A former RB is going to teach his WRs how to run block. That's what springs long TD runs for tailbacks when the receivers are downfield throwing key blocks. We've had some dynamite blocking WRs over the years in Clayton, Bowe, Landry.. it's instrumental we see that continue with Fournette and company with as limited as our passing game often is. Also, I'm betting he tutored AJ Green.
He was the RB coach at Georgia when he first started. AJ isn't the only player he's mentored. Knowshon, Tavarres King, Kris Durham. "Ball has a long history of coaching both receivers and running backs. Prior to joining the Virginia Tech staff, Ball served as receivers coach at Louisville (1995-97), running backs coach at the College of The Holy Cross (1992-94), receivers coach at UT-Chattanooga (1990-91), running backs coach at East Tennessee (1989), and receivers coach at UT-Chattanooga (1988). During the summers of 1996 and '97, Ball participated in the National Football League's Minority Internship Program with the Baltimore Ravens. He interned with the Broncos in 2003. A native of Chattanooga, Tenn., Ball was part of Virginia Tech's rapid rise to national prominence having accompanied the Hokies to eight consecutive bowl games while helping them become a regular in the nation's top ten rankings." Seriously, he was a great hire and I get the feeling that Richt is fuming at McGarity right now.
UGA football signees tweet about coaching rumors February 11, 2015 | Filed in: Georgia Bulldogs, SEC. Two UGA signees at wide receiver apparently reacted to rumors about the future of the team’s coach at wide receiver, Tony Ball – and it caused quite a stir on Twitter. I’m not sure where the rumors originated from. The only thing I could find was a report on Monday from Nola.com’s James Smith mentioning Ball as one of five candidates to potentially replace Adam Henry, who left LSU on Sunday to take a job with the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers. Here’s the tweet from Terry Godwin, the 5-star wide receiver from Callaway who decided on signing day that he would stick with his yearlong commitment to UGA rather than flip to Auburn: They really just waited till MY name was in INK to pull this Here’s the tweet from another UGA signee at wide receiver, Jayson Stanley of Creekside. I wake up and someone tell me coach ball leaving? Finally, there was this tweet from Darius Slayton, the wide receiver from Greater Atlanta Christian who flipped from UGA to Auburn on the eve of signing day: To all the people that bashed me a week ago about loyalty UGA WR coach just left #itgoesbothwaysfolks — Darius Slayton (@Young_Slay2) February 11, 2015 After generating a lot of reaction on Twitter, both Godwin and Slayton deleted their tweets. Then Godwin put this out … http://recruiting.blog.ajc.com/2015/02/10/uga-football-signees-tweet-about-coaching-rumors/
Report: LSU Hires Tony Ball as WR Coach By Paul Crewe @ATVS_PaulCrewe on Feb 13, 2015, 12:00p 27 Derick E.Hingle-USA TODAY Sports Georgia WR coach Tony Ball has been hired to LSU to fill the same position. Reports came through this morning that Georgia Wide Receivers coach Tony Ball has accepted the same position at LSU. At Georgia, Ball coached A.J. Green, Tavarres King, and Kris Durham, who all found NFL jobs. He was also the running backs coach during Knowshon Moreno's career. At Virginia Tech, Ball coached the school's all-time leading receiver, Ernest Wilford, as well as Eddie Royal, who was a Freshman All-American under his tutelage. Ball's coaching chops are well admired. David Ching, who covered Georgia prior to his stint now covering LSU for ESPN.com had this to say: Tyler Dawgden of Dawg Sports added this: Here's some thoughts from Senator Blutarsky of Get the Picture, whose work can be found here. Very good teacher of fundamentals, including down field blocking. Georgia's receivers vastly improved their pass catching skills under Ball from his predecessor, too. I can't say what the specific knock on him as a recruiter is, but if you look at the results, it's pretty clear that his role in that department hasn't been much. Georgia hasn't pulled in many five-star WRs during Ball's tenure, and the kid they did pull in this year's class, Terry Godwin, wasn't Ball's responsibility. (Although Godwin likes Ball, judging from the tweet he sent the other day about Ball's likely departure.) And frankly, when's the last time Georgia didn't feature a strong crew of WRs? Almost always a deep and well-coached group. I think the talent on hand in Baton Rouge should flourish under Ball's coaching. The other side of the equation is recruiting. Georgia fans often complain about the number of top targets leaving the state, most notably guys like Preston Williams this year and Demarcus Robinson two years ago. When you survey his list of commitments, it's not sparkling. Let me offer a couple of caveats here, though. First, Georgia is more traditionally poached than Louisiana. In 2015, for example, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, and 10th ranked players from the State all chose to go elsewhere (two of them to LSU). It would have been 8 of 10, had UCLA not lost their DC to the NFL and Roquan Smith bailed on his commitment to them. Conversely, LSU pulled 6 of