Jeremiah Sirles moving to center

[Nebula]

I'm not as worried about the D-Line as I am about the O-Line.

 

D-line worries me quite a bit, unfortunately. Not that there isn't room for optimism...there is. But Meredith has looked pedestrian for a season and a half. I know he got hurt, and that's not his fault, but the bottom line is that he's looked slow and ineffective. (To me.) Stein is the one guy who looked dangerous last year, pretty quietly. He's starting to become a nuisance up front, which is the best thing a DT can be. Then what? Ankrah? He came out of high school with a man's body, but he's just never turned into the player I hoped he'd be. Who else? Peat get a shot? Rome always excites me, but he's been pretty banged up. I hope he's ready to go, 'cause that kid could turn into a guy who gets conference nods. Then....who? Martin? Love how he hits, clearly has the Rickey Thenarse disease with the playbook. I don't see him being integral. (LOVE to be proved wrong on that one. Kid hits like Roberto Duran sans gloves.) Randle? Serviceable. Not super disruptive, in my amateur opinion. Maybe Joe Carter makes a playbook leap in year two and solidifies that other DE end spot.

 

That whole area worries me. LB's, DE's. We have some (relatively young) talent that sparks at DT with Rome and Peat, and again, I think Stein may find himself on conference AA lists at the end of the year. But the Stache has kind of fallen off the map, and he's the proven guy. That concerns me.

 

Compton, it should be noted, was pretty damn reliable by years end. He made some nice plays. Then we've got total unknowns. Fischer...I'm not even starting that. Santos...good hype, no tangible evidence, no clue what he'll bring. We're basically banking on another diamond out of the dust, with Zaire filling the role of Mr. Everything Lavonte David. Bah. Hate the nay saying I'm doing right here, but I see some holes that really worry me. We were like, what, 70% in the nation on 3rd-downs defensively last year? That KILLS you, when you can't get off the field. I don't see how this year will be better. I honestly think the opposite may be likely. Hope somebody remembers this and reposts in November when we're crushing heads defensively. I'd gladly acknowledge I was way off, but....

[da skers]

I'm not as worried about the D-Line as I am about the O-Line.

 

D-line worries me quite a bit, unfortunately. Not that there isn't room for optimism...there is. But Meredith has looked pedestrian for a season and a half. I know he got hurt, and that's not his fault, but the bottom line is that he's looked slow and ineffective. (To me.) Stein is the one guy who looked dangerous last year, pretty quietly. He's starting to become a nuisance up front, which is the best thing a DT can be. Then what? Ankrah? He came out of high school with a man's body, but he's just never turned into the player I hoped he'd be. Who else? Peat get a shot? Rome always excites me, but he's been pretty banged up. I hope he's ready to go, 'cause that kid could turn into a guy who gets conference nods. Then....who? Martin? Love how he hits, clearly has the Rickey Thenarse disease with the playbook. I don't see him being integral. (LOVE to be proved wrong on that one. Kid hits like Roberto Duran sans gloves.) Randle? Serviceable. Not super disruptive, in my amateur opinion. Maybe Joe Carter makes a playbook leap in year two and solidifies that other DE end spot.

 

That whole area worries me. LB's, DE's. We have some (relatively young) talent that sparks at DT with Rome and Peat, and again, I think Stein may find himself on conference AA lists at the end of the year. But the Stache has kind of fallen off the map, and he's the proven guy. That concerns me.

 

Compton, it should be noted, was pretty damn reliable by years end. He made some nice plays. Then we've got total unknowns. Fischer...I'm not even starting that. Santos...good hype, no tangible evidence, no clue what he'll bring. We're basically banking on another diamond out of the dust, with Zaire filling the role of Mr. Everything Lavonte David. Bah. Hate the nay saying I'm doing right here, but I see some holes that really worry me. We were like, what, 70% in the nation on 3rd-downs defensively last year? That KILLS you, when you can't get off the field. I don't see how this year will be better. I honestly think the opposite may be likely. Hope somebody remembers this and reposts in November when we're crushing heads defensively. I'd gladly acknowledge I was way off, but....

Peat was hurt all last year. Sounds like he's close to full go now.

