PiPress: Injury update on offensive line

[BleedGopher]

per Marcus:

Gophers left guard Joe Bjorklund will try to play through a knee injury that has put his leg “bone on bone,” coach Jerry Kill said Sunday.

“He’s not going to be healthy all year,” Kill said after the 10-7 win over Kent State on Saturday. “He had major knee surgery where he has bone-on-bone, and he is playing out of will to play. … That’s a tough injury, but he will fight and scrap and crawl.”

And tackle Jonah Pirsig injured his shoulder in the 23-20 win over Colorado State, sat out practices last week and played against Kent State.

Kill said “the problem” is exacerbated by starting left guard Jon Christenson being out about a month after having right knee surgery Sept. 14. Kill said he wished he had a “magic wand” to know when Christenson would be back.

http://blogs.twincities.com/gophers/2015/09/20/gophers-football-injury-update-on-offensive-line/

Go Gophers!!

 

[alchemy2u]

There is no doubt that the guys have tremendous heart and strength, but you need to get your next tier of players to step up.


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[Deleted_User]

Don't play bone-on-bone. That should be cause to retire from the sport.

 

[alchemy2u]

Don't play bone-on-bone. That should be cause to retire from the sport.

Ditto, isn't there some concern about the future health of these players?


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[GopherMike]

All these injuries are unreal. The entire O-line is just decimated. Might have to burn a couple of redshirts at this rate.

 

[hungan1]

What is causing all these linemen injuries? Are they doing something in practice that causes these?

Can they they hire some consultant that will help with techniques to limit injuries? Are they wearing down our linemen knees, etc... prematurely from over use in practices?

I think Saint John's University in Collegeville under the John Gagliardi era did not allow tackling during practices, nor does he require participation strength and conditioning. He has won four national titles and has a 439-119-10 all time record.

I am not saying the Gophers should adopt this philosophy for a D1 football program, but there may be something they can learn from someone to minimize o-line injuries.

 

[killme]

What is causing all these linemen injuries? Are they doing something in practice that causes these?

Can they they hire some consultant that will help with techniques to limit injuries? Are they wearing down our linemen knees, etc... prematurely from over use in practices?

I think Saint John's University in Collegeville under the John Gagliardi era did not allow tackling during practices, nor does he require participation strength and conditioning. He has won four national titles and has a 439-119-10 all time record.

I am not saying the Gophers should adopt this philosophy for a D1 football program, but there may be something they can learn from someone to minimize o-line injuries.

I'm pretty sure I've read the Gophers limit contact in practice. I'm pretty sure their strength & conditioning, and practice routines are state of the art.

 

[t-docious]

our line is slow and strong. Looking at Ed olson, who lost some 50 pounds after playing amkes me think that are line is too bulky. They are not quick at all and perhaps playing weight is too heavy. I wish our line was more of the eslinger type, 280 and agile, able to pull and get to the second level to lay blocks.

just my thoughts. we alwasy seem to be decimated on the O Line, Maybe having guys at 310 320 is just unhealthy. Play at 280 reduce risk of injury????? i dont know. I am just a fan

 

[jaymil]

To recap:

Our starting offensive line to start the season was looking like: Lauer - Christenson - Bobek - Campion - Pirsig

1. Lauer gets injured in fall camp, still plays in week 1 but struggles and hasn't played much since
2. This forces Campion to move out to LT, but he gets a concussion and can't play week 1, Connor Mayes in at RG and has stayed there
3. Johah Pirsig moves to LT and has stayed there causing Campion to play RT when he came back
4. Jon Christenson injures a knee against CSU and is out at least a month, Joe Bjorklund subs in but has knee issues that won't be fixed this season
5. To spell Bjorklund, either Campion will have to move inside to LG (which would cause Foster Bush to play RT) OR Tyler Moore's redshirt will have to be burned even though he spent all of fall camp at C instead of LG

Now we are looking at: Pirsig - Bjorklund - Bobek - Mayes - Campion, with Bjorklund playing on one knee and potentially more shuffling necessary.

Only Brian Bobek is in his original spot as planned.

No wonder why things are a mess up front. Not only are we missing guys, but it has caused players who haven't been injured to move around and play new spots. Say what you want about how we should have more depth but even elite programs would be experiencing issues with this laundry list of problems. This could cause a 8-9 win team to fall back to 5-6 wins if things don't get better.

 

[Ole]

our line is slow and strong. Looking at Ed olson, who lost some 50 pounds after playing amkes me think that are line is too bulky. They are not quick at all and perhaps playing weight is too heavy. I wish our line was more of the eslinger type, 280 and agile, able to pull and get to the second level to lay blocks.

just my thoughts. we alwasy seem to be decimated on the O Line, Maybe having guys at 310 320 is just unhealthy. Play at 280 reduce risk of injury????? i dont know. I am just a fan

Eslinger was a college football OL unicorn, to play at a high level at that size is so very rare.
It's been commented on by Kill and others how they recruit tall and flexible offensive linemen who can move, then add weight as they mature.
I saw Ben Lauer as a true freshman on campus, he looked like a tall TE, he's got to be 40-50 lbs heavier now.
Schemewise I think we like to have bigger linemen who can lean on the defense for 4 quarters. We've just hit a bad combination of injuries and a lack of depth.
Linemen take longer to mature and we're still leaning on our 2011 class which wasn't super heralded but has some tough kids that are hanging in there despite the injuries.

