Are the best athletes on the field?

I just mentioned this, Saban put the best 22 players on the field regardless of their classification. Obviously CBK is not on board with this philosophy. The best 22 are not on the field at all times with limited breathers or goal line situations. Its nothing but "LOOK" and "COMPLETE PROCESS" from CBK. So I guess we have to be 3-5 or 4-4 till CBK changes his views and its now trying to save a sinking ship.

Kelly makes a lot of excuses for younger players not being ready.

This would be the best time to throw them in and find out. Bc this season is a wash

That can work to a certain point…

Chris Hilton is a better athlete than Lacy but still has his fair share of drops.

Kylin Jackson is a better athlete than john emery and Josh Williams yet Josh Williams is the better running back at this point and time

Defense I don’t know. They all look unathletic, stiff, and slow minus Perkins and weeks

No these are the scrubs. Their dads just show up to the booster club meetings and help cook.

It is concerning that it seems many players are having trouble grasping the defensive system and their jobs within it. Apparently it is keeping younger more athletic players on the bench because they haven't learned their job yet. Its slowing players down (Perkins) because they don't understand their roles within the defense.

Former TCU coach, Gary Patterson, has famously said he could teach his entire defense to players in two practices. He has always been known to have and has had highly ranked defenses.

My point is, if House has the more athletic players so confused, that they can't learn the system and get off the bench then his system is to complicated. He needs to simply, simplify, and simplify some more like Gary Patterson does.

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Saban put the best 22 players on the field regardless of their classification.

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Aranda did something like that. He put the most speed on the field on passing downs

do you think Saban would put guys who don't know their assignments or plays on the field? There is more to just playing the best athletes.

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Saban put the best 22 players on the field regardless of their classification.

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That is a different question. I assume the OP meant the most talented players. Saban and Kelly have the same philosophy about putting the best players on the field. By “best players” I mean the ones who give us the best chance of winning. But that is not necessarily the most talented players. Saban NEVER would agree that he has to put the talented players on the field. No player, who doesn’t know his assignments, is playing for Saban.

You mentioned classification. Both Saban and Kelly will kick an upperclassmen to the curb in favor of a freshman who is better. That’s why Kole Taylor is playing for West Virginia and Mason Taylor is playing for LSU. There are tons of examples, just on this LSU team.

We started two freshmen tackles last season. We are working Heard into the lineup this year. Mason Taylor, Mac Markway, Chestnut is on the bench for younger players, Whit Weeks is playing, Ryan Yaites, etc.

That’s a lengthy list, but I’m sure you’ll find some other egregious example of a superstar sitting the bench - until they play your superstar and he’s not.

I think people are reading way too far into this.

Every team has talented freshmen who see less playing time because they aren’t ready. If anything, I’ve seen us play more freshmen than normal over the past two years. True “day 1 starters” are exceedingly rare, especially among non-early enrollees.

You mentioned Jefferson and Womack. Jefferson is really an outlier in that he’s not a “young player” - he was in the 2019 class at WVU. That said, someone brought up a good point about how the tempo impacted our defensive rotation. This is going to affect the DL more than anything because those guys rotate the most. In hindsight the staff probably should have put Jefferson in to start more drives, though.

It sounds like Womack was in the doghouse for something. I know many don’t agree with that kind of discipline, but it’s been a focus under Kelly and I don’t foresee it changing.

But my larger point with respect to the younger players would be this: the fact that we’ve seen Whit Weeks, Ashton Stamps, Da’Shawn Womak, Kaleb Jackson, and Lance Heard play meaningful snaps at all should already tell you Kelly isn’t afraid to play young guys. All of those guys are true freshmen, and it’s not at all typical to have that many true freshmen playing this early.

On top of that you have the evidence from last year with Campbell, Jones, Taylor, and Perkins.

Anyone who doesn’t think Kelly is willing to play those guys is ignoring the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. People are arguing over whether Weeks and Womack should be #1 at their positions but we wouldn’t even be having this conversation if Kelly truly valued experience over everything, as people like to suggest.

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Jackson should be behind Diggs not Emery or Williams.

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Why? Because he has more “talent”?

But how does that work out when they come with a play to showcase him and he drops the ball?

Poise is a key asset. Execution is a key asset. It’s a process. Some kids learn it fast; while others never learn it. The trick is to get the talented guys to reach their potential without hurting your chances of winning.