Monday, November 1, 2010

Warren Norman out for the season

So the Tennessean is reporting that Warren Norman has a dislocated wrist and will have surgery, and after that heals he'll have knee surgery. In other words, he's out for the season.

That hurts, of course. But let's get Warren healthy for next season. In the meantime, let's resist the urge to ride Zac Stacy like a rented mule. We don't won't to send him off to the surgeon too.

This means Wes Tate should get a lot more carries, which will only help us next season. And let's not forget Kennard Reeves, who's been running hard and has earned the right to tote the rock.

Warren's injury just reinforces what we've been saying for the past two years: It doesn't matter how good our running game is if we can't throw the ball. Maybe this will force us to figure out the passing game.

3 comments:

Greg said...

Well this sucks and not from a selfish fan standpoint. It’s always sad to see guys go out to season ending injuries cause these guys work so hard, Norman particularly. He was such a bright spot for our struggling offense and special teams. I hope the surgeries go well and cant wait to see him take the felid next year. The same with Jamie Graham.

From a selfish fan standpoint, this gives some other guys quality time, especially heading into next season. Tate should be close to 100% and I hope he gets more time/ plays. Seeing these guys go down and the freshmen on the offensive line is frustrating but I do think we are headed to bright future. A vast majority of this team is returning next year (hopefully) and I hope they keep this staff around one more year to see how they do. Robbie will have full control and judging by what he’s done so far, he desperately wants to win here. Give him a full off season to work with this team and coaches, because I think a Robbie Vanderbilt team will look a lot different than a Bobby Johnson team. This team wouldn’t have done any better had Bobby stayed.

Anonymous said...

With 4 games left and the injury to Norman, maybe this is the time to experiment with Krause and Cole in kickoff return ? I have said before that Cole is not a starting wr and am not sure why the staff is forcing the issue there (and not starting 6'3" Mathews). We have already burned Mathews redshirt, yet not thrown him the ball. This injury also puts pressue on the O-line to set a goal of maybe 5 yards per carry on 1st down carries. Every time Vandy is in 2nd or 3rd and long, we dont have the o-line or qb (or wr play) play to get 1st downs. We must get the ball downfield to wr's to open up the running game. Not 1 sec defense respects our passing game. While I have not been a strong supporter of LS lately, it is obvious that the position coaching has been awful for 2 years at qb and wr. Seems like talented players come to Vandy but dont get coached-up. The Florida game should be competitive as they are down this year. Right now the only thing Caldwell can hope for is perhaps saving his job and the defensive side of the ball. No question that the offensive coaching staff (other than maybe coach Hand) had more than a fair opportuunity to get it done. Kitchens likely deserves 1 more year at OC if Caldwell stays; all other offensive coaches from the BJ era should be fired. Time to move on.

Anonymous said...

CRC needs to realize what we are. Vandy is an underdog. How do you win as an underdog? Most of the time it is with close games at the end of the game. Running the no huddle actually makes the game longer. The longer the game the higher the score and that does not favor Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt needs to shorten the game and try to win a close one in the 4th quarter. Vandy has also had a lot of penalties this year. Some of these penalties can be eliminated by huddling and letting the guys get focused on what they are about to do. Huddling will also help with time of possession. Long story short, scrap the no huddle.