HB Arnett’s
“Lite”
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Vol. 37, Issue 7 – A, August 2, 2018
Please Don’t Quote Me and Off the Record
I always look forward to Athlon’s yearly anonymous evaluations of college football coaches by other coaches. It’s that time of year so here are the anonymous evaluations of coaches you and I might be interested in. Except for Bronco, they are all on BYU’s schedule this season
Kalani Sitake
“Kalani Sitake is a beloved former player at BYU, but that’s not going to help him erase the bad feelings from 4–9 last year. He’s even (13–13) after two years, and those 13 losses weigh a lot more than the 13 wins at that place."
"I know Kalani wants to make them tougher, have them playing more physical. That’s how he played there, how he was taught to play."
"The defensive line could be pretty good. (Corbin) Kaufusi is a really good player. Long arms and a strong, big body. He’s a problem off the edge because he’s so difficult to block with those long arms."
"I really believe this season will revolve around the offensive line. Those guys couldn’t get a consistent push last year, and there was too much uncertainty in the run game because of it. Not to mention the lack of consistent pass protection."
"Depth has been a real problem there and has prevented them from having valuable competition. If you don’t have guys pushing starters, things get stale when those starters know their jobs aren’t on the line every snap."
"Want to know why QB Tanner Mangum hasn’t played as well as he did in his first season? Not too hard to connect the dots. When you can’t protect, your QB gets hit and starts to make quick decisions — and more damaging, he starts to make bad decisions."
"That tight end (Matt) Bushman was one of the best I saw last year in any conference. Big guy, soft hands, plays hard.”
"They have some pieces around the quarterback no matter who plays."
"They’ve got to find a reliable, dependable run game. Squally Canada can be that guy, and he showed some ability last year. He’s not elite, but he can play a lot better with some help from that offensive line."
"At this point with Kalani, he has to find the quarterback that gives him the best chance to move forward and not endure another non-bowl, ugly season. I thought Joe Critchlow did some good things last year, but he never really got into the flow of games. It always seemed like he was a stop-gap guy, a bridge guy to someone else."
Kevin Sumlin - Arizona
"There’s a lot of similarities between Texas A&M and Arizona. Kevin Sumlin was a great hire. You assume from Day 1 he’s been able to build a relationship with Khalil Tate, who really is a special talent, where Tate can believe in Sumlin’s track record of maximizing dual-threat quarterbacks."
"I don’t think Arizona will look like a team with a new coaching staff this fall. Most of their offensive talent is back; Sumlin can work with a lot of the concepts Rich (Rodriguez) used. Tate looked more aware of the offense as the year went on. I think he might run less with Sumlin and Noel Mazzone, at least by design, but he’ll be able to freelance. The running back (J.J. Taylor) is really explosive. This is a staff unafraid of creating a superstar and building around him."
"Keeping (defensive coordinator) Marcel Yates was interesting. It could be a short-term play to keep the roster and this year’s recruiting intact."
"I thought Kylan Wilborn was one of the best defensive players in our league last year. He kind of came out of nowhere. Those are the best kind of recruits. You see the potential, and then it develops into something completely out of the ordinary. He’s not the biggest guy. But he’s got such a quick first step, he’s hard to block. They better get some help for him, because they couldn’t tackle anyone last year. It was YAC (yards after catch/contact) for days last year against them."
"At Arizona, you can either go to L.A. or Texas to fill out recruiting, and obviously they can sell in Texas. Sumlin will be able to go as far east as Dallas and compete for talent. Can’t remember a time when Arizona could do that."
"Considering all that program was going through, to be able to hire a guy with a proven track record of recruiting and winning is huge. If you’re Kevin Sumlin, you can just as easily sit out and sit on your money from Texas A&M and not jump into the mess someone else created. But I also think Kevin looked at the roster and looked at Khalil Tate, and said, yeah, I can work with this."
"Khalil Tate is as close to what Rich had with Pat White at West Virginia as you can get. At this point in their careers, Pat was a more comfortable thrower. But Khalil is such a threat in the run game; if he gets to the second level, strike up the band. The more he improves in the passing game – where I can see Kevin making a significant impact on him, like he did with Johnny Manziel, who was raw when he got him – the more dangerous Arizona can be."
"Offense will not be a problem there. They’re going to make a lot of us in this league look bad. But measure that against their one-man defense, and you see why Tate can only do so much."
