What happened to our offensive line?

[jake102]

Watched the Cotton bowl tonight and it gave plenty of time to reflect on our OLine over the past two years since the Rose Bowl.... what happened? Interested to know from somebody in the know, or someone who is able to put it all together. Feisty may be a good resource here...

I expected a drop off in 2011, but we had a full year to get better and get prepared for the future. Two years in a row of awful OLine play is unacceptable...

You watch aTm and you see all the things they can do because their OLine creates a black hole of a pocket that no defender can enter. I swear at times the tackles had pushed their respective DEs ten yards horizontally away from the pocket and the guards and center had pushed a couple yards up field.

What happened? Is it a lack of recruiting guys with mental substance? Is it poor OLine evaluation? Bad luck? I know we like to always say positive things about how the coaching staff recruits, but it's hard to imagine we can go two years in a row with a wayyy below average OLine. Would love to see a breakdown of what happened.

Anyways... rant/request over.

 

[rifram09]

IIRC one guy was busted for pot, one or two failed, and a couple others suffered season ending injuries before the season.

Any of this wrong?

 

[Travis Trucks]

Graduation and personel losses

We started 4 seniors in 2010, and I am pretty sure 4 seniors last year also.

Foltz has always been good, but injury prone. Fry and Tausch were OK but neither was ever projected to have the kind of impact lineman like Cannon or Newhouse had. Only Foltz could have started on our lines from 2008-2010. None of our lineman except Foltz would have started this year I think without the personel losses.

Because of this we put out a line that was not as good as we could have put out there.

 

[jake102]

Graduation and personel losses

We started 4 seniors in 2010, and I am pretty sure 4 seniors last year also.

Foltz has always been good, but injury prone. Fry and Tausch were OK but neither was ever projected to have the kind of impact lineman like Cannon or Newhouse had. Only Foltz could have started on our lines from 2008-2010. None of our lineman except Foltz would have started this year I think without the personel losses.

Because of this we put out a line that was not as good as we could have put out there.

Sounds like we didn't recruit for a year or two.

 

[82Frog]

We should recruit a minimum of 3 OL every year.

 

[More Frogs the Better]

I may be the only one but I think our OL has received unfair criticism. They clearly did not play as well as what we have come to expect (and the above posts address the personnel issues) but reading posts on here I would think that we're playing with a HS line. I think there are some other factors at work here. If I recall correctly, Jake102 is the one who originally posted this video. Go back and watch this video and note the decisiveness of the QB, who had pressure pretty much the entire game, and the difference in our offensive strategy and I think it will help answer your question.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foAWp0lTPog

 

[jake102]

I may be the only one but I think our OL has received unfair criticism. They clearly did not play as well as what we have come to expect (and the above posts address the personnel issues) but reading posts on here I would think that we're playing with a HS line. I think there are some other factors at work here. If I recall correctly, Jake102 is the one who originally posted this video. Go back and watch this video and note the decisiveness of the QB, who had pressure pretty much the entire game, and the difference in our offensive strategy and I think it will help answer your question.

I couldn't agree more on QB play having a lot to do with it. That video is an absolute clinic in QB play and getting rid of the ball quickly.

 

[West Coast Johnny]

Here's who we recruited 3 years ago:
-Michael Thompson - yet to play meaningful minutes due to injury, and if he weren't injured, probably be too fat to be good.
-Nykerian Wellington - Flunked out.

4 years ago:
-Ty Horn - busted for selling pot & kicked off team.
-Eric Tausch - starts at guard.
-John Wooldridge - "Provides Depth"
-James Dunbar - Is rarely academically eligible. Might be good. Who knows?

Honestly, these guys haven't shown that they could wash Jake Kirkpatrick's, Marcus Cannon's or Marshall Newhouse's jock straps.

 

[DickBumpastache]

We started playing in the Big 12.

End thread.

 

[cdsfrog]

We under recruited offensive lineman which a few in the past year were busts and then when we had injuries we were screwed.

 

[Scarface]

All of the criticism on this thread has been fair. I might add that we are seeing the same things in this recruiting class also.

 

[BBG817]

Our weakest link the whole season, before and after change in QB. Unfortunately, we only beat bad defenses.

In the bowl game, TB throwing before rush had really gotten there. Seemed to have little confidence against strong Front 7

 

[TronCarter]

So Connor Mayes has had a pretty good Army combine...

 

[MaxQAg]

We should recruit a minimum of 3 OL every year.

You can only get away with 3 once in a while. Seems like 4/year is a better target for all of the reasons listed above, then if you only get 3 once in a while it won't kill you. Seems if you get 4, only 2 will generally pan out for the 2 deep.

 

[JimSwinkLives!]

OL is my biggest concern heading into spring ball, QB a close second. If OL can't run or pass block much better than this year, it won't matter as much who the QB is. CP is an upgrade, but if the OL can't help get the running game going or protect him in the pocket, our offensive struggles will continue.

 

[kaiser soze]

Sub par recruiting.
Compounded by stronger B12 DLs.

Just take a look through the OL recruiting history.
Lots of busts and DNPs. Stellar 2006 and solid 2007 concealed what has otherwise been uninspiring.


2003: Lindner | Sisk | W Oliver
2004: Schlueter | Raetz | P Phillips | | R Clark
2005: Richmond | B Guillory
2006: Cannon | Newhouse| Kirkpatrick | Vernon | Sefton
2007: K Dooley | S Thompson | J Olson
2008: Z Roth | B Foltz | J Fry | T Jones
2009: Tausch | Dunbar | Wooldridge | Horn
2010: M Thompson | Wellington
2011: Br Foltz | Naff | B Thompson | C Wall
2012: Collins | Vaitai | Childs
2013: Morris | Fromayan | Noteboom

Too early to tell on the 2011 kids (well not Wall) and the future looks bright with 2012 class, but of the 27 ships recruited earlier at least half would probably not merit an offer in hindsight.

Maybe thats the normal hit rate at that position, if thats the case, we need to revert to 2006 levels and get 4-5 kids a year and find new homes for the non-contributors.

 

[jake102]

What an abortion of recruiting after 2007. Wow. What were we thinking?

 

[Dogfrog]

I may be the only one but I think our OL has received unfair criticism. They clearly did not play as well as what we have come to expect (and the above posts address the personnel issues) but reading posts on here I would think that we're playing with a HS line. I think there are some other factors at work here. If I recall correctly, Jake102 is the one who originally posted this video. Go back and watch this video and note the decisiveness of the QB, who had pressure pretty much the entire game, and the difference in our offensive strategy and I think it will help answer your question.

If your point is that CP's choices and lack of leadership took us from an experienced junior QB with 4 springs on his belt to a RS frosh with one spring I agree. CP is definitely accountable.

 

[More Frogs the Better]

If your point is that CP's choices and lack of leadership took us from an experienced junior QB with 4 springs on his belt to a RS frosh with one spring I agree. CP is definitely accountable.

My point, on topic, was that I think the OL probably played closer to a "D" grade than the "F" that some appear to be giving. Thus a weakness that was exacerbated by often poor offensive strategy and an indecisive QB who, according to the coach, did not know his reads and where he was supposed to go with the ball.

Your point is just a factual statement and facts are facts so no disagreement from me.

 

[West Coast Johnny]

My point, on topic, was that I think the OL probably played closer to a "D" grade than the "F" that some appear to be giving. Thus a weakness that was exacerbated by often poor offensive strategy and an indecisive QB who, according to the coach, did not know his reads and where he was supposed to go with the ball.

Your point is just a factual statement and facts are facts so no disagreement from me.