Offensive Line

[apaladin]

Compared the starting offensive line from Austin Peay game to the one that started yesterday. Even though we were totally dominated in the second half by AP we still rushed for 159 yds compared to 129 yesterday against a much lesser opponent, not to mention under 100 yds the previous 2 games. There have been changes since the AP game:
AP STARTERS/YESTERDAY
RT GODWIN/REPLACED BY KROEBER WHO MOVED FROM LG
RG HARRIS/SAME
C. JUMPER/SAME
LG. KROEBER/REPLACED BY JOHANNING
LT. LAYTON/REPLACED BY MCKINNEY
As you can see by the above only C and RG are the same. The left side of the line is totally new. Hopefully we have some young OL that are ready to fight for a starting job.

[Paladin91]

Compared the starting offensive line from Austin Peay game to the one that started yesterday. Even though we were totally dominated in the second half by AP we still rushed for 159 yds compared to 129 yesterday against a much lesser opponent, not to mention under 100 yds the orevious 2 games. There have been changes since the AP game:
AP STARTERS/YESTERDAY
RT GODWIN/REPLACED BY KROEBER WHO MOVED FROM LG
RG HARRIS/SAME
C. JUMPER/SAME
LG. KROEBER/REPLACED BY JOHANNING
LT. LAYTON/REPLACED BY MCKINNEY
As you can see by the above only C and RG are the same. The left side of the line is totally new. Hopefully we have some young OL that are ready to fight for a starting job.

Agreed, more bogus analysis by Jackal.

[The Jackal]

Compared the starting offensive line from Austin Peay game to the one that started yesterday. Even though we were totally dominated in the second half by AP we still rushed for 159 yds compared to 129 yesterday against a much lesser opponent, not to mention under 100 yds the orevious 2 games. There have been changes since the AP game:
AP STARTERS/YESTERDAY
RT GODWIN/REPLACED BY KROEBER WHO MOVED FROM LG
RG HARRIS/SAME
C. JUMPER/SAME
LG. KROEBER/REPLACED BY JOHANNING
LT. LAYTON/REPLACED BY MCKINNEY
As you can see by the above only C and RG are the same. The left side of the line is totally new. Hopefully we have some young OL that are ready to fight for a starting job.

Agreed, more bogus analysis by Jackal.

Not sure what I did to trigger you on a thread that has nothing to do with me nor did I respond to.

[gofurman]

well , not sure if good or bad? But we are graduating most of the OL. Detamore and Neely as backup OL. Kroeber Harris and McKinney as three starters - time for the nex OL to STEP UP ! (feel free to correct me if I missed on one of the graduating OL) !!

[Furmanoid]

That’s what I was wondering about. Graduating doesn’t necessarily mean leaving, but I don’t know why anybody would hang around for another season of futility.

If those guys are leaving we probably should have played the backups more. They couldn’t have done much worse, and they would be much better prepared for Fall. But I guess we played to win the game.

[apaladin]

Only 2 other OL played Saturday both likely to not be on the team in the fall(Neely and Daniels). Missing was starting LT Anderson Tomlin(injured). So 2 or 3 OL with experience in the fall.

[Paul C]

"Our OL sucks!" and "OMG we are graduating 5 OL, 3 of them starters!" seem to be contradictory emotions. But coming off the offensive offensive performance of the second half of the spring I get it. Seemed like a lot of these guys regressed this spring. Wonder if conditioning played a role...we were all excited to see we had 3 starters over 300+....maybe they got to that weight the wrong way (my way). I know we need athletic, mobile lineman....not sure if that was an issue or not....

I'm looking forward to seeing some of these younger OL get their shot....guys like Blake Hundley, EJ Wilson and Dylan Davis....all have been in the program now for a year and should be ready to step up....takes a while for the guys in the trenches to develop so interested in seeing these guys (who signed in 2019).

Not sure I'd expect anything in Fall '21 from our incoming Fr (Ryan Lamb, Alex Cain, Luke Petit) but ya never know.

[Paul C]

Here are the bio's of the three from the 2019 class from our signing day release....

Dylan Davis, OL
6-4, 270, Freshman
Bradenton, Florida
St. Stephen's Episcopal School

High School: Committed to Fuman on August 6, 2019, after fielding offers from Iowa State, Illinois, Army, and Cornell...projected 2020 graduate of St. Stephen's (Independent) Episcopal School...football coach was Tod Creneti...saw action at center, offensive tackle, and defensive tackle, registering 44 starts in his career...served as team captain his junior and senior years, helping lead St. Stephen's to a pair of state championships...four-year record during his tenure was 40-4...recorded 150 tackles, including 60 for-loss, and 18 sacks in his career...three-time all-area selection on both offense and defense...two-time all-state pick on defense and all-state selection on offense...selected to play Blue-Grey All-Star Game and Florida North vs. South Senior Bowl...also starred in basketball, track, and wrestling...won district and region championships and finished third in the state in the shotput in 2019.

Blake Hundley, OL
6-3, 275, Freshman
Clarksville, Tennessee
Clarksville High School

High School: Entertained offers from eight schools, including FBS members Kansas, South Carolina, and Kentucky...committed to Furman on December 8, 2019...projected 2020 graduate of Clarksville (5A) High School...football coach was Isaac Shelby...played offensive guard and on the defensive line...three-time 7-AAAAA All-Region and all-area selection...served as team captain and was named region offensive line MVP in 2019 after helping lead Clarksville to a 7-5 record and the program's first playoff victory in a decade...selected to play in Tennessee East-West All-Star Game.

