Tuesday 26 January 2010

Big Braves Blog; Part 1

Catcher is perhaps the Braves strongest position going into the 2010 season. Without doubt Brian McCann will start the season behind the plate and, unlike last year, will actually be able to see what he’s catching. McCann has become progressively more important to the team as his major league service has increased, he will be entering his sixth major league season. This year will be the year for McCann to really stamp his mark and make this his team, we already know that Bobby Cox will not be on the Turner Field bench next year and there’s every chance that Chipper Jones won’t be in the line-up either. That means that McCann will be the last remaining member of the 2005 division winning roster, which would make him a 27 year old Braves veteran. While it was the Braves pitching staff gaining most of the press last year hardly any time was spent on how much McCann’s game calling had improved. For most of his career he had been relied on the bench to call the game well not last season. It was something he had made a concerted effort to improve over the course of the last off season, and that hard work paid dividends; Jair Jurjenns and Javier Vazquez both had career years, Tommy Hanson almost won rookie of the year and all three had ERA’s of under 3.00. But McCann came into the Braves team way back in 2005 as a hitting catcher, an offensive force, and that is exactly the role McCann needs to play more than ever for the Braves. If you look at his career stats McCann seems to alternate between great and very good seasons, for example;

Games Avg. HR’s RBI’s
2005 59 .278 5 23
2006 130 .333 24 93
2007 139 .270 18 92
2008 145 .301 23 87
2009 138 .281 21 94

On the balance of McCann’s career he should be aiming for at least a .300 batting average this year, that would include his customary 90+ RBI’s and 20+ homer’s. Batting down the order will also potentially help Brian’s runs batted in total. Last year the young catcher proved his importance in both his absence and his presence. Beginning the year with the widely reported eye problems and his then prolonged absence showed the Braves and Bobby Cox why McCann is the heartbeat of this offence. It was no coincidence that when McCann was playing well the Braves looked most threatening to the playoff teams and, for a period, the Phillies.
The time McCann was on DL he was missed just a little less than normal thanks to his new understudy; David Ross. Acquired from Boston in the 2008 offseason he was expected to see very limited playing time and offer no more than Corky Miller or Clint Sammons before him. Ross showed so much more. In his seven previous big league seasons Ross combined over nine teams to hit a career .222. Nobody, including David, was expecting much other than a few games catching Kenshin Kawakami. As it happened Ross spent a small portion of the season as a significant part of the line up, apparently he responded really well to the responsibility. He played in 54 games, he had only played in more in four of his seasons, he was also playing these 54 games with his home team. Ross was born and raised in Bainbridge, Georgia and play college ball down in Gainesville for Florida. He hadn’t played significant baseball outside of the Southeast until he was 21. Moving straight to Los Angeles from the deep South is a huge cultural shift, maybe it just took Ross eight years to find home in his home state.

Like McCann and Ross Atlanta’s second back-up and triple-A starter Clint Sammons is also a Georgia native. Unlike his senior team mates Sammons can actually call the city of Atlanta home, having been born in Decatur. Like Ross, Sammons could have gone to the Dodgers from high school, instead he went to Athens and the University of Georgia. In 2004 the Braves drafted the Dawgs starting catcher and make him work to come home. Like McCann it took Sammons three years to progress through the Braves system, unlike McCann he has had less success in the big leagues. In 31 games with the major league team Sammons has hit .176, 4 RBI’s and exactly 1 home run, at AAA success hasn’t been much easier in 80 games up at Gwinnett he has 9 homer’s, 31 runs batted in and has only batted .214. Behind the plate Sammons is solid and that is all the Braves need from their third string.

Unlike other teams the Braves are set at catcher for maybe 3 or 4 years so long as McCann doesn’t get seriously hurt, luckily his latest Lasik surgery and continued weight loss should keep him in the line-up for many years.

Next week I will profile and preview the starters who will be throwing to McCann this year.

BASEBALL!

Well less than a month until Pitchers and catchers report so it's about time the sport's spot got the world caught up on all things Braves. For the next few weeks I will post Big Braves Blog's profiling the team by position starting with catchers. Pitchers, Infielders, Outfielders, Coaches and Prospects will also be covered. Stand by for the posting of the Georgia triplet of catchers...

