BTN crew impressed by our OL improvement

[ReuniteGondwanaland]

Maybe it's not just the usual everybody's undefeated in early August talk.

Post-spring, btn.com ranked our OL all the way down at 4th in the Big Ten West, behind Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.

Yesterday, Dave Revsine of btn.com was asked who had the best OL they've seen so far.
Dave Revsine ‏@BTNDaveRevsine
I'd say Nebraska - and I just asked @HowardGriffith and he felt the same way

They've done camp reports from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa too.

If our OL can actually be a strength this year, our running backs and quarterbacks will look a whole lot better.

 

[N-sane]

Not sure what to think. Seems like I read the o-line looks good. Then I read they struggle to keep Tommy upright.

 

[ReuniteGondwanaland]

During camp, I'm capable of believing both that our OL has improved to good and that our starting DL is awesome.

 

[B1G RED RULES]

Maybe it's not just the usual everybody's undefeated in early August talk.

Post-spring, btn.com ranked our OL all the way down at 4th in the Big Ten West, behind Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.

Yesterday, Dave Revsine of btn.com was asked who had the best OL they've seen so far.
Dave Revsine ‏@BTNDaveRevsine
I'd say Nebraska - and I just asked @HowardGriffith and he felt the same way

They've done camp reports from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa too.

If our OL can actually be a strength this year, our running backs and quarterbacks will look a whole lot better.

It is really exciting what good coaching can do.

 

[RedSea_rivals91325]

Hope they're right. Guess I'll wait to taste the pudding.

 

[NYC-Husker]

It is kind of crazy for me to think that Nick Gates will possibly start over Sterup, Finnin and Givens Price (since moved to DT) at RT as a redshirt freshman.

If those players as seniors couldn't hold off Gates as a RS freshman, it makes me believe that RT play must have been spotty last year and during the spring when they were playing more. I could see the OL being quite a bit better this year, if for no other reason than we appear to be upgrading at both RT and the center position, while Lewis will have had more time at LT, and it looks like no drop-off at either guard position.

 

[Redscarlet]

Still think Minnesota will be the best in the West.

 

[ReuniteGondwanaland]

From their reports, Wisconsin is having a bit more trouble reloading on the OL than they expected.

 

[rez dog 70]

It is really exciting what good coaching can do.

We're gonna rock and roll!

 

[SnohomishRed]

From their reports, Wisconsin is having a bit more trouble reloading on the OL than they expected.

I think Wisconsin is going to have real problems on offense this year and their defense is also suspect. I think Minnesota will be good defensively but also much worse offensively. if we can stop the run and also run the ball we win the west this year

 

[worldstarhusker]

Their defense will be good, might have the best overall front 7 in the west.

 

[dockentwo]

Maybe it's not just the usual everybody's undefeated in early August talk.

Post-spring, btn.com ranked our OL all the way down at 4th in the Big Ten West, behind Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.

Yesterday, Dave Revsine of btn.com was asked who had the best OL they've seen so far.
Dave Revsine ‏@BTNDaveRevsine
I'd say Nebraska - and I just asked @HowardGriffith and he felt the same way

They've done camp reports from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa too.

If our OL can actually be a strength this year, our running backs and quarterbacks will look a whole lot better.

Thanks for this !!! As another poster said, should be big jumps in at least two positions. Center against top competition will be dramatically better. .. When we got new coaches, I was amazed to see our 0-line coach had 25 players in 10 years get post season honors in the Pac-10 - from Oregon State. I don't care if multiple were honorable mention; that is some kind of coaching and development; 2.5 a year average. This may also speak to the S+C program; multiple reports that the BTN guys were placing our lines on par physically with Mi and tOSU, in physical look and potential. There were posts here, that Pelini was resistant too what the AD wanted to accomplish In S+C; at least in systems... So the BTN guys are sharp; spending some political capital to give N some preseason hype. From the looks of it, some solid underlying reasons give hope. All coaches temper the kids thoughts a little bit with ego adjusting comments after some practices.

 

[puddinhead0404]

Hope so, but I've generally learned to take whatever those guys say preseason with a grain of salt. Most reports I'd seen from our local guys generally said that the d-line was having their way with them. (As you'd expect with our d-line)

 

[jay-cheese]

Go watch the spring game and it's very clear our OL is much improved already under Cavanaugh...

Also give some props to our front 7 on D. Those boys have some skills and can't be easy to block every play.

Lastly, maybe it wasn't just the admissions dept as to why Anderson left Wisky after one yr...maybe he saw a talent void, particuliarly on the OL, coming in for Wisky

GBR

 

[GretnaShawn]

I don't know how our o-line wouldn't be better this year. I guess there is always a chance that a player will regress or the new scheme could stunt growth. But from looking at the starters from last year, the players that graduated and the players taking the vacant spots, on paper they would almost have to be better.

Even if Lewis and Chongo stay the same, the center and guard spot should be much improved - addition by subtraction.

