I was watching UC Hightlights...

[Thegreatone]

And one thing jumped out at me. That Iasiah Pead stand out. He just seems a little bigger and faster than everyone else. He is poised for a big year.

 

[JasonS]

And one thing jumped out at me. That Iasiah Pead stand out. He just seems a little bigger and faster than everyone else. He is poised for a big year.

I agree....as long as his knee is good to go come the fall (which, from everything I have heard, it should be). He also plays with a chip on his shoulder since OSU didn't want him and I think that is what is going to make him an NFL back some day.

 

[swg]

I fail to understand why our recruiting is so weak. BJ is personable, our offense is going to be awesome, and the D should be average at worst. Main thing must be lack of familiarity with the coaching staff.

 

[Daniel Drake]

I fail to understand why our recruiting is so weak. BJ is personable, our offense is going to be awesome, and the D should be average at worst. Main thing must be lack of familiarity with the coaching staff.

Why would you say it is weak? Because we don't have a lot of commits yet? I am one to judge when the class is complete and not before the summer even starts.

He has been our coach for 4 months and most of that time was busy recruiting are 2010 commits and others for the 2010 class and a lot of dead and quiet periods.

We have to rely on relationships, our system and success for recruiting. We have a new coach who can only show UC tape with another coach running the show and CMU tape against MAC teams.

This first year will be slower, but I think that he will improve on last years class and the classes in the past, much like he did at CMU.

 

[Thegreatone]

Why would you say it is weak? Because we don't have a lot of commits yet? I am one to judge when the class is complete and not before the summer even starts.

He has been our coach for 4 months and most of that time was busy recruiting are 2010 commits and others for the 2010 class and a lot of dead and quiet periods.

We have to rely on relationships, our system and success for recruiting. We have a new coach who can only show UC tape with another coach running the show and CMU tape against MAC teams.

This first year will be slower, but I think that he will improve on last years class and the classes in the past, much like he did at CMU.

Agreed. lets wait and see what we end up with. I am not too concerned yet. I was talking to Dominique Browns uncle the other day and he just confirmed that when BK left so many kids thought UC was no longer an option. If we do well again this year kids will want to come. They will want to be on ESPN and will want to win championships.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

And one thing jumped out at me. That Iasiah Pead stand out. He just seems a little bigger and faster than everyone else. He is poised for a big year.

I agree. The question is how much does Butch like to run the ball? I wasn't completely happy with Kelly's use of the running game and I fear Butch might be the same way.

 

[JasonS]

I agree. The question is how much does Butch like to run the ball? I wasn't completely happy with Kelly's use of the running game and I fear Butch might be the same way.

I think Butch is a little better at adjusting to the players he has and I think Kelly is a little better at getting his players to adjust to his system. Everyone likes to point out that Butch Jones' team last year ran more than they threw but a good portion of that was from their QB. I think you will see Collaros run a bit more this year (designed runs) but I think Pead will be the featured back and Darrin Williams will get some PT too. I think Pead will be a 1,000 yard rusher this year (if healthy) and have over 1,500 yards of total offense. I think Butch will go with whatever is working. Some games we may "pound" the ball on the ground while other games we may throw it around all day. The opposing defense may dictate that. The good news is that we have talent all over the place on offense so it won't matter.

 

[swg]

I believe I understand that BJ has been here for only a few months, and that NSD is over 8 months away. It doesn't change the fact that I (and I hope others) were expecting a commit or two during Bearcat Bowl weekend. This did not occur, as I believe many of our recruits are:

-Plan B for UC, and won't be offered until later (perhaps)
-UC is plan B or C for more than one recruit, and hoping for bigger offers
-Waiting until BJ wins some games, or UC exhibits continuing the wins
-waiting to gauge what the fallout from expansion means for UC

'Weak' may have been a poor word, but it doesn't change the fact that UC is behind on commits, and this year BJ will most likely hold off maxing out his schollies to save them for 2012. I don't blame Coach Jones for this, he's doing the best that he can. It simply is where UC is at right now. All could change in October/Nov after some victories.