E.J. Wilson, OL
6-4, 280, Freshman
Xenia, Ohio
Xenia High School

High School: Entertained offers from 17 schools, including FBS programs Colorado State, Navy, Air Force, and Akron...committed on July 19, 2019...projected 2020 graduate of Xenia (Division 2) High School...football coach was Trace Smitherman...played offensive and defensive line...started 31 games at left tackles....earned first team All-Miami Valley League (MVL) and second team All-Southwest District honors in 2019, as well as first team Academic All-Ohio after helping lead Xenia to a 9-2 record (best since 1969), MVL championship, and first playoff appearance in school history...as a junior played a role in Xenia winning its first conference championship in 50 year

[Furmanoid]

Have to hope these guys were just getting screwed by their coach for some reason. If they really were beaten out by the guys we just watched, a month of practice in August is unlikely to make us better than we are in April.

If a guy had 2 SEC offers wouldn’t you think he could have beaten out somebody on that line we just watched?

[FUBeAR]

OL height/weight/bench press/40 times/shuttle times/pancake stats/other reported offers info/SAT/ACT scores is all great info.

Here’s what really matters...

1) Are they ATHLETIC when they are playing OLine in a Tackle Football game?
2) Are they an A-Hole (covert or overt A-Hole...doesn’t matter) who lives to make opposing Players regret their foolish decision to play Defense, and even more so to make them want to quit the game of Football forever?

If metric #1 is strong enough, they can be a pretty good Player without having too much of metric #2.

If metric #1 is weak, having a lot of metric #2 can get you on the field, but you’re only going to be an OK Player, at best.

If both metrics are strong, you have an All-SoCon OLman
If you have 5 (or more) OLmen who have these 2 metrics in abundance, you win Championships.

It was a while ago...but we once had 3-5 All SoCon OLmen every year and won A LOT of Championships.

To summarize - very simply - Can they PLAY OL & are they A-Holes? If not...NEXT (regardless of ANYTHING else)

* One point of clarification, “Athletic” includes having an Athletic Football Brain

[Paul C]

Have to hope these guys were just getting screwed by their coach for some reason. If they really were beaten out by the guys we just watched, a month of practice in August is unlikely to make us better than we are in April.

If a guy had 2 SEC offers wouldn’t you think he could have beaten out somebody on that line we just watched?

First, it doesn’t matter how good you are if you don’t know who to block. Second, the lines are tough areas to come in and physically compete from day 1. Not surprised at all that guys who’ve played in the system for 4 years, been in college weight and nutrition program for four years, AND are 22 instead of 18 got the playing time.

Hopefully these guys are starting from a better talent level than the guys we lost but as FUBear will tell you it takes 2-3 years to learn how to hold and leg whip at a D1 level.

[Furmanoid]

Have to hope these guys were just getting screwed by their coach for some reason. If they really were beaten out by the guys we just watched, a month of practice in August is unlikely to make us better than we are in April.

If a guy had 2 SEC offers wouldn’t you think he could have beaten out somebody on that line we just watched?

First, it doesn’t matter how good you are if you don’t know who to block. Second, the lines are tough areas to come in and physically compete from day 1. Not surprised at all that guys who’ve played in the system for 4 years, been in college weight and nutrition program for four years, AND are 22 instead of 18 got the playing time.

Hopefully these guys are starting from a better talent level than the guys we lost but as FUBear will tell you it takes 2-3 years to learn how to hold and leg whip at a D1 level.

Maybe I’m reading it wrong, but I thought these guys came in for Fall 2019. They should be about 21 now. They are half way through their careers if they graduate on schedule. Sure, they might still be expected to sit behind a GOOD OL. But they were sitting and watching a god awful OL, because (I guess) they were even worse!

That’s a bummer, because there is virtually no time left for them to improve by leaps and bounds. So I hope they were just evaluated incorrectly by our coaches, are actually awesome and should have been playing all along.

FUeAR, when your boy was being recruited, how did schools evaluate? Did they do at camps, look at film talk to lying coaches or what?

[FUBeAR]

Have to hope these guys were just getting screwed by their coach for some reason. If they really were beaten out by the guys we just watched, a month of practice in August is unlikely to make us better than we are in April.

If a guy had 2 SEC offers wouldn’t you think he could have beaten out somebody on that line we just watched?

First, it doesn’t matter how good you are if you don’t know who to block. Second, the lines are tough areas to come in and physically compete from day 1. Not surprised at all that guys who’ve played in the system for 4 years, been in college weight and nutrition program for four years, AND are 22 instead of 18 got the playing time.

Hopefully these guys are starting from a better talent level than the guys we lost but as FUBear will tell you it takes 2-3 years to learn how to hold and leg whip at a D1 level.

Maybe I’m reading it wrong, but I thought these guys came in for Fall 2019. They should be about 21 now. They are half way through their careers if they graduate on schedule. Sure, they might still be expected to sit behind a GOOD OL. But they were sitting and watching a god awful OL, because (I guess) they were even worse!

That’s a bummer, because there is virtually no time left for them to improve by leaps and bounds. So I hope they were just evaluated incorrectly by our coaches, are actually awesome and should have been playing all along.

FUeAR, when your boy was being recruited, how did schools evaluate? Did they do at camps, look at film talk to lying coaches or what?

All of the above.

Mostly, though, they just looked & said, “6-1, huh? We’ll get back to you.”

[Paul C]

Dec’19 signees graduated from HS (likely via Zoom) in May or June of 20. They were true Fr this year.

[Furmanoid]

Dec’19 signees graduated from HS (likely via Zoom) in May or June of 20. They were true Fr this year.

OK good. I didn’t read the dates. Maybe by 22 they’ll be monsters.