It's really bizarre how bad the offensive line is at this point in Hendrix's tenure. It's actually kind of interesting - like, presumably Hendrix didn't get amnesia and forget everything he knew.
What makes it so strange is that the OL is weaker than other units that, in theory, should be more dependent on hard-to-find athleticism (particularly on defense). This seems to point towards a structural explanation (as opposed to some kind of program-specific problem with the position group).
It might go something like this - even though HS football participation in, say, the Atlanta metro area is roughly similar to the past, there are underlying demographic changes in the participants . . . middle and upper-middle class parents may be discouraging their kids from playing football at a high rate, more than might be assumed. The number of players on the field does not decrease, but the number of kids trying out for the team would decrease, at least for certain positions. Due to Furman's academic requirements, the Paladins would be more negatively impacted by this than most, due to demographic correlations between household income and HS academic performance. This would also be an issue at the QB position.
Note that the issue of more college football programs does not explain this at all, because that should similarly impact all positions.
Unfortunately this seems like a more or less unsolvable problem, because FCS football does not produce enough returns to justify the large expenditures that would be required to compensate for the negative structural changes.
Last edited by youwouldno on Sat Mar 20, 2021 1:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.