Friday 15 January 2010

Snead Missed More than Most

Some of the best players of the last decade will be leaving the SEC this year. Amongst them will be Tim Tebow, Rolando McClain, Dexter McCluster, Javier Arenas, Reshad Jones, Aaron Hernandez and Joe Haden, to name a few. The biggest loss however will not be any of these players, it won’t be a national championship winner, Heisman winner or record holder. The SEC knows all about the aforementioned players, what they have done (a lot) and exactly how good they are. With every great player or certain first round pick leaving school there is also a player that still has question marks. Someone draft experts are unsure about, who’s college career ended to soon. This year is no different.

The player the SEC will miss most this year is former Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead. This past year was supposed to be Snead’s break out year, having exploded late in 2008. Even pre-season Heisman discussions included Snead’s name on the strength of his 2008 year. So after accomplishing all he has why is Snead not ready to leave? And why will he be missed even more than Tim Tebow? Simply, because this year was so disappointing. Snead entered with all the talk surrounding him and Ole Miss, they climbed as high as number 4 in the country. Between them they achieved an almost unmatched mediocrity for the rest of the year. Snead’s bad year means he has so much more to prove, and SEC fans would want to see so much more.

The heights that Snead’s recruitment predicted never fully materialised, at least not fully. A prized prospect out of Stephenville, Texas, Snead may well have begun his college career in the SEC. It began with Urban Meyer who took interest in Snead, first after being sent tape at Utah and then receiving a commitment after Meyer’s move to Florida. When the Gators continued their pursuit of Tim Tebow the Texan de-committed and began looking closer to home. It’s difficult to be starting QB at the University of Texas, especially the year after the Longhorns won the National Championship, that’s the bed Snead chose. A bed he promptly leapt out of after the decision to start Colt McCoy, not exactly a bad decision in the long run by Mack Brown. In his one year in Austin Snead completed 53% of his passes for 371 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Not a great sales pitch, good enough however for Ed Orgeron and the Rebels in Oxford, Miss. By the time Snead became a sophomore and arrived on campus Houston Nutt had arrived from Arkansas, a completely fresh start. By the end of their first season together everyone involved with the Rebels team saw light at the end of the tunnel; 2762 yards, 26 touchdowns and only 13 picks. Not exactly bad for his first year deciphering SEC defences.

The 2009 season didn’t exactly go to plan, it wasn’t helped by the arrival of another big armed Texan quarterback in the SEC West. Ryan Mallett transferred to Arkansas the same year Snead left Texas but red shirted his sophomore year. Their senior years in Texas high school was the last time these two could be compared directly. Snead threw for 3,546 yards, 38 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, Mallett went for 3,353, 31 touchdowns and only 3 picks. Mallett was the number 2 quarterback in the country in 2007, the year before, Snead had been number 3. The importance of Ryan Mallett to Jevan Snead’s career is that Mallett shows precisely how much Snead has underachieved in his college career. In 2009 Snead had 2632 yards, 20 td’s and (deep breath) 20! interceptions. Yards and touchdowns went down from 2008, interceptions went up. Not a good combination. Mallett (the new SEC and NFL darling) threw for 3627 yards with 30 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. This highlights the problems that Snead has had, after outperforming the Hogs quarterback in high school he suddenly dropped off in performance when he got to college.

It could be simply that Snead is the model student-athlete. He has already achieved his degree, and he should be given a huge amount of credit for that, but what about his career? Like every college player Snead dreams of playing in the NFL, and because of this year his draft stock has plummeted. With the departure of Tebow, Kiffin and others, Ole Miss may have been poised to move into a position of SEC power with Snead at the helm. With something to prove he could have been doubly focused, especially without the distraction of school. Unfortunately we, the SEC public, will never know. I may be alone but I wish we could.

