Leave a comment
-
dawgfromduluth
Posts: 1,189 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
I haven’t seen real accountability from Kirby—only the ritualized “that’s on me” after the damage is done. Accountability isn’t a phrase; it’s action. And the action that’s missing is surrounding himself with elite support again. This staff is not on the level of what won national championships. He needs a new defensive coordinator, a new offensive coordinator, and upgrades at key position groups to improve preparation, in-game management, and play calling.
The results show it. Recruiting momentum is slipping. And when your offensive coordinator goes on national television and says his primary mission is to “develop men of character,” it raises a hard question: since when did that come at the expense of developing champions?
The contrast is glaring. This program was sharper, more ruthless, and more innovative when Monken and Lanning were in the building. Kirby built something special—but sustaining it requires hard choices, not platitudes.
-
87dawg
Posts: 892 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
And “F” for the Dawgnation staff for setting up a non-working comment section during the game and then disappearing without anyone ever checking to see if it is working.
Story links that don’t work (two in one week), including one that was a simple roundabout link to the homepage (Beck/Miami story), and twice with comment sections that give missing component errors, meaning no comments. You guys may do good reporting but who would know?
-
87dawg
Posts: 892 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
The consistently questionable grading of the receivers is perplexing to me. You know why Sacovie was the only other receiver to catch a pass? It is because he is the only other receiver to have one THROWN TO HIM.
It is the same way most every game. You have an incredible weapon in Bell and sure hands in Humphreys yet you avoid them like the plague. You don’t pass across the middle and opt for a sideline screen or a bomb. Terrible, terrible play calling.
Yet, even with the lack of ability to rein in the backyard quarterback, if Frazier doesn’t get hurt (which looked deliberate, to me), we win that game at the end.
-
osmosiphobe
Posts: 716 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
Sorry, buddy, but you know you're you're speaking out of your feelings and out of your butt. Give it a minute. Sit on it. Then name three reasons you'd put Gunner between Carson Beck and red-headed-what's-his-name…
-
BillKing
Posts: 162 ✭✭✭ Junior
Injuries and poor play calling on both offense and defense contributed to Georgia’s disappointing loss to Ole Miss in Thursday night’s Sugar Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game. To read more about the game, check out my latest Junkyard Blawg.
-
osmosiphobe
Posts: 716 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
Y’all need to lay off Gunner. Dude is straight up bad-ass. He knows the system, is smart, and is tough as nails. Did his line always let him work to the best of his abilities? No. But. Bo back to the TD where he works a perfect fake and rushes for a TD. Tell me that wasn’t magic!!
Did Chambliss do well against our D last night? Sure. So? That was one game. We’re not going to win the N every year. The result of this game was definitely not on Stockton. 1-2 bad calls (though it was relatively even, but with different stakes - yards cs TDs), 1 botched play, and one missed kick and things are different.
The 3rd Q was lame, and I can’t make sense of it, but that wasn’t on GS.
Debbie Downer (forgot your tag, and don’t care to scroll down to it; I’m not convinced you’re not an AI-driven Florida fan) mentioned how off GD’s 50-yd pass was, but failed to mention all the interference that happened along the way. Meh. We’ve seen all season how accurate GS can be, AND the fact that he has an arm.
Folks are talking out of their feelings right now. Whatever. Connor’s C+ is dumb. You can’t have ten grades in the Bs, two canceling each other out in the Cs, and get a C+. As a teacher, that’s not how grades work.
Dawgs dawgged, but were inconsistent. Having our best D player stolen from us by a bs targeting call, Tolliver snapping what should have been an fake, and having Frazier go down just before we needed an end zone rush drove some thick nails.
We barely lost against what should really be the second best team in the SEC (we still outscored them) at the last second in a high-stakes game. It was a good season.
-
reddawg1
Posts: 4,507 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
You can say whatever you want about getting the bye but the UGA defense that played against Ga TEch and Bama was not the same defense that was out there last night. THere's not a chance in the world that if we had played Ole Miss the week after BAMA that we give up 39 points. We actually gave up more points last night than when we beat them and eveyone felt like the defense was trash the 1st 3 quarters of that game! Ole Miss average scoring 37 points in 2 games with us and 42 points in two gamews against Tulane! Just 5 points difference! I wonder how many 4 and 5 stars Tulane has?
