We've lost some key guys this season. Jared Hawkins went down, and Zac Stacy and Warren Norman jumped right in and have even been an improvement. Steven Stone hurt his foot in preseason camp and a bunch of guys — Tim Fugger and Theron Kadri and Teriall Brannon and Johnell Thomas — have filled in admirably. Ryan Hamilton was lost for the season and Joel Caldwell stepped in and has been doing just fine.
But we have not replaced James Williams, the right tackle who dislocated his ankle in the second half of the LSU game. Since then, right tackle has been manned by Reilly Lauer, who's about 50 pounds lighter than Williams.
Before Williams was injured, our running game was vastly improved, and Stacy was running through huge holes and tearing off chunks of yards against LSU in Baton Rouge. We had a legitimate shot to win that game, until Williams was injured for the season.
We tried to run the same kind of plays against Miss State and Ole Miss, and without Williams couldn't do it.
And now, against the likes of Army, we've got Stacy lining up at quarterback in the Cornelius or whatever we call the Wildcat, and Norman and Smith lining up at receiver and then Norman going in motion and getting the pitch from Stacy.
You resort to tricks like that when your offensive line can't block the men in front of them.
We miss you, James.
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