Been following CFB a long time as most of you, and certain observations are noticeable. Midwestern O-Linemen stick out on a consistent basis.
I know the O-Line is the toughest to develop in terms of position so that said. It seems, again (seems !) that the Atlantic Coast has fallen short in this department , yes in the past BC, UCF, South Florida, Pitt, etc. had good, big linemen then the coaches move on or upgrade, the present staffs hang on to the tradition of success even if not warranted by the present staff.
There was a time when USC with Ron Yary and Anthony Munoz were the gold standard , now SC is also having their issues but still ahead of PSU. ND has developed a few good linemen recently along with Wisconsin, Iowa, and the Michigan schools. Heck even Illinois and Minnesota look pretty good. Pa. has not lacked for talent but lost such talent even under Joe, Ruddy, and Scannel to ND , Rucci to Wisconsin, Skrepnak to Michigan so it isn't something new. I can't bring OSU , Ga. and Alabama into the picture because they are cherry picking.
Getting to the point it's not all Trout's fault, some of these kids don't have the fire and toughness, as in the past. An example was a reporter asked CJF about the linemen retaliating against Iowa after Clifford was getting mauled , he said something to the effect like you want me to take a personal foul ?
Ron Heller would have sent that lineman to a stretcher, Trey Bauer would have KO'd their punter. So some nastiness is taken away from them, more concerned about penalty mistakes than making a statement.
Finally, i think a lot of kids are burnt out especially the Prep schools, they've been doing this for way, way too long. The rural kids or farm kids are working hard and want the scholarship just as much but aren't noticed as much, but the work ethic more so than the national recognition is there. My main point is maybe we should offer more scholarships, or at least scout the midwest.