FB: Southern Athletic Association

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity today announced the hiring of Michael Clark as strength coach.   Clark held similar positions with the Seattle Seahawks, Chicago Bears, Kansas City Chiefs, and Seattle Seahawks, and won the league's Strength Coach of the Year award three times.     I believe his time in KC and Seattle overlapped at least some of Coach Urban's time with those clubs. 

http://trinitytigers.com/sports/fball/2017-18/releases/170606_mike_clark

[albatross]

The SAA will have to prove itself once again based on the pre-season Top 25. Pretty surprised Berry received so many votes - just about every team graduated a lot of players it seems. There are a lot of unanswered questions for the league this year. Could be a wide open race between 4 or so teams...

[BerryViking92]

Berry does have a lot of talent coming back ... but also some holes ... esp on the line ...

[HansenRatings]

Berry does have a lot of talent coming back ... but also some holes ... esp on the line ...

Surprisingly, the value of a returning starter on the O-Line doesn't appear to be as important as most people think:



I'm pretty skeptical of my own results here, but I'm just trying to give y'all some optimism. You can read about the full analysis here.

[Ralph Turner]

Hansen, thank you for the analysis.  Just curious (and wanting more information...   )

What is the "n" of your analysis of returning OL, etc. ? (How many teams each year?)

[HansenRatings]

Hansen, thank you for the analysis.  Just curious (and wanting more information...   )

What is the "n" of your analysis of returning OL, etc. ? (How many teams each year?)

The sample is about 40 teams/year, and it's not a random sample--it's teams receiving votes in the preseason Top 25

[cciw83]

Rough/sad news for Berry. An incoming freshman OL died from injuries suffered in diving off a waterfall cliff in AL over the weekend. Article in Atlanta Journal-Constitution - did not link.

[jknezek]

Rough/sad news for Berry. An incoming freshman OL died from injuries suffered in diving off a waterfall cliff in AL over the weekend. Article in Atlanta Journal-Constitution - did not link.

Uggh. That is very sad news. I've been to High Falls a few times. It's a beautiful area but I would not jump from the top. The landing zones are small and you have to hit it perfectly. With the rain we've had, maybe he thought he had more margin for error, but the rocks are not forgiving in that area. Very, very sad to hear of a young life cut short.

[Ralph Turner]

Hansen, thank you for the analysis.  Just curious (and wanting more information...   )

What is the "n" of your analysis of returning OL, etc. ? (How many teams each year?)

The sample is about 40 teams/year, and it's not a random sample--it's teams receiving votes in the preseason Top 25

In any case, the information is valuable in understanding the top programs where consistency and stability have been a major factor. 

Off hand, the same 30 programs are in the Top 40 every year. Thank you.

[BerryCollegeFan]

Rough/sad news for Berry. An incoming freshman OL died from injuries suffered in diving off a waterfall cliff in AL over the weekend. Article in Atlanta Journal-Constitution - did not link.

Uggh. That is very sad news. I've been to High Falls a few times. It's a beautiful area but I would not jump from the top. The landing zones are small and you have to hit it perfectly. With the rain we've had, maybe he thought he had more margin for error, but the rocks are not forgiving in that area. Very, very sad to hear of a young life cut short.

Yes it was very sad news.  While the group was jumping at the time, reports are that the injury came as an accidental slip with him hitting his head on the way down into the water.  Please keep his family in your prayers.

[BerryCollegeFan]

Hansen, thank you for the analysis.  Just curious (and wanting more information...   )

What is the "n" of your analysis of returning OL, etc. ? (How many teams each year?)

The sample is about 40 teams/year, and it's not a random sample--it's teams receiving votes in the preseason Top 25

In any case, the information is valuable in understanding the top programs where consistency and stability have been a major factor. 

Off hand, the same 30 programs are in the Top 40 every year. Thank you.

I saw something very similar related to HS teams.  It shows very similar results.  The consistency of teams year in and year out seem to help alleviate changing of players.  If a team is consistently  good then player changes don't account for W/L changes.  Similarly for teams that are consistently bad.  Teams that did change with coming and going of players were typically on average 4-6 in their regions and occasionally jumped up into the play offs.  I tried to go back and find that study, but I can't locate it again.

It is hard to know what factors contribute to stability, probably location, coaching quality and financial support.

[BerryCollegeFan]

Berry hired Colin Duling from Northern Illinois.  At NIU he worked with QBs and WRs. 

http://www.berryvikings.com/sports/fball/2017-18/releases/duling_hire

[Ron Boerger]

Per a tweet from HC Jerheme Urban, Trinity today named former TLU DB Adam McGuire as assistant coach for DBs.

[albatross]

There's going to be a bit of turnover on the Hendrix Coaching staff this season. The nucleus is still in place but there are some new assistants are coming on board, some old players are staying as coaches, and a new D coordinator will take the reins. I imagine there will be one big press release closer to fall camp to sort of summarize it all...

[Clark Kent]

Berry does have a lot of talent coming back ... but also some holes ... esp on the line ...

OL was not a strength last year.  Not a knock on personnel, but not a believer in 2 point stance on OL.  DL has advantage playing at lower pad levels and drive OL back.  OL is constantly on their heels.  QB was forced to scramble alot, as evidenced by he was leading rusher last year.  RB's often got stuffed in short yardage situations.  Just not a fan of that OL philosophy.  Sometimes ya just have to line up, get low and play smash mouth football.

But the Vikings do have some talent coming back, especially at offensive skill positions.  Lost a lot of seniors on defense, but do have All-American DE Soumahoro coming back.