I wonder if Dante Reno would consider transferring again. He went to South Carolina for a year, then transferred to Yale to play for his dad. Led them to an Ivy League title and the FCS playoffs. We made a big push for him out of high school. Iām pretty sure he visited too. Iām not sure if we made his top 5 or whatever, but he was rated higher out of HS than Kaelin and he has a year of starting experience against lower level competition.
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Oh, Iām under no illusion that Elliott would fire Des, not after the season we just had.
As far as Tony Elliottās coaching network, I think thatās one thing that really hurt him when he was putting together his initial staff. Heād been at Clemson almost his entire career and Dabo hired pretty insularly. Elliott didnāt really have much of a network to hire from. The staff was a mishmash of holdovers, guys he met at coaching conventions and out on the recruiting trail, people from Clemson, a friendās son and I have no idea how he connected with Rud, Cox or Gaither. If he sticks with only his network to hire new coaches, I donāt know that he has real options out there.
That said, I donāt think heād ever hire this San Jose State guy. Heās just a name Iām keeping my eye on to see if his trajectory takes off like Brennan Marion or Lincoln Rileyās did when they were little known young coordinators doing interesting things at Howard and East Carolina.
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Yeah Iāve wondered about Reno too. Heād definitely force Kaelin out so a bit of a risk.
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Heād be at the top of my wish list if we ever moved on from Des.
https://twitter.com/tyshawnwyatt/status/1998156029180195266?s=46&t=lMa7F-gR141SbjqqmdY87A
Never played/healthy enough
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Kaelin ceiling is probably QB2. Great to have a solid backup but I wouldnāt sweat him leaving.
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I think he will compete with whoever we bring in. Let the best man win!
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Thatās a great name. I watched a little of him at Yale and he can definitely ball was a chear code in the Ivys
Chad Morris, now that he wouldnāt have to work with his kid.
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Wouldāve been a great hire 10 years ago lol. Chad aināt coaching again.
Heād be a great hire right now. 1,000x better than Des Kitchings.
The man is 57 years old, not some Texas snowbird.
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Heās only called plays for 1 season in the last 11, and he had one of the worst offenses in the SEC with Bo Nix at QB.
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We should not be eager to hire Chad fucking Morris lol. Even Iāll take Des over that. He ran high school programs off the rails after he was done destroying Arkansasā program.
But telling that is where Desā stock is with the fanbase lol.
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Yeah, man, I wouldnāt want someone who taught Tony Elliott the offense that Des Kitchings runs worse than Chad Morris has run it (he didnāt run that offense at Auburn). Iād argue that 2025 was an outlier because Kitchings had Morrisā son and the best RB from FCS.
Letās compare.
Morris:
2010 Tulsa 41.4 (8) 505.6
2011 Clemson 33.6 (24) 440.8
2012 Clemson 41.0 (6) 512.7
2013 Clemson 40.2 (8) 508.1
2014 Clemson 30.8 (53) 408.8
2020 Auburn 25.1 (90) 382.8
Kitchings:
2019 NC State 22.1 (107) 380.5
2022 Virginia 17.0 (126) 344.1
2023 Virginia 23.2 (95) 368.8
2024 Virginia 22.7 (107) 360.9
2025 Virginia 32.2 (33) 426.3
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It gives an OC a lot of leeway to have a Brent Venables defense shutting down the other team and having the 3rd, 4th and 5th years of a former 4 star recruit at QB followed by the freshman year of a future 1st round QB helps a lot too.
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Pretty different talent situations and not a big fan of PPG/YPG as the metric here. Please donāt make me defend Des! Heās horrible!
But Chad Morris was a disaster and itās been a while since he was in the game at a high level. Not interested.
I want us to evolve beyond the offense weāre currently running, not bring in people who might have run it better a decade ago.
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Linebackers today. Reminder you can click back through to see other position groups and also check the wiki on the main board.
Linebackers
Gone:
- James Jackson - Graduated
Eligible to Return:
- Kam Robinson - Sr
- Caleb Hardy - Sr
- Stevie Bracey - RS Sr
- Maddox Marcellus - Sr
- Trey McDonald - RS Sr
- Landon Danley - RS Jr
- Myles Brown - RS So
- Isaiah Reese - RS Fr
- Justin Rowe- RS Fr
Incoming:
- Derek Uran - Fr
- Dallas Brannon - Fr
Needs: Honestly weāre pretty good here if Kam and some others come back, even if weāll of course miss the graduating Jackson, though still some items to talk about. Stevie Bracey has missed two straight years and weāll need to get word if heās expected back. Trey McDonald may elect to chase PT elsewhere for his final season of eligibility. Landon Danley and Myles Brown both seemed to earn coachesā confidence in supporting roles and could be next in line, along with upperclassman converted safety Caleb Hardy who cracked the 2 deep for the ACCCG in Kamās absence. The question becomes whether any of the freshmen (RS or true) are ready for the 2-deep in case of injury ahead of them. Even if both Kam and Maddox are back, probably one more veteran for the rotation would be helpful to let the youngsters breathe.
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Iām a very big believer in Mekhi Buchanan (if heās healthy). Go back and watch last yearās spring game. He was an absolute monster. Biggest question is health, as he never really recovered this season, but IF heās healthy he may be our answer at Edge if Melton leaves. Still should be active in the portal anyways as having a strong, deep DL is a big reason for the defenseās success in the 2nd half of the season.
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Are our 2 LB positions interchangeable generic off ball LBs or is one more focused on pass coverage and the other with run fits or does one blitz and the other doesnāt or anything like that?
I know when Kam went down, the TV commentators said Jackson moved over to Kamās spot and Maddox went into Jacksonās, but Iām wondering if thatās what really happened or if Maddox went straight into Kamās spot or if theyāre pretty much the same so it didnāt matter.
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Added in Caleb Hardy to the LBs who I still had in my notes as a safety from last season despite making the position switch this year.
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