There were many complaints about Limegrover every year. Here's an honest review of him, with both negatives and positives.
All in all, I thought Limegrover improved significantly as a playcaller throughout the year. But we seem to say that every year. Why does it take so long for the offense to get going? I think improved playcalling will make us a one or two win better team this year. Thoughts?
- The biggest one was running the ball on 1st and 10 and 2nd and 9. We were far too predictable at times -- especially against teams that Limey thought we were worse than.
- The other major problem with Limegrover was managing the clock. They really did practice no huddle situations in practice. Team managers sprinting to get the ball in place, Kill and the coaches screaming "go, go, go" after every play, lineman sprinting to the line of scrimage...the whole nine yards. It's just mind-boggling that they didn't try to go no huddle with little time left in the first half in many games. @bradt42 I get that there's a time and a place and coaches have a feel for how their offense is doing. But it just didn't make sense. They even went no huddle some when they didn't need to in a couple games (TCU was one, CSU was one, there were a couple in B1G games too). Far too conservative and I've been told that not all coaches and players were satisfied with end-of-first half play calling.
- The runs and draws on third and long were frustrating too. I get it...you want to get some yards and not throw a pick... But it was too much at times.
- Route trees...At the beginning of the year, we ran way too many short out routes. It was incredibly predictable.
- Personnel groupings at times were odd with the receivers. They also had KJ Maye start out wide and Woli in the slot. When they moved Maye back in the slot, he broke out.
- Jump balls...the multiple designed jump balls to Eric Carter were very, very odd. There was also the jump ball to Miles Thomas that probably wasn't designed...but if I remember right it was a fly route and not a wheel so who knows. And when he should have used jump balls, he didn't. I don't remember Rashad Still or Nate Wozniak running a single fade in the end zone.
- Fans wanted Limey to throw screens throughout Kill's tenure, and we finally saw that this past year. There were many quick, jailbreak, and bubble screens to the receivers. The decision to throw so many of the screens to Drew Wolitarsky was questionable, but overall the team had success throwing screens.
- Fans complained about the restricted route trees and later in the season the receivers had a more diverse route tree. Slants and vertical patterns were both missing early in the year but present later. Towards the end of the year, Limegrover kept the defense honest with his playcalling.
- Presnap motions...Limegrover did a good job of allowing Leidner to get a good read on the defense and test eye focus with all his motions.
All in all, I thought Limegrover improved significantly as a playcaller throughout the year. But we seem to say that every year. Why does it take so long for the offense to get going? I think improved playcalling will make us a one or two win better team this year. Thoughts?
