HC: Brent Pry
OC/QB: Tyler Bowen
RB: Elijah Brooks
WR: Fontel Mines
TE: Stu Holt
OL: Ron Crook
DL: J.C. Price
DC/ILB: Chris Marve
OLB/NB: Shawn Quinn
CB: Derek Jones
S: Pierson Prioleau
Personally, I think that having the OC being the QB coach is the best situation for success, as there should be a more efficient understanding of what the offense will be trying to do.
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I agree. Additionally, in the worst case scenario, there is no where else to direct blame if the QB/offense struggles mightily again. Makes that decision clear as day.
Yep if the offense barfs up another 120th ranked season, then it's very obvious what the next move from Pry should be.
With the combined QB/OC position, he gets the praise and or the blame at the end of the year. Please let it be Praise!
It's definitely Bowen's chance to show what he's got. Presumably these new hires are on-board with what he plans on running.
I will say I'm a bit concerned that we don't have any Offensive Coaches with experience coaching QB directly...you know, the most important position on the field and all. Are analysts allowed on the practice field? Because that is where mechanical issues would be corrected.
I think it's hard to really evaluate Position coaches beyond what players they have recruited or coached which is really only a superficial way of evaluating them. Brooks would appear to have a solid recruiting resume, which is nice. Crook is more of an unknown entity.
Yes, there was a rule change recently that now allows analysts/assistants beyond the ten allowed coaching positions to assist with coaching on the field. Think Crist and Carpenter will be helping with the technique/mechanics aspects on the field, while Bowen will be scheme and game planning.
Between Crist and Carpenter, they have 1 year of specifically coaching QBs. Both do describe themselves as QB Offensive Analysts in their twitter handle. So, they got that going for them.
It's an interesting tactic, and seems almost certain to fail. But, idk, sometimes the best coaches are the ones that never played but are really studious and adept to the technical details.
The regression of Wells in 2022 doesn't give me a lot of confidence.
Yeah I mean it's obviously not an ideal situation, but I think it's probably the best way to utilize our current staff. Since Holt didn't move on as was rumored, we had to reassign him somewhere else since RB is a great spot to land a recruiter. His other prior experience was with TE, so that means Bowen had to move. And you realistically can't ask your OC to also coach a group as big and time intensive as OL, so QB it was. But if Bowen et al can bring in QBs of Drones' ceiling regularly instead of us having to rely on developmental projects, it might not be a bad thing.
The Logan Thomas approach
Idk if I would call 2022 Wells a regression he was consistently not good and making the same mistakes all season.
he regressed significantly from his 2021 numbers.
And I believe his 2021 was a regression from his 2020 numbers
Yes and no. Completion percentage and yards went way up. TD:INT ratio went way down, resulting in a small regression in rating. But the regression from 2020 to 2021 was dwarfed by the 2021 to 2022 regression. Tbf, some of that regression was due to his supporting cast and offensive coaching staff.
He was also playing against lesser competition in 2021, and his supporting cast was (basically) equally as talented as his competition.
With the money we probably saved from Rudolph we could go and hire a QB analyst that has exp.
Honestly I think we could do it right since what Bowden needs to be focused on is what plays the QB can be successful running and what the QB is comfortable with when the game matters. Having a separate coach just for mechanics and such should be do able as long as they are on the same page as Bowden
Honestly, I think collegiate QB coaches get too much credit. If a QB really wants to get better, it is probably best to get offseason training with a professional trainer. I can't remember who Tyrod hired as a trainer, but he was one of the best in the business at the time and a lot of the credit should go to him for turning Tyrod into an elite passer by his senior year.
And with NIL, it seems like there are legit opportunities for teams (err, I mean collectives) to maximize on offseason training. As far as I can tell, there wouldn't be any illegality for a collective to pay for a player's professional offseason training.
This really compliments my point well. Years ago media were asking Urban if they'd fix Tebows form and he basically said I'm here to win not have a mechanically sound QB. So i bet lots of coaches don't care about QB mechanics if the can win with them as is.
Agree. At the end of the day, the job of the college coach is to win games above all else, including grooming someone for the NFL. That's why you see so many high profile college QBs working in the off-season with a QB coach or guru on mechanics for the NFL. That's why I'm initially liking our presumed approach of identifying and recruiting blue chip QB talent over projects where it takes years to develop them, if it ever pans out.
"working in the off-season with a QB coach or guru on mechanics"
So you want us to bring Corn-Fu back, right?
Just kidding (ducks)
https://www.qb-extreme.com/ appears to be down, what now???
He got hired by Sam Houston State University.
Sounds like we got big dogged by the Bearkats.
Which Bowden, I thought they were all dead or out of coaching by now?
I need French to tell me what to think
We need the results in the fall to tell us what to think, and they will.
I'm not French, but I'm good at regurgitating things I've read/heard elsewhere here (regardless of if I know them to be true or not). And other people say that all of Crook's experience is in running the inside zone, which I think is what French said we ran against Liberty.
I wonder what ol' Don Strock is doing these days since things went south for him as a HC at FIU. I know he had a lot of experience coaching QBs at both the college and NFL level. Somebody like that could make for a great QB analyst.
Strock has got to be about age 70 at least. With brother Dave, one our early brother duos.
The most important aspect of the zone read is making it a "read" as opposed to a "guess". We've not had a good reader at QB in awhile. Maybe it's a genetic programming thing like leading a receiver where the QB can either do it or they can't (i.e., the Mike Leach theory). Regardless, I think Bowen's success as a QB coach will rely less on teaching throwing mechanics and more on getting consistently good running and passing decisions out of his QBs.
and part of that may have been that "reads" were actually just window dressing for predetermined throws/gives/keeps, etc
true. Though, pre-determined calls are still guesses. They were just Cornelsen's guesses instead of the QB's guesses.
To me a pre determine RB call is fine, it's really just a run with window dreasing. But predefined QB "reads" aren't great as putting the QB in more harms way than necessary is a great way to tank a season (unless Thomas or Evans is back there)
OL securing their blocks is pretty important as well.
Alright, looks like we have 2 new additions to staff
https://247sports.com/college/virginia-tech/Article/Rachid-Ibrahim-to-jo...
Former Pitt/Wisconsin RB Rachid Ibrahim joining the staff to help with the RB room
and former Army OC Brent Davis who looks to be helping the team with the read option aspect
We are committing some of those resources to shoring up our weaknesses. Love to see it
Haven't seen the new coaches' salaries, but I think we can expect to have an extra $300k to spend on analysts. I expect to move (more) towards the 'CEO model' as we have more bodies to delegate scouting recruits, self scouting, watching opponent tape, scouring the transfer portal, etc.