You may or may not have wanted my opinion on what Rhett Lashlee had to say tonight. I'm going to provide that opinion regardless.
You need to read Bryan's story first.
So Lashlee on Sunday maintained Gus Malzahn's stance from Saturday that all positions will be evaluated, which really means a few will be evaluated. Quarterback is one of them. Jeremy Johnson has been ineffective on the whole this season, as we all know well, and with backup quarterbacks often being gilded before they've accomplished anything, as we also know well, it's time for the Auburn staff to consider playing Sean White.
I think White should have started the second half at LSU. At minimum, I believe White should have taken some snaps during the fourth quarter even if he was just handing off. The coaching staff saw things differently; White didn't take a single snap.
When asked about this specifically, about why they didn't sub White in at some point during the second half, Lashlee said "we were really focused on scoring points and we were able to do that a little bit in the second half." So they view Johnson as their best path to points, which makes sense because they've invested more than two years in Johnson. They have groomed him to become the Tigers' starting quarterback and that's what he is now and they're struggling to walk away from that investment. It's difficult to walk away from that for a few reasons.
Lashlee offered a lukewarm affirmation that Johnson will be the Tigers' starter against Mississippi State this weekend:
I believe they're going to start Johnson against the Bulldogs. That's what I believe right now, Sunday night. They believe in the kid and they expected him to be great and they're holding firm on their forecast. It's also telling that Lashlee defended Johnson on Sunday by saying he had a great week of practice, which furthers the idea that Lashlee and Mazlahn simply cannot fathom that Johnson isn't what they expected him to be right now.
I also found it odd that Lashlee had this to say about getting away from the zone read in a general sense:
This sounds like a guy who took over a few months ago. Up to six months ago. No, Lashlee and Malzahn have been here since early 2013. I'm not necessarily being critical here; I just don't understand what this means. They're not playing freshmen on offense. They're playing guys they recruited several years ago (in almost all cases) and they've been playing all this time.
We'll get into the odd deployments at tailback tomorrow. Though Johnson's issues are mystifying on a few different levels, the waffling at tailback is no less mystifying.
You need to read Bryan's story first.
So Lashlee on Sunday maintained Gus Malzahn's stance from Saturday that all positions will be evaluated, which really means a few will be evaluated. Quarterback is one of them. Jeremy Johnson has been ineffective on the whole this season, as we all know well, and with backup quarterbacks often being gilded before they've accomplished anything, as we also know well, it's time for the Auburn staff to consider playing Sean White.
I think White should have started the second half at LSU. At minimum, I believe White should have taken some snaps during the fourth quarter even if he was just handing off. The coaching staff saw things differently; White didn't take a single snap.
When asked about this specifically, about why they didn't sub White in at some point during the second half, Lashlee said "we were really focused on scoring points and we were able to do that a little bit in the second half." So they view Johnson as their best path to points, which makes sense because they've invested more than two years in Johnson. They have groomed him to become the Tigers' starting quarterback and that's what he is now and they're struggling to walk away from that investment. It's difficult to walk away from that for a few reasons.
- It (probably) marks the end of Johnson's era seeing as how he's a junior this season and he'll at least be in a dogfight with White in perpetuity if he doesn't lose the job altogether. And it's tough to condemn, if you will, a kid you like to that kind of fate.
- It represents a personnel failure -- and a pretty big one. It's a big miss on behalf of the coaching staff.
- He's a mirage in that the guy who is at practice, while not perfect, is much better than the guy who shows up in the No. 6 jersey on Saturdays. To some degree, they're beside themselves about the disparity between those two apparently different people and they believe he'll snap out of it, so to speak.
Lashlee offered a lukewarm affirmation that Johnson will be the Tigers' starter against Mississippi State this weekend:
I believe they're going to start Johnson against the Bulldogs. That's what I believe right now, Sunday night. They believe in the kid and they expected him to be great and they're holding firm on their forecast. It's also telling that Lashlee defended Johnson on Sunday by saying he had a great week of practice, which furthers the idea that Lashlee and Mazlahn simply cannot fathom that Johnson isn't what they expected him to be right now.
I also found it odd that Lashlee had this to say about getting away from the zone read in a general sense:
This sounds like a guy who took over a few months ago. Up to six months ago. No, Lashlee and Malzahn have been here since early 2013. I'm not necessarily being critical here; I just don't understand what this means. They're not playing freshmen on offense. They're playing guys they recruited several years ago (in almost all cases) and they've been playing all this time.
We'll get into the odd deployments at tailback tomorrow. Though Johnson's issues are mystifying on a few different levels, the waffling at tailback is no less mystifying.