Wednesday 13 January 2010

Kiffin uses Rocky Top to get to the Top

This college football season just keeps giving. Just when we all thought the Pete Carroll story was the crowning glory, Lane Kiffin reappears. It’s not much surprise that Kiffin needed some attention; he’s been forgotten in the wake of Urban Meyer and now Pete Carroll making their announcements. In fact it looked like Kiffin’s Tennessee Volunteers could be one of the favorites for the SEC east next year. He would most likely not be competing against Meyer and definitely not against Tim Tebow, meaning the Gators would be rebuilding. Nobody knows how Georgia are going to fare with a new QB and new defensive coordinator and Steve Spurrier’s magic is yet to work on South Carolina. That leaves the certainties being Vanderbilt and Kentucky, well, yes. Kiffin was also making significant gains in recruiting, especially in his border war with Georgia; they rank in the top 10 on both Rivals and Scout. Kiffin was moving Tennessee back to national prominence, whether you like or agree with his methods is a matter of personal choice. In his earlier tenure as a coach and coordinator at USC Kiffin had proved a highly effective recruiter, very early in his career he proved he wasn’t a suit and tie kindda guy and he was a different breed to the Meyers and Sabans of the world. This interested recruits. His brash talk and promises to the Vol faithful were drunk up by everyone involved in that programme, a new sense of confidence was building amongst players, administrators, fans and alumni. In what looks a down year for the SEC east the Orange looked best placed to make a run.

With one phone call a school on the other side of the country had changed the balance of power in the SEC. Kiffin claims that the USC job was the only one he would have left Tennessee for and it just so happened that was the one that opened. Not only will the conductor of controversy be leaving Knoxville he’s taking the whole orchestra with him. His Dad and Yoda like figure Monte Kiffin will leave the Tennessee defensive coordinator job for the same one at USC. Ed Orgeron will become Trojans recruiting coordinator and assistant head coach, leaving that same position open at the Volunteers. This is more than just coaches who are leaving however, we are three weeks away fro nation signing day and Kiffin just disillusioned the 22 commits that the University of Tennessee had. If your from any of the surrounding states and had offers closer to home, they might look a whole lot more appealing than going to an unstable programme who have the NCAA on constant red alert, thanks to Mr Kiffin.

Out of nowhere the Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators have got a whole lot more encouragement about the competition for the SEC east. Tennessee may still be good and if they land Will Muschamp of Texas then they vault to being my favorite again but, until they do that, they look as if there about to fall apart at the seams. The student reaction to Kiffin’s announcement (burning mattresses, defacing ’The Rock’ and attempting to invade his news conference) show exactly how Vol nation feels about the coach with the big mouth and bigger ego. Kiffin came, promised much, delivered little more than violations and left; his wallet bigger, his reputation smaller and an entire school and football programme deflated. And no one could be happier than the SEC.

Monday 11 January 2010

Carroll and Kelly Leave Bad Taste

Every great coach needs a new challenge, a new arena to test themselves in. However very rarely do coaches seek these new challenges in an acceptable manner. The reigning national champions are a prime example, Nick Saban wasn’t exactly procured in ideal circumstances. The last two months have seen two coaching changes that have left a certain foul smell in the mouth. One was much more predictable than the other, but both gave the departing teams a feeling of disappointment, resentment and victimisation. Firstly, in December and January, Brian Kelly cut ties with Cincinnati to move to Notre Dame. This resulted in Bearcats galore voicing their unhappiness and their former coach. This weekend then produced the mother of all coaching shocks; USC Trojans head coach Pete Carroll quit Southern California for a job in the Pacific Northwest. The Seattle Seahawks and the NFL have gained and the Trojans have lost. But what happened with these two coaches and their controversial job switches?

