Smith thread:
Morton thread:
Due to time/storage constraints, I took out plays that I didn't feel provided any sort of meaningful context. Feel free to critique or criticize these from a format standpoint. I plan on doing this for as long as I have free time this year. Anyways...
Not a fun week to do a rewatch! Definitely saw some of the issues that made Smith's game a lot rougher, and now I can at least understand why you would want to try out Morton. The issues with Smith seem to be almost entirely mental at this point, and a lot of that changes from drive to drive. Everything looks a step slow for him at the moment, and that gets ugly when the OL isn't good (though tbf this was a much better week in pass protection for them, specifically for Mills and Rogers). Regardless, the biggest thing to take from this is I don't think Donovan Smith is the problem with the offense, but I also think it's fair to wonder if he'll be the solution in the near future. Some issues that will be present regardless of QB:
- Run blocking has been abysmal the last two weeks. There were only four designed runs for the entire game where the runner wasn't touched behind the line of scrimmage. That simply can't happen. Gaps aren't forming, the line isn't getting any push, and it just looks tough to get anything going. Really missing Cole Spencer right now, and I wish we could try sliding Cade Briggs in somewhere.
- The outside receivers are really struggling to create separation and get contested catches. You see it with Bradley a couple of times on the film thread but I really think his route running could use some work. When almost all their routes are vertical in nature that makes it tough to find them consistently when they aren't getting natural separation. I actually think Trey Cleveland has been the best so far at getting natural separation on his routes. Have to wonder if he'll see an increase in snaps, especially when...
- Brady Boyd has one catch/target on 50 routes ran. That just can't happen. Point blank. He's averaging .22 yards per route run. A good rate would be anything over 1. While he's one of Tech's better blocking receivers, I don't see him continuing to get a lot of snaps if he can't get open looks.
- I'd like to see Xavier White get more opportunities through screens, touch passes, and RPO slants. He's not really refined as a route runner, but his agility and pure speed is extremely underrated.Between him and Nehemiah you have two valuable gadget weapons.
- I'm indifferent when it comes to who starts at quarterback because honestly I don't think either have the consistency to run Kittley's intended offense to it's full capacity. Morton will probably avoid taking the sacks that Donovan takes and create more magic, but he's going to make similar mistakes and be off schedule quite often too. From his limited tape it seems like he plays a very sporadic style, which at the high end looks spectacular (Johnny Manziel) but on the flipside can be a disaster if things don't go well (Bo Nix, Jett Duffey). Regardless, I don't think you can confidently say it's either guy's job at this point, which sucks because both are talented quarterbacks with flaws. I'd caution people to avoid using the end of the NCSU game as reason to start Morton though. For one, I already mentioned this on the thread but NCSU stopped bringing pressure through unique blitz looks, which is what really seemed to get to Smith. With that, Morton's time to throw was substantially more for most plays and that skews things. We've seen that line of thinking backfire twice before, whether it be McLane Carter starting over Shimonek against Texas in 2017 or Henry Colombi starting over Bowman in 2020 (which neither option was ideal but Tech's three best offensive games all came with Bowman), and that's not even counting people wanting Duffey to start over Bowman (2018), Webb to start over Mahomes (Baylor 2015), or even Shimonek to start over Mahomes (2016 KU and WVU). Most of the time the job is decided on during the week, not during garbage time. I'm confident that Morton would bring some benefits if he was to start, but using the NCSU tape doesn't do a lot for me.
Morton thread:
Due to time/storage constraints, I took out plays that I didn't feel provided any sort of meaningful context. Feel free to critique or criticize these from a format standpoint. I plan on doing this for as long as I have free time this year. Anyways...
Not a fun week to do a rewatch! Definitely saw some of the issues that made Smith's game a lot rougher, and now I can at least understand why you would want to try out Morton. The issues with Smith seem to be almost entirely mental at this point, and a lot of that changes from drive to drive. Everything looks a step slow for him at the moment, and that gets ugly when the OL isn't good (though tbf this was a much better week in pass protection for them, specifically for Mills and Rogers). Regardless, the biggest thing to take from this is I don't think Donovan Smith is the problem with the offense, but I also think it's fair to wonder if he'll be the solution in the near future. Some issues that will be present regardless of QB:
- Run blocking has been abysmal the last two weeks. There were only four designed runs for the entire game where the runner wasn't touched behind the line of scrimmage. That simply can't happen. Gaps aren't forming, the line isn't getting any push, and it just looks tough to get anything going. Really missing Cole Spencer right now, and I wish we could try sliding Cade Briggs in somewhere.
- The outside receivers are really struggling to create separation and get contested catches. You see it with Bradley a couple of times on the film thread but I really think his route running could use some work. When almost all their routes are vertical in nature that makes it tough to find them consistently when they aren't getting natural separation. I actually think Trey Cleveland has been the best so far at getting natural separation on his routes. Have to wonder if he'll see an increase in snaps, especially when...
- Brady Boyd has one catch/target on 50 routes ran. That just can't happen. Point blank. He's averaging .22 yards per route run. A good rate would be anything over 1. While he's one of Tech's better blocking receivers, I don't see him continuing to get a lot of snaps if he can't get open looks.
- I'd like to see Xavier White get more opportunities through screens, touch passes, and RPO slants. He's not really refined as a route runner, but his agility and pure speed is extremely underrated.Between him and Nehemiah you have two valuable gadget weapons.
- I'm indifferent when it comes to who starts at quarterback because honestly I don't think either have the consistency to run Kittley's intended offense to it's full capacity. Morton will probably avoid taking the sacks that Donovan takes and create more magic, but he's going to make similar mistakes and be off schedule quite often too. From his limited tape it seems like he plays a very sporadic style, which at the high end looks spectacular (Johnny Manziel) but on the flipside can be a disaster if things don't go well (Bo Nix, Jett Duffey). Regardless, I don't think you can confidently say it's either guy's job at this point, which sucks because both are talented quarterbacks with flaws. I'd caution people to avoid using the end of the NCSU game as reason to start Morton though. For one, I already mentioned this on the thread but NCSU stopped bringing pressure through unique blitz looks, which is what really seemed to get to Smith. With that, Morton's time to throw was substantially more for most plays and that skews things. We've seen that line of thinking backfire twice before, whether it be McLane Carter starting over Shimonek against Texas in 2017 or Henry Colombi starting over Bowman in 2020 (which neither option was ideal but Tech's three best offensive games all came with Bowman), and that's not even counting people wanting Duffey to start over Bowman (2018), Webb to start over Mahomes (Baylor 2015), or even Shimonek to start over Mahomes (2016 KU and WVU). Most of the time the job is decided on during the week, not during garbage time. I'm confident that Morton would bring some benefits if he was to start, but using the NCSU tape doesn't do a lot for me.
