Running game

[Ironlions23]

If James stays which I hope he does and if he wants to get to elite, they need 1 change to happen. They need to go out and get an OLine coach, not just any OLine coach, an established, bad bad man. This team doesn’t play inspired on the OLine and I don’t think it is lack of strength, size or talent either. It maybe technique, maybe a little but I think it is a lot more to do with attitude and imposing your will on the opposition. Even the elite teams who most call finesse teams can line it up and smash it down your throat when they want and need to. I believe we have the talent, the strength training but we lack someone to teach them.

If Yurchich is here and they can establish some sort of attitude upfront, this offense will be elite. The passing game is pretty darn good and that is impressive in its own right being so 1-dimensional. He does a great job calling plays and game planning to keep the defense honest without a running game. That isn’t easy to do. If James wants to be elite, he needs to invest in some tough love upfront on O.

 

[MacNit]

If James stays which I hope he does and if he wants to get to elite, they need 1 change to happen. They need to go out and get an OLine coach, not just any OLine coach, an established, bad bad man. This team doesn’t play inspired on the OLine and I don’t think it is lack of strength, size or talent either. It maybe technique, maybe a little but I think it is a lot more to do with attitude and imposing your will on the opposition. Even the elite teams who most call finesse teams can line it up and smash it down your throat when they want and need to. I believe we have the talent, the strength training but we lack someone to teach them.

If Yurchich is here and they can establish some sort of attitude upfront, this offense will be elite. The passing game is pretty darn good and that is impressive in its own right being so 1-dimensional. He does a great job calling plays and game planning to keep the defense honest without a running game. That isn’t easy to do. If James wants to be elite, he needs to invest in some tough love upfront on O.

Amen to this. Could cure a lot of what ailed this program.

 

[BornALion]

It's very difficult to understand how Trautwein hasn't been able to get more out of this line. At BC he had some of the best line results in the country and was considered a home run hire when we got him.
Is it scheme or lack of development?

 

[mrmk5110]

It's very difficult to understand how Trautwein hasn't been able to get more out of this line. At BC he had some of the best line results in the country and was considered a home run hire when we got him.
Is it scheme or lack of development?

I think it's a combination of things, but we had a stretch of a couple of years where we have not recruited well at OL, especially at tackle. Caedan Wallace IMO is our best guard and he's having to play RT for example.

Also the guys that have been recruited just don't have a nasty streak. Here's hoping starting with some of those 2020 guys that this is changing.

 

[StamfordBridgeVikingatLeftOffensiveTackle]

To me, the poor OL play during CJF's tenure is the most disappointing aspect of his teams. Hence, my new screen name. I have dreams of PSU having a couple of giant vikings at tackle and just running the ball down the other team's collective throat. I know that isn't the game today. Nevertheless, being able to do it when you need to still makes all the difference in tough games.

 

[bbrown]

If James stays which I hope he does and if he wants to get to elite, they need 1 change to happen. They need to go out and get an OLine coach, not just any OLine coach, an established, bad bad man. This team doesn’t play inspired on the OLine and I don’t think it is lack of strength, size or talent either. It maybe technique, maybe a little but I think it is a lot more to do with attitude and imposing your will on the opposition. Even the elite teams who most call finesse teams can line it up and smash it down your throat when they want and need to. I believe we have the talent, the strength training but we lack someone to teach them.

If Yurchich is here and they can establish some sort of attitude upfront, this offense will be elite. The passing game is pretty darn good and that is impressive in its own right being so 1-dimensional. He does a great job calling plays and game planning to keep the defense honest without a running game. That isn’t easy to do. If James wants to be elite, he needs to invest in some tough love upfront on O.

I thought Traut was going to be a very good hire, and he still may be but right now I'm not feeling it.
That being said, you/we can't keep changing OL coaches every 2-3 years. I'm not sure what happened or whats going on. I know the loss of Wormley was big but c'mon we should have someone almost as good as him waiting in the wings and we don't. It seems the only reserve we have is Effner. I didn't expect Tangwell to start this season but I did expect him to play and get some valuable experience. Have we played anyone from the last 2 recruiting classes on the OL?
The other completely mystifying thing is we are much worse at run blocking than we were last year and that was with the whole covid no contact thing. SMH.

 

[TheBigUglies]

It's very difficult to understand how Trautwein hasn't been able to get more out of this line. At BC he had some of the best line results in the country and was considered a home run hire when we got him.
Is it scheme or lack of development?

I think it is mostly scheme. Look at the history, we haven't been able to run the ball consistently since Franklin has been here with all the diff OCs. I think Barkley and Sanders were able to run in spite of the scheme they were that talented. It wasn't easy for them to gain yards. Since they were here, the running game has been in the crapper. So, my conclusion is that it is scheme. I am not sure how blocking assignments work at the college level but what I see leads me to believe that a lot is left to the lineman to audible at the line to figure out who to block. I believe they have the skills to block, it just seems like confusion at time when I see the lineman standing around and our RB getting tackle by 3-4 defenders behind the LOS.

 

[KCMO Lion]

I personally think it’s a combination of experience and physicality.

I’m not saying this OL doesn’t have experience. I’m just saying this current unit isn‘t a cohesive unit yet. A lot of bodies starting or playing at new positions across-the-board. The loss of Salem Wormley was huge. The positive thing is these guys are getting a lot of meaningful snaps together as a unit. It should eventually pay off.

I do have concern over this collective unit’s mentality when it comes to the run game. There appears to be a lot of guys trying to reassure themselves that they have what it takes to dominate and be physical. It’s obvious from listening to the BWI staff comments from practice that Franklin and the other coaches are concentrating on the OL/TE in the run game. They are really pushing these guys. The learning curve seems to be pretty big with both units.

 

[s1uggo72]

I thought Traut was going to be a very good hire, and he still may be but right now I'm not feeling it.
That being said, you/we can't keep changing OL coaches every 2-3 years. I'm not sure what happened or whats going on. I know the loss of Wormley was big but c'mon we should have someone almost as good as him waiting in the wings and we don't. It seems the only reserve we have is Effner. I didn't expect Tangwell to start this season but I did expect him to play and get some valuable experience. Have we played anyone from the last 2 recruiting classes on the OL?
The other completely mystifying thing is we are much worse at run blocking than we were last year and that was with the whole covid no contact thing. SMH.

I dont get why you would think Traut was going to be a good hire. All star teams are products of the SID departments