quote:There's differences though. Johnny was arguably a much better college QB and more athletic than Tannehill, and he needed a red shirt year in 2011 to get there. Even he admitted he wasn't a good enough passer and too careless with the football until he got with George Whitfield. Damontre Moore was a different and more mature player in 2012 compared to 2011. He took the same leap that Von Miller did between his sophomore and junior seasons. Mike Evans was picking up the finer points of the game during his red shirt year in 2011 after being more of a basketball (not baseball) player in HS. As bad a game manager as Sherman seemed, I don't think we would have been that bad in 2012 under him. Mostly what he was missing in 2011, and what kept us from winning, was a good rush end. It was the same problem we had in 2013 after Damontre left.
I think 2012 was a real eye opener to many as to how well our players were and most credited that to sherman. But I take it a step further and realized how bad a game day coach he was to have that good a roster and still do next to nothing with it. And then I look at sumlin with all that ammo and have him miss the mark the next few years. Wow, I'm in a glass case of emotion.
Honestly, I think we might have had another 2010 year or better in 2012, and we still would have won most of the games we did. All of the nonconference (including La Tech, I don't think the defense would have been down 4 guys on the 2 deep), Arky (Smile!), MSU (overrated), Ole Miss (decent team we played poorly against), Auburn (so bad Chizik was fired), and Mizzou (ravaged by injuries). The toss ups would have been Florida, LSU, and Alabama, and I think we would have had a good chance in those, especially against Florida and LSU. Looking back, it's no surprise that we won 10 games in the 2012 regular season. The only shocker was the Alabama win.
What should really make you wonder is how he would have done with the 2012 and 2013 recruiting classes. Attrition there has killed us, and I wonder what Mike Sherman would have done differently to develop those players.