Safety play). If you don't make a move, you just send the message that accountability isn't valued or taken seriously. That message spreads beyond your staff and bleeds over to the players.
 
#45
#45
cncchris33 said:
That's half the defense, though. In year 5, if you still have to figure out half of your area of responsibility, then you're the problem. Of course if he had great players at every position they could cover up his ineptitude. That's exactly what happened last year. Talent and experience (multiple 4th and 5th year guys) dominated the unit.

Losing McCoy and Gibson definitely hurt, but this defense wasn't just a couple starters at CB shy of being good, let alone great. There were holes everywhere. In fact, you could reasonably argue that the backup CBs (Hood and Redmond) were still the brightest defensive spots given their relative inexperience.

I still think you have to make an example out of someone given the all-time bad nature of this defense. Banks is responsible for the biggest overall weakness (total defense) and the biggest positional weakness (Safety play). If you don't make a move, you just send the message that accountability isn't valued or taken seriously. That message spreads beyond your staff and bleeds over to the players.
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All fair criticisms
 
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#47
#47
BernardKingGOAT said:
He has the right idea of bringing pressure. It has to be more often if he is down front line talent on the back end
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Problem is we bring pressure and give cushion for easy throw and/or show too early and let opponents pick the matchup with a safety. Bank’s blitzes never fool anybody and dropping DTs and DEs into coverage has worked 1 time in 5 years with a int by Pearce in a bowl game.
 
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#49
#49
Skooter said:
Problem is we bring pressure and give cushion for easy throw and/or show too early and let opponents pick the matchup with a safety. Bank’s blitzes never fool anybody and dropping DTs and DEs into coverage has worked 1 time in 5 years with a int by Pearce in a bowl game.
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They catch teams some with it. Denying that would be sheer ignorance. It must be done far more often when there's a depletion of players at DB. You go Zero in those situations as to back end play. As I have stated a few times, great NFL DCs do it effectively when they are depleted on the back end due to injuries
 
#50
#50
Boston Vol said:
I’d still like an explanation of the 3rd and 2 late in the third quarter against Bama. They showed pressure, then dropped everyone 10+ yards, leaving the middle of the field wide open for a simple pitch and catch with the tight end.
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Embarrassing. Again. What coach in their right mind on a huge 3rd down play while still in the game on 3rd and 2 drops 7 10 yards behind the sticks.
He’s the worst and maybe dumbest DC in the SEC
 

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