Yes, there are plenty of issues with the team this season, but I am especially miffed at these 3 formerly productive players. They have all but disappeared this season. Floyd is not near the ball, not blitzing, seems to be just out there going through the motions. Keene has been zero factor, and Diablo is not delivering big hits or interceptions. It seems it's clearly a development issue here and it's puzzling. I expected more from these 3 vets/leaders. Any insight or explanation is appreciated.
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I hate going after individual players, and I'd hate for us to go down that rabbit hole. The team as a whole is underperforming, and that starts at the top. These kids know they are good, but aren't showing it. They need better coaching.
I agree, there are certain players I would have expected to be better leaders and players this season. But you are right, at this point, it comes down to coaching. For many reasons, this coaching staff is not getting anywhere near the best out of these players. A lot of it might fall on the players and their attitude, but it is the coach's job to manage that. If the players need an adjusted attitude and need to perform at a higher level, then the head coach has to find a way to get that out of them.
Please keep my legs at 25!!!!!
From what I have seen it seems like everyone is quitting on this team. Bud's impending retirement instead of inspiring greatness seems to have deflated everyone's hopes
Yes I do. No clue what is going on but my work computer is double posting everything for me, so double efficiency right?
you sir, need to drink.
Unfortunately, I think we all do....regardless of specific reason.
I'm already there, you all need to catch up.
I agree going after players is in poor sport at the CFB level but when I was listening to sports radio this morning about firing Gruden a lot of Redskin players were coming out and saying the terrible start is as much their fault as the coaches.
Players have to execute and right now the VT players are playing very poor and not doing basics. They are not playing the basics at an ACC level. Yes you can put that on coaches but some of the things you should have learnt at the high school level.
I think it's worth having a debate if we just have a huge deficit in talent and players instead of piling on the coaches. In my mind it's 50/50 responsibility. I played on a college team that won 5 straight conference championships. We fell off my Sophomore year bc the players talent level dropped more than the coaching but our coaches got hammered by fans.
These coaches have shown they can win with talent. Maybe they are just terrible identifiers of talent.
I dunno, I think we have more to debate as fans than just fire everyone. I personally think we don't have a single power 5 QB on the roster and that's one of the main problems. That is why Fu brought in the Oregon QB. The BC and Duke QB are significantly better than what we have seen on our roster.
Just my thoughts. Don't go hard on the down voted. Just trying to open some more discussion.
Duke's QB Harris seemed to be a better coordinator then Cornelson.
I tend to agree with your QB assessment. A good QB can do wonders for an offense, but get a below average QB and every other deficiency shines that much more
Keene cut his hair.....so that explains his lack of production this year. I don't have an answer for the others.
When has Rambo ever had short hair?? Never is the answer. Never.
He appears to have short hair in the new movie. Not sure what that means for Keene's performance or the movie's success.
hey DC could you edit the title to be more descriptive? e.g. "What's up with Floyd, Diablo, and Keene?"
edit: thanks man!
I don't think this is a full attack on the players. It's trying to examine why they have regressed (scheme, coaches or unknown injuries). There is a similar element to this in film review. I thought JHam would be coaching them up better this season and lead to Floyd playing better after having a down year last year. Floyd limped off the field at least once Friday. Seems like Mitchell is getting all the targets that Keene was getting last year.
Floyd shined when Trey and Terrell were on the team. He was able to play his position without worrying about the rest of the field. These players complemented each other. I forget which game that he ran down the ball carrier to save a touch down. He showed tremendous speed and heart. It could be a mixture of supporting cast on the field and loss of heart. It's hard to know.
It was the 2017 Pitt game. He made the tackle at the 1 yard line, setting up the epic goal line stand.
Yes, it was the Pitt game. And it was epic! Even more epic watching Narduzzi's melt down on the sideline!
I think this is the problem with a team as a whole - too much youth, with no experience to compliment it.
Floyd is supposed to be that experience now and be the team leader. That's why he got the #1 jersey.
One player isn't enough to balance out youth everywhere else.
Agree but still hasn't played up to his potential.
I think Floyd and Diablo are not playing as aggressively because they don't trust the younger players to be in the right positions or make the plays.
Yeah I can believe that but that's not how this defense works and they should know that. You gotta fill your gap or else its gonna be a bust. It's like a pitcher in baseball not trusting his fielders so he tries to strike out everyone. You gotta rely on your teammates and just do your job in the scheme.
Maybe i'm off, and French can do his thing to clarify, but IMHO I don't think Divine and Floyd are the focus of our problems on defense - not by a long shot. It is the DTs and Dends. It just ain't happening. Vast tracks of land for industrial farming are opening up on the field for opposing running backs to run free for days. There's no "scheme" to fix it either.