Coach Kelly is perhaps the one with the best reasoning. The last two programmes he has coached have improved over his reign, Central Michigan improved from 4-7 to 9-4 over the three years Brian Kelly was there. Cincinnati went from a 10-3 team in his first year finishing as 12-1 team in his last (12-0 with Kelly as coach). It would be perfectly reasonable for Kelly to say he took these programmes as far as he could, that he had decided on a new challenge. This would fit with his recent employment history, improves the Chippewas and then the Bearcats and now moves onto more traditionally significant programmes. If this is the case then, so long as the Irish are winning, Kelly should be in South Bend for 20 years. But will that be enough for Brian Kelly? At Cincinnati there was the opportunity to create his own tradition, to raise a new power to national prominence. Doing that would have been all about Brian Kelly, it would have been his programme, his players and his legacy. Now to achieve that is a challenge. Undefeated seasons, regardless of their increasing regularity are still special things, his Bearcats has achieved it in only his third full year as coach and were going to a BCS bowl. At Notre Dame Kelly will be stalked by the ghosts of Rockne, Leahy, Holtz and the eleven national championships. Maybe Brian Kelly likes a challenge but, in comparison to Cincy, is Notre Dame with all of it’s resources really that much of challenge?

The Seattle Seahawks and the NFL however is a challenge, one that Pete Carroll has faced before. It is logical that Carroll would take the next big step in his career, after all he had spent nine years at USC, and yet that’s what sticks in the throat for Trojans fans. Carroll rode SoCal hard for those nine years and the teams he produced were astronomically good, that’s why they achieved more than just being a programme, it became a dynasty. And yet, just when that dynasty appears at it’s weakest, losing more games than they had in almost a decade, Carroll jumps ship. Not only does Pete Carroll leave the team at it’s least secure he leaves as the behemoth of NCAA discipline is set to descend on the school. The last nine years have provided plenty of sound bites from Carroll listing reasons he wanted to stay at SC and didn’t want to join the NFL ranks. What spurred his decision? Was the negativity of USC’s impending situation? Or was it all that is being offered by the Seahawks (two first round picks, bottomless money in an uncapped year, a weak division)? Only Pete Carroll knows exactly why he lest his creation to the NCAA feeding frenzy but nine years ago he made the Trojans into a Pac-10 juggernaut, he is leaving them as the 5th best team in the conferences after eight years of domination. Maybe next decade the cycle will come round again.

One move changed the landscape of college football, after all their searching it now appears Notre Dame has a competent college coach. It is also ironic that with Carroll’s departure the Irish may, at last, be prepared to overturn the contemporary strangle hold the Trojans had on them. Both will set about rebuilding their new teams, one through the NFL draft, the other through hard recruiting. The moral of the Kelly and Carroll stories, especially if you’re a Trojan or Bearcat? The grass always seems greener on the other side, even in Washington and Indiana.

Friday 8 January 2010

The Future is Now

Thanks to the shoulder of Marcell Dareus last night become something more than this years national championship. The 2009 national championship could easily have been a showcase game for the 2010 seasons and beyond. The devastating loss of Colt McCoy knocked the wind out of Texas for the majority of the first half, more than ever it showed how much Colt meant to the Texas offence. What those on 90,000+ in Pasadena and the huge television audience got to see was like looking into a crystal ball (pun intended). Alabama was already lucky this year to have an incredible number of talented underclassmen, the two running backs are prime examples, they also had the sprinkling of draft stock that played their last game yesterday. Texas on the other hand will be re-building on defence, especially on the line, but offensively the future arrived last night.

Alabama will be hurt most by the departure of linebacker Rolando McClain, defensive tackle Terrence Cody and cornerback Javier Arenas. It is simply outstanding what these players contributed the Crimson Tide this year, Cody provided the indelible image by blocking the two field goals against Tennessee at Bryant-Denny earlier in the year and keeping ‘Bama on the road to the Rose Bowl. It’s also widely reported what McClain brings to the defence. Tagged the ‘defensive quarterback’ he provides Kirby Smart and Nick Saban confidence in their defensive audibles as well as in the line backing core. He alone shows so much on defensive series that the Tide may have to play a 4-4 defence to compensate. Whilst Arenas is a shutdown corner it is on special teams that he will be missed most, it is here that he has broken various records for return yards and gave both Florida and Texas reason to game plan especially for his kick returning. The loss of McClain will be somewhat offset by the return of Dont’a Hightower, who missed the entire year through injury, will have had the benefit of a year watching and learning from McClain and should be able to move into the position reasonably easily. It is on offence that Alabama showed the brightest signs for at least the next 2 years. Heisman trophy winner Mark Ingram is only a sophomore and went for 116 yards against the number one rush defence in the country, Trent Richardson is a freshman who rushed for 109 yards against the same defence. The admittedly underwhelming quarterback Greg McElroy who only threw for 58 yards on 6 completions from 11 attempts, but his performances against Auburn and Florida leave little doubt that he could be a senior star. This without mentioning the star wideouts, Julio Jones and Marquis Maze, who will both only be juniors next season. The biggest losses will be offensive lineman Mike Johnson and Colin Peek, the tight end transfer who become something of a comfort blanket to McElroy in the tougher times. Both will be replaced, Alabama is returning approximately 14 O-linemen and losing only 2, they will also have junior Preston Dial taking over the tight end position having seen action already this year. This is without even considering the number two ranked recruiting class in the country. Alabama could be stacked to dominate the SEC and BCS for the rest of this decade if everything goes according to the Saban plan.