-
DawgDad1958
Posts: 30 ✭✭ Sophomore
Ole Miss wins without Kiffen (always felt Lane was overrated). I'm sorry, but the secondary is mediocre and inconsistent (always felt Everette was not much of a tackler). Where was the Offensive line? I thought Kirby was a great 2nd half adjuatment guy? Don't forget that 7 of those points were from the Defense (yeah, but I atill stand by my Everette comment). Recruiting has always been a puzzle for me (I think RandomFan summed things up pretty well there). Out of 8 CFB quarter final games in past 2 years, only 1 bye team (Indiana) won. I'm a JMU grad (yeah, Cignetti's previous school) but my daughter went to Georgia and I will always be a Dawg fan...just feeling a bit disappointed because I REALLY wanted to see them play Miami (I assume Kirby knows Beck's flaws). Oh well...next year!
-
Stiffneck
Posts: 429 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
@deputydog Yeah that throw to Delp was a real head scratcher. It never had a chance.
-
deputydog
Posts: 506 ✭✭✭✭ Senior
Go back and watch the game or any game this year, what you will see is a QB that was limited in his abilities to read progressions and push the ball down the field. You will also see that Bobo and Kirby did not trust him to do that. He was always late and he did not have the imagination to see recievers open or throw them open. Remember Bennett was older and just a special player that grew into the role. He was different than the Aaron Murray types that had been the UGA QB for many years limited in ability but decent in being a QB. Beck was a different type of QB, but limit in his communication skill when it was right it was ok. When it was wrong he was not able to lift the team. Gunner was a return to the Aaron Murray, Jake Fromm types and it showed. Maybe Bobo did not help with his conservative play calling or myabe he know more than we do. I watched all year and knew we were leaving points on the field. Case in point: On the last drive to Delp a good QB and a good coordinator would have had option 1 Young and option 2 Branch as his progressions or vice o versa. Gunner locked on to Delp even though he was never open not at no point yet he threw it any way. A QB has to have a lot of faith in the receiver in that instance hoping he makes a play. Young was open but you had to be percise and move the db with you eyes. Gunner did neither. Don't get me wrong I am not bashing Gunner he is and was the QB. He had an off night. None of his throws were perfect even the touchdown to Branch was an adjustment by him. Where do we go from here only Kirby knows, I can question his time and game management, but I will not question him as the right coach.
-
Stiffneck
Posts: 429 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
Coaching = F
4th and 2 from your own 33 yard line -
“We screwed that up a little bit,” Smart said in his postgame news conference. “We had a misfire. It was a changeup from a look we had done twice and we knew teams were going to sit back and not honor us because we had not snapped it on those plays in two different locations, two different times. And the ball was not supposed to be snapped in that situation. But that was on us as coaches, that was on me and our guys, it’s not on the players. And Gunner and those guys did a nice job executing it.
“We did feel like we had lost momentum at that point and the book says we need to go for it. There’s probably another way I’d like to have gone for it but we did not execute the situation really well there. It’s a situation where it gave us an either or, we didn’t have to snap it. We can take a delay, sit back and see what happens just to take a chance.”
Ole Miss scored a touchdown two plays later when QB Trinidad Chambliss found Harrison Wallace III in the end zone to extend the lead to 10 points.
What book is he reading that he needs to throw away? 3 point game with over nine minutes to go. Pulling a DeBoer.
-
dawgfromduluth
Posts: 1,189 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
Just heard Bobo say that his goal is to build men of character.
