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Whatever Happened to a Veteran Oline?

DirkTheDeac

DirkTheDeac

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I know we've had injuries, transfers all that but damn. We used to run the ball at will on people. We have a redshirt freshman starting on the Oline. We are totally outclassed. I have to give Harris props for running hard today but he earned every yard he could get.

I'm just venting because we were told we had a pool of recruits two years ago that were going to be tough. They look big, slow and clueless to me. I liked the smaller, tougher, faster, chop blocking guys we had six years ago.

I got nothing. Just an observation. It's hard to watch.
 
They never let the young guys get in when they have a chance to and that results in an inexperienced OL. We'll be hearing the same excuse in a season or two.
 
Well, we know who coaches the Oline these days. I don't want to be too critical. We've had major injuries that have killed our depth and pushed inexperienced guys into the mix. But I think we decided to go big on the Oline in terms of recruiting and I'm not opposed to quick, tough and agile. I wish we had another coaches luncheon with Grobe because I'd like to ask him about this.
 
I dont think we are turning down quality O-line recruits as being too small.
 
I think we learned last year that a bad veteran offensive line isn't a good offensive line.
 
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DirkTheDeac said:
Well, we know who coaches the Oline these days. I don't want to be too critical. We've had major injuries that have killed our depth and pushed inexperienced guys into the mix. But I think we decided to go big on the Oline in terms of recruiting and I'm not opposed to quick, tough and agile. I wish we had another coaches luncheon with Grobe because I'd like to ask him about this.
Click to expand...

I would give Heimbach time.
 
From a schematic standpoint - I don't think we have a clue how to run the ball anymore. It seems that most of our running plays are based on the read option; however, if your QB is never going to keep the ball, is there really any option? It seems to be more of a slow developing hand-off, with 3 defenders meeting the running back in the backfield. It also looks like we are trying zone blocking, which is really just our OL just blocking no one, as defenders zoom into the backfield.
 
We're in a cycle of excuses: the line is young; this veteran line isn't good, but the recruits are good; the line is young...
which is another way of saying
"tomorrow, tomorrow
I love ya, tomorrow
you're only a day a way!"

At some point it is not the kids but the coaches.
 
awaken said:
We're in a cycle of excuses: the line is young; this veteran line isn't good, but the recruits are good; the line is young...
which is another way of saying
"tomorrow, tomorrow
I love ya, tomorrow
you're only a day a way!"

At some point it is not the kids but the coaches.
Click to expand...

I started this but I have to say when you are down to eight serviceable linemen you are in deep shit. But we shouldn't be in this position. The analogy is when CP3 bolted and we were left with no point guard. Should you have seen it coming? Probably. Grobe probably would admit it. So, I hope the gets we got recruiting this year are as good as advertised.
 
awaken said:
We're in a cycle of excuses: the line is young; this veteran line isn't good, but the recruits are good; the line is young...
which is another way of saying
"tomorrow, tomorrow
I love ya, tomorrow
you're only a day a way!"

At some point it is not the kids but the coaches.
Click to expand...

We hired a new OL coach this year with a good résumé to focus only on the line and not OC duties. Can we give him a full calendar year of evaluating and developing talent?
 
Deacfreak07 said:
We hired a new OL coach this year with a good résumé to focus only on the line and not OC duties. Can we give him a full calendar year of evaluating and developing talent?
Click to expand...

Exactly. But let's fire Grobe anyway.
 
Developing, yes. However, our position coaches don't recruit for their positions. Our coaches recruit regions, developing relationships in those regions. I'm sure a position coach would have some say based on watching a bit of film and talking to a coach who recruited a player in a given region, but I doubt they'd turn down a player a coach who recruited a guy really wanted. The result is a coach is essentially handed the talent they have to work with, and if a position really lacks talent, that position coach is screwed if he doesn't get the players playing way above their talent level.
 
DirkTheDeac said:
Exactly. But let's fire Grobe anyway.
Click to expand...

And yet you picked us to go 8-4 for whatever reason. I'm not thrilled with our coaching staff but not quite at the point of wanting to show them all the door, but I would expect you are really disappointed in our clearly underachieving team based on your preseason expectations.
 
You can't blame Himebauch for the state of the line, but that doesn't mean you can't blame Grobe.
 
It's pretty messed up if the position coach doesn't get to make the call on who gets recruited at their position.
 
I'm sure he gets to say yes/no, but if every option given to him sucks, he can't say no to them all. And if a prospect is marginal and he says no, the coach in that region who put in the legwork to recruit the player in the first place will be pissed and likely 1) not get along very well with that position coach if it happens often enough and 2) stop putting in as much effort recruiting players that play that position. That combination of factors makes it more likely that a position coach goes with the recommendation of his fellow assistants more often than not just due to the nature of the workplace unless there is a clear reason not to.
 
Deacfreak07 said:
We hired a new OL coach this year with a good résumé to focus only on the line and not OC duties. Can we give him a full calendar year of evaluating and developing talent?
Click to expand...

Oh, sure. I was just stating how things have gone so far. Hope they will change with the new coach. And I think the "injury excuse" is legit for this year, too.

Football comes down to blocking and tackling, and we have issues with both.
 
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