Our Oline is very young...why is that?

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WorkingMyTailOff

WorkingMyTailOff

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I know about the injuries, and that is part of it, but why so few junior and senior offensive linemen on the team? To me this is our biggest weakness right now, but hopefully will become a strength going forward.
 

OL

nokomismod said:
I know about the injuries, and that is part of it, but why so few junior and senior offensive linemen on the team? To me this is our biggest weakness right now, but hopefully will become a strength going forward.
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I attribute this to Brewster's lack of planning and recruiting for the OL's future. Hence we have a large void.
 

Thanks Proudgopher. I was wondering if it was that, players transferring out when Brewster left, or Kill going with youth over beauty.
 

They only had 1 o-line recruit in '08 who ended up not getting in and going to Auburn instead. The guys from the '08 class would possibly be redshirt seniors this year. The next year they had Jacques (moved to d-line), Campion (went to prep school and came back and is now a redshirt freshman), Wills (JC player - already gone), Michel (injuries forced him to leave team), and Ed Olson. These guys would've been the true seniors or redshirt juniors. I think they only went after the 1 in '08 because they had 4 commits in '07.
 

Bo Darville said:
They only had 1 o-line recruit in '08 who ended up not getting in and going to Auburn instead. The guys from the '08 class would possibly be redshirt seniors this year. The next year they had Jacques (moved to d-line), Campion (went to prep school and came back and is now a redshirt freshman), Wills (JC player - already gone), Michel (injuries forced him to leave team), and Ed Olson. These guys would've been the true seniors or redshirt juniors. I think they only went after the 1 in '08 because they had 4 commits in '07.
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Thanks for breaking it down!
 


This is a area of the team that could use rest and recovery the most. The O-line was limping around and absolutely got dominated by MSU yesterday. These guy's need a break
to heal up, they are really beat up in the front 5.
 

2008 - 0 Offensive Lineman recruits
2009 - 5 Offensive Lineman recruits, 1 that is still with the team who has been here the whole time (E. Olson)
2010 - 5 Offensive Lineman recruits, 2 that are still on the team (Epping and Lenkiewicz)

From three recruiting classes, we have a grand total of 3 lineman that are still on the roster. That's the biggest issue with the entire team.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
This is a area of the team that could use rest and recovery the most. The O-line was limping around and absolutely got dominated by MSU yesterday. These guy's need a break
to heal up, they are really beat up in the front 5.
Click to expand...

Correct, and for all the hand-wringing about Limegrover's playcalling and how the Gophers have only beaten "bad" teams, the OL issues seem to be glossed over. People might be tired of hearing the "youth" excuse, but those of us who coach or have coached know that it is the truth, pure and simple, and cannot be underestimated regardless of how much people might want to find a scapegoat.

If you go back and watch the games, you will see that the Gophers have beaten teams who they could move around up front. When they control the line of scrimmage, they run the ball. When they run the ball, it opens up passing lanes because the defense has to walk a player up to stop the run. Far too often, people think that a team can just go to the pass because the run is taken away. The reality is that the run (or the threat of the run), in nearly every offense, sets up the pass. Even the Mike Leach/June Jones offenses have easy audibles meant to exploit defenses that try to get too cute to stop the pass. They just check to the run, get a hat on a hat along the line, break off a 10 yard gain, and the defense has to move a LB back inside.

The problem with the Gopher offense right now is that good, mature defenses do not need to walk anyone else into the box to stop the run; they are able to do it with only their interior six or seven, thus allowing them to keep an extra defender back to stop the pass as well. This is not the case against younger or weaker teams.

Overall, this one reason is why I am optimistic about the direction things are going. If this is what the offense looked like with an experienced OL, it would be cause for concern. I, however, LOVE that they are beating the "bad" teams with a ridiculously young OL. The hope is that next year, the OL will be able to move defenses around a little more. When that happens and defenses have to adjust, it will open everything else up. I am pretty excited to see how it all works out, and so the development of the OL next year (NOT in the bowl game) will determine how confident I am in things going forward.
 