[da skers]

That's a pretty late switch for such an important position. I think you guys know me as a predominantly positive type, but our line really concerns me. If da skers or anybody wants to assuage my fears, I'd be most grateful.

 

Really though, who do you guys feel good about? I like Long...he can play. Choi showed some meaness, which is an integral part of that position. I would love for Sirles to take this opportunity and show me up. Frankly, I've had high hopes for the kid, but it just hasn't happened yet. There may be some injury things I'm not privy to, but for whatever reason I had Qvale and Sirles penciled in as potential all conference guys. Really based on absolutely nothing but dim intuition and more pure hope, but so far, those guys haven't been the maulers I'd hoped they'd be.

 

Than again...this is a 4-year junior/senior position. A lot of these kids aren't even done growing until they hit 21 or even later, so to expect the biggest kids on the field to peak or hit upper echelon performance as a frosh or soph is kind of ridiculous. I just can't shake the feeling that our line is going to just be a little above average. We need more than that for the titles we want.

 

And, yet again, they were better last year, imho. I really thought they were noticeably improved. So why am I plagued by worries about the line? (Both lines, really.)

My feelings on the lines are about the opposite of last year. Last year I thought the oline would be much improved the d line was a big worry for us. I think overall I was right. This year I feel like our D line will be much improved from last year and we lost some key people on the o line. Yoshi had a light switch come on last year after he was moved to 3rd string after spring ball. Had that not happened we would have been in big big trouble as he motivated everyone. I thought the technique of the line got better but we moved into some old habits once we got banged up and we lost some guys that are now back. I'll have a better feeling in two weeks when the coaches see where there guys are at after summer conditioning. This group of players is a little more tight lipped about whats been happening and there really isn't a lot of information floating around right now. I know the coaches singled out Qvale but I don't think hes healed up yet. I'd give him 85% He's going to end up getting hurt again because he's playing not to get injured.

 

This is a completely early guess based on early summer stuff but I would see Moore pretty solid at LT, Reeves LG, Pensick/Price as Center, Long at RG and RT up for grabs between A Rod. and Cotten with Sirles in the mix as well. And they'll actually use Sirles as a swing guy playing multiple spots on both sides. He probably knows the offense better but just isn't as strong as the other guys.

[da skers]

You might be able to put Chio up in that group if he gets better at pass blocking or if the offense stays run heavy.

[Nebula]

My feelings on the lines are about the opposite of last year. Last year I thought the oline would be much improved the d line was a big worry for us. I think overall I was right. This year I feel like our D line will be much improved from last year and we lost some key people on the o line. Yoshi had a light switch come on last year after he was moved to 3rd string after spring ball. Had that not happened we would have been in big big trouble as he motivated everyone. I thought the technique of the line got better but we moved into some old habits once we got banged up and we lost some guys that are now back. I'll have a better feeling in two weeks when the coaches see where there guys are at after summer conditioning. This group of players is a little more tight lipped about whats been happening and there really isn't a lot of information floating around right now. I know the coaches singled out Qvale but I don't think hes healed up yet. I'd give him 85% He's going to end up getting hurt again because he's playing not to get injured.

 

This is a completely early guess based on early summer stuff but I would see Moore pretty solid at LT, Reeves LG, Pensick/Price as Center, Long at RG and RT up for grabs between A Rod. and Cotten with Sirles in the mix as well. And they'll actually use Sirles as a swing guy playing multiple spots on both sides. He probably knows the offense better but just isn't as strong as the other guys.

Good insight man, thanks. I'm like just about everybody else around here I'd guess: if I could only have one truly dominant position on each side of the ball, I'll take the lines every time. I really hope you're right about the d-line. I remember at the end of the Fresno game, when I realized that we didn't have a single TFL the entire game, and I thought, "What?! We might be in trouble..."

 

I know Bo and Co. like that amoeba type contain/rush deal, but he isn't telling kids to be stationary and not to get into the backfield and make plays. We just didn't see that happen last year, nearly enough. Too lazy to look up the numbers, but we all know them basically, anyway. We were bad in TFL and 3rd down efficiency. Those are money stats, and we didn't perform the way we've come to expect.

