mat1992

Interesting read. Only played 12.4 mpg last year but shot 44% from three.Guessing he starts this year https://www.phenomhoopreport.com/commitment-alert-2020-darrick-jones-on-the-same-page-with-towson-coaches/

You can't teach that kind of spring and the explosion he has going to his left. He hasn't even played his senior season so sure, he needs to work on his jumper and his right hand. If he was a perfect player, he'd be going to a P5. We've had some super athletic guards like Morman, who was limited offensively. We've had more stocky, muscular guards like Zane Martin, who did work on his shot and became so proficient he left.

There are some highlights of him making the three. Believe me, I'd love to have another Brian Fobbs but he will be gone next season. I was told he's improving his jumper and if Gary Neal is still around as an assistant coach, would you not take a chance on a 3* 6-5 wing with a 40-inch vertical who went to Oak Hill? Hofstra wanted him bad so they must have felt that he's more than just a dunker.

https://www.phenomhoopreport.com/name-to-know-65-2020-darrick-jones-millwood-school-va/

I'm sure six knee injuries have anything to do with just playing football. Now all of our transfers seem to be hurt and nicked up in some form or fashion. Most of those guys (sans Gibbs) have had some kind of injury history. But sure, if you lose half the team by the end of the season and this continues to happen, things will have to be re-evaluted.

Yeah, another lefty. Hopefully, he can succeed like Fobbs. Mims is another really good athlete at the wing. Add Timberlake and Betrand with Victor and we should play up-tempo, high-octane pressure hoops next season. https://www.ncsasports.org/mens-basketball-recruiting/virginia/mouth-of-wilson/oak-hill-academy/darrick-jones6 http://www.espn.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/235253/darrick-jones-jr

So if you defend him, you are part of the family? You jumped on him in the first game when they "only" beat a horrible Citadel team by seven on the road. This isn't 2016. This is a pretty good football team and Rob had a bad night. He admitted it. But let's talk about how shitty this team is because they blew the game at home to Villanova in OT and lost to JMU, Duquesne in the monsoon and CAA Champ Maine. As for adjustments made on the defensive side of the ball? Is there one person on here who even mentioned the defense other than me? Daniels had a bad night as well. They stunk other than the two forced turnovers. BTW. This team is being held together by glue right now. The loss of Shane should diminish their offensive explosion. But hey, it's probably Rob's fault because he had Shane returning kicks. Signed, Mat Ambrose

A few things. I would say that the crowd would have been larger had Villanova brought more than 100 people. I also wonder if people turned around when they saw the traffic jam on Osler and TowsonTown. Also, looking through my binoculars at the parking lot, the students had a blast before the game and some during the game. I would say that number would have been close to 9,000 had they actually come into the stadium. Traffic-wise it seems as though we're not suited for crowds over 5,000 people. I got out of the press conference 20 minutes later and there was still a slight traffic jam getting out so I went to the tailgate, where most people had left. Just wanted to avoid the traffic. But overall, it's good to see the energy and the improvements of the crowd. Marketing has done a nice job. Wondering what people think can be improved in the game-day experience. Even though I'm in the press box, I'm not sure the music (metal and hard rock from the 70s) fits the clientele on the student-side. I think they played something from Black Sabbath (with RJD) and I'm thinking, I get that they are trying to blast that when the opponent has the ball, but what about when we have the ball? Shouldn't we play something more modern that the students can get into (with a radio edit of course). Don't you want them to get pumped up?

Good assessment. The lack of a pass rush cost us on 4th and 10 at the 7. We can talk all day about offense but we put up 45 points last night and we're still talking about the poor calls in overtime as the reason we lost.We don't have a Ryan Delaire. We don't even have a Romale Tucker. Two tall, athletic defensive ends who could cause havoc. I was hoping that Marcus Bowman at 6-2, 260 could cause some of that along with Gibbs, but they are barely playing right now, I assume for injury reasons. Same thing with Quashon Alexander, who to me, is more of a 4-3 end. He's an athlete but hasn't really shown much either here or in Nebraska. I wonder if he's playing out of position. More of an OLB to me. Their offensive line by the way is better. We couldn't even protect TF on the Hail Mary pass at the end of regulation. He was under duress and his mobility and strength (again) saved a few more sacks.

Defense has always been the problem. I don't think there's such thing as a great defense at this level. You can't completely stop an a spread offense with a good offensive line, quarterback and receivers. You don't need a great defense. How about a good one. Yes, recruiting has been the problem and probably scheme. I like some of the things new DC Eric Daniels has done but let's face it, we're not ready yet. We went to a 3-4 defense with 4-3 personnel. We still need bigger linebackers to rush the passer. We just lost arguably our most talented defensive player in DeBerry and probably Ron Johnson, who could have been a monster inside. I think we added some pretty good transfers this season but yes, we've really misfired on recruiting, especially on the defensive line. For example, John Mullins should have been a mainstay on the defensive line by now but he was moved to the offensive line because he didn't he wasn't good enough to be in the rotation. BTW, you can't tell me we didn't have enough talent from 2011-2013 on defense. It starts with Hach. We had three NFL guys on that defense in Tye Smith, Dangerfield and Delaire. Had CFL guys in Beltre and Telvion Clark. Another very good linebacker in Gaddis, who played semi-pro. Two good interior linemen in Farmer and Desir. Yet we were average at best. Hmm.