John Galt said:
2008 - 0 Offensive Lineman recruits
2009 - 5 Offensive Lineman recruits, 1 that is still with the team who has been here the whole time (E. Olson)
2010 - 5 Offensive Lineman recruits, 2 that are still on the team (Epping and Lenkiewicz)

From three recruiting classes, we have a grand total of 3 lineman that are still on the roster. That's the biggest issue with the entire team.
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Yup
 



Amen to this. I have had this same discussion with a couple of friends that are already impatient with the current coaching staff. This year's team had a couple of skilled positions players on offense, and some good players and schemes on defense. If we can keep this line intact and healthy the next few years, we are going to be better. Most casual fans and many members in the media lack the patience for this.

With a dominate OLine this year, any of our 3 QBs would have had success this year.
 

John Galt said:
2008 - 0 Offensive Lineman recruits
2009 - 5 Offensive Lineman recruits, 1 that is still with the team who has been here the whole time (E. Olson)
2010 - 5 Offensive Lineman recruits, 2 that are still on the team (Epping and Lenkiewicz)

From three recruiting classes, we have a grand total of 3 lineman that are still on the roster. That's the biggest issue with the entire team.
Click to expand...

No doubt, well, at least on the offensive side of the ball. But the offenses inconsistency really starts up front. Those guys are battling but they're just at a deficit right now. That's gonna start turning around the next few years, and I'd have to think that better offensive consistency will come with it, which in turn will put the defense in better positions to succeed as well.
 

John Galt said:
2008 - 0 Offensive Lineman recruits
2009 - 5 Offensive Lineman recruits, 1 that is still with the team who has been here the whole time (E. Olson)
2010 - 5 Offensive Lineman recruits, 2 that are still on the team (Epping and Lenkiewicz)

From three recruiting classes, we have a grand total of 3 lineman that are still on the roster. That's the biggest issue with the entire team.
Click to expand...
That's pretty sad.
 

I think one possible answer is this:

Except for about the 4 or 5 top draft choices who are extremely talented marquis running backs and or qb's or wr's, the bulk of the first 3 rounds of the NFL are the horses in the trenches.

Brew tried to recruit the marquis specials. Coach Kill realizes that the game is won in the trenches on both sides of the ball.

Brew neglected to recruit the trenches, looking for the one special guy like his QB he recruited for Texas. That will not work in the Big Ten.

So we need to give Kill and his staff time to build the stable of stallions, before we can be successful with the pasture full of Geldings.

Another thing to think about, as my son told me yesterday...There are all kinds of D-1 players out there. We need the D-1 FOOTBALL PLAYERS!!!!

With Coach Kill and his Staff, the day and age of Gopher Football Players being members of the Country Club Mentality (A.J. type) is over and done with at the University of Minnesota.
 



The 12th Man said:
If you go back and watch the games, you will see that the Gophers have beaten teams who they could move around up front. When they control the line of scrimmage, they run the ball. When they run the ball, it opens up passing lanes because the defense has to walk a player up to stop the run. Far too often, people think that a team can just go to the pass because the run is taken away. The reality is that the run (or the threat of the run), in nearly every offense, sets up the pass. Even the Mike Leach/June Jones offenses have easy audibles meant to exploit defenses that try to get too cute to stop the pass. They just check to the run, get a hat on a hat along the line, break off a 10 yard gain, and the defense has to move a LB back inside.
Click to expand...

And if you look at Kill's teams at NIU the breakdown is roughly 2:1 run/pass, he needs to establish a running game to make his system work. Hopefully an older, more experienced oline will start paying some dividends for this team next year.
 


John Galt said:
2008 - 0 Offensive Lineman recruits
2009 - 5 Offensive Lineman recruits, 1 that is still with the team who has been here the whole time (E. Olson)
2010 - 5 Offensive Lineman recruits, 2 that are still on the team (Epping and Lenkiewicz)

From three recruiting classes, we have a grand total of 3 lineman that are still on the roster. That's the biggest issue with the entire team.
Click to expand...

There were posters who complained about this years ago. Got shouted down a lot around here.
 

Dean S said:
There were posters who complained about this years ago. Got shouted down a lot around here.
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That oughta tell you how smart GH posters are. The smart ones know we need plow horses in the trenches to pull the race horses through bog.
 

Dr.Don said:
I think one possible answer is this:

Except for about the 4 or 5 top draft choices who are extremely talented marquis running backs and or qb's or wr's, the bulk of the first 3 rounds of the NFL are the horses in the trenches.

Brew tried to recruit the marquis specials. Coach Kill realizes that the game is won in the trenches on both sides of the ball.

