(Confirmed) Looks like Dunlap Jr. will be back next year

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RememberMurray said:
If Faalele and Dunlap are both back, and both are healthy, our offensive line will be very, very good.

And if Ibrahim return as well, it will be pretty tough to defense our run game.
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Our line was good this year in run blocking.

The question overall is not just if/when Faalele and Dunlap come back, it's also if Schlueter and Olson come back for sixth years. The latter two are frankly more important than the former two, to the success of the OL in 2021.
 







I like the way the OL is shaping up. Assuming Faalele is back, do they lose anyone?
 

bonin21 said:
Is this surprising or something? The bigger (literally) question is Big Dan
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I seem to recall some GH posters speculating that he might transfer to an SEC school with the blanket waiver, to be closer to home.
 

mkAz said:
I like the way the OL is shaping up. Assuming Faalele is back, do they lose anyone?
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If Dunlap and Faalele both come back, and they clearly are two of Fleck's favorites ... it's going to kick two guys who started this season out of starting, somehow.

How does Callahan possibly pick an odd man out from: Schlueter, Andries, Olson, JMS + Dunlap, Faalele, if they're all back and wanting to play? Feel bad for Ruschmeyer, in such a scenario. I don't think there'd be room for him, unless Callahan is willing to try to make a seven man rotation work.


I suppose he can put Olson as starting center and rotate JMS in with him. Or perhaps JMS at starting center and rotate Olson at all three interior positions, which is something he can do. Or do a guard rotation. Etc.

Will be interesting. Good "problem" to have, obviously.
 



“Our o-line was good at run blocking this year.” Was it?
The contrast to watching the Vikings vs the Gophers is pretty big.
Dalvin Cook has big alleys to run through. Not every play but enough to notice.
Mo on the other hand gains yards more often when there is either nothing or a just a crack to squeeze through. Mo had very few gaping holes or alleys to take advantage of.
Both great backs and very different abilities but the conditions they work with or navigate their yards in is pretty different.
I‘m not too sure our line wasn’t just as good at pass blocking? Not fantastic at either but Mo made the line look better than Tanner did.
 

There is no such metric as "size of holes". If the RB's body-width can fit through, then that's as big as you should ever expect. A lot of that also depends on the formation and the playing style of the defense you're playing against, as well as the over scheme of the running play.

We run a lot of zone-blocking and without a lead fullback. That's on the opposite end of the spectrum from a power play with a lead blocking fullback.
 

MplsGopher said:
If Dunlap and Faalele both come back, and they clearly are two of Fleck's favorites ... it's going to kick two guys who started this season out of starting, somehow.

How does Callahan possibly pick an odd man out from: Schlueter, Andries, Olson, JMS + Dunlap, Faalele, if they're all back and wanting to play? Feel bad for Ruschmeyer, in such a scenario. I don't think there'd be room for him, unless Callahan is willing to try to make a seven man rotation work.


I suppose he can put Olson as starting center and rotate JMS in with him. Or perhaps JMS at starting center and rotate Olson at all three interior positions, which is something he can do. Or do a guard rotation. Etc.

Will be interesting. Good "problem" to have, obviously.
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Awesome problem to have. It'll be interesting to see who starts, but they managed just fine with the same 6 last year. Between the 6-man OL sets and injuries I'm guessing everyone will get enough PT. BUt again, excellent problem we've not needed to worry ourselves with in my lifetime.
 

Don’t jump on the we have too many good lineman problem bandwagon. Those are the guys that can get hurt the easiest with battles in the trenches.

I don’t want jinx it, but after OSU takes us behind the woodshed to start the year off we can easily have guys hurt and a good thing can turn into a bad thing really quick.
 



amk8930 said:
Don’t jump on the we have too many good lineman problem bandwagon. Those are the guys that can get hurt the easiest with battles in the trenches.

I don’t want jinx it, but after OSU takes us behind the woodshed to start the year off we can easily have guys hurt and a good thing can turn into a bad thing really quick.
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You sure are a debbie downer. I don't think I could watch sports if that's how I viewed the situation all the time. Either that or you're a Wisco or Iowa troll.
 

MGGopher said:
Awesome problem to have. It'll be interesting to see who starts, but they managed just fine with the same 6 last year. Between the 6-man OL sets and injuries I'm guessing everyone will get enough PT. BUt again, excellent problem we've not needed to worry ourselves with in my lifetime.
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Most of 2019 wasn't a rotation. JMS got to shine when Olson(?) went down with injury. He played so well that it forced Callahan to put him in a rotation for the end of the season.

We could go back to that rotation, it is true. And maybe that's the easiest answer.


But what about the young pup Ersery? Played well in his one chance. Seems "unfair" that he might not get to play at all in 2021! Granted, it would only be his second fall on campus, and he should have four years after that (if he wants all of them). Who knows, with injuries. Always have to be ready.

And we still don't know for a fact if Schlueter and/or Olson even want to come back for their sixth years.
 

MplsGopher said:
But what about the young pup Ersery? Played well in his one chance. Seems "unfair" that he might not get to play at all in 2021! Granted, it would only be his second fall on campus, and he should have four years after that (if he wants all of them). Who knows, with injuries. Always have to be ready.
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Could still redshirt next year if he plays fewer than 4 games and be a freshman in 2022, right?
 




MplsGopher said:
Most of 2019 wasn't a rotation. JMS got to shine when Olson(?) went down with injury. He played so well that it forced Callahan to put him in a rotation for the end of the season.

We could go back to that rotation, it is true. And maybe that's the easiest answer.


But what about the young pup Ersery? Played well in his one chance. Seems "unfair" that he might not get to play at all in 2021! Granted, it would only be his second fall on campus, and he should have four years after that (if he wants all of them). Who knows, with injuries. Always have to be ready.

And we still don't know for a fact if Schlueter and/or Olson even want to come back for their sixth years.
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I don't remember all the specifics, but I do remember they started rotating JMS in during the Purdue game when I believe everyone was at full strength. He was getting every other or every third series at C. Either way, it's still a great problem to have and if any coach can keep those guys thinking of team first, it's Fleck.
 

MplsGopher said:
If Dunlap and Faalele both come back, and they clearly are two of Fleck's favorites ... it's going to kick two guys who started this season out of starting, somehow.

How does Callahan possibly pick an odd man out from: Schlueter, Andries, Olson, JMS + Dunlap, Faalele, if they're all back and wanting to play? Feel bad for Ruschmeyer, in such a scenario. I don't think there'd be room for him, unless Callahan is willing to try to make a seven man rotation work.


I suppose he can put Olson as starting center and rotate JMS in with him. Or perhaps JMS at starting center and rotate Olson at all three interior positions, which is something he can do. Or do a guard rotation. Etc.

Will be interesting. Good "problem" to have, obviously.
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A healthy rotation may be what the doc will prescribe. College Football season can be very long with injury and fatigue. It is good to have extra experienced bodies in two deep rotation.

The big winners are the under classmen who will have extra time to absorb, mature, and develop.
 

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