Tom Shatel talks about importance of offensive linemen

[Enhance]

I don’t get all of this talk that Nebraska’s recruiting take last week was less because it lacked big-play receivers. The offense Bo Pelini wants to run is not about eye-opening receivers. If anything, NU’s emphasis should be on big-time offensive linemen. After watching the lines in Sunday’s Super Bowl — especially the Colts’ offensive line — there’s no question that the stars of the show for NU have to be on the O-line. There is nothing better than a dominant offensive line.

I absolutely agree with Shatel on this. Great offenses and defenses are built from the lines out. Our defense was stifling last year because we had arguably the best defensive line in all of college football.

It's important to have guys on the perimeter that can make plays for you, but imho it's nowhere near as important as having a great offensive line. Bo says he wants to be 50/50 in the pass and run game, and that he wants physicality in his offense. He's not going to get that if he focuses his attention on big-play wide receivers (a la Missouri).

I'd take the dominant offensive line over "big-play" wide receivers any day. Because then, at the very least, you can rely on them to give your quarterback time to find receivers and it allows for the run game to be consistent.

LINK

 

[ESPY]

Nebraska's winning tradition doesn't stem from big-play WRs. It stems from the men in trenches. For decades the success of our football program has depended on the big boys up front. Teams used to hate playing us because they knew they'd get punished, physically & mentally. There's nothing more demoralizing then running into an indestructible wall for the course of an entire game.

 

[bshirt]

I don’t get all of this talk that Nebraska’s recruiting take last week was less because it lacked big-play receivers. The offense Bo Pelini wants to run is not about eye-opening receivers. If anything, NU’s emphasis should be on big-time offensive linemen. After watching the lines in Sunday’s Super Bowl — especially the Colts’ offensive line — there’s no question that the stars of the show for NU have to be on the O-line. There is nothing better than a dominant offensive line.

I absolutely agree with Shatel on this. Great offenses and defenses are built from the lines out. Our defense was stifling last year because we had arguably the best defensive line in all of college football.

It's important to have guys on the perimeter that can make plays for you, but imho it's nowhere near as important as having a great offensive line. Bo says he wants to be 50/50 in the pass and run game, and that he wants physicality in his offense. He's not going to get that if he focuses his attention on big-play wide receivers (a la Missouri).

I'd take the dominant offensive line over "big-play" wide receivers any day. Because then, at the very least, you can rely on them to give your quarterback time to find receivers and it allows for the run game to be consistent.

LINK

Great, great post!

I would only add a couple of big, mean TE's too.

 

[rcruter]

uh, great offensive lineplay is kinda Football 101 stuff and is essential for success but why can't you upgrade the wr and skill positions as well? after taking one ok wr in 09 and only one average wr in 10, that is kinda crazy when the skill level was very ordinary on the roster. MU took 3 highly rated and big O Tackles this year and last but added a bunch of big highly rated wr's/athletes as well. while bo and staff should be complimented for coming on strong at end of recruiting season after a dismal start last summer and subsequent loss of multiple 4 star offensive players, it is just puzzling why they did so poor on skill positions? concentrating on D is always a good thing but truly missed out on an opportunity to upgrade the problem area of team. Having better wr's would have helped out a average qb like Lee ot whoever starts as well.

pellini's had a very good year on defense and should be solid next but would make it so much better to compete if they get more consistancy on O. you know best D is a good O or they can't score if they don't have the ball? after being so bad for most of year, offnese had outstanding bowl game but which part is the true husker O?

 

[carlfense]

uh, great offensive lineplay is kinda Football 101 stuff and is essential for success but why can't you upgrade the wr and skill positions as well? after taking one ok wr in 09 and only one average wr in 10, that is kinda crazy when the skill level was very ordinary on the roster. MU took 3 highly rated and big O Tackles this year and last but added a bunch of big highly rated wr's/athletes as well. while bo and staff should be complimented for coming on strong at end of recruiting season after a dismal start last summer and subsequent loss of multiple 4 star offensive players, it is just puzzling why they did so poor on skill positions? concentrating on D is always a good thing but truly missed out on an opportunity to upgrade the problem area of team. Having better wr's would have helped out a average qb like Lee ot whoever starts as well.

pellini's had a very good year on defense and should be solid next but would make it so much better to compete if they get more consistancy on O. you know best D is a good O or they can't score if they don't have the ball? after being so bad for most of year, offnese had outstanding bowl game but which part is the true husker O?

