Coaches Journal - Southern Arkansas - Warner

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Southern Arkansas
Season 108 GUESS Ranking: 98 Recruit Class: 77
W/L Record: 3-10

Recruiting Recap and Thoughts:
Man… what am I doing in Southern Arkansas? The idea started with the “Worst to First Challenge” presented in the forums but now even that has fallen through. I do look forward to being part of Icki’s blog since its always a good read. Other than that here we are at the worst team in Warner D2.

Recruiting went as well as could be expected for a team that has no previous success and thus no vision to see the top tier recruits. Quickly we secured to local talents in #21 OL Greg Hudson and #36 WR Jesse Steele, probably the best two players I could see that were close to me. We then set out to scout the nation for under-the-radar players that have good potential to start to build a roster.

Recruit Name	Position	Player Rating	Class Rank Position	Potential
Greg Hudson	OL	59.66	Fr. OL 21	3
Robert Hernandez	OL	53.43	Fr. OL 107	3
Jesse Steele	WR	51.12	Fr. WR 36	3
Gary Carter	LB	49.89	Fr. LB 64	3
Allen White	DL	49.78	Fr. DL 145	3
Scott Rhodes	RB	49.51	Fr. RB 79	3
Clarence Turner	LB	48.47	Fr. LB 99	3
Travis Walters	RB	47.76	Fr. RB 101	3
Alexander Funk	DB	46.94	Fr. DB 93	3
Gerald McKay	DB	45.72	Fr. DB 118	3
Jimmy Wheeler	DB	44.96	Fr. DB 129	3
Curtis Johnson	DB	43.42	Fr. DB 165	3

Targets vs Signings
QB 0 – 0
RB 1 – 2
WR 2 – 1
TE 0 – 0
OL 2 – 2
DL 3 – 1
LB 0 – 2
DB 4 – 4
K 0 – 0
P 0 – 0

Soon after recruiting started I switched my focus on 2 WRs to just one. What I wanted for the position just wasn’t there... anywhere. Jesse Steele was the only one that came close. I decided to switch that target to a RB which actually should work out in the end as I create a constant rotation at the position. With the DL I also struggled to find good potential guys with a decent amount of talent. There were a few but it was going to be a fight either way I went. #99 LB Clarence Turner actually made the switch from LB to DL after recruiting was done which will actually bump him up a couple points in the GUESS ratings. This is an experiment that I’ve been running in a few other places and it seems to be doing quite well in creating defensive ends.

Redshirts went out to #101 RB Travis Walters, #64 LB Gary Carter and #165 DB Curtis Johnson. I always try to redshirt RBs and QBs. To me they are the key players to any offense in this game and that extra season of experience will always help. My other philosophy is to usually redshirt a player that doesn’t have the skill to really start at the moment… my lowest rated player in other words. If I recruit the #10 RB and the #45 RB the latter is always going to take the redshirt. The first guy is already a top 25 player, yes I could get him to be the #1 RB, but if I redshirt the second RB he has a chance to break into the top 25 by the end of his career. The defensive redshirts are there because of distribution… I wanted 4 DBs but I don’t want to lose 4 DBs in the future and the LB I don’t need right away so I’m going to let him get better by sitting out this season.

Season 109 GUESS Ranking: 59 Recruit Class: 37

6/23/2016 8:21 AM

genuvar

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Week 1, Formations, and more thoughts

Exhibition didn’t go as well as I planned. I even lost to a Sim… hate losing to sims because you should always beat them. You know what they are going to do, there are no tricks, and usually they don’t have the talent to match up to you.

I’m also testing a few new things here at Southern Arkansas; now known as Sark U. We will be running a 5-2 on defense just because of all the things I’ve seen in the forums and I can’t really judge until I test it myself. We will also primarily run the Pro-set on offense. I’ve seen a lot of success coming out of the Pro-set and I thought it was about time I gave it a shot.

Week 1 GUESS #59 Sark U @ GUESS #40 CWU
Week 1 has us matched up against CWU coached by Mr. Sim AI. Central Washington is actually ranked 40th on GUESS and looks to be one of the stronger Sim teams out there.

Offense vs Defense Positional Matchups:

RB -> Run Inside	Pass TE/RB -> LB/DB	RB -> run outside	Pass WR -> DB
7.00	6.67	7.00	7.00
-1.00	-0.33	-0.33	1.00
8.00	7.00	7.33	6.00

Sark U 27 – CWU 24
Even with 2 turnovers we were able to hold on for the win. We took advantage of the weaker secondary of CWU and threw for 374 yards. I think we were lucky to escape with the victory here. CWU actually outmatched us in almost every position except their secondary. This is going to be a tough season if every win against a Sim is going to be this hard to come by.

6/23/2016 8:24 AM

ickiwonkin

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Great stuff, genuvar! I love seeing all of these blogs/projects going around. I forgot about the worst to first thing and didn't realize that was you going for it with SAU. A win is a win and that's a good start! GL with this adventure!

6/23/2016 8:19 PM

spcbuzzard

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I coached uca a while back and I'm sure southern ark is similar in the fact that they are hard places to recruit at. Not many top end guys and when you find one there will be coaches from Louisiana Texas and Oklahoma to deal with. Not to mention if you have any humans in Arkansas besides yourself.

6/26/2016 5:05 PM

genuvar

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Week 2-6
Not sure if you all venture into the Wilkinson forums but this is a busy month for me. The team has been running on autopilot the last couple of games and has been inconsistent at best. A blowout win against GUESS #44 Fort Hays State followed by a 2 point loss to GUESS #97 Merrimack both are coached by Sim AI. Disappointing to say the least since one of my goals was to survive all my Sim matchups. We actually did better than expected against our first human coached team in #20 California (PA) only losing by 28 points. Our starting QB has thrown 6 INTs and been sacked 8 times so far which is definitely limiting the offensive production. On a positive note all the Freshmen are showing excellent growth and I’m looking forward to the future.