Suffice it to say I'm not discouraged, but certainly was hoping for better results...perhaps foolishly. I think we'll end up with a solid class, but I do think up to 4 BE teams could have higher ranked class than we do when all's said and done (rankings may not be accurate, but it's the only way to judge at the moment).

 

[david aka the TYZ]

I think Butch is a little better at adjusting to the players he has and I think Kelly is a little better at getting his players to adjust to his system. Everyone likes to point out that Butch Jones' team last year ran more than they threw but a good portion of that was from their QB. I think you will see Collaros run a bit more this year (designed runs) but I think Pead will be the featured back and Darrin Williams will get some PT too. I think Pead will be a 1,000 yard rusher this year (if healthy) and have over 1,500 yards of total offense. I think Butch will go with whatever is working. Some games we may "pound" the ball on the ground while other games we may throw it around all day. The opposing defense may dictate that. The good news is that we have talent all over the place on offense so it won't matter.

I'm hoping so, Kelly just seemed to completely abandon the running game at times. It didn't keep the defense honest. I think he learned at some point that at this level you have to at least pretend you want to run the ball.

Pead is such an explosive playmaker. I hope he utilizes that. FWIW, I'm not a huge fan of a lot of designed running plays for the QB. I know it can be effective, although teams are more prepared now than they used to be. Kelly last year with Collaros under center ran him too much in my opinion. Especially on third down. I can't remember the game, but it seemed we stalled out a few times with this approach and it nealy cost us. With Pike he didn't want him running and thus ran his passing offense. I have confidence in Butch and look forward to seeing how his offense looks.

 

[JasonS]

I'm hoping so, Kelly just seemed to completely abandon the running game at times. It didn't keep the defense honest. I think he learned at some point that at this level you have to at least pretend you want to run the ball.

Pead is such an explosive playmaker. I hope he utilizes that. FWIW, I'm not a huge fan of a lot of designed running plays for the QB. I know it can be effective, although teams are more prepared now than they used to be. Kelly last year with Collaros under center ran him too much in my opinion. Especially on third down. I can't remember the game, but it seemed we stalled out a few times with this approach and it nealy cost us. With Pike he didn't want him running and thus ran his passing offense. I have confidence in Butch and look forward to seeing how his offense looks.

I will see if I can find any games online of CMU last year so you can see what he did with Lefevor. I think, honestly, he ran Dan more because he was their best running back. I think Zach can make plays with his feet but Pead is definitely the better option. I look for Zach to run a bit more than last year but not as much as Lefevor did. When Collaros was under center last year, I think Kelly felt limited in what he could call so that may be why things seemed to stall out. As Collaros played more, the offense seemed to open up too.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

I will see if I can find any games online of CMU last year so you can see what he did with Lefevor. I think, honestly, he ran Dan more because he was their best running back. I think Zach can make plays with his feet but Pead is definitely the better option. I look for Zach to run a bit more than last year but not as much as Lefevor did. When Collaros was under center last year, I think Kelly felt limited in what he could call so that may be why things seemed to stall out. As Collaros played more, the offense seemed to open up too.

I definately know he likes to run his QB. That's a good point that he might have been there best option to run. Plus who knows how good their receiving game actually was. I just don't want to be a Pat White like offense where he kept the ball half the plays. When teams were smart enough to stuff the line and not drop into coverage and leave all receivers one on one they really struggled. Unfortunately it took us three years to figure that out. I think Zach's a little better passer than White and we definately have better receivers so teams might not be able to employ that approach with us. I just don't like one out of every three plays your QB keeps it. Utilize your weapons and let Collaros run when he sees an opening. I think Kelly used him brilliantly the first couple of games (using that approach) and then got more conservative letting him pass the ball and thus ran him more as the undefeated season got longer and the opponents got better. It worked so there's no second guessing. I just don't want to see Butch running Collaros like WV ran Pat White.