The experience that Garrett Gilbert gained inside Rose Bowl stadium will be unmatched by no other sophomore starters next year. You could see him growing as the game went on, even seeming to read the complex ‘Bama defence. He wasn’t helped by receivers dropping the ball, but now that he’s going to have all spring to work with those same receivers who won’t be dropping balls next year. Ok, so all his big plays were to Jordan Shipley who won’t be there next year, but the others will learn to trust him just in a little longer time than it took Shipley. Greg Davies will get to know Gilbert’s strengths and weaknesses and by September he will have an offence tailored to Gilbert not McCoy. It was incredible to see the success of the Texas run game when McCoy went down. In all likely hood with Colt in the game the number of rushes would have been maybe half, as it was they recorded 27 rushes without him for 81 yards. Without huge success it was a lot better than it was expected to be and freshmen Tre’ Newton and DJ Monroe were to the front. Texas will start the 2010 season with a sophomore quarterback and two sophomore running backs. Add to that the 15 receivers returning, including every member of the receiving core from the championship game. Oh and Alabama came be happy with the number two recruiting class, Texas has the number one class.

Could these two meet in the national championship again? If next years rosters are anything to go by then some of the 2009 players could be playing against each other again. And that might be well before some play against each other in the NFL.

Wednesday 6 January 2010

Tiffin Hoping to Finish has a Kick

The headlines and stories this week have mostly been focused on Mark Ingram, Greg McElroy, Javier Arenas and Coach Saban. Thursday will be the last game at Alabama for the All-American, record-setting senior kicker Leigh Tiffin. Throughout the 2009 season Tiffin has been as big a factor in winning games as his quarterback and running back have. On November 7th against LSU Tiffin became Alabama’s all-time leading scorer, it was a week before then, however, that Leigh Tiffin proved his importance to the Crimson Tide. Terrence Cody got the headlines for his double field goal block against Tennesse but, with a neutered offence, someone had to score the points. Tiffin went 4 for 4 in the nail biting rivalry game, kicking goals of 22, 38, 49 and 50 yards. Amongst the excitement surrounding the successes of Ingram, McElroy and Cody the 21 year old from Muscle Shoals, Alabama has been lost in the mix.

Tiffin has improved as his college career has progressed. This year has been by far his best, making 87.9% of his field goals, that has been an improvement from 61% in his freshman year, 73% sophomore and 69% last year. This is what you expect from college players, improvement. Despite regressing last year he has shown, in his senior year, why he has been contending for the Lou Groza award. The stats show exactly how; the 18% success rate improvement shows his work on the practice field. It is even more impressive that because Tiffin has attempted 33 field goals, 4 more than last year and 1 less than his sophomore year. The only area he has dropped off is his extra point kicking, missing a career high 3 extra points. Despite this, in the biggest moments, when the clutch kicks have been needed is when Leigh has been at his best. The Tennessee and LSU games being the prime example.

He is also a very engaging young man. One of the forefront media figures on the Alabama roster he is always willing to give an interesting sound bite, something slightly unique. He obviously knows Alabama football, his dad Van was another record setting Tide kicker, and this shows. He cares for the team, university, fans and his team mates. He is clearly a young kid from northern Alabama living the dream of every Alabama born young man. If he remains as ice cool as he has been this year he could be living the biggest Alabama dream there is, a dream that’s been a 16 year nightmare. The nightmare could end, with Tiffin’s college career, in Pasadena tomorrow night.

