2023 Offseason/Program Future Discussion

[HornetFootballFan]

I was camping and off the grid during most of the game. But I did get in and out radio coverage when on mountain peaks.

Very Happy that we are a top 25 team. But as much as I like Bobby F. He isn’t an FCS Championship Caliber OC. He’s a very good OC. But I doubt we will ever have a National Championship Title if Bobby is our OC.

Having the fine touch pulse of the game and being able to calmly and consistently watch the game and see coverages and O Line control he needs to ADJUST on the FLY to Win tough games. Not sure if it’s too much pressure or if he didn’t commit himself to watching / listening and learning while under leadership of Troy.

At most if I were AT and leadership team. I’d put him on notice. Improve or step down to QB coach. Zero Excuses!

W/R short arming catches? Game sounded like they had balls going through hands and bouncing off their helmets turning into easy INT’s to dig our grave!
Marshal Martin wanting to go PRO hurt his value with a weak performance. On other hand. Marcus FULCHER showed his value and desire to be a PRO!

Hornets need to RELOAD talent bringing in those talented freshman. Few portal transfers to fill holes.

The physical training staff. Looks like they aren’t up to the caliber we need either. Ryan Dietrich level needs to be found. The current training staff should be released.

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

I was camping and off the grid during most of the game. But I did get in and out radio coverage when on mountain peaks.

Very Happy that we are a top 25 team. But as much as I like Bobby F. He isn’t an FCS Championship Caliber OC. He’s a very good OC. But I doubt we will ever have a National Championship Title if Bobby is our OC.

Having the fine touch pulse of the game and being able to calmly and consistently watch the game and see coverages and O Line control he needs to ADJUST on the FLY to Win tough games. Not sure if it’s too much pressure or if he didn’t commit himself to watching / listening and learning while under leadership of Troy.

At most if I were AT and leadership team. I’d put him on notice. Improve or step down to QB coach. Zero Excuses!

W/R short arming catches? Game sounded like they had balls going through hands and bouncing off their helmets turning into easy INT’s to dig our grave!
Marshal Martin wanting to go PRO hurt his value with a weak performance. On other hand. Marcus FULCHER showed his value and desire to be a PRO!

Hornets need to RELOAD talent bringing in those talented freshman. Few portal transfers to fill holes.

The physical training staff. Looks like they aren’t up to the caliber we need either. Ryan Dietrich level needs to be found. The current training staff should be released.

Why did every DB go down this year, what is that 11 or 13 players?
Is this conditioning or poor attitude?

Current OC is not good for anything other than 24-28pts a game. With an average at best defense, we need to be scoring 35-50pts a game. Yes, we lost some players from the year before, but the cupboard was full of play makers on paper who should have stepped up. I watched Marshell drop numerous passes throughout the year when he was playing, night/day difference between this year and last year from his performance. KB is bi-polar in his playing, seems too moody. Fulcher is a stud.

If this is a doomer outlook, your damn right. I am not satisfied with 8 wins a year, TT left this program in championship caliper and if it gets to the point of 8 wins are good, then 6 wins are good.

Hello Jody Sears again.

 

[SDHornet]

While criticism is mostly always valid, I'm not sure why people are calling for heads after this staff maintained the programs playoff caliber status that was established in 2019. The pundits wrote this Hornet program off the second Taylor bailed on us, and this program/team proved them all wrong by not only humiliating Stanford/Taylor at the Farm, but also earning a playoff berth...and then doubling down and proving all the haters wrong again by ripping off an upset road win in the 1st round when they said we didn't belong. Fvck them and anyone that still doubts us. There's honestly no hope for any of the haters, doomers, and doubters if this season didn't convince them that we are a perennial playoff contender that has arrived and is here to stay.

There were some disappointments this season, but thinking a season that culminates in a road playoff win and finishing as a top 16 program in FCS is anything other than a smashing success is flat out idiotic. Feel free to dig through the record books and point out the last time this program has sustained this amount of success through this duration at any point of its existence. I'll wait.

https://twitter.com/SacHornetsFB/status/1731074627173290295

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

I'll wait.

1964-1969: 42w 19L
https://sacstate_ftp.sidearmsports.com/custompages/fball/AlmanacWeb.pdf

Sleeping Giant has awoken and it wants to be fed.

Yeah this program has historically been an after thought, but the reason it was an after thought is because there were too many 4-6, and 6-5 seasons, or worse. With no accountability on performance results. If you are ok with 8-5 seasons and getting spanked by fucd, carry on.

With the highest athletic budget in the Big Sky, not skewed by UC tuition numbers, there is no reason we are not in contention every year for a BSC title.

No body is calling for heads, yet. But a serious crash course in OC 201 is needed along with a dedicated DC.

 

[SDHornet]

Credit to you for going back over half a century when most of the programs the Hornets were beating no longer exist to find a duration of 6 seasons that is somewhat comparable to our current 4 season run of 38-13. There was a losing season sprinkled into your background check, but I get that you had to stretch it to get that 3rd conference title. The winning percentage of our current streak is higher, but you get an A for effort at least.