 

[scools12]

If these OLine injuries are an annual occurrence (not sure if they are) that are happening during spring and fall camp they need to look at the strength and condition program as well as the practice routine to see if there is something that could be changed that might help prevent the injuries.

 

[bottlebass]

I like/prefer my chances burning a redshirt to play someone who is at least healthy over keep playing Bjorklund on 1 leg. An inexperienced guy at 100% has to be better. Our OLine has been horrible. We let Kent St dominate us at the line... Everyone is calling for the back up QBs to get into the game when they should be calling for the backup Olinemen to get into the game. Switching the QB won't fix our Oline problems and will just get him hurt.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

What a mess. People are gonna have to step up and step up big or this is not gonna end well.

 

[Section2]

If these OLine injuries are an annual occurrence (not sure if they are) that are happening during spring and fall camp they need to look at the strength and condition program as well as the practice routine to see if there is something that could be changed that might help prevent the injuries.

why do these comments always appear whenever we have injuries? It happens. Most of it is luck.

 

[killme]

To recap:

Thanks for taking the time to put this together. I also thought I saw Pirsig back at RT in the 2nd half and I want to say Lauer was not at RT. Could be wrong, but it made me think they're having a hard time getting a unit to get things done they want.

I think it's also important to point out in our run-heavy philosophy the injuries to our TEs, who are glorified linemen much of the time.

 

[killme]

I like/prefer my chances burning a redshirt to play someone who is at least healthy over keep playing Bjorklund on 1 leg. An inexperienced guy at 100% has to be better. Our OLine has been horrible. We let Kent St dominate us at the line... Everyone is calling for the back up QBs to get into the game when they should be calling for the backup Olinemen to get into the game. Switching the QB won't fix our Oline problems and will just get him hurt.

Sometimes it's better to have a guy doing the right thing at 80% than one doing the wrong thing at 100%.

 

[GopherOhana]

who steps up?

73 Bjorklund, Joe OL 6-5 300 RS SR Rosemount, Minn. (Rosemount HS)
67 Bobek, Brian OL 6-2 289 RS SR Inverness, Ill. (Ohio State)
77 Bush, Foster OL 6-5 306 RS SR Menasha, Wis. (Menasha HS)
65 Campion, Josh OL 6-5 307 RS SR Fergus Falls, Minn. (Fork Union (Va.)
63 Christenson, Jon OL 6-4 303 RS SR Minnetonka, Minn. (Minnetonka HS)
74 Connelly, Nick OL 6-7 286 FR Red Wing, Minn. (Red Wing HS)
61 Dovich, Bronson OL 6-5 288 FR Chaska, Minn. (Chaska HS)
70 Fahning, Chad OL 6-6 290 RS SO St. Paul, Minn. (DeLaSalle HS)
68 Hayes, Isaac OL 6-2 316 RS JR Brooklyn Park, Minn. (St. Thomas Academy)
75 Kuehn, Noah OL 6-6 297 FR Eagan, Minn. (Eagan HS)
78 Lauer, Ben OL 6-7 317 RS JR Plymouth, Minn. (Wayzata HS)
60 Leidner, Matt OL 6-2 283 RS SO Lakeville, Minn. (Lakeville South HS)
76 Mayes, Alex OL 6-6 310 RS SO Van Alstyne, Texas (Van Alstyne HS)
55 Mayes, Connor OL 6-5 328 SO Van Alstyne, Texas (Van Alstyne HS)
71 Moore, Tyler OL 6-4 306 FR Galena Park, Texas (North Shore HS)
64 Oldenkamp, Matt OL 6-6 273 RS FR Eagle River, Alaska (Chugiak HS)
58 Oseland, Quinn OL 6-6 291 FR Springfield, Ill. (Sacred Heart Griffin HS)
79 Pirsig, Jonah OL 6-9 316 RS JR Blue Earth, Minn. (Blue Earth Area HS)
53 Rasmussen, Luke OL 6-7 284 RS FR Brookfield, Wis. (Central HS)
66 Stieber, Ted OL 6-6 305 FR Akron, Ohio (Hoban HS)
62 Weyler, Jared OL 6-4 293 RS FR Dayton, Ohio (Centerville HS)

 

[scools12]

why do these comments always appear whenever we have injuries? It happens. Most of it is luck.

These comments appear because if you were to have injuries to the same position group every year before the first game there might be an explanation. I don't if this is an every year issue with the OLine but nothing wrong with commenting on it.