That entire premise is a pervasive myth that won't seem to die. We recruited stud backs and they played tailback. We recruited stud receivers, and they played receiver. Changing sides of the ball happened occasionally, but it was not the norm, and usually happened when a player couldn't get on the field. Recruiting was VERY evenly distributed on both sides of the ball.

What actually happened was Bud Foster. A once-in-a-lifetime coach that built a championship culture out of fairly common raw material. Beamer's defense almost got him fired after the 1992 season. The defense didn't take off because we moved the talent to the other side of the ball, but because of new schemes borrowed from Washington (8 man fronts), new personnel philosophies borrowed from Miami (speed over size), and a cultural shift. It was a total rebuild.

Beamer had PLENTY of talent on offense over the years. Far more than we have now. He ran his offenses with a restrictor plate for many years however, and he hamstrung himself. Imagine, nowadays, the idea of playing Mike Vick in an I-formation offense. My gosh, men in black suits from the NCAA would come and arrest the OC. That offense couldn't even begin to exploit MV's talents. That 99 offense was 99% improv.

He tried to evolve with Stiney, then O'Cain, then Loeffler, but it was too little, too late. Beamer, for all he did right, FLAT WASTED TONS of offensive talent.

Conversely, Bud Foster is still in charge, and the defense doesn't suck because its now "offense first". Nobody is moving D players to O. Instead, we had an unprecedented MASS EXODUS of underclassmen leave the program in 2018, and its going to take a while to recover from that. Nobody wants to hear that, they want heads, but its the truth.



[Post edited by Techsupport at 04/23/2019 09:12AM]