See . . . this is what happens when Missouri has a "better" recruiting class. (by two whole spots in the Rivals rankings.) Missouri fans who have been largely missing since October 8th come in to critique and explain why Missouri is better off than Nebraska.

Nebraska still has one huge advantage: We have Bo Pelini. You have Gary Pinkel.

 

[ESPY]

uh, great offensive lineplay is kinda Football 101 stuff and is essential for success but why can't you upgrade the wr and skill positions as well? after taking one ok wr in 09 and only one average wr in 10, that is kinda crazy when the skill level was very ordinary on the roster. MU took 3 highly rated and big O Tackles this year and last but added a bunch of big highly rated wr's/athletes as well. while bo and staff should be complimented for coming on strong at end of recruiting season after a dismal start last summer and subsequent loss of multiple 4 star offensive players, it is just puzzling why they did so poor on skill positions? concentrating on D is always a good thing but truly missed out on an opportunity to upgrade the problem area of team. Having better wr's would have helped out a average qb like Lee ot whoever starts as well.

pellini's had a very good year on defense and should be solid next but would make it so much better to compete if they get more consistancy on O. you know best D is a good O or they can't score if they don't have the ball? after being so bad for most of year, offnese had outstanding bowl game but which part is the true husker O?

Excellent points! We definitely need difference-makers at the skill positions, not as much as we need dominance in the trenches, but almost. I think the main point Shatel is making is that even though we missed out on some talent in the skill positions, we built up the foundation positions. Look at any championship-caliber team & that's where it starts, so at least we're moving in the right direction as far as that is concerned. The next step obviously is the "star power" at the spotlight positions.

 

[RedDenver]

uh, great offensive lineplay is kinda Football 101 stuff and is essential for success but why can't you upgrade the wr and skill positions as well? after taking one ok wr in 09 and only one average wr in 10, that is kinda crazy when the skill level was very ordinary on the roster. MU took 3 highly rated and big O Tackles this year and last but added a bunch of big highly rated wr's/athletes as well. while bo and staff should be complimented for coming on strong at end of recruiting season after a dismal start last summer and subsequent loss of multiple 4 star offensive players, it is just puzzling why they did so poor on skill positions? concentrating on D is always a good thing but truly missed out on an opportunity to upgrade the problem area of team. Having better wr's would have helped out a average qb like Lee ot whoever starts as well.

pellini's had a very good year on defense and should be solid next but would make it so much better to compete if they get more consistancy on O. you know best D is a good O or they can't score if they don't have the ball? after being so bad for most of year, offnese had outstanding bowl game but which part is the true husker O?

And yet MU and KU still haven't had even better than average O-lines. I really think MU could be an exceptional team if that offense had a better o-line which would allow them to run the ball on short yardage. Maybe an occasional fullback lead blocking would help. Then that defense only needs to be a bit better and MU would be a legit top 10 team with some conference championships.

Instead, I get to listen to their fans talk about how great their WR's and QB's are. And then they wonder why OU worked them repeatedly. It all starts from the OL on offense, even if it's a simple concept.

 

[Dundermifflinite]

I'd take the dominant offensive line over "big-play" wide receivers any day. Because then, at the very least, you can rely on them to give your quarterback time to find receivers and it allows for the run game to be consistent.

And don't underestimate Nobler either. He may have been a late add with no other offers, but one of this staff's strength's is finding the hidden talent.

 

[Enhance]

uh, great offensive lineplay is kinda Football 101 stuff and is essential for success but why can't you upgrade the wr and skill positions as well? after taking one ok wr in 09 and only one average wr in 10, that is kinda crazy when the skill level was very ordinary on the roster. MU took 3 highly rated and big O Tackles this year and last but added a bunch of big highly rated wr's/athletes as well. while bo and staff should be complimented for coming on strong at end of recruiting season after a dismal start last summer and subsequent loss of multiple 4 star offensive players, it is just puzzling why they did so poor on skill positions? concentrating on D is always a good thing but truly missed out on an opportunity to upgrade the problem area of team. Having better wr's would have helped out a average qb like Lee ot whoever starts as well.

pellini's had a very good year on defense and should be solid next but would make it so much better to compete if they get more consistancy on O. you know best D is a good O or they can't score if they don't have the ball? after being so bad for most of year, offnese had outstanding bowl game but which part is the true husker O?