-
Topdog
Posts: 283 ✭✭ Sophomore
randomsportsfan Posts: 103 ✭✭✭ Junior11:24AM
@UGA66
No, you shouldn't question the coaching. You should question the recruiting philosophy. I get grief on here for not being a Georgia fan but sometimes an outsider perspective helps. I have been pointing out for weeks that UGA lacks big plays on offense: whether vertical passing plays or long runs. It isn't coaching that sets those things up. It is tailbacks and WRs with the ability to outrun the defense and QBs with the ability to out throw it. You shouldn't be surprised. Kirby Smart is in year 10 in Athens. In all that time he hasn't recruited a single 1st round pick at QB, WR or RB, whether from high school, JUCO or via portal/NIL. It isn't for lack of resources. UGA isn't some tiny private school in Montana. Instead, Smart really doesn't seem to want those guys. He certainly doesn't go out of his way to attract them. Instead Smart prefers players who remind him of himself: guys who rely on effort and smarts as opposed to big time ability. When those guys turn out to be Stetson Bennett IV and Ladd McConkey, great. But they're far more likely to turn out to be London Humphries, who Smart just had to have out of the portal from Vandy because he made a single big play against a bored UGA defense in a 37-20 loss. Contrast that to Ohio State, who took a guy who rushed for 1560 yards and 16 TDs in the SEC as a true freshman out of the portal and used him to win the national title. If Ole Miss had Quinshon Judkins last year, they probably win the national title instead of Ohio State. Exactly what is getting guys like Humphries, Trevor Etienne and Dom Lovett from the portal - and relying on guys like Dillon Bell, Arian Smith and Cash Jones for years - going to accomplish in the playoff against programs that have future NFL players at every level on defense?Smart and company have done this great job constructing this "no stars" line, with the idea that all the selfish players interested in big stats, the NIL and getting to the NFL go to the "bad programs" to play for "bad coaches." It makes no sense because UGA has never had a problem with "stars" at the positions that Smart acknowledges that big time ability is a need and not a want: OT, DT, pass rusher and DB. It is absurd to think that it is bad to have a WR who wants to have 1000 yards receiving and catch a bunch of downfield passes because "he isn't a team player and UGA isn't about that" but to have LBs who lead the SEC in tackles and win the Butkus Award year in and year out like UGA has under Smart is perfectly fine. Having Heisman candidates at RB and WR? Can't do that at UGA because those guys are selfish! But all those Outland trophies that UGA offensive linemen win? Those are great!Year after year Smart tries to win titles without the firepower at QB, WR and lately RB that other contenders have. And the only two years where this actually worked were 2021 and 2022 when UGA had generational talent on defense AND Brock Bowers on offense. (Don't say SB IV, because the guy was part of the 2020 debacle where UGA lost the SEC East.) At some point someone needs to call out the "trying the same thing and expecting different results" thing. Especially if you look at the 2026 recruiting class and see how light it is at top 100 WRs and RBs. Which, the 2025 haul at WR aside, is the new normal. And of course, as top 100 high school WR recruits saw how UGA's big time WR recruits weren't allowed to get on the field for a team where only Zachariah Branch had more than 27 catches, please no one call future WR recruits who decline a similar experience in Athens "selfish" OK?Only in Athens does Cash Jones have more catches than Talyn Taylor, CJ Wiley, Jaden Redell and Thomas Blackshearcombined.Flag Quote · Off Topic Vote Down 2Vote Up
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
You hit the nail on the head! Kirby needs to read this outsider evaluation.!
-
-
Tswood1959
Posts: 718 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
$13 mill a year will change a coach. Totally correct about no killer instinct
-
JBMDawg46
Posts: 1,015 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
@randomsportsfan You make some very good points. However, coaching is relevant. Indiana has ZERO 4 and 5 star recruits. ZERO! Bama, like UGA, is loaded with 4 and 5 star recruits. Indiana is not the most talented team I’ve seen this season. Indiana is the best coached team I’ve seen this season.
I watched Indiana destroy a much more talented team 38-3. Yes, I would like to see us have a QB who is bigger, faster, etc. But, make no mistake, our players are more than good enough to win big games. Horrible play calling, poor O Line technique, and less than stellar game planning is why we lost to an Ole Miss team coached by PETE GOLDING for crying out loud.
