What's even weirder, or possibly worse, is that he was somehow starting ahead of Barron as a freshman. Like, wut? I know it took Barron a few years to get to where he is, but Guilbeau has remained consistently mediocre. The move to CB is especially dumb. He doesn't have the speed or instincts to even play the position. You can't look at me and tell me he's better than Kobe Black. Not a chance. I saw Black and he could hold his man for most of the time, even if the little we've seen of him, he's still running side by side, as a 6'2 200lbs DB. I don't expect Kade Phillips or Caleb Chester (especially right now, or even for another 2 years) to take over, but where is Santana Wilson? Roberson? Mack? Guilbeau, and it may be due to him having torn his ACL (just look at the speed Baxter has lost) being the reason for his struggles, but even if that's the case, he doesn't have the elite traits to make up for his lost speed (Baxter can due to his block and pass catching).
So yeah, I do lay the blame for this catastrophe at the feet of Akina and mostly Orphey, since that's his position, not Akina's. Now Akina without Taaffe and Mcdonald is an avolanche of diarrhea. Maybe once Filsaime grows up, Jonah Williams gets a year older, Zelus Hicks gets older, or really any of our frosh or RS-FR get older they'll look more competent with his coaching, but I just don't think he has it. I expected JJ-R to to play more, but it's like Orphey/Akina have no idea how to utilize any of the pieces. I get not all guys work out, but give me a break. I've seen JJ-R play, and he's not some scrub. He wasn't lighting the world on fire as frosh, but he saw enough playing time when Williams went down that we got to see him actually be used properly with Gideon's help. How in the absolute fuck do you not have a guy covering the entire left side of the field for that long pass for a TD? Not a single safety outside of Derek Williams was even in the general vicinity, and that's only because he's a FS. Guilbeau got absolutely torched with no help whatsoever, which is on both Akina and Orphey.