Why aren't receivers catching passes?

Okay, no blaming coaches in this thread. Lets seriously examine what is making these receivers not catch passes that hit them in the hands. Each of these receivers were the best receiver on their high school team, but obviously not the best in the nation.



Originally many people blamed the difference of having a righty and lefty throwing to them, but after three weeks of 100% of the snaps, that doesn't seem to be likely. I assume they are catching in practice, they were in the open practices. I assume that Heaps late night practices are not just a series of throws to drops.



Is it mental? is there some kind of a grudge?



Please don't respond, "So and so sucks, they should be off the team" So and so at one time was catching enough passes to get recruited to BYU. What has changed?

And it's not just catching the passes, it is lack of separation against mediocre defenses, not running through routes, (Ashworth and Jacobsen are both guilty of this MULTIPLE times) and I have seen the others do it a few times as well. I don't want to bring this back to the coaches, but I don't know why there would be such a lack of effort... You remember a few years ago when a couple people on the D had a problem with Jamie, and a few ended up even transferring? I wonder if this is like that, but on offense. I really see no reason for them to up and quit a few games into the season.



I wonder is it the qb2 that caused such serious rifts on the team? And they need a Zel-like "if we don't come together on this field, on this day..." Gettysburg kick-A sermon? I have few answers, only questions. The one thing I'll never question is my love for the cougars. I just wish we ran a tighter ship, so that I didn't have to look up north and wonder what might have been.

coaching or not, these receivers should all know how to catch a ball before they get here, that's why I don't really want to talk too much about coaching, it's too easy of a scapegoat.

hawkwing wrote:
coaching or not, these receivers should all know how to catch a ball before they get here, that's why I don't really want to talk too much about coaching, it's too easy of a scapegoat.

Yeah, 100% agreed. Let's get Sno, the receiver on this... Why would you not run through a route, etc? Us D-line guys would play through no matter what the score, because we knew we had Hell to pay come monday after school. Our D-line coach wasn't happy after a loss until everyone had thrown up at least once from running sprints. I swear he was looking for that, and counting it...



Here I go talking about coaches again, sorry... :whistle:



I am in agreement that this shouldn't be a problem. I mean everyone drops passes once in a while... But I have never seen dropped passes like this, from a once winning (last few years) byu team.



Is it spillover from Max not spreading the ball last year?



Is it the REASON Max didn't spread the ball last year outside the usual 3? If this kind of problem existed last year, I have a newfound greater respect for Max, because that would mean instead of choosing 2-3 targets and locking in, he was handcuffed to 2-3 targets, and still completed most of the throws anyways. I've never thought about that before...

One of the things I've noticed from the first game onward was, how many passes hit receivers in the helmet, the facemask, the shoulder pads, etc. This reveals a lack of concentration. A receiver is able to judge the velocity of a pass well before it arrives, and adjusts his anticipation of the force of his hands on the ball in order to stop its forward motion. The number of balls that hit our receivers in the facemask, reveals a serious lack of concentration by receivers and tight ends.



I have also observed no receivers "laying out" to catch a pass, if it's not right to their hands, they let it go...un-caught. Some deep balls, I believe, could have been caught only if the receiver had stretched out and lunged to the ball. This is a lack of effort.



I've also noticed a number of passes (several against USU), in which the pass was on the high side (maybe intentionally), the receiver gets both hands on the ball, but it slips through and falls to the ground. (some passes were not even high, but right at shoulder height). So the ball is clearly catchable, and the receiver is able to get both hands on the ball, but fails to catch it. Again, I think lack of concentration may be the cause. I find it hard to believe, at this point, that receivers are unaware of the velocity Heaps puts on the ball, and just "can't hang on" to the pass.



Patrick Higgins is the "outside" receivers coach, Anae is the "outside" receivers coach, I believe. Are there technique issues here? are their discipline issues here? do the receivers have some fundamental problem with Heaps? with HIggins? with Anae? Do the receivers coaches fail to instruct the basics of route running? pass catching? etc? I don't know. But it is very disconcerting, and disturbing, and frustrating that we have an entire team of receivers who cannot catch passes.

I was wondering if they were doing it on purpose? Could it be that they are thinking about not dropping it? Pressure getting to them? Maybe the first throw to each receiver should be easy like a screen or something to build their confidence.

Pres. Uchtdorf may have just hit the nail on the head, "fundamentals." "Gentlemen, this is a football." Maybe Bronco needs to begin as Vince Lombardi began, "Gentlemen, this is a football."

BlueIsBetter wrote:

Is it the REASON Max didn't spread the ball last year outside the usual 3? If this kind of problem existed last year, I have a newfound greater respect for Max, because that would mean instead of choosing 2-3 targets and locking in, he was handcuffed to 2-3 targets, and still completed most of the throws anyways. I've never thought about that before...

I think you hit the nail on the head here. Take away Collie, Pitta, and Jacobsen (and perhaps George), and you have a MUCH less potent passing offense with Max Hall.

I think we all seriously underestimated just how crucial Hall, Unga, Pitta, and Collie were to this offense, and seriously overestimated the talent of those replacing them.

