Our future is our Offensive Line

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BigMan'sGame

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As of last night, our offensive line officially "turned the corner." For us to take the next step as a program, the OL must continue to improve. We've got all our starters back, plus many others who gained valuable experience. Epping, the Olsons, Bak, Campion, Christenson, Mottla, Lenkiewicz, Bush and Bjorklund. Then throw in Bobek, Hayes, Pirsig and Lauer. Then hopefully the Mayes brothers and Ragnow from Chanhassen in the future.

From now on, we have the necessary depth to overcome injuries. No explanations, no excuses - control the line of scrimmage. This needs to be the identity of the team and last night was a great start. When the TV announcers give the elevator speech about our team prior to kickoff, the first thing they discuss will be our dominant OL. This is our calling card, much like the Mason years.

But guess what? We're going to play some defense too!
 

Agree with the O-line going to be a strength. The depth and size is finally there to dominate the LOS and with Kill being able to red-shirt this past season's freshmen, there should be plenty of depth across the entire line. I believe we are going to start seeing some highly rated RB's begin to commit to the Gophers in the very near future. Berkley Edwards looks like a great start with his speed.
 

Not only do we get everyone back on the O-line, we only had one junior who suited up last night. The future on offense is bright if we can get a few playmakers at WR. DCT, Engel, McDonald, Fruechte, and Harbison: those guys are all young and there is a lot of potential there...
 

Its going to be nice not seeing a bunch of FR and SO starting on the O-Line.
 

I hope Epping learned a little something this weekend about discipline
 


Just like Wisconsin and Notre Dame this year.....and I am sure there are more, a team can put a walk-on RB behind and experienced line and have a great running game. I think Iowa proved that against us this year as well. Next year should be much better. We should be really good in 2014 and 2015. And with solid recruiting of the best offensive lineman in the region, hopefully it will be the foundation of a solid program.
 

Ski U Master said:
I hope Epping learned a little something this weekend about discipline
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I learned something about Epping this weekend...the man's got some fight and toughness in him and played a hell of a game.
 

They were overmatched all season in conference play and Texas Tech had trouble all season on defense. The jury is still out regardless if they're all coming back, doesn't mean they will automatically be better. I do like that there will finally be depth with the unit though.
 

I have been excited about the future of the OL for a long time, but I have a question for the board. What is the opinion of the McAvoy twins? Are they projects that may contribute when they are Jr/Sr, or busts? Luke really seems to struggle getting bigger and stronger, but I thought they were highly touted when they verballed a few years ago.
 



Every game is won or lost in the trenches. If the OL is successful, we are successful on offense. If the DL is successful, we are successful on defense. If both are successful, we will be tough. Big IF!!!

GO GOPHERS!!!
 

Sumtimegophs said:
I have been excited about the future of the OL for a long time, but I have a question for the board. What is the opinion of the McAvoy twins? Are they projects that may contribute when they are Jr/Sr, or busts? Luke really seems to struggle getting bigger and stronger, but I thought they were highly touted when they verballed a few years ago.
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Unless someone on here is close to the Oline staff, there is no way anyone would know. They have not played in games or enough in practices to justify an opinion.
 

O-line is critical. I would submit that all the talent in the world at the "skill" positions is useless if you can't control the line of scrimmage (witness the 2011 Vikings). On the other hand, a lesser amount of talent in the skills department can be more effective in the case where the O-line is awesome. I love to follow recruiting and it is fun to read about how fast and athletic the "skill" recruits are, but I would really like to see more press and excitement about the "big dudes" we are recruiting who will man-handle the line of scrimmage for us in the future.
 

All that fight is worth nothing if it costs your team 50 yards. Gotta have discipline.
 



corcoran1 said:
Unless someone on here is close to the Oline staff, there is no way anyone would know. They have not played in games or enough in practices to justify an opinion.
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+1 It has always bothered me that people with no knowledge or factual basis seem to be happy to give their opinion. It adds nothing to the conversation and does a great deal of disservice to all.
 

TrapperDoo said:
All that fight is worth nothing if it costs your team 50 yards. Gotta have discipline.
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I don't believe it will be a problem next year, I wouldn't want to be in Epping's shoes come spring, the coaches will ride him until he learns or quits.
 

nsmike said:
I don't believe it will be a problem next year, I wouldn't want to be in Epping's shoes come spring, the coaches will ride him until he learns or quits.
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Really? He was one of our best lineman, they aren't going to ride him until he quits and you don't want to take away a mean streak. Learn from it and move on.
 

We were great up front on O in the bowl game.
The future is very bright for this Oline group, and I'll add in that our TE's look really good also. Add in Williams and possibly Anyanwu to this group.
We are going to have the ability to mash.

Epping was tough but needs to get that veteran savvy of letting go at the right time. He got caught blocking past the whistle, which is what good Olinemen do, but they do it without being caught or drawing too much attention from the refs.

I believe Kill going nuts at the refs for that penalty shows that Limegrover and Kill would rather be on the aggressive end of the blocking to the whistle than letting a guy go when the play appears gone from the area.
If Kill was pissed at Epping he'd have brought him off and chewed him one for awhile.
 

