First, good observations, and I think you are right, writing Ragoo off is a mistake. You can't teach huge and smart, and I believe he is a smart kid. They would also probably not be wasting his or their trainer's time on special conditioning drills to get him in good enough condition to practice effectively if they thought he had no chance. This staff really believes in balanced physical development, and Ragoo is not in good enough shape to actually practice the way they want o-linemen to practice at the moment. He is basically doing conditioning work that I assume makes him strong enough to play low enough to be effective, (that is my guess). He is not as tall, but he is bigger than Otis Hudson was, and Otis was the biggest college football player I have ever seen up close. He dwarfs the guys on the dline.
Ragoo could stand to lose weight, but if he was at a great playing weight, he would still be a huge man. Additionally, I believe the number 70 olineman is not Brandon Haney, it is Sean Ferguson who was moved there from defense. Apparently the roster is wrong or I got the wrong information from a guy standing next to me.
Lenkiewicz (RS freshman) was highly thought of by Coach Horton who called him out as one of the future good offensive linemen last fall.
I thought the best dline players yesterday were Jacobs, Kirksey, Hageman, Tauefa, and actually Stommes made a couple of good rushes, but he needs to gain 25+ pounds. Perry is the most fluid guy on the dline, but he needs to get stronger. The two guys who I think have talent, but have not caught on to the aggressiveness and motor required yet to succeed with this staff are Jacques, and Legania. Physically I think those guys have some talent, and I hope they get annoyed enough to get on the train so they have a chance. I think they can be players if they want to be.
Having watched this team practice three times, I can see why a bunch of kids quit the first year at SIU. These practices are not physically brutal, but they are extremely demanding of correct execution. If you are not committed to getting better every day, this will get very old during August two a days. The practices are like basic training; it is physically hard, not brutal, but the demand to execute correctly play after play requires paying attention and hustling hard for two hours at a crack much more than most kids have ever had to do. And they have to do it every day. With this staff, they do not get to pick their level of involvement based on their attitude that day.
The other thing that is absolutely clear is it is no fun to be injured on this team. The guys who are wearing jerseys not allowing them to play do not spend much time watching practice. They are riding bikes, lifting weights and generally having an assistant trainer work their asses off behind the sidelines. Nobody gets to hide on the field, if you can't play you are doing some kind of work that is less fun than doing drills with the team.
