Tag: Freddie Kitchens

2023 UNC Football Preview: Tight End

We look at the 2023 tight-end position as UNC looks to find consistency in the passing attack.

The North Carolina Tar Heels are preparing for this upcoming season, and one of the biggest questions is who will become Drake Maye’s new favorite target.

Well, one group, in particular, has a chance to do so: the tight-end group. UNC lost significant talent in the pass-catching category this off-season.

Losing Maye’s two top targets, Josh Downs and Antoine Green will be a challenging replacement, especially when those two targets combined for 137 receptions and 1827 receiving yards last year.

Despite a new-looking wide receiver core, some familiar faces in the tight end room should help the newer targets get established. John Copenhaver, Bryson Nesbit, and Kamari Morales will all return to the Carolina Blue.

The tight end room will also welcome three-star Julien Randolph, whose 6’5, 220-pound frame will be serviceable for Chip Lindsey’s offense.

As the regular season approaches, we decided to crank up our position preview with the tight end position.

Former Alabama QB Freddie Kitchens hired as North Carolina’s tight ends coach

Former Alabama QB Freddie Kitchens was hired as the North Carolina tight ends coach on Monday morning. He last coached at South Carolina as a senior analyst.

Former Alabama quarterback Freddie Kitchens will be joining North Carolina‘s coaching staff as the team’s tight ends coach, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz. He most recently served as a senior analyst at South Carolina.

Kitchens was a three-year starter at quarterback for Alabama. He threw for over 4,000 passing yards and 30 touchdowns.

Two years after leaving Alabama, Kitchens began his coaching career as the running backs coach at Glenville State in 1999. He has since coached for multiple programs such as LSU, Mississippi, and North Texas.

Kitchens has also had several stops at the professional coaching level. He has served as an assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys, Arizona Cardinals, and New York Giants. In 2019, he served as the head coach for the Cleveland Browns.

His role on North Carolina’s staff will be similar to those of the past. Kitchens previously served as the tight ends coach for Mississippi State.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow the Alabama football program and its alumni.

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Top 5 candidates to become the new Alabama OC

Here are five names Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide should explore for the open offensive coordinator job.

One of the most impressive things about Nick Saban’s tenure as head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide is that he has continued to win despite the constant turnover of coordinators. In conclusion of the 2022 season, the Crimson Tide must replace both offensive and defensive coordinators after losing Bill O’Brien to the New England Patriots and Pete Golding to Ole Miss.

Tuscaloosa has been fortunate enough to have had some of the most talented play callers in college football over the last few years such as Brian Daboll, Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian, Mike Locksley and others. It is a highly-coveted position in the college football world and Saban will do his due diligence in this search.

Here are the top five coordinators that would be the best fit for the position.

Big-name coaches that have been on LSU’s staff over the years

LSU’s had some big time assistants come through the program over the years. Here’s a look at the top names.

A lot of big names in the coaching ranks have come through LSU over the years.

Several LSU assistants have gone on to have big-time head coaching jobs in the SEC or elsewhere. Some have even won national championships.

LSU’s had a lot of success in the 21st century and these all-star coaching staffs have had a lot to do with it. The fact that they have been so good is what has allowed so many names to cycle in and out as assistants move on to bigger and better things.

Today, we’re going to look at all the recognizable names that have been a part of the LSU staff since 2000, the year [autotag]Nick Saban[/autotag] arrived.

Former Browns HC a guest at Ravens’ training camp practice on Monday

A former head coach of the Browns was a guest at the Ravens’ training camp practice on Monday

The Baltimore Ravens kicked off their 2022 training camp practices last week, and suited up in full pads for the first time on Monday afternoon. Adding in the physical element to practice changes things, and it gives the coaching staff more ways to evaluate the talent on their roster.

Baltimore has hosted thousands of fans so far over their first five practice sessions, but on Monday there was a former head coach in attendance in former Cleveland Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens. He is currently on the football staff at the University of South Carolina, but stopped by the Ravens’ facility to be at practice.

Kitchens was promoted to be Cleveland’s offensive coordinator in the middle of 2018 after the firing of Hue Jackson, and was promoted again to head coach during the 2019 offseason. He coached for one year with the Browns, finishing with what many classified as a disappointing 6-10 record.