 

That said, I know full well that we'd spent four years developing a defense to counteract the spread heavy Big 12. I'm not sure any of us (I can speak for myself on this, at least) can truly appreciate just how difficult a transition it was into the Big 10 style of football. It is a different animal. Not one we can't figure out, by any means. But it takes time, I know that, and am patient when I see enough promising things to warrant it. And I saw that last year. We beat the eventual division winner (handily...so what if they were tired? We'd played some tough football games leading up to that point, too.) Fluke hail-mary deal was maybe the major difference between feeling a little down headed into this endless offseason and feeling pretty darn good about beating a pretty solid SEC team in a bowl game. Considering we went into a new conference with a new O-coordinator, I think we held up admirably last year.

 

But the d-line needs to improve markedly, or we're gonna have some frustrating games next year.

 

And you're dead on about Yoshi. That kid was TOUGH. Shattered his finger in a way that would have had me moaning for a month, and he comes back into the friggin game. That's nails.

[da skers]

My feelings on the lines are about the opposite of last year. Last year I thought the oline would be much improved the d line was a big worry for us. I think overall I was right. This year I feel like our D line will be much improved from last year and we lost some key people on the o line. Yoshi had a light switch come on last year after he was moved to 3rd string after spring ball. Had that not happened we would have been in big big trouble as he motivated everyone. I thought the technique of the line got better but we moved into some old habits once we got banged up and we lost some guys that are now back. I'll have a better feeling in two weeks when the coaches see where there guys are at after summer conditioning. This group of players is a little more tight lipped about whats been happening and there really isn't a lot of information floating around right now. I know the coaches singled out Qvale but I don't think hes healed up yet. I'd give him 85% He's going to end up getting hurt again because he's playing not to get injured.

 

This is a completely early guess based on early summer stuff but I would see Moore pretty solid at LT, Reeves LG, Pensick/Price as Center, Long at RG and RT up for grabs between A Rod. and Cotten with Sirles in the mix as well. And they'll actually use Sirles as a swing guy playing multiple spots on both sides. He probably knows the offense better but just isn't as strong as the other guys.

Good insight man, thanks. I'm like just about everybody else around here I'd guess: if I could only have one truly dominant position on each side of the ball, I'll take the lines every time. I really hope you're right about the d-line. I remember at the end of the Fresno game, when I realized that we didn't have a single TFL the entire game, and I thought, "What?! We might be in trouble..."

 

I know Bo and Co. like that amoeba type contain/rush deal, but he isn't telling kids to be stationary and not to get into the backfield and make plays. We just didn't see that happen last year, nearly enough. Too lazy to look up the numbers, but we all know them basically, anyway. We were bad in TFL and 3rd down efficiency. Those are money stats, and we didn't perform the way we've come to expect.

 

That said, I know full well that we'd spent four years developing a defense to counteract the spread heavy Big 12. I'm not sure any of us (I can speak for myself on this, at least) can truly appreciate just how difficult a transition it was into the Big 10 style of football. It is a different animal. Not one we can't figure out, by any means. But it takes time, I know that, and am patient when I see enough promising things to warrant it. And I saw that last year. We beat the eventual division winner (handily...so what if they were tired? We'd played some tough football games leading up to that point, too.) Fluke hail-mary deal was maybe the major difference between feeling a little down headed into this endless offseason and feeling pretty darn good about beating a pretty solid SEC team in a bowl game. Considering we went into a new conference with a new O-coordinator, I think we held up admirably last year.

 

But the d-line needs to improve markedly, or we're gonna have some frustrating games next year.

 

And you're dead on about Yoshi. That kid was TOUGH. Shattered his finger in a way that would have had me moaning for a month, and he comes back into the friggin game. That's nails.

Taylor was quoted a few weeks ago as stating they didn't know how tough it was going to be adjusting to a new conference and how much tougher the defenses were in the B10 vs B12. I know there has to be some of that on the defense side too. When you see that many new teams in a year it made for a huge challenge. I don't think we as fans really understand how good we probably did last year.

[knapplc]

Taylor was quoted a few weeks ago as stating they didn't know how tough it was going to be adjusting to a new conference and how much tougher the defenses were in the B10 vs B12. I know there has to be some of that on the defense side too. When you see that many new teams in a year it made for a huge challenge. I don't think we as fans really understand how good we probably did last year.

