Rachal: Slump, Bad Coaching or Bust?

Originally posted by cupcheck:

Originally posted by backontop:

Originally posted by verb1der:

Originally posted by backontop:

Originally posted by verb1der:
So is Chilo Rachal officially a bust?

I would say no.

I mean, I just wonder what it's going to take for this guy to show even the slightest bit of improvement?

Last season he showed promise into being a pretty solid RG. Something had to have changed. What ever changed just change it back damn it!

Remember all bravado about smash mouth, run up the gut, in your grill football last spring and through the summer?Then come injuries,out with the run in with the spread,more OL shuffle.All this has to affect his productivity and confidence.I'd rather believe with continuity will come stability.Point being ,can't go though OTA's, training camp, pre season, the first 6 games, pull a 180% and not see a kid struggle.

More like him and the other ladies on the OL struggled and injured there hymans so the niners needed to do 180 to try to win games.

Originally posted by Yetiman:

Originally posted by HearstFan:
I have watched him fairly closely in games and I may say something that seems a bit odd -- the way he plays and his physical skills and attributes strike me more at a RT than a RG. To me he seems to play "taller" and reaches with his arms to engage. He has good feet, and when engaged in movement he seems to have power. He seems pretty good at pulling and engaging blocks in space. But when he is asked to play "low" and plow people he seems to struggle -- letting people get by him on slants, etc.

Given that, he may make more sense after this season as a RT. I could be totally off, but that is my perception of his play.

Maybe now's the time to consider trying Chilo at RT.

To me, the most important concern this off season is the OL and how to improve/fix it.

Drafting a RT seems to be a consensus, high priority move. But does that mean we have a rookie RT next to Rachel at RG next season? That's a move that has risks, it seems to me.

Moving Rachel to RT and putting a veteran RG in next to him seems like one option that could be considered.

Drafting a LT and moving Staley back to RT seems like another option.

It will be extremely interesting to see what, if any, changes Solari and Brown bring to the OL, and Rachel appears to be the one guy who most needs coaching up, and maybe a change of position.

And by poor coaching I mean very poor philosophy and predictable schemes/play-calling automatically putting all OL at a disadvantage before each snap. OL coaching may not have been great either but stacked up against 8-9 man boxes who are run blitzing up the middle every play would be asking miracles and on a few of those cases (see Baas pull-block = Gore TD's) we were able to accomplish just that - impose our will, right? Put any of our OL on a successful team's line and I bet thy fair pretty decent, to say the least.

Kid turns 24 on March 15th. He's has 2 years experience. Give him a chance.

OL coaching has been terrible for the last four years. Changes in scheme have hurt as well. I expect to see Brown help Rachal a lot. Played the same position and thoroughly knows the game. The kid has too much talent not to play better than he has.

Position coaches are much more important than many people realize. Good ones make a world of difference.

All of the above

Originally posted by dbdublin:
Kid turns 24 on March 15th. He's has 2 years experience. Give him a chance.

I think Solari and Brown will get him going in the right direction.

He is still a good run blocker. In pass protection he didnot punch or lock his hands and control the defender at most times. However the pass protection was better the last 4 games of the season, so he must have improved.

Jimmy Rayes high percentage of runs up the middle didnot help as well.

As for coaching we have Solari and Brown and I believe that Staley and Rachal and any rookie will be better for having these guys as coaches

He justs needs some more time. I think it was partially coaching and partially a sophmore slump. Hopefully next year he's beastin'!

He's got the talent but the problem with talent is the lack of motivation.

Take Vernon for example.

Sucked ass for 3 years, until Singletary punked his ass worldwide.


Sing is also getting on Chilo every chance he can.

Just like he gets on Glen Coffee.

SING FTW

this was his first year starting. he was pretty bad, but he wasnt THAT bad. he'll learn, just be patient. id be more comfortable having an opinion about it after 2-3 more seasons.

But i would LOVE to be wrong! Come on CHILO!

Originally posted by TheG0RE49er:
Coming out of college he was considered very talented, but raw. I think it was a mistake to throw him out there that early, considering his techniques weren't good. He has blown assignments and has been between by lineman before anybody else even got their feet set.

He needs to watch more film and just work harder and he will be fine.

I disagree. I have read many reports (and posted links in other conversations) that listed Rachal as "athletically limited". In my opinion he was drafted on the HOPE he would overcome this however we have yet to see this occur.

In my opinon, I would choose option number 4....... bad evaluation/bad scouting.

Originally posted by ninergold:
He came out early and they knew he was raw but physically gifted. So they did leave him at one position to learn, but he needs some time.

I agree with this statement. We new he was a powerful, very raw lineman that's apparently not used to the speed of the pro game just yet. If anything, (hopefully) he gained some valuable experiences last year I hope he learns from. Frankly, we wouldn't be having this conversation if he didn't play at all last season - I'm eager to see what he does this year.