Former Browns HC: ‘Things are looking up’ for Panthers QB Baker Mayfield

Former Browns HC Freddie Kitchens is excited to see QB Baker Mayfield get going with the Panthers.

New Carolina Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield, ironically enough, is nearing about half of a baker’s dozen on head coaches. Over his four-year NFL career, the 2018 first overall pick went through four different shot callers with the Cleveland Browns.

But, hey, at least one of them has something nice to say about him.

Freddie Kitchens, who was head coach No. 3 back in the 2019 campaign, recently hopped on SiriusXM NFL Radio and discussed his former quarterback’s move to Charlotte. And he thinks Mayfield’s track record could be a good indication of where he’s headed.

“In the game of football, when you start talking about players, you’re either dealing with projections or quantitative things they’ve already done,” said Kitchens, who is now a senior analyst at the University of South Carolina. “And when you look at Baker, like you mentioned, he finished second in the league in Rookie of the Year votes. He set a rookie touchdown record his rookie year. The second year he had two 1,000-yard receivers, a 1,500-yard rusher. His third year, his receivers were back healthy and he had a better year—a much better year statistically for him and record-wise.”

That career year came in 2020, the season after Kitchens was dismissed from his post in Cleveland. Mayfield threw for 3,563 yards and 26 touchdowns to just eight interceptions while leading the franchise to a 11-5 mark and their first playoff win since 1994.

Kitchens then added that despite a sour 2021, which was topped off by a labral tear in Mayfield’s non-throwing shoulder, the best could be yet to come for the 27-year-old passer.

“And then the fourth year, like you mentioned, the labrum,” he said. “And I know from experience, the off-shoulder is sometimes more important than the on-shoulder as far as controlling accuracy of the ball and things like that. I think that definitely impacted him and I’m excited for him to get to Carolina and see what he can do. I think things are looking up for Baker.”

And as things potentially look up, we can look back—at the short-lived relationship between Baker and Kitchens and all the missed opportunities for painfully fun cooking puns. *Sigh*

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Ex-Giants assistant Freddie Kitchens pinpoints Daniel Jones’ biggest issue

Former New York Giants assistant Freddie Kitchens details what he believes is Daniel Jones’ biggest issue and offers an encouraging outlook.

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones is a bit of a lightning rod. It was the same with Eli Manning before him and will be the same with whoever comes after him.

Welcome to New York and the New York media.

Every aspect of Jones’ game has been overanalyzed and beaten like a dead horse. Not a day goes by without an expert, analyst, former player or vanilla blogger breaking down his game in an effort to pinpoint any and every potential weakness.

Yet despite that, general manager after general manager and head coach after head coach continue to stick with Jones. They all seem to see something in him that others on the outside do not.

But that’s not to say Jones’ game is flawless. That’s obviously not the case and his career record is far from something to brag about.

Freddie Kitchens, who spent the past two seasons with the Giants under Joe Judge, believes that Jones’ biggest issue has nothing to do with this athleticism or talent. Rather, it has everything to do with his health.

“I think Daniel began to understand that [the importance of staying healthy],” Kitchens said during a SiriusXM NFL Radio appearance on Monday. “[His neck injury] was just an unfortunate deal, but I do think Daniel’s grown a lot from that aspect of things and understands that he kinda carries the team on his back as far as their future because he wouldn’t be starting unless he was the best chance to win. He’s started to understand that better.

“I think early on you’re out there for the team, you want to do what’s best for the team and all those sorts of things and you kinda get carried away at times, but he’s gotten a better grasp of that I think and I know he has moving forward.”

Jones has suffered an injury and missed time in each of his first three seasons. Even dating back to his final year at Duke, injuries have been a consistent theme.

Much of that can be attributed to Jones taking off and running. That immediately thrusts him into a contact situation with the 25-year-old often leaning into hits as opposed to shying away from them.

While the latter part of that needs to change, Kitchens cautions against eliminating one of the best assets to Jones’ game.

“With Daniel’s legs — his legs are a tremendous attribute and I think moving forward just staying a little more safe with him would be beneficial and I think he’s learned that,” Kitchens said. “I think you’ll see the best of Daniel Jones from that aspect. Make no mistake about it, Daniel Jones’ legs are definitely a weapon.”

