Looking Ahead...the O-Line
The overriding offensive story for our football team has been on the offensive line. We were thin to start with due to a light signing year a little while back, and then Scott Lewis was injured in the pre-season, Blaec Walker went down early in the year, and then Bojicic was injured on and off, and from that point it was a struggle, and in the case of the Kent game, "just not fair to our guys" in the words of our Coach. In that game, we had one guy who switched from defense in the spring, one guy who switched from defense during the season, and one true freshman.
The reason it is the overriding story is that if the line is not protecting the QB and getting the running game opened up, you can't really tell what you have with the rest of the team. For example, it is hard to tell how good Matt Schilz really is given that he had little run support and protection.
So, I was curious how the line looks for next season, because it is clear that we are going to need this area to come around if we are going to compete. You usually can't count on freshmen to contribute on the line, so what we have is what we have. (One note: we have used JUCO players to build up our skill positions--Jordan, Cooper, Leacock--and it wouldn't surprise me if we built some depth through JUCO ranks).
We will enter the season with 13 lineman, again, not counting freshmen. (Classes are for next year). Two of these are walk-ons, which puts the number at 11. Of those 11, one is a senior who has been here, and yet true freshmen and defensive players have been moved over, so really, I'm think we're at 10. Let's go from there.
We'll have two seniors, and they are pretty good players...Bojicic is very good and Lewis made a big difference when he came back late in the season. If Bojicic players C and Lewis goes to one of the G, that helps the middle a lot. Blaec Walker will be back, and he can go onto one of the T positions. This was his first year starting and it was aborted, so how seasoned he will be is not clear. Then, you put Robinson and Roussos at the other spots, and Roussos gets a full spring and fall practice to learn the O-line, and he might be able to develop into a pretty good lineman. He's a good football player, that's for sure.
I know what that means--its pretty much the same guys we had this year. My hope is that they can stay healthy and we can use the same unit every week--that would help a lot. If Walker and Roussos develop, things could be better.
As for depth, that scenario does not have Dominic Flewellyn in the regular lineup after a year of training by fire and Kyle Bryant who got onto the two-deep near the end of the season. We also have 3 scholarship guys who red-shirted this year.
Two of the small number of verbal commits we have O-lineman as well.
And that is the ultimate issue. Because they develop more slowly, and because cohesiveness is so important to the line, you need to recruit lineman every year. We have not always done that.
When Ben Bojicic came in, for example, he and Josh Dodge were the only O-lineman recruited, and Dodge isn't here anymore. (Quick aside. This recruiting class was very thin, we'll look at that once the season is over).
So, I think there is reason for optimism, but it will hinge on health and player development. Coach 'em up.
Next year's O-line lineup:
61 Ben Bojicic OL 6-4 295 Sr.
62 Preston Burrell OL 6-6 302 Sr.The reason it is the overriding story is that if the line is not protecting the QB and getting the running game opened up, you can't really tell what you have with the rest of the team. For example, it is hard to tell how good Matt Schilz really is given that he had little run support and protection.
So, I was curious how the line looks for next season, because it is clear that we are going to need this area to come around if we are going to compete. You usually can't count on freshmen to contribute on the line, so what we have is what we have. (One note: we have used JUCO players to build up our skill positions--Jordan, Cooper, Leacock--and it wouldn't surprise me if we built some depth through JUCO ranks).
We will enter the season with 13 lineman, again, not counting freshmen. (Classes are for next year). Two of these are walk-ons, which puts the number at 11. Of those 11, one is a senior who has been here, and yet true freshmen and defensive players have been moved over, so really, I'm think we're at 10. Let's go from there.
We'll have two seniors, and they are pretty good players...Bojicic is very good and Lewis made a big difference when he came back late in the season. If Bojicic players C and Lewis goes to one of the G, that helps the middle a lot. Blaec Walker will be back, and he can go onto one of the T positions. This was his first year starting and it was aborted, so how seasoned he will be is not clear. Then, you put Robinson and Roussos at the other spots, and Roussos gets a full spring and fall practice to learn the O-line, and he might be able to develop into a pretty good lineman. He's a good football player, that's for sure.
I know what that means--its pretty much the same guys we had this year. My hope is that they can stay healthy and we can use the same unit every week--that would help a lot. If Walker and Roussos develop, things could be better.
As for depth, that scenario does not have Dominic Flewellyn in the regular lineup after a year of training by fire and Kyle Bryant who got onto the two-deep near the end of the season. We also have 3 scholarship guys who red-shirted this year.
Two of the small number of verbal commits we have O-lineman as well.
And that is the ultimate issue. Because they develop more slowly, and because cohesiveness is so important to the line, you need to recruit lineman every year. We have not always done that.
When Ben Bojicic came in, for example, he and Josh Dodge were the only O-lineman recruited, and Dodge isn't here anymore. (Quick aside. This recruiting class was very thin, we'll look at that once the season is over).
So, I think there is reason for optimism, but it will hinge on health and player development. Coach 'em up.
Next year's O-line lineup:
61 Ben Bojicic OL 6-4 295 Sr.
68 Scott Lewis OL 6-2 304 Sr.
71 Chip Robinson OL 6-6 324 Jr.
77 Blaec Walker OL 6-5 308 Jr.
73 Jordon Roussos OL 6-4 294 Jr.
52 Dominic Flewellyn OL 6-3 300 So
75 Kyle Bryant OL 6-6 305 So.
63 Cody Silk OL 6-4 275 Fr.
64 Johnathan Fry OL 6-5 270 Fr.
65 Jeremey Ernst OL 6-4 285 Fr.*
67 Nick Hager OL 6-2 310 Fr. *
70 Isaiah Byler OL 6-4 270 Fr.
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