This just feels different.

[Crusty]

Back to the OP this year should feel different. I am 44 years old and demand a season worthy of 44!

How is your son doing?

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

How is your son doing?

Doing great. Finished freshman year 92 average honor roll every semester. Played freshman basketball. Thanks for asking.

 

[GoSU96]

Is or was?

You don’t come back from being that bad on defense in one season, and SU plays them early in the season. Being that bad on one side of the ball is very hard to overcome.

So both.

 

[money3189]

I think you could say this for all teams. Every year teams replace position coaches and players. Now with the transfer portal a lot of new players on every team.
We kept the core of our best players. We added a lot of talent. Most of these guys been practicing together since January. Adding savion Washington and Ross-Simon’s late will have a learning curve but no different than other teams.
I feel Fran’s attention to detail will limit the learning curve. Also I feel players that continue to make mistakes will not retain the position

Good points. This can all happen for sure

 

[kcsu]

“Because I would much rather have stars on the field, depth and size”. I’m confused by this. I never said I didnt want stars. Just simply saying there is a process. Collective coaches working together for the first time. They have to get acclimated with each other and with the players.. A new head coach is making decisions for the first time. There will be some good and bad ones. He will learn as he goes. I’m just hoping it doesn’t decide too many games.

He cant do any worse than the last few staffs

 

[kcsu]

Dino's problems started when he brought in his daughter's father in law as QB coach. He was a disaster. Never recruited a single player out of talent rich Texas. Dino never recruited South Jersey.
Secondly, DeVito was a" Deer in the headlights". Do you remember Western Michigan in 2018? We had a comfortable lead at the half and Dino starts Tommy in the second half. Enough said.

Dino got to the point that i wanted to see him with a weeje board on the sideline

 

[orangenauburn]

Dino got to the point that i wanted to see him with a weeje board on the sideline

Better than a hangman board

 

[money3189]

He cant do any worse than the last few staffs

Im not comparing him to other coaches. Just mentioning the potential challenges of being a first time HC, with a new staff.

 

[kcsu]

Im not comparing him to other coaches. Just mentioning the potential challenges of being a first time HC, with a new staff.

Absolutely. SU had a choice to make. Go with a proven coach at a lower level or go with a proven recruiter. JW rolled the dice and i believe it is going to pay off in spades.

 

[orange79]

Im not comparing him to other coaches. Just mentioning the potential challenges of being a first time HC, with a new staff.

Absolutely. SU had a choice to make. Go with a proven coach at a lower level or go with a proven recruiter. JW rolled the dice and i believe it is going to pay off in spades.

I firmly believe good talent can overcome mediocre/bad coaching in football.

In basketball, I think, good coaching can hide/overcome many flaws.

 

[money3189]

Absolutely. SU had a choice to make. Go with a proven coach at a lower level or go with a proven recruiter. JW rolled the dice and i believe it is going to pay off in spades.

I do too but its not going to stop me from talking about it all. Thats why I am rarely surprised with certain outcomes. I look at what can possibly go well and what can go bad.

 

[All4SU]

Absolutely. SU had a choice to make. Go with a proven coach at a lower level or go with a proven recruiter. JW rolled the dice and i believe it is going to pay off in spades.

Good recruiters frequently look like good coaches.

 

[baggerbob]

Im not comparing him to other coaches. Just mentioning the potential challenges of being a first time HC, with a new staff.

Still think would rather go with this approach, then the dream land.
His opening press conference when he said we want to run the ball and stop the run, gave me the sense he understands the game.
If your front seven is better then your opponents front seven you will win most gAmes.

You at least give yourself the ability for your team to make plays.
Nixon pretty much said the same thing about the offense, and Drob for the defense.

 

[upperdeck]

if you win the line game you control the easiest ways for teams to beat you, we find out week 2 if we can do that. if we find out week 1 we cant its a long year coming up.

 

[Niastri]

if you win the line game you control the easiest ways for teams to beat you, we find out week 2 if we can do that. if we find out week 1 we cant its a long year coming up.

If Ohio controls the lines, we all need to reconsider if we understand football at all.

Or physics for that matter.

 

[Crusty]

Big people beat up little people. So sayeth Coach Brown.

 

[elimunelson]

Big people beat up little people. So sayeth Coach Brown.

Feel like it’ll be a more meathead brand of football which I’m fine with.

Aesthetically it may be a step down from what Dino promised but success should ramp up w a simplified approach to winning.

 

[SoBristol]

Feel like it’ll be a more meathead brand of football which I’m fine with.