 

[jay-cheese]

Agree. But, this isn't kid ball...messed up if it's a fact that multiple people are playing that aren't as good as players below them. Another refreshing attribute of this coaching change

GBR

 

[Charlie Marlow_rivals363743]

I am optimistic about our OL. That said, I remember when the BTN crew gave our DL glowing reviews 3 years ago so I am not buying anything they have to say at this point.

 

[dinglefritz]

I am optimistic about our OL. That said, I remember when the BTN crew gave our DL glowing reviews 3 years ago so I am not buying anything they have to say at this point.

IMO Garrison was doing a good job of recruiting talented kids. Game day play was an issue at times and I don't know where to lay the blame for that but Garrison brought in some talent. I really think losing Stai's help was a bad deal for us. I am very sure that our choice of starting centers was dictated by our FHC and that was a killer. Cav seems to have all the oars in the boat rowing the same direction now and I'm excited to see what they can.

 

[dockentwo]

IMO Garrison was doing a good job or recruiting talented kids. Game day play was an issue at times and I don't know where to lay the blame for that but Garrison brought in some talent. I really think losing Stai's help was a bad deal for us. I am very sure that our choice of starting centers was dictated by our FHC and that was a killer. Cav seems to have all the oars in the boat rowing the same direction now and I'm excited to see what they can.

This is right on point. Throwing 100 lbs of fat on an out of position short guy catches up to you against top teams.

 

[dinglefritz]

This is right on point. Throwing 100 lbs of fat on an out of position short guy catches up to you against top teams.

I'm not sure he should have had a position. He sure didn't develop in to the player I hoped he might. There can be little doubt that he was a nepotism scholarship offer.

 

[ReuniteGondwanaland]

I'm not sure he should have had a position. He sure didn't develop in to the player I hoped he might. There can be little doubt that he was a nepotism scholarship offer.

He was originally a walk-on, and to be fair, I remember reading reports from last fall's camp (McKewon for one) that he was easily the most consistent center on the team at that time. Good chance we should have gone with the guy with the physical ability and taken some hits when he screwed up, but Pelini knew what he was doing. He just didn't have the size.

 

[dinglefritz]

He was originally a walk-on, and to be fair, I remember reading reports from last fall's camp (McKewon for one) that he was easily the most consistent center on the team at that time. Good chance we should have gone with the guy with the physical ability and taken some hits when he screwed up, but Pelini knew what he was doing. He just didn't have the size.

He got his scholarship pretty quickly and his snaps were inconsistent at best. That happens when you know you are about to get knocked on your ***. Pretty sad state of affairs if he was the best center we had IMO. I'm sure he gave it his all but he was clearly out matched on many snaps. I made it a point to watch him quite a few plays and his size wasn't his only short coming. Glad nobody watches me every move I make to see how I screw up.

 

[ReuniteGondwanaland]

Certainly not saying he was good! Watching our centers for at least the last five years, is it really THAT hard to recruit a decent center? Caputo was strong enough to mostly make up for being undersized, but I remember when he was hurt and just had to play anyway, because terrible as he was on one leg apparently he was better than our next best option.

 

[dinglefritz]

Certainly not saying he was good! Watching our centers for at least the last five years, is it really THAT hard to recruit a decent center? Caputo was strong enough to mostly make up for being undersized, but I remember when he was hurt and just had to play anyway, because terrible as he was on one leg apparently he was better than our next best option.

We clearly didn't do a good job of recruiting enough talent for our O and D lines.....until maybe after Carl was gone and some of the stink of that was faded. The Pelinis were NOT an attraction to NU for players and parents and IMO we would have recruited and coached better with the same staff minus B and C. JMHO. The good news is that we have an experienced highly qualified and highly organized staff now with a closer at the helm.

 

[Cornicator]

He was originally a walk-on, and to be fair, I remember reading reports from last fall's camp (McKewon for one) that he was easily the most consistent center on the team at that time. Good chance we should have gone with the guy with the physical ability and taken some hits when he screwed up, but Pelini knew what he was doing. He just didn't have the size.

He was actually the most consistent shotgun snapper. He was the 4th best blocker.


As for the overall performance of the oline the last few seasons, we should also consider the Tim Beck blocking scheme and play calling. When you run a lot of zone runs, 2 to 3 dudes up front are often unblocked. In theory, you can hide a smaller back like Ameer behind a big offensive line. If you can keep the unblocked dudes guessing, you can then exploit a defense. The Miami game was a great example.

But when you are too predictable and aren't aware of yours and the opponents personne, those unblocked guys can kill your running game. See McNeese State and Michigan State.

We will still see a lot of zone runs this season. With Riley, but I expect more hat on hat. I also expect less predictability and better understanding of the personnel with Langsdorf and staff.

 

[dinglefritz]

Well then our shotgun snapping as a team was bad because he was not nearly as accurate as you would expect from a D-1 center. IF he was our 4th best blocker, that explains a bunch. I saw him whiff or get knocked on his *** way too many times. I appreciate his effort but he was just plain not as good as we needed at center and that's on the coaching staff for not recruiting or developing better centers. Center is probably the toughest position to play other then QB on the team and you need a good one.

