Yeah, our OL has basically been hit with disaster, and it's going to take a couple years to recover. RS freshman Hawkins is the only guy i believe in enough to provide a meaningful enough addition to the OL next year. The chips are down, and the odds stacked against them, but if our OL can be better than decent next year, they will forever go down as heros to me. It's like sending valiant, brave warriors out to a slaughter, and faring them well, and we do fare them well (and i am forever optimistic they will overcome all odds and go down in history as legends)
I think that's more a problem of the passing game being inadequate. OL was facing 9 in the box consistently last year. That's too much to ask of any OL
The O line's performance last year was remarkable given the challenges it faced. Consider it lost 3 starters in the first few weeks and a 4th (PJ) was in and out much of the year. That we played a true freshman at RT a redshirt at RG and spotted a guy at LT who had never played the position and it should have been a sieve. Yet by the end of the year it was pretty solid (except the bowl game) Add on luvdemtigers point about the relative ineffective passing game as well. One other point is that as a team with an inexperienced QB & OL we played much better at home and really struggled on the road. I would take the stats with somewhat a grain of salt. I think the OL has a chance to be much better than advertised this year. Combine the experience under fire that Trai Turner & Vadel Alexander got the hoped for return of Williford and the bolster to the depth than Poncic , Fanika & A Hawkins will provide I think it could be potent. Hopefully Stud's return to the sidelines and CLM's proven capability to coach the line will make the line more than servicable but outstanding. Let the ratings services lower expectations and rank us lowly. I hope it pisses us off and we play with a LARGE chip on our shoulders to prove them all wrong.
We lost 3 games last year by a total of 13 pts., if we had any form of an offense, we wouldn't have lost those games. Cam knows what hes doing, it won't take much for this offense to get on track. The other big plus is Studs going back to the sidelines during games. Its known that we will have to score points this year, take some of the load off the defense. Remember this, in 2011 Josh D was helping coach on the sidelines while Studs was in the box.
It ain't all that bad. Collins has a legitimate shot at All-SEC, four starters return, while Pocic, Fanaika, and Hawkins provide quality depth. I expect better play than last season but frankly, I have never thought that Studrawa was the right man for the OL. He has had a lot of talent there that has underperformed year after year. If it takes "a couple of years to recover", then Les needs to think about replacing Stud.
This. Studrawa has underwhelmed thus far. If he cannot produce dominant offensive lines with the kind of talent we are recruiting then we need to look elsewhere.
Something is wrong. You see how Bama has been pumping out top draft picks at every position across their OL, while we rarely have an OL guy that gets drafted at all. I would like to hear LSUDad's thoughts, he takes a special interest in the big uglies. It's something I've been want to dig into for a while. For starters, just looking very briefly.at the 09 and 10 recruiting classes (who should be our champion 2-deep OL right now) In Williford's (3-star) class (2009), we got 4-stars Ainsworth, Lowe, Faulk...and 5-star Davenport Lowe - transferred to SMU Ainsworth - transferred Davenport - transferred Faulk - injured, left early In Elliot Porter's (3-star) class (2010), we got Washington (4-star) and Fordham (3-star) Fordham - transferred to NC State Washington - hasn't made it off our scout team yet So is the.problem Stud is so hard on the OL that they leave? Or that we recruit a lot of duds?
Nothing makes an OL better than when you stack the box against them. You bring your safeties (your safety net) up to the line, then it makes it a lot easier for the running backs to go the distance, because once they hit find the hole, there is nobody back to stop them. A great example was when Lou Holtz's #18 Notre Dame went to the Sugar Bowl versus national-championship-caliber #3 Florida in the glory days under Spurrier and DC Bob Stoops. ND went to a goalline formation (no WRs, double TE, three RBs in backfield) all game to force Florida to stack the box, and once Jerome Bettis hit the hole, he was off to the races. He had.like 300 yards and 3 TDs as ND blew.out the great Florida team that was forced to stack the box all game (note: ND had a good OL) And, with the passing game, same thing, you bring your safeties up, your QB and WRs are going to have a field day getting off passes quick being there is nobody back to help the CBs (and resulting in the OL allowing no sacks)
To start, Davenport was a DT, moved to OL. Faulk was one if not for the injury, would have been drafted high. Hurst was another, had he not left the team, he too would have been drafted high, maybe the highest RT. OL are hard to project. La'el was the top OT coming out of high school and is now moving to that position. You can go back through the years, its a tough one. How about this stat, since 2007, University of Texas has had one (1) OL drafted into the NFL. Remember this, they have the pick of close to 400 players a year in the state of TX. Someone once said if a Todd McClure came out right now, LSU wouldn't recruit him. I asked a college coach I know, his reply, "I'd sign two of those kind every year if I could!" Oh, Evan Washington, he has the bloodlines.......
