'12 AZ WR Davonte Neal (Arizona Transfer)

[irishff1014]

This kid is going to be a leader.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

Can Kelly seriously not find a way to incorporate this kid into the offense?

Wouldn't a little dump off screen or something be manageable?

I feel like Davonte needs to be utilized somehow, right now.

 

[felkey72]

Can Kelly seriously not find a way to incorporate this kid into the offense?

Wouldn't a little dump off screen or something be manageable?

I feel like Davonte needs to be utilized somehow, right now.

Who knows maybe Kelly doesnt want to show all his cards, and saving a package for Davonte for a big game like next weekend. Really starting to love this kid though, coming in i was alittle worried he might be a me guy with all that happened during his recrutment, but he hasnt complained about not getting playing time and is ALWAYS the first player celebrating with his teammates.

We just need to get him in space and let him do his thing. This will come in time.

 

[Crimson streak]

If I remember right I saw devonte come in motion for the fake hand off in the 4th qtr. I thought they were going to give it to him

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

Who knows maybe Kelly doesnt want to show all his cards, and saving a package for Davonte for a big game like next weekend. Really starting to love this kid though, coming in i was alittle worried he might be a me guy with all that happened during his recrutment, but he hasnt complained about not getting playing time and is ALWAYS the first player celebrating with his teammates.

We just need to get him in space and let him do his thing. This will come in time.

THIS is why I think he deserves to be on the field. The kid is doing all the things necessary to be on the filed imo. Maybe his route running isn't up to speed. Regardless, I think the kid would be able to handle a simple dump off pass...

I want to see Kelly release the Kraken!

 

[felkey72]

THIS is why I think he deserves to be on the field. The kid is doing all the things necessary to be on the filed imo. Maybe his route running isn't up to speed. Regardless, I think the kid would be able to handle a simple dump off pass...

I want to see Kelly release the Kraken!

I think I remember seeing somewhere that the reson some of the young wr was bc of their lack of blocking

 

[woolybug25]

I would love to start seeing some 3 WR sets with TJ, CBrown and Davonte.

 

[DillonHall]

THIS is why I think he deserves to be on the field. The kid is doing all the things necessary to be on the filed imo. Maybe his route running isn't up to speed. Regardless, I think the kid would be able to handle a simple dump off pass...

I want to see Kelly release the Kraken!

I know he's got potential but he hasn't shown much in the punt return game that leads me to believe that he should get the ball before Wood, Riddick, GAIII, Eifert, TJ, or even DaVaris.

 

[Old Man Mike]

This is another example of why you can't schedule one meatgrinder team after another like Swarbrick did [probably the only thing that he does which is colossally stupid]. Our guys have no free air to "polish up" anything and to risk surprising things. We are battling our butts off and surviving week-to-week. If Swarbrick would just get-a-clue regarding anything close to reasonable scheduling, we'd probably fix lots of these minor "add-on" types of bells and whistles by now.

That scheduling situation plus quarterbacking loaded up with different sorts of flaws is why we look so "incomplete" week to week. We would probably get by even with this schedule if Coach didn't have to sweat it out every practice session with a QB [ put any name in here you wish ] who can't run large segments of the offense, due either to mental or physical limitations. Kelly is probably shrinking everything down to the minimum he thinks we can get away with and then working with Rees and Golson [on different sets of available plays] intensely in the hopes that at least they will be run correctly the next game. Coach is really earning his salary this year.

 

[Jebediah Springfield]

I know he's got potential but he hasn't shown much in the punt return game that leads me to believe that he should get the ball before Wood, Riddick, GAIII, Eifert, TJ, or even DaVaris.

IMO You could put the greatest punt returner in the history of the game and he would look pedestrian out there.

 

[PLACforever]

I wish we would stop gunning to block punts and focus on setting up blocks for Neal.
You can tell he wants an opportunity to run so bad.

 

[Jebediah Springfield]

I wish we would stop gunning to block punts and focus on setting up blocks for Neal.
You can tell he wants an opportunity to run so bad.

