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On Jason Campbell: What Petrino realized, that Mazzone never did or Ensminger shows no signs of knowing, is that Jason has limitations. He is not a drop-back passer, has never been one and never will be one. He cannot be relied upon to carry the team, as Dameyune Craig did.
Petrino knew Jason's limitations and his strengths, and designed an offense based upon those two. When we committed to the run (the last game in evidence being the game vs. Penn State) Jason kept his confidence.
But, he will never be a drop-back passer and he will never be a true field general. He does not have good field vision and tends to panic under the least amount of pressure. So, he is not, nor will he be, a QB who can carry this team or engineer wins on his talent. He will be one of several components of an offense, if Ensminger should avail himself of the one we have apparently placed into mothballs. That is an offense based upon running the ball, and I don't mean running out of 1-back sets and pitches out of 1-back sets. Auburn's running game is based upon having a fullback out there and attacking between the tackles. It is based upon ball control and wearing defenses down. Perhaps sometime this year, we might see the return of that offense, as it is sitting there waiting to go.
Ensminger has yet to realize this, for which I blame CTT for not educating him properly. I also blame CTT for not taking charge and telling Ensminger that we either run the ball early and consistently, or he can head on back to Shreveport. Earlier this week, CTT said AU would run the ball 40 times aginst Tech. On the same day, Ensminger said AU would have the same game plan as that against USC. Well, we saw who won that argument and, yes, we indeed had the same game plan as that against USC.
But, when we pay mere lip service to the run, then abandon it entirely, then get down 14 points, Jason Campbell will never be able to pass his way out of that. It's not his fault - not every guy gets the chance to be an SEC QB, and there is no doubt in my mind that Jason would not start at any other SEC school, including Vandy. It is not his fault. He's just not good enough to be what Mazzone wanted him to be and what Ensminger, lacking any sense of Jason's history, wishes to make him. Now, we can fool around all year trying to make him what he is not, or we can commit to the run - and I mean TRULY commit to the run.
Jason and the team are being done yet another Mazzone-style disservice by trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
CTT has talked his way all around this, but the heat is about to go on him. We stayed on Mazzone for 2 years before the BOT forced CTT to fire him. This time, Ensminger will be a short stop to where the blame truly belongs - with a HC who likes the salary and the prestige, but doesn't want to take command and make the tough decisions. When the HC cannot even get his QB coach-play caller to adapt, then we're talking gelding here.
The team deserves better.
Gene Chizik. By all indications, a solid coach who might get sucked down with this.
KD and DT. They stayed to win a title, now we won't even beat Vandy. This just didn't cost them a year making at least the league minimum, but possibly draft position as well, even if they are just as talented as they were last year, which we know they are.
Campbell. No, he's not a world beater. But I don't think a single person on that staff has the tools to help develop him.
David Housel. It's a shame that a man who clearly loves Auburn will be remembered for being a gullible fool, all too often AWOL when it mattered.
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