Brew neglected to recruit the trenches, looking for the one special guy like his QB he recruited for Texas. That will not work in the Big Ten.

So we need to give Kill and his staff time to build the stable of stallions, before we can be successful with the pasture full of Geldings.

Another thing to think about, as my son told me yesterday...There are all kinds of D-1 players out there. We need the D-1 FOOTBALL PLAYERS!!!!

With Coach Kill and his Staff, the day and age of Gopher Football Players being members of the Country Club Mentality (A.J. type) is over and done with at the University of Minnesota.
Click to expand...

Your son must be pretty smart!!! I like the comment about D-1 FOOTBALL PLAYERS!!! In order to compete they must be able to take the next step and build the foundation!! The O-Line!!!!!!
 

Haugy#33 said:
Your son must be pretty smart!!! I like the comment about D-1 FOOTBALL PLAYERS!!! In order to compete they must be able to take the next step and build the foundation!! The O-Line!!!!!!
Click to expand...


I know my son quite well. He is damned near as smart as I am. :)
 



The 12th Man said:
Correct, and for all the hand-wringing about Limegrover's playcalling and how the Gophers have only beaten "bad" teams, the OL issues seem to be glossed over. People might be tired of hearing the "youth" excuse, but those of us who coach or have coached know that it is the truth, pure and simple, and cannot be underestimated regardless of how much people might want to find a scapegoat.

If you go back and watch the games, you will see that the Gophers have beaten teams who they could move around up front. When they control the line of scrimmage, they run the ball. When they run the ball, it opens up passing lanes because the defense has to walk a player up to stop the run. Far too often, people think that a team can just go to the pass because the run is taken away. The reality is that the run (or the threat of the run), in nearly every offense, sets up the pass. Even the Mike Leach/June Jones offenses have easy audibles meant to exploit defenses that try to get too cute to stop the pass. They just check to the run, get a hat on a hat along the line, break off a 10 yard gain, and the defense has to move a LB back inside.

The problem with the Gopher offense right now is that good, mature defenses do not need to walk anyone else into the box to stop the run; they are able to do it with only their interior six or seven, thus allowing them to keep an extra defender back to stop the pass as well. This is not the case against younger or weaker teams.

Overall, this one reason is why I am optimistic about the direction things are going. If this is what the offense looked like with an experienced OL, it would be cause for concern. I, however, LOVE that they are beating the "bad" teams with a ridiculously young OL. The hope is that next year, the OL will be able to move defenses around a little more. When that happens and defenses have to adjust, it will open everything else up. I am pretty excited to see how it all works out, and so the development of the OL next year (NOT in the bowl game) will determine how confident I am in things going forward.
Click to expand...
Incredibly accurate and insightful. Bad offenses (or as your avg fan calls it, "bad play calling") is most often the result of a bad OL. Our OL is most likely bad because they are young.
 

Losing Michel and Gjere both to concussion related issues hurt. Both of those guys were good gets by Brewster and were expected to be good players. I know Coach Brewster had to go find a RT (Wills) and a LG (Carufel) to play for him in year 2. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe every OL getting playing time this year was recruited by the prior staff.
 

EG#9 said:
Losing Michel and Gjere both to concussion related issues hurt. Both of those guys were good gets by Brewster and were expected to be good players. I know Coach Brewster had to go find a RT (Wills) and a LG (Carufel) to play for him in year 2. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe every OL getting playing time this year was recruited by the prior staff.
Click to expand...

Christenson and Bjorklund were both red-shirt freshman and Kill recruits. Campion, although initially recruited by Brewster, was re-recruited (word?) by Kill. Epping, Mottla, and Lenkiewicz were Brewster recruits. The Olson boys were coming here no matter who the coach was, and I'm not sure about Bak.

It will be interesting to see how Bobek and the three redshirt freshman (Pirsig, Hayes, Lauer) fit into the rotation next year.
 

EG#9 said:
Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe every OL getting playing time this year was recruited by the prior staff.
Click to expand...

You're wrong. Bush, Bjorklund, and Campion were all recruited by Kill and staff. Campion was initially recruited by Brewster and would've probably come to Minnesota no matter who was the coach (if offered), but he didn't re-enter the picture and didn't receive a scholarship offer the 2nd time around until after Kill was hired.
 

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