Adam said:
I learned something about Epping this weekend...the man's got some fight and toughness in him and played a hell of a game.
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This! Yes it cost them the drive, but I don't think it cost the game. Epping let it be known that he wasn't backing down from anything. To me, it appeared to be a rally cry for the team. The team appeared to get jacked up after that point. In a more disciplined and confident way IMO they really started to take it to TT. Speculation here. I think Kill and staff wanted to see how the team would respond. Especially since his working the refs didn't really work with the refs.


More disciplined yes. Lose that fight? Heck NO!!!
 

I hope they don't change a thing about Epping. IMO, he had 1 bad penalty and the other penalty was a terrible call.

I'll give up a 15 year penalty / season for that kind of tenacity. The kid is the leader of our OL and the best lineman we've had since the Mason days. I know the staff didn't like him losing his cool, but I gurantee you the staff doesn't want him changing his demeanor. If it becomes a problem, I'm sure that'll change. But I don't think it's a problem with Epping.
 

The overall point of this thread is dead on.

We finally have some depth and some experience.

As bizarre as it sounds, we'll still only have 1 SR on our entire OL next season. So as much as some people cringe to read this, we'll still be young (which shows you how young we've been the last few years).

We are starting to add some depth, but still a lot of that depth is REALLY young.

But in general, your point is dead one, we will have a few JRs, a SR and a lot of experience coming back. I like this position group.
 

The offense starts up front. If you have a good offensive line you have a chance to win and the Gophers line should be a strength for years to come. The key to this group is to stay healthy even with the increase in depth. We still lost what probably should have been one of our best lineman in Gjere before this year started. Keeping this group healthy and improving is the key. The best part is we have even more young talent that will push the current starters. Bobek, Hayes, and Pirsig didnt play this season and will push for playing time or starting positions in the next year or two.
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
We finally have some depth and some experience.

As bizarre as it sounds, we'll still only have 1 SR on our entire OL next season. So as much as some people cringe to read this, we'll still be young (which shows you how young we've been the last few years).

We are starting to add some depth, but still a lot of that depth is REALLY young.

But in general, your point is dead one, we will have a few JRs, a SR and a lot of experience coming back. I like this position group.
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No doubt, relatively speaking and in terms of Offensive Line age/experience, next year they will still be a LITTLE young. Just the same, it's hard not to get excited about the experience that's returning. There will be a lot of starts among that group next year, and they will all be another year older, STRONGER, and maybe 5-10 pounds bigger.

I still think it's a bad sign if Pirsig and/or Hayes see the field next year, unless it's in mop-up duty in the NC schedule. If they see any meaningful action, it's a bad sign for the guys coming back. At any rate, by the time fall camp comes around, there will be some serious competition for playing time and the 5 that take the field against UNLV should be a really solid group.

Conservatively, I'm just not expecting much from Bobek. It would be awesome if he turns out to be an All-BT player but anybody that's planning on him coming in, starting (ahead of Christenson, et al), and being some kind of dominant player is probably getting a little ahead of themselves. It would be great if it happens though.

Bottom line: I think this unit will be really good in 2013, and even better in 2014.
 

Bob_Loblaw

dpodoll68 said:
Two - E. Olson and Mottla.

Unless you've heard something about Mottla from your CDH crew?
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Bob - I believe in your comments about the center position you stated something to the effect that Mottla's injury was very serious and thus he wouldn't be factor at the center position this coming fall. Is this just your opinion based on the type of injury or do you have some additional information that you used in coming to your conclusion? Thanks.
 

Killjoy said:
Bob - I believe in your comments about the center position you stated something to the effect that Mottla's injury was very serious and thus he wouldn't be factor at the center position this coming fall. Is this just your opinion based on the type of injury or do you have some additional information that you used in coming to your conclusion? Thanks.
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Nope, I just am not 100% sure what we will get out of Mottla next year. It has nothing to do with any inside info, more of just being unsure how long it takes to get back from his injury.
 

The only type of fracture that I'm aware of, that is slow healing, is a spiral fracture. I haven't heard the exact nature of the break but I would be surprised if it takes more than four months.
 

nsmike said:
The only type of fracture that I'm aware of, that is slow healing, is a spiral fracture. I haven't heard the exact nature of the break but I would be surprised if it takes more than four months.
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I don't know what kind of break Mottla had but I have been told by several doctors that a broken bone often heals better than a severe sprain. As a matter of fact it can actually end up being stronger. Do you know if Kim Royston's broken leg was a spiral fracture? His broken leg was very serious and complicated which required a rod and great deal of time. Let's hope that Mottla's break falls in the former category.
 


Tim Riggins said:
Really? He was one of our best lineman, they aren't going to ride him until he quits and you don't want to take away a mean streak. Learn from it and move on.
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+1 The fact that JK didn't take him out of the game shows that he appreciates the attitude - especially in a game like that. Also says that JK is probably like Epping deep down inside.
 

badgergopher said:
+1 The fact that JK didn't take him out of the game shows that he appreciates the attitude - especially in a game like that. Also says that JK is probably like Epping deep down inside.
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I loved seeing the mean streak in Epping. I'm glad we finally have a bruiser down on the line.
 

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