Goal: Beat the remaining sims and finish 8-5 (the best w/l record in 19 seasons)

6/27/2016 10:14 AM

genuvar

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Season 110 GUESS Ranking: 36 Recruit Class: 26

Wow as much as I wanted to jot down notes and stuff as the season went I just couldn’t keep up with it. I always put a slightly higher priority on my Wilkinson stuff and that really left very little time to come over here. Regardless its time to start the 2^nd season of this…

The recruiting class is ranked higher but its filled with less potential. Was it just me or was it difficult to find some good players with potential? Well I can’t see half the players the rest of you are fighting over so that probably attributed a little to this.

Recruit Name	Position	Player Rating	Class Rank Position	Potential
Andrew Thompson	OL	56.87	Fr. OL 60	3
Joshua Green	DL	55.38	Fr. DL 52	3
Thomas Floyd	DL	51.94	Fr. DL 125	3
Jeffrey McGuire	WR	51.7	Fr. WR 41	2
James Boyd	OL	51.46	Fr. OL 165	3
Richard Rose	WR	51.42	Fr. WR 42	3
Dale Mitchell	RB	50.82	Fr. RB 45	2
Jeffrey Graham	P	50.54	Fr. P 5	3
David Bacon	LB	47.49	Fr. LB 94	3
James Barnes	DB	46.82	Fr. DB 98	2
John Jackson	DB	43.82	Fr. DB 157	3
David Hampton	QB	43.5	Fr. QB 21	3

Targets vs Signings
QB 1 – 1
RB 1 – 1
WR 2 – 2
TE 0 – 0
OL 2 – 2
DL 3 – 2
LB 0 – 1
DB 2 – 2
K 0 – 0
P 1 – 1

David Bacon will follow the steps of Turner from last season and switch over to DL to fill that void. Hampton (QB), Mitchell (RB), and Jackson (DB) will take the redshirts. I would have preferred to get a RB with better than average potential to fill that spot but it didn’t happen that way. I tossed around the idea of just letting him sit without the redshirt but I really wanted to that rotation going at RB. McGuire (WR) and Barnes (DB) also joined the roster with average potential because I needed players that were close by but were not terribly ranked and as I had mentioned before it seemed more difficult to find potential this time around.

Last seasons recruits

Also wanted to take a quick glance back at how my players from last seasons recruiting effort are progressing. I have a tendency to compare players by their position and class and always want to see improvement in this ranking. Overall I feel like my players developed well over the past season and all but one gained ranking within their class or stayed the same.

Recruit Name	Position	Player Rating	Class Rank Position	Potential	S2 Player Rating	S2 Class Rank Position	Growth
Greg Hudson	OL	59.66	Fr. OL 21	3	63.32	So. OL 21	3.66
Robert Hernandez	OL	53.43	Fr. OL 107	3	57.51	So. OL 100	4.08
Jesse Steele	WR	51.12	Fr. WR 36	3	55.66	So. WR 22	4.54
Gary Carter	LB	49.89	Fr. LB 64	3	52.89	Fr.* LB 6	3
Allen White	DL	49.78	Fr. DL 145	3	53.44	So. DL 138	3.66
Scott Rhodes	RB	49.51	Fr. RB 79	3	52.69	So. RB 66	3.18
Clarence Turner	LB (DL)	48.47	Fr. LB 99	3	54.2	So. DL 116	5.73
Travis Walters	RB	47.76	Fr. RB 101	3	51.33	Fr.* RB 19	3.57
Alexander Funk	DB	46.94	Fr. DB 93	3	50.7	So. DB 85	3.76
Gerald McKay	DB	45.72	Fr. DB 118	3	49.68	So. DB 105	3.96
Jimmy Wheeler	DB	44.96	Fr. DB 129	3	48.32	So. DB 132	3.36
Curtis Johnson	DB	43.42	Fr. DB 165	3	46.94	Fr.* DB 9	3.52

Looking forward

There are only 3 notable changes from my lineup from last season. Brennan (Jr) and Hernandez (So) earned starts to the offensive line while true freshman Josh Green will find a spot on the interior of the defensive line. We won’t have any major changes to the playbook I want to stay consistent, especially with a Sr QB that only knows pro-set. Defensively we will continue to try and master the 5-2 and so far we have seen some success in the preseason (though only against Sims). Looking at the schedule we are chalked full of Sim AI teams and our goal this season should be an 11-2 record. It didn’t quite work out last season but the goal should always be to improve.

Notable Games - Goals
3 Aug: West Alabama - Keep the game close and try to pull off the upset. They are only a couple seasons ahead of us.
5 Aug: Valdosta State - Don’t lose too badly. It would take an unbelievable effort to win this game
7 Aug: Delta State - Beat the Sim… its got a good roster left over so don’t take it lightly.

7/26/2016 7:56 AM

genuvar

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Just a quick note:

So far we are off to a good start. WIS is even being generous at this point:

School	Coach	Conf	Overall	Top 25	STRK	WIS	Press	Coaches	SOS
School	Coach	W-L	W-L	W-L	STRK	Rank	Rank	Rank	SOS
Southern Arkansas	genuvar	0-0	2-0	0-0	W2	-	1	1	-

(look at those rankings)

7/28/2016 3:34 PM

rh32

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Prospect

Thanks for the great posts here genuvar, will be curious to see how you build it all up. One question though. It looks like you've provided a positional match up table (6/23 post). How are the numbers interpreted there?

8/25/2016 9:55 AM

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