Yes there are people calling for heads, it's literally the post above yours. No one is saying we shouldn't hold this current staff accountable, there is criticism to be had, but wholesale changes when we are established as a perennial playoff/BSC title contender? Be serious.

Our budget numbers are skewed in comparison to the rest of the BSC because we sponsor more sports than the FCS minimum as compared to them. When you break down the budget dollars by sport, we are in the middle of the BSC in football spending. Pretty solid bang for the buck. Here are the FY '22 football budgets of the BSC:

• Montana State: $8.43M

• Idaho: $6.64M

• Montana: $6.59M

• dungpile: $5.85M

• Cal Poly: $5.76M

• Sac State: $5.68M

• Northern Arizona: $5.40M

• Eastern Washington: $5.35M

• Northern Colorado: $4.67M

• Portland State: $4.33M

• Idaho State: $4.32M

• FCS Median: $4.29M

• Weber State: $4.23M

I've posted this plenty of times this past season, but I've never understood the dooming going on by some in our fanbase. The fact that this program managed to hold everything together in the face of the defections we had (both coaching staff and players) and still maintained a winning tradition is vindication that we are here to stay. Doom and gloom all you want, but just know you have been proven wrong.

 

[Bodega Joe]

Well said, SDH.

This mindset reminds me of the Sac Kings fans in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. We were in the playoffs for something like 8 straight seasons. But there were fans who wanted to get rid of Adelman because he wasn’t winning titles. So they canned him. And then went the next 17 seasons without a single playoff appearance.

Let’s give this staff more time to establish themselves.

 

[stingthemgood]

We had a three and out on Saturday that went

End Around
End Around
Reverse Flea Flicker Pass

That happened. Bobby is a great QB coach. Let’s get an offensive coordinator who can do things. Both our RB coach and WR coach are moving up the ranks quickly. Might want to give one of them a coordinator position to get them to stick around.

 

[Kadeezy]

I think two things can be equally true - this was a successful season, and there's definite room for improvements.

As far as Coaching...

1. I agree that we need a dedicated DC - Do Paulsen and Coach Kee have any interest in the gig? They both seem pretty happy with their position groups. Game management wasn't always the best. But, it can only get better with Coach Thompson having a better pulse on the entire team, more time to recruit, etc.

2. I'm still a Fresques fan, and don't think AT will demote or replace him after what really was a middling offensive season. I expected drop off from TT and the talent we had, but not this drastic. We got too cute with playcalls, yanked around the QBs too much, and didn't have much cohesiveness on the field (or off it sounds like).

Offensive Outlook

We largely wasted Marshel Martin's senior year, and harmed his NFL prospects. Fulcher when healthy was the best player on the field. At RB, ETT and others showed flashes, but no one really gave off the 2021 Skattebo vibe of "this dude's gonna be good." We need to figure out the QB room, FAST. Is Bennett always gonna be butthurt? Is Conklin the real deal? Does Camp come back? Do we hit the portal for an FBS immediate impact type guy? Luckily a lot of the OL is returning, and should be a strong point next season. Gandy has a long recovery ahead, and Gibson may bounce for the portal again. We need WR reinforcements beyond Grover and Scudero. Does Christian Miller return to form? Who fills the Carlos Hill role? Onterrio Smith Jr.? I like Mekhei Byrd's speed and frame - not sure how any of these guys looked on scout team.

Defensive Outlook

Oh man, lots of holes to fill here at every level of the defense. We lose arguably our top two players on the DL, at LB, and DB to graduation.

It's gonna be a youth movement next year, so I hope some of that end of season playing time serves us well. And, it looks like the team is hitting some "home runs" as STG says with recruiting, that may see the field sooner rather than later...

Special Teams Outlook

Schreiner, Kieley, and McGough were just fine and looks like they'll all return.




Overall, in 2018 I would have given my left nut for a playoff berth, let alone 8 wins and a second round battle. I think the BSC games favor us a bit next season, and if we really do drop one of the two FBS money games for an FCS home game, I'll be thrilled. With the schedule as-is, 8-4 with another playoff berth should be the minimum.

 

[SDHornet]

Good rundown Kadeezy, and thanks for keeping the board abreast on the portal news.

Agree with the criticism of Fresques and his cutesy play calling. The gadget plays need to go and they should have been dumped well before the Causeway (IMO Fresques gets 100% of the blame for that loss, that game plan was absolute shit). That said, this was his first season as a D1 OC and the Hornet offense finished 6th (30.5 ppg) in scoring and 2nd (420.8 ypg) in total offense while scoring a whopping 51 touchdowns (2nd most) in the BSC. That was all while replacing some key players from the prior season and dealing with injuries to key players (Martin, Fulch, Gandy, KB, multiple players on the OL) at various points in the season. The idea of a change at OC is nonsensical.