Louisiana's top players, and two of the four who left weren't heavily recruited in the first place. Second, Georgia isn't a great state for WR talent. Tremendous on the DL and at RB, but top flight WRs are far more prevalent in Louisiana, even. A.J. Green is from South Carolina, for example. There's also this, from stud WR Terry Godwin, whom Ball didn't not serve as lead recruiter for: Godwin clearly isn't thrilled with the news. So it's safe to say Ball isn't a great recruiter, and likely a step back from Henry, who wasn't an ace, but was a solid hand. He also doesn't fit the profile of a young up and comer. Ball is 55 years old, and more of an old coaching hand. My feelings are somewhat mixed on the hire, but generally, I like it. I don't think LSU will majorly regress in recruiting, especially not with a staff chocked full of aces like Wilson, Raymond, Orgeron and Steele. Let those guy do what they do best. They get Ball the talent and he turns the talent into NFL pros, and the position continues to recruit itself. Outside of Beckham and Landry, it's not like LSU has a ton of great things to point to for stud WRs, but they still had no problem snagging another group of studs in this signing class. I don't think Ball is a HR hire, but he's probably a solid double. This completes the staff, barring a coach taking one of the other vacancies that have developed over the past couple of weeks. How do you feel about the hire? Is Ball the man for the job? http://www.andthevalleyshook.com/2015/2/13/8034311/report-lsu-hires-tony-ball-as-wr-coach
Looks like he did well in the recruiting part, looking back at some of the kids recruited. Yep, take some of these writeup's like I do, look at both sides. I looked at some of the numbers his WR put up over the years.
His commitment list provided in one of those articles didn't really pop to me. UGA fans though if they like his recruiting is all that matters. Besides, right now LSU much more needs a technician and teacher at the WR spot than a recruiter. We've got guys in Frank, Corey, Ed, and Steele that can recruit with the best of them. Bringing in the horses isn't a problem for us. Elevating their play and continuing to put them on the field on Sundays is what allows us to still bring in top flight kids at WR despite our often abysmal passing game.
Agree Brian, the one thing everyone agrees with is his coaching of the young kids. Very detailed, making them run routes, the NFL tree, etc. Some may remember Larry Zeirline who coached years back at LSU. He is the guy that Kevin Mawae said taught him how to be a great OL. Kevin had played OT, OG, Center and a few plays at TE, up till the Spring of his Sr year. Larry moved him to the center position, from there he would be picked in the 2nd round by Seattle. Kevin would play 16 seasons, 8 time All-Pro and 8 time Pro-Bowl. Zeirline has a Coaching Clinic this week... http://www.zierleinclinics.com/index.html Some of the coaches speaking, some of the names you might remember from LSU ... http://www.zierleinclinics.com/speakers.html
New LSU receivers coach Tony Ball talks talent, recruiting and more: Q&A By James Smith on February 13, 2015 at 6:51 PM, updated February 13, 2015 at 10:02 PM New LSU wide receiver coach Tony Ball is due to arrive in Baton Rouge next Wednesday, when LSU coaches and administration return from a short break, to assume his role as the new Tigers coach. On Friday, Ball took some time from his responsibilities to discuss LSU football. Q: How excited are you about the opportunity to coach at LSU? Tony Ball: "Extremely excited. LSU is like Georgia and is one of the top premier programs in the country. Has always been one that has appealed to me. I've always viewed it as a place that the fans are passionate and fanatical about their football program, their sports in Baton Rouge. When we weren't preparing for them I always enjoying watching them and the talent they had on the field. Those things always impressed me an had me intrigued about the program. I'm just anxious to work with Les Miles and those guys on not only making them better football players, but better young men." Q: There is quite the talented group of receivers assembled in Baton Rouge right now that you're fairly familiar with. What is your early take on the talent currently assembled on the roster and history of prospects at the position? Tony Ball:"Not to single out any one guy, but as a group you have a great mixture of players with size like Malachi Dupre and Travin Dural, and then players that may not be as big but are very talented in their skill set. Certainly excited to learn more about them. That's one of the first things I'm going to do is sit down and evaluate each individual player for where those guys are at and the things we can improve on when we start. "Now starting with the incoming guys from the 2015 class lets start with Derrick Dillon. Playing quarterback in high school you don't get to see everything he can do as a receiver. He has the explosiveness, athleticism, the short area explosiveness and competitiveness. You see all the things that make him special. You can also see him make all those long runs and that he has good top end speed. There are some unknowns that I will learn more about when I get to know him. "Tyron