I agree they are not the problems with the D, but they are not the "explosive" defensive players we were hoping for. I think that is because they know other players are going to miss assignments so they are "protecting" for that a little which has taken their aggressiveness away.
Yes, the Dline is a big problem I understand that. They struggle to hold their gaps or lack discipline to funnel it to the alley guy. It's a execution/lack of talent/lack of strength thing not a scheme thing I agree. I'm always trying to learn from French. Also, watching the game at the stadium after tailgating doesn't help much for picking up the finer points of whats happening.
We've had to many plays where the DE worked themselves out of position and Floyd and Deablo have to clean up. In 2017, Floyd rarely had to clean up for the line cause we had very good line.
Exactly and they know they're going to have to clean up bad plays so they are playing back a little bit to be ready to.
Too much turkey bacon.
In my experience people work hard for bosses who give them credit and build them up when things are going well and taking the blame when things go poorly. Fuente seems to berate the players when they have minor hiccups and take zero blame. In his press conference right now, the issue according to him is that "You have to execute the play called and distribute the ball to the correct place." In no way is it a play-calling issue and that changing the play caller "is not what's needed".
Keene has 6 receptions for 27 yards. 4.5 ypc.
His average, last year, was 12.2 ypc.
I blame shitty, short yardage play calls/reads.
Floyd has 26 total tackles through four games (12 solo, 14 asst). Averaging 6.5 tackles per game.
His average, last year, was 6.77 combined tackles per game. In 2017, he averaged 5.54.
He seems to be tackling at the same level. Can't say those tackles are happening where I want them to be. Prior to this season, he always had more solo tackles than assisted. This year, he has more assisted. Not thrilled with his coverage.
Deablo has 28 total tackles through 4 games (14 solo, 14 asst). 7 tackles per game.
His average last year was 5 combined tackles per game. 2017 was an injury year. I don't think the 2 tackle average from that year is a good representation.
I don't think Deablo is having a bad year.
I think you're jumping the gun on some people. Either way, you should come in here with facts. Not just grumping.
Scheme and reads seem to have seriously limited our receivers gains. Our defense has yet to produce turnover in any consistent manner, while our offense has generated plenty. Fix those issues, and then we can worry about how a few individuals, who are producing, aren't producing at certain levels.
Yeah, these numbers do not refute anything I said in the OP...which BTW was a hypothetical question anyway. I wasn't proclaiming Diablo's deep stats were down - it was a simple discussion/question.
These are the same players that come to mind as well. These are somewhat established players, maybe considered our best coming into the season. And they haven't shown up at all. It's no telling what the reason is. But my best guess would be motivation or just a lack of faith in the team from the inside.
A lot of people on here are blasting me for being too negative, but it's out of frustration. To me it was very evident early on it was mayday.
If we want to be positive, can we point to one positive on this team? Unfortunately I really can't. Instead of improvement, there is regression nearly all across the board. I'd love to talk positive and I get being negative doesn't really help anything but I want to see this program succeed more than anyone. What we have seen is totally unacceptable for the money we are paying this staff, the facilities we have built, and the fans that are a big part of it all.
I feel like our punter has performed admirably. No sarcasm. The d has had flashes. The young receivers have had nice moments and king has shown burst. I think the o line has pass blocked ok at times too. Those are a few positives.
*Sighs*...
We 👏 need 👏 a 👏 disruptive 👏 DL 👏 for 👏 our 👏 gap 👏 controlled 👏 defense.👏
We 👏 need 👏 a 👏 sound 👏 and👏 experienced👏 OL👏 to 👏 dominate 👏 the 👏 LOS 👏
😠
iS PuTtInG LiTtLe hAnDs bEtWeEn WoRdS tHe NeW tHiNg?
👏 Damn 👏 ,👏 Late👏 to👏 the👏 party👏 again👏
I don't take this as going after players. He's not calling them out, just asking about their performance. To which I think the answer is simple: player development. This staff has not show the ability to develop players. You can look at many other to see no development, or in several situations regression.
Floyd and Deablo were the leading tacklers on the team Friday night. Not sure what's up with Keene other than. The offense being completely inept but I think Floyd and Deablo are still doing their thing.
What is wrong with Keene, Deablo, and Floyd? Same thing that is wrong with most of the players on the roster. They haven't developed. We play our best football the first game of the year (last year FSU, this year BC even though we lost). From there it's usually a downhill spiral, but unfortunately the angle of descent is steeper this year than last. It took us at least 2/3 of the season to achieve the suckage we have achieved through 1/3 of this season.