Dale Murphy started out in the majors playing catcher, and he was a pretty dang good catcher too. One day though, he threw the ball back to the pitcher and accidentally threw it over his head, and a runner advanced on the throwing error. That mistake got in Murph's head, and he began to overthink what was he was doing and started to overthink his routine throws back to the pitcher. His throws to try and catch runners stealing started getting sprayed all over the infield. He just couldn't do it. The manager still wanted Murph's bat, so he put him in the outfield where he went on to become one of the greats of his time, and oddly enough, he was respected for his accuracy in his outfield assists. For some reason, his head got messed up, and he could never make infield throws, but he could nail the long throws from the outfield.



I think we have a similar issue in the receiving corps. A few rough days of dropped balls in camp, coaches yell at you, and suddenly you are playing a bit more tense and overthinking what should simply come naturally. This was probably exacerbated by the competition for starting spots.



What's more frustrating is the lack of effort across the board on offense. There is not a leader on the offensive side of the ball holding teammates responsible. Matt Reynolds is the leader of the offense, but he's going at it with a quiet workmanlike attitude that only works when you are winning. There is no one in the receiving corps that is trying to light a fire in the other guys. There is no one leading by example and making that extra effort to get things done. If it's not happening in games, I can only guess what the effort level is in practice. No one is setting the bar for excellence, so anything goes.



The future isn't looking good either. If they don't turn a corner this week, you might as well forget any improvement over the rest of the season. If they start thinking this is a lost season--a "rebuilding year," what is their motivation to improve here and now when the urgency is gone? This is simply a group of receivers (and an offense as a whole) without a leader driving them to excel. Someone needs to step up and show the way.

bball wrote:
Pres. Uchtdorf may have just hit the nail on the head, "fundamentals." "Gentlemen, this is a football." Maybe Bronco needs to begin as Vince Lombardi began, "Gentlemen, this is a football."

:lol: I was just thinking the same thing.



UCHTDORF FOR OC!!!

Italics wrote:

Pres. Uchtdorf may have just hit the nail on the head, "fundamentals." "Gentlemen, this is a football." Maybe Bronco needs to begin as Vince Lombardi began, "Gentlemen, this is a football."

:lol: I was just thinking the same thing.



UCHTDORF FOR OC!!!

Oh man, he could yell at them in German! I love that man.

bball wrote:

Patrick Higgins is the "outside" receivers coach, Anae is the "outside" receivers coach, I believe. Are there technique issues here? are their discipline issues here? do the receivers have some fundamental problem with Heaps? with HIggins? with Anae? Do the receivers coaches fail to instruct the basics of route running? pass catching? etc? I don't know. But it is very disconcerting, and disturbing, and frustrating that we have an entire team of receivers who cannot catch passes.

I think you meant Anae is the "inside" receivers coach.

Honestly, I would start sitting guys for drops. Each drop is worth two quarters of play. If we don't have receivers who can catch it, then we'll line up in the I and run all day.



Some may argue that such a tactic may make them even more conscious of the drops and it will get in their head. My answer is that it's already in their heads and the current approach - whatever it is - is not working. A new approach is needed along multiple fronts.



Isn't one of the definitions of insanity doing the same things and expecting different results.

kitic77 wrote:
Honestly, I would start sitting guys for drops. Each drop is worth two quarters of play. If we don't have receivers who can catch it, then we'll line up in the I and run all day.



Some may argue that such a tactic may make them even more conscious of the drops and it will get in their head. My answer is that it's already in their heads and the current approach - whatever it is - is not working. A new approach is needed along multiple fronts.



Isn't one of the definitions of insanity doing the same things and expecting different results.

Frankly, I'm quite surprised we haven't benched receivers for drops already. This should be a standard procedure and is a great suggestion that shouldn't have had to be made.

Scott johnson said something in postgame that makes sense--without Pitta and George to get the double team, the receivers are actually covered when the ball is thrown their way this year--something they were not used to last year.

niqmadu wrote:
Scott johnson said something in postgame that makes sense--without Pitta and George to get the double team, the receivers are actually covered when the ball is thrown their way this year--something they were not used to last year.

Don't care. They still are not catching the ball. They are dropping balls when they're covered. They're dropping balls when they're open. Johnson's comment is meaningless.



To quote Dan Hawkins, "This ain't intramurals. It's Division I football!" Catch the darn ball!

kitic77 wrote:

Scott johnson said something in postgame that makes sense--without Pitta and George to get the double team, the receivers are actually covered when the ball is thrown their way this year--something they were not used to last year.

Don't care. They still are not catching the ball. They are dropping balls when they're covered. They're dropping balls when they're open. Johnson's comment is meaningless.



To quote Dan Hawkins, "This ain't intramurals. It's Division I football!" Catch the darn ball!

I actually played on intramural teams that had better receivers (less drops).

Indeed...their heads are already screwed up (I guess), so what's to lose, sit the bunch of them down, play the freshmen and see who wants to play for BYU the next three years.

I would like to see Falslev out there. He is showing that he wants to play. I would move him to third string behind Cody and McKay immediately.

The only thing I can think of is lack of focus (they don't care) or lack of heart (they don't care). Catching a football is pretty simple thing to do for anyone with some experience and above average coordination.