-
randomsportsfan
Posts: 132 ✭✭✭ Junior
@UGA66 No, you shouldn't question the coaching. You should question the recruiting philosophy. I get grief on here for not being a Georgia fan but sometimes an outsider perspective helps. I have been pointing out for weeks that UGA lacks big plays on offense: whether vertical passing plays or long runs. It isn't coaching that sets those things up. It is tailbacks and WRs with the ability to outrun the defense and QBs with the ability to out throw it. You shouldn't be surprised. Kirby Smart is in year 10 in Athens. In all that time he hasn't recruited a single 1st round pick at QB, WR or RB, whether from high school, JUCO or via portal/NIL. It isn't for lack of resources. UGA isn't some tiny private school in Montana. Instead, Smart really doesn't seem to want those guys. He certainly doesn't go out of his way to attract them. Instead Smart prefers players who remind him of himself: guys who rely on effort and smarts as opposed to big time ability. When those guys turn out to be Stetson Bennett IV and Ladd McConkey, great. But they're far more likely to turn out to be London Humphries, who Smart just had to have out of the portal from Vandy because he made a single big play against a bored UGA defense in a 37-20 loss. Contrast that to Ohio State, who took a guy who rushed for 1560 yards and 16 TDs in the SEC as a true freshman out of the portal and used him to win the national title. If Ole Miss had Quinshon Judkins last year, they probably win the national title instead of Ohio State. Exactly what is getting guys like Humphries, Trevor Etienne and Dom Lovett from the portal - and relying on guys like Dillon Bell, Arian Smith and Cash Jones for years - going to accomplish in the playoff against programs that have future NFL players at every level on defense?
Smart and company have done this great job constructing this "no stars" line, with the idea that all the selfish players interested in big stats, the NIL and getting to the NFL go to the "bad programs" to play for "bad coaches." It makes no sense because UGA has never had a problem with "stars" at the positions that Smart acknowledges that big time ability is a need and not a want: OT, DT, pass rusher and DB. It is absurd to think that it is bad to have a WR who wants to have 1000 yards receiving and catch a bunch of downfield passes because "he isn't a team player and UGA isn't about that" but to have LBs who lead the SEC in tackles and win the Butkus Award year in and year out like UGA has under Smart is perfectly fine. Having Heisman candidates at RB and WR? Can't do that at UGA because those guys are selfish! But all those Outland trophies that UGA offensive linemen win? Those are great!
Year after year Smart tries to win titles without the firepower at QB, WR and lately RB that other contenders have. And the only two years where this actually worked were 2021 and 2022 when UGA had generational talent on defense AND Brock Bowers on offense. (Don't say SB IV, because the guy was part of the 2020 debacle where UGA lost the SEC East.) At some point someone needs to call out the "trying the same thing and expecting different results" thing. Especially if you look at the 2026 recruiting class and see how light it is at top 100 WRs and RBs. Which, the 2025 haul at WR aside, is the new normal. And of course, as top 100 high school WR recruits saw how UGA's big time WR recruits weren't allowed to get on the field for a team where only Zachariah Branch had more than 27 catches, please no one call future WR recruits who decline a similar experience in Athens "selfish" OK? Only in Athens does Cash Jones have more catches than Talyn Taylor, CJ Wiley, Jaden Redell and Thomas Blackshear combined.
-
RedPantsDawg
Posts: 252 ✭✭✭✭ Senior
B- for the WR's? Where were Bell and Thomas?! Zero production. This was one of the most puzzling games I've seen UGA play in a long time for so many reasons. Coaching gets a big F for that screwed up 4th down call. How does the guy touching the ball not know what he is supposed to do?!
-
UGACC
Posts: 47 ✭✭✭ Junior
I think Gunner's toughness and ability to make something out of nothing is one of the main reasons we even had a chance yesterday. Our players are awesome. Kirby is awesome. We are not going to do better, as I don't think there is a better head coach out there. Having said that, in the last 3 years 11 teams have won a CFB playoff game. UGA is not one of them. I'm not smart enough to know what's gotta change (coordinators, recruiting, etc.). Only smart enough to know something needs to if UGA wants to win another one in the next few years.
-
David1
Posts: 1,515 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
Coaching: a big fat F- !
What we all witnessed last night was embarrassing in all phases of the game, especially coaching and in game decisions that kept putting our players in terrible situations. Kirby does not have that killer instinct anymore.
-
Vetdawg
Posts: 1,121 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
misspelled a couple letters there.
