Improved OL

[Spalding Jacket]

Our Oline will be much better this season barring injuries/ covid. Here’s the bad part, 4/5 of most folks projected starters will be seniors, and some key backups are RS Juniors (could graduate and not get into grad school). So it maybe that we end up in a one step forward two steps back if we do not get some young guys meaningful game reps.

 

[Buzztheirazz]

I still expect the OL to struggle. Not to the same extent, but still be a noticeable weakness.

I am hoping you’re wrong but it is TBD. I really thought that they were playing much better at the end of the year and actually had a pretty decent first half against UGA.

If cooper stays healthy and the two SEC transfers hold their weight I think we have a chance to be pretty good all year. IMO it all depends on keeping our guys healthy so that we have the depth to compete for 4 quarters. If that happens I think we have much improved depth at our skill positions and our RB crew should be lights out.

Man I hope this season Happens.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

actually had a pretty decent first half against UGA.

I am still not sure why everyone says this...

Other than the score being close, our first half against uga was horrible

Three and out on 8 of 10 first half drives. 17 yard TD drive after muffed punt by uga, and a 32 yard drive to end the half that resulted in a missed FG. 68 offensive yards, a 17 yard TD drive and a missed FG doesn't equate to decent in any stretch.

 

[gtrower]

Our Oline will be much better this season barring injuries/ covid. Here’s the bad part, 4/5 of most folks projected starters will be seniors, and some key backups are RS Juniors (could graduate and not get into grad school). So it maybe that we end up in a one step forward two steps back if we do not get some young guys meaningful game reps.

Id imagine we’re going to be a very attractive option for OL graduate transfers for the next few years at least. Great school for a masters, available PT, and Key coaching. Guessing we’ll look to take 1 or 2 again for 2021. Kind of crazy how much the portal has changed roster management. A lot easier to fill roster gaps these days.

 

[slugboy]

I am still not sure why everyone says this...

Other than the score being close, our first half against uga was horrible

Three and out on 8 of 10 first half drives. 17 yard TD drive after muffed punt by uga, and a 32 yard drive to end the half that resulted in a missed FG. 68 offensive yards, a 17 yard TD drive and a missed FG doesn't equate to decent in any stretch.

Thanks Augusta—you got me to look.

UGA was one of our worst performances. So was Pitt. We’re not comparing apples to apples, so I do keep in mind that one of our better performance could have come in one of our nine losses last year. If so, I think it would have been Clemson—they tossed us around, but we were totally overmatched and played hard.

The only thing that slowed UGA down was losing three fumbles to us.

From the stats, one of our two wins looks like the best candidate for the best game from our offensive line—either Miami or NC State. Duke was also high up there, even though it was a loss. All three games were at the top of the stats for us on total yards.

In reverse order:
UGA: 195 total yards, 19 first downs
NCST was towards the end of the year, and we got 395 total yards. We got 19 first downs.
VT: 134 yards, 0 points, 8 first downs
UVa: 372 yards, 19 first downs, 28 points
Pitt: 10 first downs, 10 points, 194 yards
Miami: 18 first downs, 345 total yards, 28 points
Duke: 20 first downs, 379 total yards, 23 points
UNC: 14 first downs, 321 yards, 22 points
Temple: 18 first downs, 307 yards, 2 points
{game omitted, don’t bring it up}
South Florida: 21 first downs, 257 total yards, 14 points
Clemson: 294 yards, 13 first downs, 14 points.

Offhand, I don’t remember if one of the games was good offensive line play where we otherwise played badly, but I don’t see an upwards trajectory.
Keep in mind that injuries accumulated through the season, and we played as walking wounded for most of the season. We might have improved, but I’d say we improved less than our opponents, who were mostly healthier and deeper.

I think if our OL is better this year, it’s because of depth, transfers, recruiting, health, and conditioning. They sucked it up and played with a lot of guts last year, but it couldn’t have been fun for any of them.

 

[Gtswifty81]

Thanks Augusta—you got me to look.

UGA was one of our worst performances. So was Pitt. We’re not comparing apples to apples, so I do keep in mind that one of our better performance could have come in one of our nine losses last year. If so, I think it would have been Clemson—they tossed us around, but we were totally overmatched and played hard.

The only thing that slowed UGA down was losing three fumbles to us.

From the stats, one of our two wins looks like the best candidate for the best game from our offensive line—either Miami or NC State. Duke was also high up there, even though it was a loss. All three games were at the top of the stats for us on total yards.