It's a shame but you know there are penalty flags and then there are red flags.

I doubt it. Could you imagine if he stuck around, the combo of him and Shane for four years?

But in my last rambling post of the night, I get it. Losing in front of the biggest crowd in five years sucks. Losing in overtime but coming back, when half the crowd has left, doesn't make it any easier. Many questionable calls by Ambrose and Daniels, hell, Villanova outplayed us most of the night and barely won. Their coaches were cursing after that game running out of the press box. Banging the doors. They wanted that bad. They got a bit lucky because they nearly gave the game away but we whipped their ass last year and they remembered. That Yeedee hit on special teams was played about 100 times last year. They kind of got us back. I'm not really concerned about the crowd in three weeks. We'll be 4-2 by then on Oct. 12. Hope we're somewhat healthy. It will be a bit cooler but that game is at 4pm. So maybe we'll get 5,000 instead of 9.000. We'll be ranked somewhere in the top 20 (14-16?). My bigger concern is making the playoffs without Shane Simpson and whether we can get very far with a defense that forces our offense to put up 45+ a game to win and now we've lost three key members due to knee injuries on that side of the ball.

Now looking back to third and fourth-and-one in overtime. Even if we had it off to Yeedee and he gets the first down. Eventually we score. Do we win it in the second overtime? Probably not because we can't stop them. But I think RA probably overthought a few things or he was trying to protect Yeedee. Box was stacked and he just got injured. Maybe he didn't want to get re-injured or thought he could have their safeties or linebackers bite but they didn't. They were much more disciplined than our defense. But yes, Rob deserves credit for the 3-0 start and blame for the loss tonight. Forget 3rd and 4th and 1. Should have squib kicked after that long return. Not sure why he didn't take the out of bounds penalty on that kickoff and had them kick it again (no more Shane Simpson to return it). Some of those long throws were on Flacco taking chances but sure, we took too many shots, especially on third down, instead of going for easier pass. Maybe that was on Tom or not having Jabari in the game.

I wonder how we approach this game. Of course, you want to win and at least compete. If you are losing big at the half, take out Shane Leatherbury, and some of the key guys on offense. Not saying that's going to happen, but if we can't stop Villanova, not sure how we're going to stop a big, physical Florida team with speed everywhere.

BS. You can criticize as much as you want. Just don't like the name-calling. It's ok for a 6th grader. But I get it. You were waiting for the first loss to pull out your old bag of tricks. Rob sucks. Rob's a clown. Bozo. Funny. He had a bad night. He admitted it. We lost 52-45 in overtime in front of nearly 9,000 people. Terrible loss to a 4-0 team. Pathetic. Let's bring in another coach right now. Maybe Jim Harbaugh can come in.

Like I said, Tom didn't work the middle of the field like I normally does. That's where they miss Allen and his size and length (6-4, 200). Leatherbury isn't that guy consistently because he's smaller and Daniel Thompson (hip) was probably limited but you still have Street, Smith and Rutkowski. He did take a few too many chances downfield, which is basically like hit or miss. You might get a catch, drop, incompletion or a PI. But that's not a high percentage pass. You want to see Tom throw one to the sidelines to Street or Leatherbury. It was good to say him go back to Smith late in the game.

Rob Ambrose opening statement "Hats off to Coach Ferrante and their kids. That's a very, very, very good football team. They brought their A game tonight. After last year, we knew that was coming. They were impressive on both sides of the ball and on special teams. Also, I'd like to thank the Towson faithful that filled the stands tonight, made a whole lot of noise that made a difference in the game. They enjoyed their Saturday night. This was how Saturday night football is supposed to be. I hope to see more. That was pretty high entertainment value for your dollar. As far as the game, I put this me. I didn't call a good game. I didn't get us right. We were a little bit hungover from the Maine win. That was a very big win for the program but we didn't respond fast enough to play a quality opponent like Villanova. That's on me. We will have a better week of practice." Keys to the loss "We were bad on third downs. There are gaudy numbers as both sides put up crazy numbers on offense. You have to stop them. But basically in the end, you have to make the most of your opportunities. We had tons of opportunities to win this ballgame. We didn't. We gave it away. We have to get better at that." Flacco on hangover effect "Not at all. If anything, it's the opposite. Maybe Caleb Smith dropping the ball? He just gets too amped up. He's a worker. He just has to relax. He came back in the second half and was awesome. There were some plays I wish I had back and other plays I'm sure guys would want back. We didn't get the job done in the overtime and I wish we would have scored a TD late in the game instead of kicking a field goal." Flacco on next man up and missing Shane and Jabari "Those guys are talented players. There are more (injuries). We're not thinking about that at all. Just next man up. Lament on the loss. We have to cut the bleeding. Ambrose on injuries "Anybody have a voodoo doll and can rub it? We've had six knees (injuries) in four games. If you have a chance, give us a good juju. We can take it right now." We had enough good football players. Heyward on third downs A lot of things. Some times we were out of position. They were sometimes more physical than we were.