 

[huskerbaseball13]

He was originally a walk-on, and to be fair, I remember reading reports from last fall's camp (McKewon for one) that he was easily the most consistent center on the team at that time. Good chance we should have gone with the guy with the physical ability and taken some hits when he screwed up, but Pelini knew what he was doing. He just didn't have the size.

Who knows...that may be true. It's certainly not a glowing endorsement on the previous staffs ability to develop and recruit that position. Pelini gave a lot of effort but it got old watching him get pushed back yards every game.

 

[twister52]

A couple quick comments on offensive line play. I agree with Coach Cav that the unity of an offensive line is important and rotation which sounds good on paper doesn't help the unity of the group. I think Gates winning the right tackle position maybe more about his ability than anyone else's inability. Lastly, our line was put in terrible situations last year. When we fell behind Beck panicked and called almost all pass plays but never ran a draw and ran only about 3 screen passes all year. This allows the defense to tee off against our line, that is why you saw so many false starts late in the game because the line knew they had to set up quick against the speed rush. Add to this the human nature response of a quarterback under pressure to take deeper drops (Martinez was more guilty than Armstrong) and you allow a flatter angle to the quarterback which is much harder to block. For all these reasons I think we will be much improved on the offensive line play.

 

[nebcountry]

A couple quick comments on offensive line play. I agree with Coach Cav that the unity of an offensive line is important and rotation which sounds good on paper doesn't help the unity of the group...

I think unity/chemistry is important. Different coaching staffs have different approaches when it come to splitting/not splitting OL time. In any case, I don't like the message "won't be rotating much". To me, not knowing how the staff handled rotation previously, I interpret that as basically zero playing time for non-starters. I won't blow it up (too much), because I don't exactly know what "won't be rotating much" truly means to this staff. Rotation isn't to help unity. It's to help underclassmen develop, allow for limited drop off in the case of injury, provide "fresher" bodies throughout a game and the entire season, and to retain younger players that would otherwise transfer due to lack of playing time.

Gary Andersen is sitting up in Corvallis right now trying to decide which qb to play, because there's not a single qb at OrSU that has ever taken a snap in college football.

 

[dinglefritz]

I think unity/chemistry is important. Different coaching staffs have different approaches when it come to splitting/not splitting OL time. In any case, I don't like the message "won't be rotating much". To me, not knowing how the staff handled rotation previously, I interpret that as basically zero playing time for non-starters. I won't blow it up (too much), because I don't exactly know what "won't be rotating much" truly means to this staff. Rotation isn't to help unity. It's to help underclassmen develop, allow for limited drop off in the case of injury, provide "fresher" bodies throughout a game and the entire season, and to retain younger players that would otherwise transfer due to lack of playing time.

Gary Andersen is sitting up in Corvallis right now trying to decide which qb to play, because there's not a single qb at OrSU that has ever taken a snap in college football.

You have to remember that our offense is likely going to be much slower paced and that we are going to be running less plays in a game. We HAD to use wholesale substitutions on the line that at times left us with guys on the field that maybe shouldn't be. I don't recall there being a bunch of wholesale substitutions during the pipeline's glory years. You put your best 5 out there and lean on people. The whole fast paced offense thing puts pressure on the opponent IF its working. IF its not working your own defense is put under tremendous pressure.

 

[nebcountry]

You have to remember that our offense is likely going to be much slower paced and that we are going to be running less plays in a game. We HAD to use wholesale substitutions on the line that at times left us with guys on the field that maybe shouldn't be. I don't recall there being a bunch of wholesale substitutions during the pipeline's glory years. You put your best 5 out there and lean on people. The whole fast paced offense thing puts pressure on the opponent IF its working. IF its not working your own defense is put under tremendous pressure.

This is what I remember. 70. There's usually around 70 offensive plays per game. Run it, pass it, run/pass, don't matter, 70 plays per game. Unless it's a good "hurry-up" offense, then you might average closer to 80. But maybe I'm remembering the wrong number. If you would like, you can post OrSU's average number of offensive plays over the last 5 years, maybe compare it to NU over the last 5 years.

Wholesale substitutions are best left to hockey or extreme blow outs. In our glory days, we were using a rotation. I can't prove it and I'm not going to watch a bunch of old games to compile stats.

The OL rotation topic is a sticking point for me, because supposedly there is a competition RIGHT NOW to see who starts. If the #1 and #2 are that close, why not rotate players. Playing only the top 5 guys seems very short-sighted to me.

 

[ReuniteGondwanaland]

Usually our center pretty much plays the whole game until garbage time, but it seems like most years we played 3 or 4 at guard, and 3 or 4 at tackle. Often we'd have one guy who was flexible enough to play (for example) LT or RT, and he would switch between those two while the other two tackles would exclusively play that spot.

We plan to rotate fairly liberally on the DL, I hope we rotate at least some, maybe with a top 7 guys, on the OL. Seem like letting a guy get a rest for at least a series per half would help them play better and maybe avoid injury.