Is Billy Napier a Good Play Caller?

Yeah, hopefully because we have so many good options, at least two will step up and have good years. I’m pretty confident that sturdivant will. Also, I think Dallas will be all freshman SEC. If either EW III or VB III hits it we will be good.

 

Don't leave out Hansen. He is a big TE at 6'7 and could be an important check valve for DJ.

 

I said often, not always, but yes it's a combination of both plus getting athletes in space. A great athlete can deke out a defender who knows the play, or even run over or through him. Hopefully Lagway stays healthy enough that we can see him channel his inner Tebow from time to time. He definitely has the size.

 

Good point. I recall watching Ohio State and of course their QB had solid protection, but also that guys were cutting across the field and coming open- nice long routes that seemed like easy throws, nothing magic. I hope we see what appears to be a more open minded Napier that realized there are better ways to get the ball downfield. But FTR, I'm more hoping Callaway is a great OC and he was given the green light to adjust some things and then call the plays. I would feel deceived if this year's is last year's with the only difference being the guy named OC was employed only to make sure the offense was sharper running the same playbook.

 

Spurrier almost always had a better than average qb. Doug Johnson? No heisman finalist but damn sure no Mertz.

 

Theres always multiple options though. A good qb finds the best option quickly and doesnt let a spy go unnoticed. Lagway so far is good at finding the developing plays downfield but the quick passes underneath not so much. Guys dont need to becwide open to create 2nd and five consistently. Hes got the big plays fairly well in hand. He needs work in the short game and redzone. Hers only got a handful of of strats but a minimal spring and fall with new receivers doesnt bode well. Short stuff needs reps.

 

Running when all else fails can be a gamechanger. I hope its more of an option than last year. Seems DJ has never been fully healthy so far.

 

Dbs have to hate to see him coming. Id like to see him running in the flats 2-3 times a game.

 

More often than not, those DJ throws require dropping the ball into a 5 yard window, which he has been able to do and why he got the nickname DJ Dimes. Our passing game has been too predictable, and DJ’s accuracy allows some of those plays to succeed in spite of that. I remember something about our routes being designed to be effective against both man and zone defenses, which means they aren’t optimized to face either defense. So we end up throwing into tight windows or having to dink and dunk the ball down the field like the offense worked under Mertz. Which works until you have a negative play or a penalty, which results in either a punt or FG.

It’s on the coaching staff to provide the offense with a better margin of error. While pointing to execution as the reason a play failed is valid, running a predictable offense that allows the defense to play your tendencies doesn’t make it easier on the offense to execute those plays. There is a reason UK played us tough and made it hard on this offense. They did/do a great job crowding the LOS and pre-Lagway, we couldn’t make them pay for that. This year will tell us if the coaching staff has learned from the previous three years and made changes.

 

If DJ can learn to dink and dunk like Mertz, he will be a great qb. Meetz had defenses at the los, they cant as easily do that with DJ. Good qbs must be capable of both.

 

Spurrier could take above average QBs and coach them up, rotate, pull a guy that was having a bad day, insert a QB for a specific play. One of a kind. Nobody would say a staff should be able to run a high scoring offense with below average QBs.

 

I don’t think he’s a top-tier SEC play caller. I’ll put it that way.

 

Neither is Bobo or most of Sabans oc's. DJ being crazt good is a better ingredient.

 

My only word of caution on that is the old joke: Q: who is the only person that could hold Michael Jordan under 20 points? A: Dean Smith