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I was watching some old 2001 games, and one thing that stood out was our size. Miami was the bigger team in every game. Butch recruited big body types and built them up. There are several reasons why teams like Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia and Oklahoma are always contenders, but the most obvious reason is their team size.

When TRob had his initial press conference, he said flat-out that Miami needs to keep its big guys home if they want to compete with the top teams. It's no coincidence he's the lead recruiter for Kenyatta Jackson despite being a DB coach. I sense that getting bigger and more physical is our top priority in the offseason.

We've already seen this in several ways. We took DeAndre Johnson, who is physically mature and good against the run. We brought in a giant and aggressive CB in Tyrique Stevenson. Finally, we signed Cody Brown to give us another big back along with Thad Franklin. That 4th and 1 stuff against UNC was unacceptable. There's a reason you don't see scatbacks on the field in the Playoffs.

Of course, it's a balance. Golden tried to make us a Big 10 team and flopped miserably. But the best modern teams combine explosive playmaking and defensive speed with sheer physicality. Here are a few moves that could improve our team size before Bama:

- Bring in a transfer OL. The fact that Justice offered his old OL from UNLV (320 pounds, 685 lb. squat) tells me thinks he's better than what we have inside.
- Give Navaughn Donaldson and Jalen Rivers every chance to win jobs. You can't hand them the jobs, but they instantly make us a bigger and more physical team if they are on the field.
- Give Scaife reps at center. Gaynor will be the favorite (Lashlee and Justice both talked him up) but you at least have more flexibility and get some bigger bodies reps at G.
- Bring in a transfer LB > 230 pounds. They need to run, too, but Bama and Ohio State had LBs in the 235-240 range on the field in the title game. We didn't have anybody crack 230 and struggled to replace 240-pound Shaq. I'm still mad we passed on Diego ***ot (6'3, 240), who is a star for Navy.
- Utilize more unbalanced lines. Now that we have better numbers and more prep time, I'd love to see us get as many of our people-movers on the field as much as possible. We did that a bunch in the Stoutland era.

The Alabama game will tell us a lot about how we stack up physically and how far we still have to go.
We should open the checkbook and offer
Moffit whatever he wants to come back
The decline of Miami began once his players were gone
 
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You just cited two current NFL safeties as examples of recruiting deficiencies?

Yes.

Our guys are Day 3 NFL draft picks who don't play much in the NFL. They're depth/backup players. That's why we win 7 to 9 games per year.

Alabama's guys are Day 1/Day 2 NFL draft picks who start, play at a high level, and make Pro Bowls. That 's why they play for NC's.

Saying Minkah Fitzpatrick and Jaquan Johnson are both NFL DB's is like saying D'Eriq King and Peyton Matocha are both D1 QB's.
 
We should open the checkbook and offer
Moffit whatever he wants to come back
The decline of Miami began once his players were gone
If you think Moffitt made Ed Reed, I respectfully disagree.

The decline if Miami began once (most of) Butch's players were gone, is the truth. It actually started before they were all gone.

I'm ALL for improving S&C. But we need the right talent.
 
Yes.

Our guys are Day 3 NFL draft picks who don't play much in the NFL. They're depth/backup players. That's why we win 7 to 9 games per year.

Alabama's guys are Day 1/Day 2 NFL draft picks who start, play at a high level, and make Pro Bowls. That 's why they play for NC's.

Saying Minkah Fitzpatrick and Jaquan Johnson are both NFL DB's is like saying D'Eriq King and Peyton Matocha are both D1 QB's.
If we bring in more Jaquan and Redwines, we'll be good. I have no idea what you're on about.
 
then when golden made everyone get bigger or recruited bigger players everyone complained we were too slow. the guy with the size, speed and ability are all the top blue chip recruits and there are only so many of them to go around.
No golden had guys putting on bad weight and too much at one time
 
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If we bring in more Jaquan and Redwines, we'll be good. I have no idea what you're on about.

It all depends on what your definition of "good" is.

