What I Know, What I Think, What I Wonder — Checking In On The Offense Edition

I know that all things being equal, defensive coaches are generally going to prefer playing against a quarterback who stays in the pocket as long as possible. Even if they’re an A+ accurate quarterback, at least the defense knows where he’ll be and they can design their game plan with that in mind. When you have a quarterback who will scramble, it creates too many variables, and coaches hate variables.

I think there is some irony in the offensive staff possibly favoring Kyle McCord for the exact reason why the defensive staff doesn’t. The offensive coaches know what he’s going to do, where he’s going to do it, and how it’s going to happen. But so do the defensive coaches. And the same goes in reverse for how the offensive and defensive coaches view Devin Brown. The offensive coaches don’t always know what they’re going to get from him, which concerns them. Likewise, the defensive coaches don’t always know what they’re going to get from him, which concerns them. So Ryan Day has to weigh these thoughts from his coaches, who are all coming from their own respective directions with their own respective directives.

I wonder if this is what it’s like trying to figure out new math. Devin Brown is new math. Kyle McCord is regular math. The defensive coaches hate dealing with new math. “Have your mother help you, I can’t deal with this crap right now.”

I know that when Marvin Harrison said that Carnell Tate was beyond where he himself was at this point last year, things got quiet because we were all trying to process exactly what Harrison had just said. Nobody should take those words and suddenly expect Tate to have 1,000 yards receiving this year, but it’s impossible to ignore.

I think what we should expect from Carnell Tate are some impressive moments this year like we got from guys like Garrett Wilson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Marvin Harrison, and Emeka Egbuka as true freshmen. Those dudes produced 30, 10, 11, and 9 receptions, respectively, as true freshmen, but they all had some “Oh, this guy is different” moments.

I wonder if there is a single over that I wouldn’t take with Carnell Tate next year. But again, let’s show some restraint on expectations. (That’s basically me doing my impression of the gambling apps all being required to have a PSA and a phone number about the dangers of addiction at the end of their ads.) If you find yourself having a problem with the uncontrollable hype around Carnell Tate, please call 614-867-5309.

To read the rest of this edition of What I Know, What I Think, What I Wonder, you can click here, but you must be a premium member of Buckeye Huddle. Additional topics include Emeka Egbuka being overlooked, the coaches being split on the quarterbacks, Marvin Harrison, Julian Fleming, the offensive line concerns, and much more.

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