You raise an interesting argument, but I think you are misinterpreting something. Great offenses and defenses are built from the lines out. It doesn't matter what type of offense you run. If you don't have a great line, then the rest of your offense/defense will suffer.

Why was our defense so good this year? Because we had arguably the best defensive line in college football that stayed relatively healthy the entire year.

Why was our offense so bad this year? A culmination of things, but the biggest reason is because we weren't overly talented and were injury plagued on the offensive line.

You can have 10 :star :star :star :star :star wide receivers on your roster, but it doesn't matter at all unless you have an offensive line that can protect your quarterback. Same thing goes with the run game. You can have the best running back in the entire nation, yet if your offensive line is banged up and not as talented as they should be then your running back is not going to be successful.

There is a certain balance that is needed in recruiting. You need to compliment what you have while filling up the spots that you are lacking depth in. The one thing I hate about recruiting is how near sited people are about it. They think that each recruiting class determines what is on a football team already. We hauled a couple of good WR recruits in 2008 and got Kinnie in 2009. The problem is that our offensive line was full of injuries and lacked serious depth. Lee and our receivers would have looked much better with a healthier and more talented o-line.

 

[junior4949]

Same old same old in terms of the argument. Apparently, the Mizzou fans forgot about the itty bitty committee WR group we had back in the 90's. There probably wasn't a one of them that would even play for any other team in the Big 12. We took our 3rd string walk-on QB Turman down to Manhattan, KS and dominated a top 25 team. How? With an outstanding OL and great defense. Putting high quality skill players on an offense with an average to to sub-par OL is kind of like putting chromed out wheels on a ford pinto.

 

[carlfense]

Same old same old in terms of the argument. Apparently, the Mizzou fans forgot about the itty bitty committee WR group we had back in the 90's. There probably wasn't a one of them that would even play for any other team in the Big 12. We took our 3rd string walk-on QB Turman down to Manhattan, KS and dominated a top 25 team. How? With an outstanding OL and great defense. Putting high quality skill players on an offense with an average to to sub-par OL is kind of like putting chromed out wheels on a ford pinto.

Great line and excellent comparison!

 

[melscott62]

uh, great offensive lineplay is kinda Football 101 stuff and is essential for success but why can't you upgrade the wr and skill positions as well? after taking one ok wr in 09 and only one average wr in 10, that is kinda crazy when the skill level was very ordinary on the roster. MU took 3 highly rated and big O Tackles this year and last but added a bunch of big highly rated wr's/athletes as well. while bo and staff should be complimented for coming on strong at end of recruiting season after a dismal start last summer and subsequent loss of multiple 4 star offensive players, it is just puzzling why they did so poor on skill positions? concentrating on D is always a good thing but truly missed out on an opportunity to upgrade the problem area of team. Having better wr's would have helped out a average qb like Lee ot whoever starts as well.

pellini's had a very good year on defense and should be solid next but would make it so much better to compete if they get more consistancy on O. you know best D is a good O or they can't score if they don't have the ball? after being so bad for most of year, offnese had outstanding bowl game but which part is the true husker O?

and yet people neglect it all of the time. its just like defense and rebounding wins basketball games, yet you see college teams all of the time that don't do either and try to rely on their O.

and i think you are short changing our WR we brought in. as for the true husker O.... we have to be remotely healthy to know. i know injuries are pert of the game, but or offense took some serious blows last year

 

[Redmusky]

I'm not to sure who said this the Bear or the God father "Give me the team with the best O line and the best D line and I'll win 80% of the time" If you look at any football game what ever the level the team that wins, usually wins the battle of the lines. I look forward to this years line play on both sides of the ball due to fact of our competition. Most positions have 2 deep along the line that can play with out a major drop off. 80% equals 11 or 12 wins.

 

[UGAHusker]

I'd take the dominant offensive line over "big-play" wide receivers any day. Because then, at the very least, you can rely on them to give your quarterback time to find receivers and it allows for the run game to be consistent.

And don't underestimate Nobler either. He may have been a late add with no other offers, but one of this staff's strength's is finding the hidden talent.

His video does not't lie!

 

[sarge87]

We had a pressing need to get some depth built up in the O-Line position. I think Bo being forced into playing the starting linemen three of the last four games without substitutions is a situation he never wants to be in again.

Also, with Hickman foregoing his Senior year, it was a good choice.