Thoughts as I'm listening and reading others' takes:
1. Technically Shaw is correct that ASU was the turning point of the season, considering it was the first loss of the season-ending 7 game losing streak. Note that the UW and Wazzu games were both one-score losses in which we were tied and winning before the opponent's final drive, respectively. It was those final four games, starting with the worst defeat in Shaw's history (Utah), where the wheels fell off and the team seemed to completely give up.
He cites that ASU was incredibly old. That's true. The team was LOADED with seniors, super seniors, and grad transfers (including our very own sixth-year man Henry Hattis), much like Utah was. You could tell they were totally old-man bully-balling us. And it didn't help that our DL may have been the worst in the P5.
Conversely, our inability to retain said old-man talent (and now even some young man talent!!!) is a very serious black eye on this program especially when we can't simply reload through the portal like everyone else. Take a look at fellow academic school Northwestern - they are bringing in no fewer than THREE grad transfer DL (including our own Ryan Johnson, though I'm not sure how much he'll help) and an immediate likely-starting ILB from Pitt to replace their guys who are leaving. What I would give for that to be plausible here...
2. Shaw discussed "shifting the defensive front," and as part of the discussion mentioned Stephen Herron and incoming whale recruit David Bailey as members of the D-line. This portends the 4-3 defensive shift (which we saw at the end of the season) persisting, which I agree with - and once again, has needed to be a thing for years now. The 2022 edge rush/DE trio needs to be good right away. He also didn't discuss interior DL, which says everything I need to know.
3. As an addendum to the above, this interview makes me even more confident Shaw is completely hands-off on the defensive side of the ball.
Question for those who have commented: what REALISTIC thing could Shaw have said that would give you encouragement? (I say realistic, because announcing he's taking a pay cut, firing half the staff, or relinquishing play-calling duties are not realistic.)
My answer is in bold, adding to a quote from the interview: "most of the guys in the portal are guys we can't recruit, but there are more grad transfers like Isaiah Sanders and Patrick Fields out there who are excellent students and can help this team. We are adding a process to seek them out."
1. Technically Shaw is correct that ASU was the turning point of the season, considering it was the first loss of the season-ending 7 game losing streak. Note that the UW and Wazzu games were both one-score losses in which we were tied and winning before the opponent's final drive, respectively. It was those final four games, starting with the worst defeat in Shaw's history (Utah), where the wheels fell off and the team seemed to completely give up.
He cites that ASU was incredibly old. That's true. The team was LOADED with seniors, super seniors, and grad transfers (including our very own sixth-year man Henry Hattis), much like Utah was. You could tell they were totally old-man bully-balling us. And it didn't help that our DL may have been the worst in the P5.
Conversely, our inability to retain said old-man talent (and now even some young man talent!!!) is a very serious black eye on this program especially when we can't simply reload through the portal like everyone else. Take a look at fellow academic school Northwestern - they are bringing in no fewer than THREE grad transfer DL (including our own Ryan Johnson, though I'm not sure how much he'll help) and an immediate likely-starting ILB from Pitt to replace their guys who are leaving. What I would give for that to be plausible here...
2. Shaw discussed "shifting the defensive front," and as part of the discussion mentioned Stephen Herron and incoming whale recruit David Bailey as members of the D-line. This portends the 4-3 defensive shift (which we saw at the end of the season) persisting, which I agree with - and once again, has needed to be a thing for years now. The 2022 edge rush/DE trio needs to be good right away. He also didn't discuss interior DL, which says everything I need to know.
3. As an addendum to the above, this interview makes me even more confident Shaw is completely hands-off on the defensive side of the ball.
Question for those who have commented: what REALISTIC thing could Shaw have said that would give you encouragement? (I say realistic, because announcing he's taking a pay cut, firing half the staff, or relinquishing play-calling duties are not realistic.)
My answer is in bold, adding to a quote from the interview: "most of the guys in the portal are guys we can't recruit, but there are more grad transfers like Isaiah Sanders and Patrick Fields out there who are excellent students and can help this team. We are adding a process to seek them out."