Of all the opinions out there, this is certainly one of them.
In all fairness, there weren’t a lot of posts and corners that I can think of all season, to literally anyone. This could’ve been because of Gunner’s downfield vision issues and Bobo calling plays he knew Stockton could execute, or it could be working with what you’ve got and making the most of it.
Either way, Branch caught 81 passes and nearly had as many touches and yards in one year at Georgia than he had in two years combined at USC. And that’s with Offensive Guru Lincoln Riley.
I mean, I’d call that a success, and an SEC championship to boot, but what do I know. Was his film and tape limited because of the plays that were called on the field? Possibly. However, that’s why they have Combines and Pro Days, to show just that.
I think Branch will be fine. And I don’t think I’ll be turning to Mr. Smith for any more of his hot takes in the future, either.
I mean, he’s not wrong. He isn’t saying that Branch won’t succeed in the NFL or that he isn’t a good player. He’s saying that our offense didn’t set him up for success by limiting his routes.
I think it’s safe to say that the consensus among Dawg fans is that Bobo calls too many damn screen passes. And this is just confirmation of that. I genuinely got excited last year whenever Branch would catch a pass on a real route past the line of scrimmage. Maybe Bobo or Kirby will hear this and take note. Aw, who am I kidding?
You are right on about Riley. Georgia got way more production out of Branch.
The old Mike Bobo knew when to take shots downfield. The Kirby infused ball control philosophy, MASH unit OL and skill set of our QB certainly restrained that feature last season as did the plague of wr dropsies from the prior year. That makes our record and SEC Championship all the more impressive but DCs are catching up. We’ve got the receivers, we should have the OL back so it’s up to our QB and his OC to try to stretch the field again if scoring 30+ is the goal.