Johnson, I got to know him and his dad very well throughout the recruiting process. I was able to watch the talented group they have at Warren Easton. He brings some size, very well put together as a young man. He has that competitiveness and toughness that you like. That it factor. He is quick and shifty and should bring something to that group at the next level. "The other young man I have had an opportunity to watch is Jazz Ferguson and he has great size, 6-4 to 6-5 range. Has great athleticism. The thing I really like is his ability to use his body and his body control and knows how to use his frame to his advantage. He does a great job with his hand-eye coordination. When he gets to full speed he has a great stride and he is able to finish runs for someone as big as he is. "The other kid Brandon Martin. I've had an opportunity to watch him, at 6-foot-4 plus, he has great stride length and fluidity for a receiver his size. He has very good stride frequency which lets him get to top speed in a hurry. His long stride is very good and he shows good run mechanics. With the ball in his hands he is able to change direction and make people miss and separate. I just love watching him. As a group, they're extremely talented and I'm looking forward to get to camp and meet them and their families." Q: You have a reputation of being a detail-oriented coach. How would you describe your coaching style? Tony Ball: "I'm very passionate. I'm passionate about the game, the profession, the wide receiver position; I believe it's the greatest position to play and I'm very passionate about my players. That's what drives me to do the little things that make the difference. That's what I demand in myself and that's what I look for in a student athlete because that's how you achieve greatness." Q: You obviously have a lot of ties in Georgia. Is that something you plan to utilize in recruiting and what areas do you see yourself focusing on? Tony Ball: "The recruiting office and Frank Wilson and his office will determine where I can best be utilized. It will be based on where they want to put me. Obviously the areas I've had a lot of experience is in Georgia, Atlanta, and from Jacksonville through the Orlando area. I've been in the Virginia and the Maryland area so I have a lot of experience in a lot of different places." Q: LSU has a proven, successful offensive coaching staff. What have you learned about them over the past week that had you comfortable to make the move? Tony Ball: "The communication I've had with them on the phone, the way in which they communicated gave me a level of comfort about them. You start to get a sense of people and their heart when conversing with them. When you look at the spirit of the person you can get a sense of their character. Coach Frank Wilson and Les Miles have been great throughout the process. I have been around Cam Cameron in the interview process and it was a very relaxed, but business oriented environment and that's what I told my wife. The way we would converse about things gave me a sense that they had good people in the room and a respect in the room that I really, really liked. Frank has a calm, confidence about him and a certainty that's impressive." Q: The legend of Baton Rouge on Saturday nights has become a symbol for the passion that defines college football. You coached in Death Valley in 2008 as the running backs coach for Georgia. What do you recall from that experience? Tony Ball: "That was my first experience in Baton Rouge and especially for a night game; you hear about it being a place that is fanatical, particularly at night and going in there for the first time the first thing that stands out is that small road coming in with all that tailgating going on, that's festive. Then you come in on that bus and they are right there on you and you get the sense that they're not letting you through and that was intimidating. "That was the first impression I got. As a coach, once you get started you kind of block out the fans. What stuck out on my mind was the level of talent they had with the players assembled especially on the defensive side of the ball and that's what I remember was sitting there thinking, my God look at this. Look at this talent assembled on that team." Q: You received a call form Les Miles Thursday night, where he informed you that LSU was offering you the job. How did that conversation go and did you know at that point that you would be the next wide receiver coach at LSU? Tony Ball: "When I got the initial phone call from Coach Miles he said, "Hey, Tony, this is Les Miles. We had two interviews today.' And when he started out that way I wasn't really sure. He kept going on and on about the interviews and how we found our guy and how they thought the guy would fit in with the rest of the staff and how the staff was really excited, about how this guy was going to be able to help us in our certain phases of game-planning and preparation. "For a split second it hit me that he offered the job to someone else. Then he said that guy is Tony Ball and I was relieved and excited and we both started laughing and he offered the job to me. He said in this profession we work hard and we have to laugh at our frailties at times and he offered me the job."