The sad thing is we aren't even trying to block punts.

 

[AvesEvo]

The sad thing is we aren't even trying to block punts.

There must have been 5 or 6 BYU players around Neal during one punt yesterday.

 

[Old Man Mike]

We're not trying to block punts at all to my view. I recommended in August that a paradoxical way to get good punts to run back IS to regularly try to block punts and get the punter worried about it. Almost all punters if they can sit in a rockingchair will sky the punt. Those aren't returnable unless they're huge boomers and our guy is WAY back there to field the "outkick the coverage". Most returnables are low-flying [no hang time] rushed semi-flubs that the returner takes on the fly with forward motion and their gunners not yet there.

I'd LOVE to see us begin rushing the punter. This is the one thing Coach is hyperconservative about. He knows we aren't consistent on offense and therefore need as many drives as we can get [i.e. not giving up any due to a punting violation penalty or a wildwest risky muff].

 

[EddytoNow]

There must have been 5 or 6 BYU players around Neal during one punt yesterday.

Actually there were seven BYU players surrounding Davonte as he received a punt.

Let's do the math. Seven guys down the field on punt coverage + one punter. That means three BYU players were protecting the punter. Since Davonte had no one blocking for him, we had ten players standing at the line of scrimmage scratching their ***.

The question remains. What are those ten players doing on the field? They are not rushing the punter. They are not blocking for the return. They might as well be on the sideline getting a drink of water. Since Davonte has to fair catch every punt, we might as well get the other ten players rested up for the next play from scrimmage.

Our punt return game is the sorriest-looking thing we've got going. It's almost as if our coaches have given up on ever returning a punt. If that is the case (and it certainly looks like it is) then we shouldn't be wasting a year of Davonte Neal's eligibility. Let John Goodman fair-catch all the punts for the remainder of the season.

This is not a reflection on the players. They just do what they are coached to do. It appears we don't have a coach on the staff who knows **** about returning punts. Is Gerry Faust our special teams coach?

 

[peoriairish]

I think I remember seeing somewhere that the reson some of the young wr was bc of their lack of blocking

No need for him to block if the ball is in his hands...

 

[BeauBenken]

Goodman muffed a couple. Neal has been on it. A muffed punt would have lost us a game by now.

...

 

[ChiRish]

We're not trying to block punts at all to my view. I recommended in August that a paradoxical way to get good punts to run back IS to regularly try to block punts and get the punter worried about it. Almost all punters if they can sit in a rockingchair will sky the punt. Those aren't returnable unless they're huge boomers and our guy is WAY back there to field the "outkick the coverage". Most returnables are low-flying [no hang time] rushed semi-flubs that the returner takes on the fly with forward motion and their gunners not yet there.

I'd LOVE to see us begin rushing the punter. This is the one thing Coach is hyperconservative about. He knows we aren't consistent on offense and therefore need as many drives as we can get [i.e. not giving up any due to a punting violation penalty or a wildwest risky muff].

Maybe he's got a point... those can be dangerous...

 

[stlnd01]

This is another example of why you can't schedule one meatgrinder team after another like Swarbrick did [probably the only thing that he does which is colossally stupid]. Our guys have no free air to "polish up" anything and to risk surprising things. We are battling our butts off and surviving week-to-week. If Swarbrick would just get-a-clue regarding anything close to reasonable scheduling, we'd probably fix lots of these minor "add-on" types of bells and whistles by now.

I'm not sure Swarbrick really had much choice if he wants to schedule three Big Ten teams and home-and-homes with Stanford and USC every year. Maybe we could have flopped Miami or BYU with Wake Forest or BC. But otherwise the first eight weeks are pretty locked-in. Like this every year, unless you want to play Western Michigan or someone.

But more to the point: Our punt return game is baffling. Makes no sense and hasn't for three years. I almost feel like we're blowing a year of Neal's eligibility having him do what we could have John Goodman doing.

 

[kmoose]

No need for him to block if the ball is in his hands...