Justin Wilcox - California
"Justin Wilcox was a breath of fresh air there at Cal. They went from throwing the ball all over the yard and trying to win games by outscoring teams, to a nice balance on offense and a defense that kind of turned the corner in November. By the end of the year, you could tell they knew what the hell was going on – and that’s the first big step. The next is getting players, and then it all comes together."
"Justin is this even guy on the sidelines, very cerebral. He’s nothing like that in person. He’s very engaging, and will recruit well there."
"Cal is becoming a tough job as that division keeps getting better, but bringing in Justin Wilcox was good for the athletic department and their base. He’s a local guy who wants to be there long enough to build something consistent. That doesn’t mean Sonny Dykes didn’t have some legit complaints about the school, but you have to want to be at a place like Cal or it won’t work."
"It’s a strong staff. Beau Baldwin and Tim DeRuyter are veteran guys who know the West Coast. They looked young on offense, especially in conference. You can tell they’re starting over from scratch, but it doesn’t look like they really know who they want to be on that side of the ball."
"They looked better in every phase on defense last season; they just didn’t have the depth against the better teams in the conference. Schematically they’re making sense in the 3-4. Now it’s the issue of recruiting to fill those positions and keeping some consistency year over year. You can see what the staff is trying to do — create an identity that’s meaner and tougher than what Cal is known for and try to take that out in recruiting and change the perception of the program."
"Patrick Laird did some nice things in the run game that allowed them to slowly move toward a balanced, ball-control offense. Justin wants to run a system similar to what they had a Boise State when he was defensive coordinator there. Despite all the hoopla about the trick plays, that’s a run-first, dominate on the ground offense. They’re Year 1 into that change, and it’s going to take some time. But there was effort last year. Those guys played hard, and wanted it."
"Quarterback Ross Bowers did some nice things for them. He certainly had his issues with ball security, but he also managed that completely revamped offense and they kept improving week after week, albeit sometimes very slowly. They’ll get there on offense. (offensive coordinator) Beau Baldwin is too good a coach for them to take a step back."
Paul Chryst - Wisconsin
"If they were a little better at quarterback, if Alex Hornibrook were a little more refined, they would’ve been in the playoff last year. They could have beaten Ohio State in our championship game, and probably should have."
"You can say, ‘How many quarterbacks played well against Ohio State?’ and that’s a fair argument. Then watch the tape, and watch (Hornibrook) miss open receivers on throws he just has to make. They are so good everywhere else. You just can’t have a quarterback who throws 15 interceptions. You just can’t do that."
"I thought Hornibrook was hurt last year by the loss of WR (Quintez) Cephus. He was just beginning to become a dangerous threat on the outside when they lost him to an injury."
"I think TE Zander Neuville is going to be a great player this season. I don’t even think he had but a handful of catches last year, but he’s a punishing blocker and he has talent."
"If I were to tell you, hey, Wisconsin had a freshman tailback that had 2,000 yards, you’d probably say, yeah, that sounds about right. I don’t want to make light of what Jonathan Taylor did because he’s a special player, but it’s death, taxes and Wisconsin with an elite tailback. Oh by the way, three of those stud offensive linemen who could’ve left for the NFL, stayed in Madison."
"I loved watching these guys play last year. A team that looked like it was having fun every time they stepped on the field. It was so cool to watch week after week. That’s a reflection on Paul Chryst."
"There aren’t many better guys than Paul, and he and that team are clearing connecting."
"The defense that everyone overlooked last year will be great again. LB T.J. Edwards returning to school and skipping the NFL was icing on the cake."
Chris Peterson - Washington
"One of the most well-coached teams in the country. They’re tougher than you think, too. The perception of this entire league could have been different last season if they’d hit those field goals at Arizona State, because on tape they looked better than the ’16 team that went to the Playoff. If the jury is still out on USC, this is the most complete program in the conference right now."
"Chris Petersen has this program on the same track as the monster he built at Boise State. By that I mean when they lose, it’s usually not by more than a score and it’s usually a game they could’ve or should’ve won. Last year was no different. They’re going to be really good again."
"The whole Jake Browning junior season thing is a head-scratcher. I’ve heard the shoulder injury, but there’s more to it than that. He completed passes at a much higher rate, but threw significantly less touchdown passes. You don’t go from 43 to 19 without something going on. His decrease in pass attempts wasn’t significant, but when we watched tape, you could tell the protection wasn’t the same and they weren’t winning on the outside and getting open. His yards per attempt were almost a full yard below 2016, so he was dinking and dunking more."