Ultimately, Kitchens feels, Jones is finally in a good spot. He believes Brian Daboll will get the most out of the young quarterback and we’ll see the best version of DJ here in 2022.

“I think they’ve got the best situation that Daniel’s had in quite some time to get the best out of him,” Kitchens said.

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Data: Nick Chubb best since 2006 at making the most of his carries

Despite bad tackle play and Freddie Kitchens calling plays, Chubb’s 2019 season was impressive:

In many ways, the Cleveland Browns have tried to zig when the rest of the NFL has zagged. In particular, the emphasis on the rushing attack on offense goes heavily against the rest of the NFL where passing has been the key to making the Super Bowl.

The key for the Browns has been the play of RB Nick Chubb. While the offensive line has been improved over the last two seasons, as seen in this run, Chubb has overcome even the poor offensive lines prior to 2020.

Since his rookie year, when then-GM John Dorsey had to trade Carlos Hyde to force Hue Jackson to play Chubb, the Georgia product has been elite averaging over 5 yards per carry every season. His ability to break tackles, make something out of nothing and explode for long runs has made running the ball exciting in Cleveland.

A look at all individual seasons since 2006 shows Chubb also has dominated in Rushing Yards Over Expected (RYOE) better than legends like LaDainian Tomlinson, Adrian Peterson and Marshawn Lynch:

Remembering that the 2019 season included Greg Robinson and Chris Hubbard as the team’s tackles with Freddie Kitchens calling plays and Chubb’s season is even more impressive.

While most running back extensions tend to fail, Chubb’s signing seems likely to be the exception to the rule based on his ability to succeed in so many ways.

Former Browns HC Freddie Kitchens takes job with South Carolina

Kitchens returns to the college ranks helping out the Gamecocks after two years with the Giants:

The number of head coaches that have come and gone through the ranks of the Cleveland Browns seems overwhelming. One of Baker Mayfield’s complaints, a very valid one, is the sheer number of coaches and systems he was a part of during the first three years of his NFL career.

No one would wish the combination of Hue Jackson, Todd Haley, Gregg Williams, Todd Monken and Freddie Kitchens on any young quarterback.

Somehow, Mayfield found a modicum of success with that bizarre group of leaders before reaching the playoffs in his first year under Kevin Stefanski. While year two didn’t go well and Mayfield is likely on his way out of Cleveland, his ability to navigate rough waters early is impressive.

One of his former coaches, Kitchens, has a new position:

Following his departure from the Browns, Kitchens was hired as the New York Giants tight end coach. He lasted two years under his good friend Joe Judge, including a stint as interim offensive coordinator, before Judge was fired at the end of the 2021 season.

His hiring by the Gamecocks is Kitchens’ return to the college game where he bounced around before joining the NFL ranks in 2006. The former Alabama quarterback threw for over 4,600 yards during his time as a player and now looks to get his college coaching footing after a couple of difficult jobs at the NFL level.

South Carolina hires ex-Giant Freddie Kitchens as senior analyst

South Carolina has hired former New York Giants offensive assistant Freddie Kitchens as their senior analyst.

South Carolina announced on Wednesday that former New York Giants assistant Freddie Kitchens is being added to the staff of head coach Shane Beamer. Kitchens will serve as a senior analyst.

“I worked with Freddie Kitchens previously at Mississippi State and have known him for close to 20 years,” Beamer said via the school’s website. “He’s a fantastic coach with head coaching experience and coordinator experience. He’s a long-time NFL coach who will be a great asset and resource for our program and will help us in so many ways.”

For Kitchens, this marks his first return to the college ranks since 2005 when he was with the aforementioned Mississippi State.

Kitchens had spent the previous two seasons with the Giants, first serving as tight ends coach before being promoted to senior offensive analyst. Following the termination of Jason Garrett, Kitchens also stepped in as the interim offensive coordinator.

Prior to his time with the Giants, Kitchens spent two seasons with the Cleveland Browns — the final season serving as their head coach.

In addition to his time with the Giants and Browns, Kitchens also spent time with the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys at the NFL level. In college, he’s also made stops at Glenville State, LSU and North Texas.

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