Maybe that's motivation for Gayle and crew. We definitely have a better team (paper wise on defense at least) than that. They just need to bring the pain this season. A 7-5 team won't get too many accolades.
The running backs getting involved in the passing game was one of the few bright spots on offense I thought. Unfortunately it was out of necessity due to run blocking and check downs. Just look at the UNC game. We couldn't run the ball. Even with passing to the backs we could barely get the ball past the line without throwing deep. This year I'd like to see it as an extension of the running game rather than a replacement.
A great practical joke would be to put some kind of jack in the box type snake or something in one of those trash cans and have it go off as Thomas is coming to the line.
I wouldn't read too much into the Caleb stuff yet. Loeffler likes moving guys around go get mismatches so maybe they want to disguise him and let him get a couple days learning how to look the part.
Actually I think this can be viewed as quite refreshing! When was the last time you saw anything from an OC that confirms trying to get the best out of our players / team with wrinkles??? Positive thoughts!