Saturday 2 January 2010

The Power of 2

It has become more and more obvious this last decade how important quarterbacks are to winning football teams. It’s no coincidence that Georgia’s worst season of the decade came when they had their weakest QB. To be fair to Joe Cox he wasn’t awful, just ok. Ok means there are at least seven guys in the SEC better than him. Joe Cox will have some great memories of his time at the University of Georgia, it’s debatable if spooning with Matt Stafford at Tallageda will be one of them, but starting for the Dawgs will be. But now, as we enter a new decade, it’s time for someone new to create some new great memories. This is where things get a little confusing, there are two four star prospects and only one position. Zach Mettenberger and Aaron Murray are the two that have to be divided into one, but who will it be? If you go by the rankings on both rivals and scout, Murray is the obvious choice. However is it really that simple?

Mattenberger is very like Ryan Mallet in almost everyway. The two most impressive things about young Zach are his size and arm strength. He is clearly a giant of a young man, and this is a big upside in the tough world of the SEC. He would take some hits against the conference defences and his size would help him in these situations however, because of his size, he is not very mobile. How would this work against the mean and nasty SEC defensive sets? Not very well is the answer to that. His scrambling and running ability is also limited at best. It is very possible that this past year will have given him enough opportunity to improve this. It is also worth noting how Mike Bobo has structured his offence the last few years. Ever since Matthew Stafford joined the school it has been built around a big QB with a cannon arm, exactly like Mettenberger. In his senior year at Ocoonee County High School he threw for 2,016 yards, 19 touchdowns and 6 picks. Despite his huge arm and success in the passing game watching video of Zach is different to simply looking at the stats. His first look seems almost always to be to either his running back or tight end, positions were Georgia aren’t outstanding, at least at receiving. If Mettenberger gets the start he is going to have to learn to look AJ Green then the rest. Like Mallet has been, Mettenberger could be a strong armed quarterback who has success throwing the ball against SEC secondary’s. Rivals ranked him as the 11th best QB in the country and Scout has him at 14. Mettenberger is without doubt hugely talented, but is he talented enough?

Aaron Murray has been Georgia’s prize prospect ever since he committed last year. To put into perspective how heavily recruited this young man was he had 53 scholarship offers, that’s almost half the total FBS schools. Despite only playing eight games in his senior year he managed to throw for 2285 yards, 33 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. This is the same year Murray broke his ankle after 6 of those games, he came back and threw for 563 of his yards and 5 touchdowns. On the Scout report the only downside to Murray is his size, he is listed 6-1 and 207 pounds. However this is the same height as Joe Cox and 7 pounds heavier. In case you missed it Cox played every game this year and, despite getting beat up, he has not been hurt. It is also worth remembering how much Bobo and the Bulldogs will be running the ball next year. The last 2 or 3 games of the year Caleb King and Washaun Ealy were dominating. Remember the game against Georgia Tech and how the Jackets were shredded. This would protect Murray even more, let him learn defensive schemes, get more comfortable in the pocket and grow his confidence while giving Georgia the best chance to win. In a lot of Murray’s video some of his throws are incredible, really elite and his mobility is also of the highest standard. One scouting report says this about the young man;

“Makes great decisions and cuts zones to pieces. Has very good arm strength and unbelievable touch. Is most dangerous, though, when he gets on the edge. Peerless leader.”

He is rated the number 3 QB in the country and is perhaps an even more committed, intelligent and complete QB the Matthew Stafford or Joe Cox. I haven’t read it yet but the video I have seen I’m confident he could be as successful as David Greene.

Truth time now, I started this piece supporting Mettenberger. I really like what I’ve seen of him as a person and he is a very well developed player, plus he’s a Georgian. However as I’ve gone on, watched more film, read more scouting and stats Murray has really grown on me. Whoever gets the job will have really earned it and we could possibly be in for one of the most exciting G-day games ever.