I'm hoping that you just forgot the italics?

 

[peoriairish]

I'm hoping that you just forgot the italics?

I was being facetious more than anything. But I was just saying that if he is just out there for a few plays, and he gets a bubble screen or quick slant on those plays from the Z, then he doesn't need to block. I know this isn't feasible because teams would pick up on it very quickly, but why not give it a shot.

 

[Emcee77]

It's funny that everyone blamed Goodman for our poor punt returns last year. We now know it was so not his fault.

 

[peoriairish]

It's funny that everyone blamed Goodman for our poor punt returns last year. We now know it was so not his fault.

Personally, I never blamed him for the fair catches. I blamed him for the muffs. It's hard to blame someone for not returning a punt with 3 of the opposing teams players in his face when he catches the ball.

 

[peoriairish]

Here are a few examples of our stellar punt coverage. Discuss.

 

[ChiRish]

Here are a few examples of our stellar punt coverage. Discuss.

That's crazy. I love how Kelly has coached this year, but this philosophy baffles me.

 

[tadman95]

I'd like to see him get some touches. Davonte is the type of player that can make plays by himself. Get him some space and the ball and he can change a game.

Edit: He will change many games.

 

[Downinthebend]

I think little giants scarred Kelly. He is protecting against the fake in every situation.

 

[kmoose]

I was being facetious more than anything. But I was just saying that if he is just out there for a few plays, and he gets a bubble screen or quick slant on those plays from the Z, then he doesn't need to block. I know this isn't feasible because teams would pick up on it very quickly, but why not give it a shot.

Because no one else on the team is getting playing time unless they learn to be a complete player at their position. Coach K is probably not going to make an exception for Devontae Neal. Nor should he.

 

[peoriairish]

Because no one else on the team is getting playing time unless they learn to be a complete player at their position. Coach K is probably not going to make an exception for Devontae Neal. Nor should he.

I know.

facetious |fəˈsēSHəs|
adjective
treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor; flippant.

 

[Old Man Mike]

None of us has enough information to talk intelligently on this subject [not that has to stop us, nor ever has in the past]. This business of returning punts productively is entirely whether the ball is caught by our guy with the opponents at least 8-10 yards away. A large part of that happening is just math. Somebody could, if obsessively dedicated, time every opponent punt from snap to landing in Neal or Goodman's hands. Then that same obsessive individual could make a good guess at how far an opponent can run downfield in that average time. Then that person could measure how far the average punt goes. One could even graph each punt, ending, I'll bet, in a bloody "X" marking coincidence of arrival of Neal, ball, and maniacal tackler.

In other words, there are no punts to return, or nearly none. The only way to alter the equation is a). less time in the air, b). slower time of racing tacklers, or c). longer distance to run but no more hangtime [i.e. out kicking the coverage]. Because the opponents are not chumps, and because for some of them this is a matter of pride if not great malicious fun, it is very difficult to keep them out of the returner's near-space just by trying to block them --- this is why gunners have to get double-teamed.

Successful runbacks occur then not so much by blocking schemes but by "bad" punts. Not shanks, but either low punts [where geometry and gravity say shorter distance but rapid time] or extreme boomers which are nevertheless line drives. Line drives come from nervous punters [he's "short-legging it", i.e. not "lifting"]. That is why you must make some legit effort to rush the punter. That is why you need to put some speed rushers on the edge. That is why you need to teach punt blocking technique and take some risks.

We have, suddenly, plenty of speed. We even have some powerful guys with speed --- imagine lining up Tuitt on the edge with Shembo right behind him and Josh Atkinson just outside? That might terrorize the blockers at least. All you need to do is to get it into the punter and special team's coach's minds in the previous week of practice that "you have to get it out quickly against these guys". The line drives and shanks will follow.

Sure Coach is afraid of fakes, but with guys like Fox, and Councell, and Spond --- even Manti --- to sit in midrange and bust the fakes up [if they ever come at all] I think that we could ignore that and go for it.