Straight F’s for lines of scrimmages. The 4th and 2 debacle in the 4th was a failure by every definition and having so many batted balls 🤦♂️. -
HellHound
Posts: 115 ✭✭✭ Junior
Lane Kiffen on a conference call with the 5 Ole Miss coaches after the Sugar bowl. Great win guys. Y’all made me half a million. I got a jet picking yall up in 30 minutes. Soon as you get to the Bayou yall are getting spray tans bc yall look like Yankees and that’s not cool. We are hosting a toga party a quarter mile from the Quad with an Otis Day and Knights cover band, Howard and the Hand Grenades, George T and the Delaware Destroyers. We are guest judges and they are taking cell phones and car keys at the door. Act and absolute fool. I love College. I love America. See yall when I see ya. Great gameplan!!!
-
khummel
Posts: 1,310 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
When your teacher doesn't put you in position to do well (instruction + fair test), it's really hard to get good grades. Go Dawgs!
-
randomsportsfan
Posts: 132 ✭✭✭ Junior
@lucydog On a first quarter drive, Stockton threw a deep ball to Zachariah Branch to the sideline that went 50 yards in the air. Seemed to be either an attempt to catch Ole Miss off guard for an easy score or something designed to force Ole Miss to change their defense. Failed on both counts. The ball was poorly thrown plus the DB was able to easily single cover downfield Branch, who is a quick elusive slot WR as opposed to a tall fast split end. The only way the ball was ever going to be caught was if the DB tripped and fell down. Otherwise it was more likely to be intercepted than caught. Also as it was clearly a scripted play rather than a read or something set up with hook/hook/hook-and-go or play action, it isn't something that would have forced Ole Miss to change how they defended UGA even if it had been caught.
-
UGA66
Posts: 4,601 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
Absolutely…I agree. Georgia has peaked as a team and changes must be made. QB is too mediocre. Just for one.
-
HellHound
Posts: 115 ✭✭✭ Junior
Ole Miss is paying Kiffen half a million for making it to the semi finals. Lane Kiffen loves this Country.
-
NorthHallDawg
Posts: 214 ✭✭✭✭ Senior
Now, what we have to worry about is being devastated by the portal. In a perfect scenario, CJ Allen, Raylan Wilson, Monroe Freeling, and Ernest Green return. We’re losing three good receivers to eligibility, and frankly, the highly touted Taylor and Wiley haven’t shot confidence way up for the future. I think it’s almost a necessity to pull Cam Coleman out of the transfer portal and pray that Branch stays. Another possibility is that our latest five-star TE, Kaiden Prothro, does not gain weight and remains a WR. That might not be a bad thing, as the TE room will still be stacked. Next year, it looks like the top three TEs will be Luckie, Barbour, and Williams. Reddell is a great blocker, so I’d like to see him take on a more “H-Back” type of role. Expect Henrich to transfer; poor guy is a three-star drowning in a sea of four- and five-star talent. Newcomers Keyes and Fogle will have to pay their dues, but they are very promising. At Running Back, expect to see Rod Robinson hit the portal; it just hasn’t worked out. Frazier and Walker are the quickest, most explosive RBs we have. Bowens is good, Bowens is fast, but he ain’t “sudden.” McCray is out of eligibility, so I think it would behoove us to bring in another RB in the mold of Frazier and Walker. At QB, I don’t think anyone can doubt Stockton’s intestinal fortitude; however, has he reached his ceiling? He’s just not effective as a downfield passer. Maybe we need to find a Trinidad in the portal???? Puglisi to me is an enigma. Can stand flat-footed and throw it sixty yards, but not sure about his pocket moxie and decision-making abilities. Montgomery has had rave reviews, but that’s come against the third stringers. Offensive Line, it would be great if Freeling and Greene return, but more importantly, we need a coach. Searels isn’t the answer. There's a certain guy named Pittman, who I hear is available… On defense, it would be a blessing if Allen and Wilson return a la Chubb and Michel, but Cole and Williams have proven themselves more than capable. The D Line needs more dominance in the 3-technique slot, and we need more and better depth at the Edge position. We have good replacements and incoming talent for special teams. Drew Miller will replace Thorson and Snellings for Garner; I don’t see much, if any, drop off here. We have the number one kicker and punter in the nation coming in this spring as well. Now, let’s look at coaching. Kirby