 

Which makes the admission (by Yoshi, I believe) that the guys didn't do any extra prep for Northwestern that much more frustrating. That was a win, and we flat-out gave it away.

[da skers]

Taylor was quoted a few weeks ago as stating they didn't know how tough it was going to be adjusting to a new conference and how much tougher the defenses were in the B10 vs B12. I know there has to be some of that on the defense side too. When you see that many new teams in a year it made for a huge challenge. I don't think we as fans really understand how good we probably did last year.

 

Which makes the admission (by Yoshi, I believe) that the guys didn't do any extra prep for Northwestern that much more frustrating. That was a win, and we flat-out gave it away.

I still blame some of that thinking on the BC era. Those guys thought they could show up and win championships with a little effort and not busting their buts off. It takes a lot of years to get that trickle down out of the program. Not to say it wasn't around some under Solich but it was common place 4 years ago when Bo was brought on board. Carl was kind of headed that way a little bit. Thats one reason I was ok with him moving on.

[knapplc]

This is a completely early guess based on early summer stuff but I would see Moore pretty solid at LT, Reeves LG, Pensick/Price as Center, Long at RG and RT up for grabs between A Rod. and Cotten with Sirles in the mix as well. And they'll actually use Sirles as a swing guy playing multiple spots on both sides. He probably knows the offense better but just isn't as strong as the other guys.

 

That would make the line pretty young:

LT LG C RG RT

SO RFR JR JR JR

[Nebula]

This is a completely early guess based on early summer stuff but I would see Moore pretty solid at LT, Reeves LG, Pensick/Price as Center, Long at RG and RT up for grabs between A Rod. and Cotten with Sirles in the mix as well. And they'll actually use Sirles as a swing guy playing multiple spots on both sides. He probably knows the offense better but just isn't as strong as the other guys.

 

That would make the line pretty young:

LT LG C RG RT

SO RFR JR JR JR

That's too young. It's stupid to use an exceptional/aberrational source as a reference point, but when we deserved the Pipeline moniker in the mid 90's, those kids were all 4th year juniors or 5th year seniors. With another upper-classman right behind him. Depth takes time, true. And it isn't like there is zero exception to the rule. But I hate seeing zero seniors on that list.

[knapplc]

Brian Christopherson's "educated guess" from a little while back looked like this:

 

 

RT Sirles ARod

RG Long Reeves

C Pensick Jackson

LG Choi Moudy

LT Moore Qvale

 

Which would make the line a little older, but not much:

 

RT JR JR

RG JR RFR

C JR SR

LG SR SO

LT SO SR

[da skers]

This is a completely early guess based on early summer stuff but I would see Moore pretty solid at LT, Reeves LG, Pensick/Price as Center, Long at RG and RT up for grabs between A Rod. and Cotten with Sirles in the mix as well. And they'll actually use Sirles as a swing guy playing multiple spots on both sides. He probably knows the offense better but just isn't as strong as the other guys.

 

That would make the line pretty young:

LT LG C RG RT

SO RFR JR JR JR

Young guys are better than our older guys. Sadly. Part of it is system and part of it has been coaching.

[knapplc]

Whatever happened to Brent Qvale? He was a much-hyped recruit. Now he's a Junior and (apparently) absent from the two-deep.

[da skers]

Whatever happened to Brent Qvale? He was a much-hyped recruit. Now he's a senior and (apparently) absent from the two-deep.

Honestly he was pretty banged up for 2 years. Plus when he was healthy he didn't really ever have the lower body strength he needed to leverage people the way he needs in the offense. If he stays healthy he could sneak up for some good reps. I hope it happens but I'm thinking at this point we're better off getting a younger guy with more upside reps than putting him on the field unless he's just that much better than the other guys.

 

Mike Moudy is in danger of being this same type of guy too. I was surprise to see him listed up that high. After winter going into spring he was listed as a guy we might not see until his last year if at all.

[FrankWheeler]

I am glad I didn't attend the same high schools/colleges as you guys. Sophomores hardly ever got any playing time. Qvale will be a junior next year, Moudy a Sophomore, still plenty of time for these guys to contribute. It seems like a lot of people are calling to re-develop 'the pipeline' but then are asking why Reeves, Klatcho, Sterup, Price, etc aren't in the 2 deep, you can't have it both ways.