If the goal is to get from a consistent 6-9 win type team to a consistent 7-10 win type team - then a couple more Jaquan/Redwine type talents can get us there.

A secondary loaded with Jaquan/Redwine type talents still gets torched when trying to cover Jeudy/Smith/Waddle/Ruggs - but maybe we lose by 20 instead of 40.

Think of it this way - a 4th, 5th, 6th Round pick is well short of the value of 1 1st Round pick.
 
Yes.

Our guys are Day 3 NFL draft picks who don't play much in the NFL. They're depth/backup players. That's why we win 7 to 9 games per year.

Alabama's guys are Day 1/Day 2 NFL draft picks who start, play at a high level, and make Pro Bowls. That 's why they play for NC's.

Saying Minkah Fitzpatrick and Jaquan Johnson are both NFL DB's is like saying D'Eriq King and Peyton Matocha are both D1 QB's.
Compared to our competition that’s reason why we should be winning more
 
It all depends on what your definition of "good" is.

If the goal is to get from a consistent 6-9 win type team to a consistent 7-10 win type team - then a couple more Jaquan/Redwine type talents can get us there.

A secondary loaded with Jaquan/Redwine type talents still gets torched when trying to cover Jeudy/Smith/Waddle/Ruggs - but maybe we lose by 20 instead of 40.

Think of it this way - a 4th, 5th, 6th Round pick is well short of the value of 1 1st Round pick.
Everyone gets torched trying to cover those aforementioned dudes. You really think guys like Jaquan and Redwine have been the problem??
 
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If you think Moffitt made Ed Reed, I respectfully disagree.

The decline if Miami began once (most of) Butch's players were gone, is the truth. It actually started before they were all gone.

I'm ALL for improving S&C. But we need the right talent.

You are correct
But this guy would at least having our guys look like they should
Or at least get me the strength coach that will feed our players the same “meat” that Clemson players eat
 
Everyone gets torched trying to cover those aforementioned dudes. You really think guys like Jaquan and Redwine have been the problem??
Jaquan, Redwine, Deon Bush, Rayshawn Jenkins - all are very good players, and I'm happy we got them. They just shouldn't be our "best" players.

Individually, none of them are the problem. Collectively - not having a Safety drafted higher than Round 4 in the last 12 years - that's the problem.
 
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Keep it simple: We need to continue to improve landing 5 and high 4-star players. Those guys are elite for a reason: They are bigger, stronger, faster and more talented than their peers. Now you may find a diamond in the rough like Rousseau, but you cannot bank on fielding a championship caliber team with 20 3-star kids no matter how much upside potential they represent.

Elite players look like elite players. And Bama, Clemson and OSU don't have to spend two to three years trying to coach up and S&C their recruits to play at a high level. Those guys come in the **** door ready to contribute and take someone's spot.

Which is why this Class of '22 is so vital to our future. We land a Top 10 class to stack on top of what we already have in place, and we take a huge step forward. Sign a dud class, and we lose every little bit of momentum we've earned this past year.
 
That list is also full of teams that only played 4-5 games.

Our OT play was night and day better.
That list is also full of teams that only played 4-5 games.

Our OT play was night and day better.

True; but the rankings are based upon avg per game, not total. We still almost gave up 3 sacks/game. Truthfully, if we didn’t have King’s legs, that statistic would’ve been much worst. Our OL play is still very suspect, which is why we were also 117th in TFLs allowed. @LeedsCane
 
Jaquan, Redwine, Deon Bush, Rayshawn Jenkins - all are very good players, and I'm happy we got them. They just shouldn't be our "best" players.

Individually, none of them are the problem. Collectively - not having a Safety drafted higher than Round 4 in the last 12 years - that's the problem.
No it's isn't. It's DL and OL and LBs and corners and WRs that never sniffed the league or all conference status. You're picking the legit talent we did have as examples of the problem and it's asinine.

The problem wasn't that we had 4th rounders instead of 1st rounders. It's that we had some 4th round types and a bunch of stiffs.
 
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