 

[JasonS]

I definately know he likes to run his QB. That's a good point that he might have been there best option to run. Plus who knows how good their receiving game actually was. I just don't want to be a Pat White like offense where he kept the ball half the plays. When teams were smart enough to stuff the line and not drop into coverage and leave all receivers one on one they really struggled. Unfortunately it took us three years to figure that out. I think Zach's a little better passer than White and we definately have better receivers so teams might not be able to employ that approach with us. I just don't like one out of every three plays your QB keeps it. Utilize your weapons and let Collaros run when he sees an opening. I think Kelly used him brilliantly the first couple of games (using that approach) and then got more conservative letting him pass the ball and thus ran him more as the undefeated season got longer and the opponents got better. It worked so there's no second guessing. I just don't want to see Butch running Collaros like WV ran Pat White.

I was looking around and really couldn't find anything worth posting. What I did notice was that, most of the time, the big plays in their offense was as a result of passing and most of the big running plays seemed to be broken plays with LeFevor as opposed to designed runs. Of course all I could find (that was even half-way decent) was on LeFevor so I really didn't get to see much about their running backs. I watched a couple of their games last year and I remember noticing that their receivers were pretty good. Not at the UC caliber, but pretty good.

I think Butch is going to bring a mix of all the different places he worked and that is why I think he does a good job adjusting to talent. If Collaros was more like Pat White, I think you'd see an offense closer to that. Since I think Collaros is more like LeFevor, I think our offense will resemble more of what Central Michigan did last year. Pead is definitely better than anyone they had so expect to see the ball in his hands quite a bit. I noticed that Butch likes screens to his backs too and his CMU team seemed to be very good at executing them. Getting Pead in the open field is going to be a goal of the offense this year for sure.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

I was looking around and really couldn't find anything worth posting. What I did notice was that, most of the time, the big plays in their offense was as a result of passing and most of the big running plays seemed to be broken plays with LeFevor as opposed to designed runs. Of course all I could find (that was even half-way decent) was on LeFevor so I really didn't get to see much about their running backs. I watched a couple of their games last year and I remember noticing that their receivers were pretty good. Not at the UC caliber, but pretty good.

I think Butch is going to bring a mix of all the different places he worked and that is why I think he does a good job adjusting to talent. If Collaros was more like Pat White, I think you'd see an offense closer to that. Since I think Collaros is more like LeFevor, I think our offense will resemble more of what Central Michigan did last year. Pead is definitely better than anyone they had so expect to see the ball in his hands quite a bit. I noticed that Butch likes screens to his backs too and his CMU team seemed to be very good at executing them. Getting Pead in the open field is going to be a goal of the offense this year for sure.

Thanks for researching some. For the record I wasn't trying to compare Collaros to Pat White, WV's offense with him is just the example of what I don't really like. I'm confident that Butch will feature Pead in his offense more than Kelly did. And I'm more than confident he won't ignore all the receiving talent we have. Maybe he just used LeFevor like he did because he was the best athlete on the field. Nothing against Collaros, but I don't think you can say that about him.

 

[JasonS]

Thanks for researching some. For the record I wasn't trying to compare Collaros to Pat White, WV's offense with him is just the example of what I don't really like. I'm confident that Butch will feature Pead in his offense more than Kelly did. And I'm more than confident he won't ignore all the receiving talent we have. Maybe he just used LeFevor like he did because he was the best athlete on the field. Nothing against Collaros, but I don't think you can say that about him.

I agree about Collaros. Good athlete. Not great and definitely not the best on the team. Butch is interesting because he has coached at several different places, under several different coaches with each running different styles of offense and it seems that he has taken a little something from each and developed his own version of the spread. One thing about his defenses at CMU: they were FAST and hit hard. The defense was very aggresive and was fun to watch. It struck me as the type of defense LBs would love to play in. If I can find a ride Monday, I am going to try to head over to Grasso's and see if I can't get a couple minutes with Coach Jones.

 

[swg]

Nice. Let us know what you see/hear. Have a good time.