Players love Ludwig, no love loss for Troy Taylor

[Anfernee]

“I feel like it’s more organized, he’s more organized,” senior receiver Demari Simpkins said. “He’s just not throwing plays at us on the fly. He’s got his set system and we’re going about it a certain way, and he wants it pinpoint perfect. For example, Tyler said today after practice he feels way comfortable — he feels very confident in this offense. He feels like he’s having fun, being himself, making plays, and everybody feels comfortable.”

“I feel like whoever’s on the field, that’s how he changes the offense,” receiver Bryan Thompson said. “So that’s one thing I love about the offense. Whoever’s on the field, whoever’s making the plays, he’ll continue to feed him. If Zack’s scoring, keep on feeding him the ball. If I’m scoring, keep on feeding me the ball — Demari — it doesn’t matter. So I feel like this offense changes depending on who’s on the field and who’s contributing.”

“Great guy. I mean, you can sit down and speak football with him forever,” sophomore receiver Solomon Enis said about Ludwig. “I love being around him — hard worker. And you know, he’s going to pick your brain and just make you a better player overall.”

[ironman1315]

That was rather telling in the Furlong article to see that.

[dystopiamembrane]

This makes me happy.

[UteThunder]

I love reading that, but players made similar comments about Taylor and his offense when he first got here, too. 

I think Ludwig is a clear upgrade over Taylor, especially in terms of experience and expertise, but I’m in wait and see mode before I get too excited about what our offense can do.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

Correct you are UteThunder.  And for what it’s worth, just because players are expressing their love for Ludwig and his Offense, that doesn’t automatically mean that they despised Taylor’s.

Like you, I’m very happy with having Ludwig back in SLC.  But that doesn’t mean I disliked Taylor.

Just sayin’…

[Ma’ake Kava]

I’m not going to criticize Taylor.  Our offense clearly improved under him.  Still, Ludwig has a vast wealth of knowledge about how to attack different types of defenses, how to utilize the players he has. 

After he left Utah, he was the OC at Cal for a couple of years, then he coached at SDSU under Rocky Long, then back up to the P5 level at Wisconsin and then at Vandy for 4 years.  Making that school halfway respectable in the SEC wasn’t trivial.

He’s organized, he’s a deep thinker, and at age 55, he’s seen about everything there is to see.  Also, he’s a runner, which is a great way to de-stress, and maintain a high level of mental acuity.

Ute fans didn’t realize it at the time – because we were coming off the crazy high of the Fiesta Bowl season under the meteoric Urban Meyer, with the #1 pick in the NFL draft leading an insanely prolific offense – but Lud was a really good OC that helped the Whittingham era get firmly established.  (Key performances included prepping Brett Ratliff to step in for an injured Brian Johnson for the BYU game in ’05.   The scrutiny of Ludwig by some fans really wasn’t justified, when everything is taken into account, IMO.)

The Sugar Bowl capped it off, with Lud’s chemistry with Brian Johnson leading to another perfect year, albeit not at the video game offensive level.  (Alex Smith has wowed every coaching staff he’s been with in the NFL with his intellect.  In hindsight, he was a much bigger part of the ’04 season’s crazy offensive numbers than anyone realized.)

Since Lud left, it’s been a revolving door of OCs trying to get back to the level Ludwig achieved… with us getting a much bigger upgrade in talent since we’ve been in the PAC than anyone realized.

Everyone was bummed when Meyer left, but a lot of the luster has worn off his career, while Whit has been steadily rising in the PAC.

Lud returning just builds upon that climb.

[UtahFanSir]

I expect Ludwig to do well with Utah’s offense this year; he has a mature, skilled and highly motivated group of guys to work with. But to me, the single largest benefit of his return to Utah is stability at the OC position.

I expect him to not only do well, but to recruit well, to develop QBs better, and to field a very good and competitive offense. If Utah can do that, recruiting better players for the offense will follow. At this point, the man has vast experience doing precisely that. If he stays for three years, the Utes will be lucky indeed.