Defensive Staff Shake Up
- Thread starter GatorGray
- Start date
These moves are pointless. TRob is definitely not an upgrade over Gray either. Gray has sent almost 20 DB's to the NFL and also coached in the NFL and produced Top 15 pass defenses there. He is not the issue with our secondary. He's being scapegoated so worthless Grantham can keep his job. Mullen is a joke.
I’m no Grantham supporter but the secondary has been the weakest part of the defense 2 years in a row without question with regression and not much development. English and Gray need to go as well.
The secondary was not bad last year. It produced a top 10 pick. And I’m not sure what the secondary is supposed to do with some of these nonsensical calls being made. It’s 3rd and 7 and we’re giving a 10 yard cushion and bailing at the snap. Or it’s an obvious passing down and we’re blitzing both corners and asking the safeties to cover both outside receivers with no help while simultaneously vacating the entire middle of the field. You wouldn’t even see a double corner blitz on Madden. The scheme puts the DB’s at a disadvantage every snap.
Grantham is a LB coach by trade and our LB’s suck and we just gave up 400 yards rushing to OU. But sure let’s blame the secondary coach who has produced more NFL corners than just about any coach in the country while the entire defense is getting gutted week after week.
Again I don’t like Grantham but yes our pass defense was bad last year also. We had the 32nd ranked pass defense in the country last year but 8th against the run. Again I think Gray and English are apart of the problem as well.
32nd against the pass isn’t bad. Especially with this scheme that renders DB’s useless at the snap. Vandy’s QB had 300 yards throwing slants up and down the field due to these ridiculous cushions in soft zones we give, that isn’t on Gray, that’s a scheme issue. Our pass defense was top 5 under Gray with Collins which is why we were so excited to get him back. He forget how to coach? How does Gray help produce a top 15 pass defense in the NFL with Quinton Dunbar playing DB without being a great teacher? The dumb, soft scheme is the issue. TRob will suddenly suck next year too under Grantham too. Watch and see.
I never said I liked Grantham at all but in the past 3 seasons our pass defense statistically was the best in year 1 under Grantham and Gray wasn’t our DB coach that year. The pass defense has regressed every year under English and Gray. English definitely has to go. Not sure why you bring up the NFL to defend Gray though. Grantham has spent more time in the NFL than Gray has. Not sure it really means anything to be honest. I think Gray is ok but he’s part of the problem as well. Turner is really the only defensive coach I like on the staff and Christian Robinson for recruiting.
I bring it up because it’s proof he’s not the issue. VT had elite DB play for a decade under him, he came to UF had an elite secondary, then went to the NFL and had more good secondaries. You don’t even have to go to NFL if you don’t want to, just look at Gray’s first stint here under Collins. We were 2nd in the nation in pass defense and we didn’t play these ridiculous techniques we see now every Saturday.
And yes the secondary ‘regressed’ because of having to play McElwain recruits like Stiner, etc. The best player in the secondary is Elam who was brought in by Gray and he was 1st team All-SEC. Gray’s first full class of recruits are true freshmen. I’m not blaming any assistant, especially one as accomplished as Gray, when the entire defense can’t get lined up snap after snap. I don’t know how many times this year we got illegal substitution penalties or had players looking to the sideline for the call while the ball was being snapped. It’s embarrassing. That speaks to a systemic issue which is the coordinator.
And yes the secondary ‘regressed’ because of having to play McElwain recruits like Stiner, etc. The best player in the secondary is Elam who was brought in by Gray and he was 1st team All-SEC. Gray’s first full class of recruits are true freshmen. I’m not blaming any assistant, especially one as accomplished as Gray, when the entire defense can’t get lined up snap after snap. I don’t know how many times this year we got illegal substitution penalties or had players looking to the sideline for the call while the ball was being snapped. It’s embarrassing. That speaks to a systemic issue which is the coordinator.
Look you don’t have to convince me that Grantham isn’t very good but IMO Gray isn’t that great either. You think the DB problems are because of Grantham’s scheme which is fine but then what about Bud Foster when he was at VT. You think that was Gray or Foster? I believe that was more of Bud Foster but that is just my opinion. I don’t think you can blame Grantham for all the problems and then turn around and praise Gray at VT for all the success and not even mention Bud Foster.
