OL recruits under Brew

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sonnygarcia

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So in trying to get to the bottom of why our o-line play is so average/bad right now I figured I'd look at past recruiting classes.

2007 - Brews transition to coach, wasn't really much of his class, has some lightly recruited in-state guys (left by Mason I'm assuming???).

2008 - Not ONE o-lineman in this highly ranked class. (thankfully we had the Careufel transfer)

2009 - Started to get our act together with Campion and Ed O Jr, but would have been nice to get that 4*type guy

2010 - Great to have Gjere on board, hopefully we can get another big time talent


Our first three years under Brew, which have been a great upgrade in talent, have really missed (in aggregate) on getting good o-lineman in here. Can we even expect anything different next year or the season after? Takes a while to get them young guys strong enough to make a difference.

Would like to hear others thoughts about the immediate future for our O-line.
 

the o-line class of '09 is when they really went to work. These kids will be very good players in 1-2 years. Will be much further along as juniors than the current structured o-line IMO. Gjere might even come in and start as a freshman. You can't tell me he wouldn't be better than Wills right now. We are on the right track with recruiting it. Its a position that takes a couple years classes to start coming together.
 

It's a numbers game. We signed like 8 on the OL in 2006 & 2007, all of them were guys that Mason recruited (even though technically 4 of them were part of Brewster's first class in '07, they were really Mason's recruits). Because of the high number we signed those two years -- numbers-wise that was just not a priority in 2008. But as time moved on the OL recruiting wheels began turning again.

But you bring up a good point. Because Brewster had to wait until this year to bring in his first OL recruits, I think that this position on the field is going to be the slowest to feel his impact as a recruiter. So for us to really improve on the OL, we'll either have to hope that Mason's recruits turn into good players, or because Brewster's first freshmen recruits on the OL aren't going to be maturing until 2011 & 2012, we'll have to hop to get some impact youngsters.
 

An undecided offensive scheme contributes here as well. It's hard to recruit the right player when you change OC's every other year.
 

OL Recruits

Sonny, you didn't mention Brooks Michel - he's pretty highly thought of in this year's class.
 


It ussally takes O linemen 2-3 yrs. to be ready to play at this level. Most O lines are Jr. and Sr. usually redshirted. It takes awhile to get big and strong enough.
 

And don't forget the double secret strategy of not signing local two and low three star players. We're still a bit of a hot bed for underrated big boys. Watch the walk on program develop in this regard.
 

nc2mn said:
Sonny, you didn't mention Brooks Michel - he's pretty highly thought of in this year's class.
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I had his picture in my head but couldn't remember the name. I remember him being lesser rated (something like a 5.5 by rivals, not that it means anything concrete) guy but really looked the part, spec wise, did he impress during preseason practices? Also, we really need Campion back and 100%, does anyknow know what we can expect from him in the near future?
 

sonnygarcia said:
I had his picture in my head but couldn't remember the name. I remember him being lesser rated (something like a 5.5 by rivals, not that it means anything concrete) guy but really looked the part, spec wise, did he impress during preseason practices? Also, we really need Campion back and 100%, does anyknow know what we can expect from him in the near future?
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near future...nothing. he is grey shirting
 



from what i know about about Campion is that i have heard that they want to move him to the center position. he is a big, strong and powerful guy. he is also very athletic for a big guy
 

From the class of 2009 I am also very high on Brooks Michael, during freshman strength testing he shined. Campion is a great athlete and barring any problems with his recovery I think he will be a solid Big-10 lineman, perhaps even better than solid, although now he can be considered a player for the class of 2010 due to grey shirting. Given a few years of strength and conditioning Eddie Olson should develope quite nicely as well from this class.

As far as this years class, 2010, I think we are on the right track with getting qualiy kids to commit. Gjere is a no brainer, great recruit. Lenkewiectz (sp?) is another player I am excited about as the only ding on him is his wieght which can be ealily added over a coulpe years in the wieght room.

Over the years I have come to believe when looking for D1 offenseive lineman you recruit; body type, mind set and attitude as much as you do physical features on 18 year old boys. That is not to say you don't try to get the kids that can be physically ready to play their first year but they are quite rare so usually the OL needs to be a work in progress as you basically create your O linemen through strength and conditioning coupled with sound coaching.
 

we also have a good start with the other olsen brother coming in 2011......he is supposed to be way ahead of his older brother, right?
 

Don't forget our hands down weakness when Brewster showed up was our defense and now our defense is playing better then our offense. We're making good strides across the board, I hope we give Brewster time for all of the youngsters to get experience and better physically. The offensive line will likely get better each year for 2 to 4 years before they possibly peak. I think we won the Air Force game with depth, especially on defense and especially with the defense line and adequate back ups to Royston and Sherels.
 




sonnygarcia said:
2008 - Not ONE o-lineman in this highly ranked class. (thankfully we had the Careufel transfer)
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Roszell Gayden was going to be a part of the 2008 class but did not qualify out of high school. He's currently a top 20 ranked JUCO player with offers from Arizona State, Arkansas, Cal, Ole Miss, and Oregon.
 

FiveStarFan said:
the o-line class of '09 is when they really went to work. These kids will be very good players in 1-2 years. Will be much further along as juniors than the current structured o-line IMO. Gjere might even come in and start as a freshman. You can't tell me he wouldn't be better than Wills right now. We are on the right track with recruiting it. Its a position that takes a couple years classes to start coming together.
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I don't think you're watching the same game I'm watching. Look at all of our long drives and running touchdowns and see what side we've gone to and look at how much time Weber had to throw on Saturday. Wills was solid!
 

rudy said:
I don't think you're watching the same game I'm watching. Look at all of our long drives and running touchdowns and see what side we've gone to and look at how much time Weber had to throw on Saturday. Wills was solid!
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I agree. It may be because Air Force was undersized, but they did not put alot of pressure on Weber. I thought the line played decent.

I also do not think that a break away runner exists on this team. That may be the reason that the line appears to be a weak point. See how they do this week.
 

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