places a great emphasis on recruiting, but at what price? I’m sorry, there are much better secondary coaches out there than T-Rob and Williams. In fact, IMO, I think Kirby ought to have ditched T-Rob and paid Muschamp to stay as Safeties coach and co-defense coordinator. Coley can recruit, but he’s just not a superior WR Coach. Maybe it’s time to give Hines Ward a call. Trey Scott is one of the best D-line coaches, and he and Coach Uzo-Diribe seem to be very cohesive. Schumann needs to do a deep self-evaluation and work on his weaknesses. Without Muschamp as his second chair, he’s been in decline. All of a sudden, the “Schumann will be a head coach soon” talk has gone away. There’s a reason for that… Hartley is the best TE coach in the nation. Pay him what he wants. Bobo, ah Bobo, the fans' pet hate. I don’t know. Schizophrenia comes to mind. One game brilliant; the next awful. More consistency in play calling would help. We were spoiled with Monken, admit it. Finally, the man himself, Kirby. At 10 years, two NCs, and 4 SEC titles, he still screws up game management regularly, often at the very worst times. For every brilliant onside kick or fake punt call, there are 3 game management screw-ups. But… They say you got to dance with the “one that brung ya…” Well… Just saying there are better and more consistent coaches out there than Searels, T-Rob, Williams, Coley, and Bobo. Finally, NIL. While it will be hard to compete with Texas Oil money, we aren’t lacking in resources here. We need to spend wisely and copiously for the 3 or 4 players that will put us over the top. Oh, and for the love of God, avoid the playoff bye and Sugar Bowl like the plague!
-
HellHound
Posts: 115 ✭✭✭ Junior
Be glad we are not Ole Miss fans. Half their staff is headed back to Baton Rouge to get spray tanned and attend a toga party with an Otis Day and the Knights cover band and Lane Kiffen judging the wet toga contest. Also realizing that this is it. What does next year hold. Georgia fans we are in better positions then 98% of teams.
-
lucydog
Posts: 810 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
Correct me if I'm wrong, but for the first 50 minutes of the game, I don't think Stockton threw a pass that actually traveled 10 yards past the line of scrimmage. Is there something this coaching staff isn't telling us about Gunner? Perhaps the many batted down passes speak for themselves. It also seems like the defense has taken a step back—absolutely no pass rush and a most definite inability to keep the Reb's offence from moving down the field like a freight train.
-
flipside
Posts: 224 ✭✭✭✭ Senior
Third quarter killed us, had chances to extend the lead but rather gave way too many possessions to a really good offense.
-
HellHound
Posts: 115 ✭✭✭ Junior
Not having Harris, then losing Wilson and Thomas on defense definitely changed the game. College football is a clown show. You got players on playoff teams transferring today. Half the ole Miss coaching staff is headed to Baton Rouge instead of coaching in the semi finals. Kiffen is in Oxford doing hot Pilates then getting that elite spray tan and flying back to Baton Rouge. Sort of hard to take this sport serious.
-
UGA66
Posts: 4,601 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
I do not question the team fight…I do question coaching…as usual. I will say I wish we had Chambliss. Every since Bennett, UGA has had mediocre QBs. Stockton tries hard…but simply not elite. Beck would not have lost that game..IMO. Miami could win it all. Ole Miss is not that great…Georgia is just worse. Cannot get past even the first round of playoffs. Josh Brooks did not sleep well last night. Kirby needs to think long and hard about this program's coaching. UGA has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into football and NIL …for what? Win in the season, lose in the big playoff games every time..routine. Look at Bama…Sabin leaves and down goes Bama. LSU the same. Now, with Kiffin, and purloined Ole Miss coaches, LSU will climb back to the top. Georgia may lose many games next season. Kirby talks physicality…Ole Miss out muscled Georgia. Very dissapointing game…IMO!!!
-
MontanaDawg
Posts: 2,891 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
Coaching: C
Too many peaks and valleys, Too much school yard football, gritty & tough, really good but not great…that's the 2025 Georgia Bulldogs. I feel like we've seen this kind of team before.
Nothing wrong with that, but I'd love to see something different and more effective going forward…and I think so would the fans.
Has Stockton hit his ceiling? Is gritty, resilient, and tough enough in today's game?