All I know is that definite changes were needed on the defensive staff and Mullen took action. Time will tell whether what he did was right or enough. Until this year, Grantham's defenses were ranked very high. Something went wrong this year and people had to pay. I think T-Rob comes in as a secondary coach and co-defensive coordinator. He's a solid recruiter and time will tell whether or not it's the right move. Hope so because we wasted a tremendous offense this year and lost games against TAM, LSU and Bama that we could have won with just an average defensive performance.
He’s had success without Foster, that’s why I referenced his first stint here under Collins and his stint in the NFL. We’ve seen him contribute successfully everywhere he’s been.
And it isn’t just the secondary, that’s why I said they’re scapegoats. No part of the defense is performing well. We can’t even get calls in on time. When that’s the case it falls on the coordinator. A&M ran for 200+, OU ran for 400+, etc. Did the secondary suck this year? Yes. But the defense as a whole isn’t functioning.
I know you’re not a fan of Grantham either so we don’t disagree on that. I also am fine with English leaving because the fundamentals from our safeties stink. I just think Gray is very good evidenced by his track record and I think this scheme makes it damn near impossible to have elite pass defense and corner play even with talent.
Well Mullen did the smart move for himself in one way if we don't win the East next season. He will have Grantham there to be the fall guy to the fans since the decision was made to retain him.
If we bring back T Rob, and give him CB’s and S’s it allows us to bring in another coach and like Brewster, we can continue to upgrade recruiting while bringing in a new coach. I have no issue with English but liked Gray, as a coach and a recruiter, but I believe it was known that he would leave to join Beamer at SC, if this happens, we were being proactive
If Grantham stays, our defensive game planning (schemes), in game adjustments, communication /alignments and use of personnel regardless of seniority must change. Maybe someone can help facilitate this from a Saban like analyst role, this allows Grantham to stay but as a CEO, Mullen can facilitate and monitor new wrinkles through his analyst.
If Grantham stays, our defensive game planning (schemes), in game adjustments, communication /alignments and use of personnel regardless of seniority must change. Maybe someone can help facilitate this from a Saban like analyst role, this allows Grantham to stay but as a CEO, Mullen can facilitate and monitor new wrinkles through his analyst.
Mullen hasn’t reached the elite level, and this season ended in a bummer, but he is one of the best out there...we are extremely fortunate to have him at the helm...anybody who doesn’t appreciate what he is doing is cheating themselves...
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Bigger jokes. Look Mullen is good to very good, he’s not elite. I wish that weren’t true.
How many “elite” coaches are there really. I’ll take, “very good”, which I believe that he is.
So just confirming that he’s not actually “a joke.”
Mullen might be the best true offensive X and O’s head coach in the game...
Me calling him a joke was in reference to him retaining Grantham. No I don’t think he’s a joke and was arguably his biggest fan here prior to this season. I’m damn near certain he won’t be winning any titles here though. That has value in terms of stabilizing the program but eventually it’ll get stale. When? I don’t know. But he’s not a championship coach. All the signs are there.
Sometimes the signs take a while and the stars aligning. Who would have thought Ogeron was a championship coach, and Mullen is a much better coach than he IMO. Look what he’s done with a two star QB And McElwains recruits. Imagine what he’ll do with consistent top 10 recruits.
I keep the faith. Don’t quit on us.
The rumors of Todd's imminent departure were greatly exaggerated. He must have pictures
of Mullen in bed with a dead woman, or a live boy, or a Billy goat.
I was impressed with this year's passing game but I think next season will be his big test and it will be all his offensive recruits now.
Listening to Matt Campbell and his blue color mentality and demanding of leadership and hard work I wish our team had some of this. We really don’t have the tangibles in this program to be top 4. We have a lot of “me” players and not much discipline or toughness.
You realize that we’re taking a major step backwards in offensive production next year with the loss of Trask and all the offensive weaponry...right? It doesn’t matter how good Dan is...
A team that can run the ball well does usually help the defense some. We will see a more typical Mullen offense and see how things go overall I guess. Trying to think how many of the starters were Mullen recruits this season. I know Pitts was but my memory is bad with the rest. He should have all his recruits/transfers in place for the 2021 offense.
