Ed Ellis
Ed Ellis begins his second year at Arkansas, rejoining the Razorbacks after working as the senior associate director of strength and conditioning at Georgia for four years.
Bring back Ed Ellis *nm
- Thread starter Boston.Knight
- Start date
The Strength & Conditioning coach came from Kansas State: https://ucfknights.com/news/2021/02/19/chris-dawson-is-new-ucf-football-sports-performance-director
I have said this before. When the capital O's are bigger than the lowercase x's, there is not a lot you can do.
Kansas State and Kansas have grown men on their offensive lines. UCF has a true freshman, two redshirt sophomores, and a redshirt junior (who has never really played) at the interior defensive line positions. UCF desperately misses Ricky Barber just to have another body in the lineup if nothing else.
Throw in the fact that Walter Yates III is the second best linebacker--and by a wide margin--and you have a recipe for a run defense disaster.
i might criticize players like yates and bullard for not being fit for purpose, but it's less about them. they should be backups on a good defense, but they are starting because almost everyone on defense that was brought in via the portal to win starting jobs are garbage.
That's the biggest storyline of the year. Talk about quarterback play all you want. But every all-time great NFL quarterback had a stellar defense.
Because of the egregious portal whiffs, UCF is inexperienced, undersized, and razor thin on defense and, honestly, on offense, too.
True. Obvious they're, once again, bigger, better, faster. Etc. Do we just not have enough NIL $$$?? I mean, yes, obviously defense but did McLains brain just fall out a few times? Certainly not Scott frosts defense with shaq.
I looked for this thread just to read through it, as Chris Dawson was KU's S&C coach during Mangino's run and was beloved by the fan base. He was forced out when Mangino was run off- and was so well regarded that Bill Snyder immediately hired him at K-State. Those Mangino and Snyder teams under Dawson were big, tough and strong - and many on the KU side have lamented losing him over the years. (He was also responsible for designing the weight room of each program)
Just a quick note on the above quote- KU's interior D-line isn't much older than yours. We primarily rotate 4 redshirt Sophomores and a senior transfer.
Just a quick note on the above quote- KU's interior D-line isn't much older than yours. We primarily rotate 4 redshirt Sophomores and a senior transfer.
that auburn fella you're responding to is a gus malzahn stan. he's full of excuses.
Correct me if I am wrong...
Four of the five Kansas starting offensive linemen have either been at Kansas their whole careers or with coach Lance Leupold (Buffalo and Kansas) their whole careers? In other words, four Jayhawk starters have had the same strength & conditioning coach for *at least* two full seasons, some for their entire careers.
Conversely, three of the five UCF starting offensive linemen played under a different strength & conditioning coach the previous season, save Tylan Grable and the right guard. Grable has only been with Dawson for two full seasons. Only the RG has been with the Dawson for three full seasons.
To your point, I thought UCF was able to run the ball "decently" against your young interior defensive lIne. However, your offensive line, which had the same strength & conditioning coach much longer, "obliterated" UCF's interior defensive line.
My point is this: Had all five UCF offensive linemen been with Dawson for three full seasons in Orlando, they would be MONSTERs.
Blaming Dawson for player development is quite shortsighted, but I'm just "Stanning for Malzahn" even though this thread that has nothing to do with Malzahn.
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I was primarily directly responding to your comment about the interior D-Line. For the whole DL, of the players that took major snaps against UCF, nearly half of them were transfers (Booker, Phillips, Keys, Joyner Jr.) We rotate so much that the backups get as many, and sometimes more, snaps than the starters (for instance- Booker is a Backup DE, but played 36 snaps- more than either starter)- I'm sure you noticed the platoon subs we did frequently during the game.
The transfers are all new the program this year. I don't think the difference is really age or newness to the program. It looked to me more like a coaching issue- your guys were out of position a LOT. You were also without your stud starter, correct? Depth might also have played into it.
KU does have a really good S&C coach- not arguing that. But Dawson is pretty legendary in Kansas, and we have seen firsthand what he can do. You are right, he will be able to get your guys into shape.
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Booker is fairly local high school player to me. I think he has a high ceiling. I don't know why Gus didn't try to recruit him to UCF when he didn't pan out at Auburn.
It makes sense what you are saying about your DL. If there was an area where UCF may have had a slight advantage, it was against the Kansas DL.
UCF not only has a young DL too, but it also was missing its second best linebacker. I think Kansas's motions had a lot to do with UCF being out of position. But I also think if every UCF defensive player had been in perfect position and had known the offensive play call, it wouldn't have made a difference against these guys, who have been in the Kansas program and/or with Lance Leipold for multiple years:
Ar’maj Reed-Adams
kuathletics.com
Mike Novitsky
kuathletics.com
Michael Ford Jr.
kuathletics.com
Bryce Cabeldue
kuathletics.com
But I may be wrong. Thank you for following up.
EDIT: I'll put it like this. UCF's defensive line cannot compete with your homegrown offensive line. But UCF's offensive (mostly transfers) can compete with your defensive line (mostly transfers).
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Yes, our OL is finally veteran- first time in years we have upperclassmen across the board. However, this is generally not a brute-force unit. They are a much better pass blocking than run blocking unit. Our worst down is 3rd and 1- we usually have a hard time getting a straight-ahead push, even against the worst teams on our schedule like Nevada. However, Reed-Adams is a new starter this year and has provided some nice push on run plays, and the transfer Puni also has added some nice punch.Booker is fairly local high school player to me. I think he has a high ceiling. I don't know why Gus didn't try to recruit him to UCF when he didn't pan out at Auburn.
It makes sense what you are saying about your DL. If there was an area where UCF may have had a slight advantage, it was against the Kansas DL.
UCF not only has a young DL too, but it also was missing its second best linebacker. I think Kansas's motions had a lot to do with UCF being out of position. But I also think if every UCF defensive player had been in perfect position and had known the offensive play call, it wouldn't have made a difference against these guys, who have been in the Kansas program and/or with Lance Leipold for multiple years:
Ar’maj Reed-Adams
Mike Novitsky
Michael Ford Jr.
Bryce Cabeldue
But I may be wrong. Thank you for following up.
EDIT: I'll put it like this. UCF's defensive line cannot compete with your homegrown offensive line. But UCF's offensive (mostly transfers) can compete with your defensive line (mostly transfers).
We favor mobility and agility in our OL, thus all the pulling, shifting, wide-zone stuff we do. Usually, we tend to string the DL out until a crease forms and our RB can run through.
That's exactly what happened against UCF. Your young RB did a great job of taking advantage of his opportunities.
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