Aesthetically it may be a step down from what Dino promised but success should ramp up w a simplified approach to winning.

We don’t know what brand of football Fran and Nixon will roll out. Yes, they want to be able to run, with a big OL. They have Allen, who might go for 1000 yards, and Willis. They also have McCord who is a passing QB and not much of a runner. They have Gadsden and a better set of receivers than we have had in several seasons. Nixon talks about being an offense that can do everything.

Multiple, depending on the defense and what is working. Not thinking they brought in McCord to be more meathead than what we saw in 2023.

 

[kcsu]

We don’t know what brand of football Fran and Nixon will roll out. Yes, they want to be able to run, with a big OL. They have Allen, who might go for 1000 yards, and Willis. They also have McCord who is a passing QB and not much of a runner. They have Gadsden and a better set of receivers than we have had in several seasons. Nixon talks about being an offense that can do everything.

Multiple, depending on the defense and what is working. Not thinking they brought in McCord to be more meathead than what we saw in 2023.

Based on some tidbits i have heard i think that McCord as the season progresses is going to have the option to change plays based on what he is seeing. This team is loaded on O. We have arguably one of the top 15 QBs in college football. Future pros in the backfield and at WR. The Oline on paper is two deep. The O sets up to be very difficult to defend.

 

[tipphill]

This ^, Fran has done everything right but lets get a month into the season to see where the team is at. Schedule sets up fairly well but only Holy Cross is a true layup in Sept Ohio lost a ton to graduation and the portal but they still have a very solid coach who will throw some wrinkles at SU.

SU also has more depth then it had had since probably the 90s but it still can't afford another year of major injuries early in the season. Mccord, Oronde, Wax, Barron, Allen etc need to stay healthy. All the pieces are there, hopefully it all comes together.

a big concern for me is chemistry. mixing returning players with portal players. i feel this maybe frans biggest challenge. new recruits may be easier to manage. i hope the training camp competition separates the wheat from the chaff, and builds respect

 

[tipphill]

I do not see him playing a lot of true freshman. I feel that is why he brought in so many transfers. The only freshman I see getting any real run is Willis (rb), Barnes (cb) and maybe James on special teams because of his speed. Watson on the (DL) may get more minutes as the season goes on. Willis, Watson Barnes were early enrollees.

agree

 

[Offthedome]

a big concern for me is chemistry. mixing returning players with portal players. i feel this maybe frans biggest challenge. new recruits may be easier to manage. i hope the training camp competition separates the wheat from the chaff, and builds respect

That's a good point. I believe all of the team building things that Fran has the team doing since January have the goal of building that chemistry. Almost every returning player (Barron, Wax, OG, etc..) talk about the new guys with respect and enthusiasm, so in the end I do believe that it is working. Returning and new players are all going through the same Fran Brown meatgrinder workouts and DART indoctrination, so that forms that chemistry and bond as well.

I also assume that you mean chemistry on the field in ways such as, "I know where Kyle is going to dime this ball" or "I know OG will cut here if I roll out" etc.. That's just reps.

 

[Chicago44s]

a big concern for me is chemistry. mixing returning players with portal players. i feel this maybe frans biggest challenge. new recruits may be easier to manage. i hope the training camp competition separates the wheat from the chaff, and builds respect

The move to dorms for camp with so many new faces was brilliant. This brings them closer and magnifies shortcomings. You've got two options, work together to figure it out or work together to figure it out. Fran's playing chess in a checkers world.

 

[CbusCuse]

I do not see him playing a lot of true freshman. I feel that is why he brought in so many transfers. The only freshman I see getting any real run is Willis (rb), Barnes (cb) and maybe James on special teams because of his speed. Watson on the (DL) may get more minutes as the season goes on. Willis, Watson Barnes were early enrollees.

Agreed but I also think KingJoseph Edwards will likely see some action particularly on 3rd and longs but that may only be 4 games to preserve his shirt? And I'd also include Tremble as I think he'll be ready to contribute and he'll likely be the starter next year taking over for OG so we have to get him some experience. But with all of the receiving options I guess he could just be 4 games as well.

 

[Scooch]

Good recruiters frequently look like good coaches.

They do until they don’t. See: Jim Boeheim, pre-1996.

I’m pretty stunned that some folks are so dismissive of things like *game prep*. Between Shafer and Dino we lost a lot of games before we even took the field. Game prep is very difficult and Brown has literally never done it as a HC.

I’m not pessimistic. I’m hopeful. But there’s a lot of hand waving away very legitimate questions that Brown has to answer this season.