"Offensively they’re actually a very simple team, it’s just that they’re really good at what they do and they do it multiple ways. That’s great coaching. It jumps out on film. Adding (Jacob) Eason to follow Browning means they can recruit on offense with certainty."
"They’ll miss Vita Vea; he’s a game changer, true NFL talent there, but they could be an even better defense this season. Their other impact guys are back. They can play with aggression and still maintain their discipline in coverages. It’s the best secondary in the league from what we’ve seen."
"Chris Petersen doesn’t get enough credit for how he recruits. They recruit talented kids to their scheme, and they do a fantastic job recruiting to their culture. The staff evaluates West Coast talent better than most."
"They return a lot from that defense, and they’ve played as well as anyone in the country on that side of the ball the last two years. This will be their best defense, and that’s saying something."
"(Jaylen) Johnson and (Greg) Gaines up front are just beasts, and they’re deep all over the front seven. They’ll rotate as many as eight or nine in the front three, and a bevy of linebackers. They lost a lot from that terrific secondary of 2016, and then guys like Taylor Rapp get their opportunity and there’s no drop off."
Kyle Whittingham
"Stanford gets the attention for being physical, but Utah can be just as aggressive. They’re a team with an obvious mentality. It took adjusting, but Kyle Whittingham has done a great job building them back up and developing players since they joined the league."
"They seemed better than their record, at least on tape. Some of that is probably because of their injuries. The QB (Tyler Huntley) didn’t look the same after he was injured last season. Changed their offensive identity."
"QB Tyler Huntley was so hit and miss for them. He’s really dangerous in the run game, but he throws way too much into coverage. They’re like a lot of teams that haven’t found a difference-maker at quarterback: they’re just trying to get by in the passing game. That’s why they lost six games last year. At some point, they have to develop a quarterback."
"Getting Gary Andersen is a big pickup for that staff — he can really push that defense, and he knows the league extremely well coming from OSU."
"They will play you very aggressively on defense, but not always with discipline. It shows on film, and it’s something that you can exploit, but they’re also dangerous, really dangerous when they’re at home. Salt Lake is a tougher place to play than people outside the conference probably think."
"There’s some debate if they’ve got it together enough to be better than good and compete for a conference championship. They have talent and stability right now, and outside of USC, no one else in their division can claim that."
"They don’t truly appreciate what they have in (Kyle) Whittingham at Utah. He has been so consistent over the years, and all anyone can complain about is they’re the only team in the South that hasn’t won the division. There’s a lot of work to do outside the lines at that place to get to that point. That’s not an easy recruiting sell, yet they continue to get impact players."
"If you could put Utah’s toughness and desire inside the USC or UCLA players, you’d have a team. That’s engrained in them, and it comes from the top. Every year you’re in a battle with those guys. They’re there, and they want you to know they’re not leaving. They may not be as talented, but they sure as heck bring it – especially on the interior lines. They’re just tough SOB’s."
"They’re going to line up on offense and get physical with you. They’ve always focused on running the ball and setting the tone on the ground, but it has become more of a factor in the last three or so years because of their problems in the passing game. So they’re lining up and playing defense and trying to set the tone of the game by running between the tackles."
Bronco Mendenhall
"It just feels like forever since Virginia has been relevant, doesn’t it? Bronco Mendenhall was such an important hire for them, but it’s got to be for the long haul there. This can’t be a thing where if it doesn’t work in a couple of years, you fire him. He has proven he can win under difficult circumstances. He’s a coach who does it the right way, and I’m telling you right now, they will become relevant again under him."
"They just lost their way as a program, and a lot of that was the lack of physicality. They made a big move from Year 1 under Bronco to Year 2 because of the way they played on the lines of scrimmage. But now that offensive line will be new again. This will be the true test of how they’re developing guys there, and if they’ve bought in."
"They’ve got some good young players on the defense, and Bronco has been a defensive guy all of his coaching career."
"They play smart, and they’re aggressive. They’ve got some good young guys on that defense like LB (Jordan) Mack, but those guys better make big strides quickly."
"They got better last year because they found a legitimate FBS quarterback for the first time in years. But Kurt Benkert is gone, and now what happens? They have a JC guy (Bryce Perkins) that a lot of big Power 5 programs were on."
"Offensive Coordinator Robert Anae was part of those BYU staffs for so long, and knows how to develop quarterbacks."