Freques just needs to tighten things up, stick to what works (taking what the defense gives us, getting the ball to the playmakers in space) and for the love of everything holy just stop with all the reverse pass flea flicker garbage. He does need to sort out how to handle a 2 quarterback system. He clearly isn’t comfortable changing quarterbacks on a play by play basis, so he’s going to have to figure that out…or bring in/develop a quarterback that can run and pass effectively to run this RPO offense.

On the defensive side of the ball, I wholly trust Thompson will make whatever changes he deems necessary and I don't see a need to bring in/promote someone to DC. Thompson has 14 years as a DC in the BSC, safe to say he knows what he's doing. The Hornet defense finished dead center of the BSC (27.2 ppg, 384.0 ypg, gave up 41 TDs) with arguably the toughest conference schedule we've seen since this run started. Sack numbers were way up this season (25, 4th BSC) from the prior season and this defense had 14 picks (2nd BSC). The glaring issue on the defensive side of the ball were the blown coverages that gave up big plays, which occurred all season long. The defense needs to play the run better but I think that is more of a personnel issue up front.

Special teams was decent most of the year. They gave up some returns but I think that was mostly on not having a kicker that could get the ball into the endzone on kickoffs.

Someone mentioned the strength and conditioning aspect and its relation to injuries. That’s worth looking into and determining if the rash of injuries was strength and conditioning related or just crap luck. I have no idea one way or the other but this coaching staff saw what an effective strength and conditioning program is and can determine if a change is needed or not.

Regarding players and what next year will look like, I'll hold off until all the dust settles from the portal, coaching carousel, and the incoming recruit class. We have loads of talent on this roster so I'm not overly concerned about the talent level, but at this point it's fair to say there will be quite a bit of inexperience on the field next season, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

 

[BuckeyeHornetFan]

We largely wasted Marshel Martin's senior year, and harmed his NFL prospects.

I’m a bit conflicted about this. Yes, the play calling was suspect. And when Kaiden was in at QB he seemed to not target Marshel much.

But I’ve also heard rumblings that they were using Marshel as a decoy, while also protecting him because he wasn’t quite right. IDK how much truth there is to that. But if true, 100% of the blame can’t go to the Hornets coaches and the QB’s.

It did seem like when Carson Conklin was behind center he seemed to look for Marshel a bit more and had the accuracy and touch to get it to him. But perhaps that is coincidental to Marshel getting healthy. Who knows?!

I do know that Marshel wasn’t getting the carries at RB that he was late in the season which just might indicate that he wasn’t right — which at least would help explain the lack of targets and usage.

 

[Kadeezy]

We largely wasted Marshel Martin's senior year, and harmed his NFL prospects.

I’m a bit conflicted about this. Yes, the play calling was suspect. And when Kaiden was in at QB he seemed to not target Marshel much.

But I’ve also heard rumblings that they were using Marshel as a decoy, while also protecting him because he wasn’t quite right. IDK how much truth there is to that. But if true, 100% of the blame can’t go to the Hornets coaches and the QB’s.

It did seem like when Carson Conklin was behind center he seemed to look for Marshel a bit more and had the accuracy and touch to get it to him. But perhaps that is coincidental to Marshel getting healthy. Who knows?!

I do know that Marshel wasn’t getting the carries at RB that he was late in the season which just might indicate that he wasn’t right — which at least would help explain the lack of targets and usage.

Oh, I know he was dealing with an injury - weird that he was healthy enough to take the ball on end arounds, and from the backfield, he should have been targeted more. I'm guessing part of that was to get his FB/TE credentials solidified on tape for scouts.

 

[HornetFootballFan]

To Clarify. My criticism of the inconsistent OC work from Bobby F. Is that we need to have solid improvement over this years performance.

Bobby F had moments of both highs and lows. The team needs a consistent OC that can read the field (defense) and see his O Line etc and make adjustments on the fly is key,
While I think AT needs to make sure that Bobby needs to UP HIS GAME should be documented to be fair.

Maybe Bobby F shouldn’t be in the press box and he should be on the sideline seeing the trench battles like TT used to do? Just a suggestion? Not sure if he was too far away from the action?

It wouldn’t be proper to say nothing about a mediocre OC performance then demote him end of next season if he gets worse or the same at mediocre just like finishing mid conference this season. If you say ZERO your silence is Approval. As Head Coach & leader. He needs to support Bobby F. Give him vote of confidence. Then tell him his work YEAR 2 needs to show Growth over Year 1. That should be the case for all coaches. Penalties etc.


Lastly… I still can’t comprehend HOW our D backfield was injured? The end of the season that killed us w broken coverages.

Did anybody get truth on that? Poor Training Staff?
Super Bad Luck X10 players? Or did they get “benched” for attitude problems and we covered it up saying we had “banged up players”? It just seemed very odd.

Thankful for winning season, Thankful for Year 4 of playoffs! Thankful Round 1 playoff victory!

Bummed we lost to FUCD, & without turnovers and broken assignment we had chance to beat YOTES (if we had healthy backfield?)

Excited for new recruiting class!

 

[SDHornet]

https://twitter.com/SportSourceA/status/1733642003919917332