In reverse order:
UGA: 195 total yards, 19 first downs
NCST was towards the end of the year, and we got 395 total yards. We got 19 first downs.
VT: 134 yards, 0 points, 8 first downs
UVa: 372 yards, 19 first downs, 28 points
Pitt: 10 first downs, 10 points, 194 yards
Miami: 18 first downs, 345 total yards, 28 points
Duke: 20 first downs, 379 total yards, 23 points
UNC: 14 first downs, 321 yards, 22 points
Temple: 18 first downs, 307 yards, 2 points
{game omitted, don’t bring it up}
South Florida: 21 first downs, 257 total yards, 14 points
Clemson: 294 yards, 13 first downs, 14 points.

Offhand, I don’t remember if one of the games was good offensive line play where we otherwise played badly, but I don’t see an upwards trajectory.
Keep in mind that injuries accumulated through the season, and we played as walking wounded for most of the season. We might have improved, but I’d say we improved less than our opponents, who were mostly healthier and deeper.

I think if our OL is better this year, it’s because of depth, transfers, recruiting, health, and conditioning. They sucked it up and played with a lot of guts last year, but it couldn’t have been fun for any of them.

It’s hard to look at yardages from last year because we had some really bad games with some 4th quarter garbage points/yardages. We were definitely more competitive during the second half of the season (Miami, Pitt, UVA, and NC State) with a couple bad losses sprinkled in between. The UGA game was expected as they had one of the best defenses in the country so we were going to be outmatched.

Last year was the perfect storm of a system switch, injuries across the line, lack of OL depth, and inexperience at QB. Quinney and Defoor should be better this year and Johnson, Cochran, and Cooper should upgrade their respective positions. I’m hoping to have an average ACC line if we can stay healthy

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

Last year was year zero. It came and went and didn’t matter in the least other than the staff getting to make player evaluations. With this year looking doubtful I’m glad we have a coach is building this program from the ground up and not worried about right now. Keep recruiting, motivating, building the brand, and teaching and the wins will come. Losing the season will stink but not nearly as much for us as others. UNC looses a year of Howell. Lawrence has played his last game at Clemson. UGA’s offensive guru won’t be able to turn a Wake QB into Burrow. And since we are so young our guys will be in the weight room. We will be a different looking team in 2021 and aren’t losing anyone of consequence like a lot of our competition.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Last year was year zero. It came and went and didn’t matter in the least other than the staff getting to make player evaluations. With this year looking doubtful I’m glad we have a coach is building this program from the ground up and not worried about right now. Keep recruiting, motivating, building the brand, and teaching and the wins will come. Losing the season will stink but not nearly as much for us as others. UNC looses a year of Howell. Lawrence has played his last game at Clemson. UGA’s offensive guru won’t be able to turn a Wake QB into Burrow. And since we are so young our guys will be in the weight room. We will be a different looking team in 2021 and aren’t losing anyone of consequence like a lot of our competition.

If there is indeed no football, it is doubtful the NCAA will strip a year of eligibility from the athletes. Of the ones you mentioned, Lawrence might leave, but everyone else will still be able to play.

 

[WreckinGT]

Last year was year zero. It came and went and didn’t matter in the least other than the staff getting to make player evaluations. With this year looking doubtful I’m glad we have a coach is building this program from the ground up and not worried about right now. Keep recruiting, motivating, building the brand, and teaching and the wins will come. Losing the season will stink but not nearly as much for us as others. UNC looses a year of Howell. Lawrence has played his last game at Clemson. UGA’s offensive guru won’t be able to turn a Wake QB into Burrow. And since we are so young our guys will be in the weight room. We will be a different looking team in 2021 and aren’t losing anyone of consequence like a lot of our competition.

UGA and Clemson are more than ready to reload at the QB position. UNC has two talented recruits backing up Howell. They are going to be fine. We need to worry about our own house, and I’m not sure taking a year of experience away from a young team will do anything other than prolong the building process. Plus, to bring it back to the OL, we have two talented OL transfers that can help us win now. It would be a shame if we don’t get to use them.

 

[JacketOff]

UGA and Clemson are more than ready to reload at the QB position. UNC has two talented recruits backing up Howell. They are going to be fine. We need to worry about our own house, and I’m not sure taking a year of experience away from a young team will do anything other than prolong the building process. Plus, to bring it back to the OL, we have two talented OL transfers that can help us win now. It would be a shame if we don’t get to use them.

I’m split on whether I think not playing at all would be beneficial or detrimental to the rebuild. On one hand, Tech is very young, and an extra year to develop guys without a record to worry about would probably help us catch up some. On the other hand, a lot of the players who would be key components to a good season this year are RS Seniors and would be unlikely to come back for a 6th unless they were already in a grad school program. That includes 4/5 of the projected starting OL (Cochran, Johnson, Cooper, DeFoor), Jalen Camp, David Curry, Antonneous Clayton, and Jahaziel Lee.

It really depends on what would be allowed in the spring of ‘21. I highly doubt if no games are played this fall, and they aren’t moved to the spring that spring camps would be “business as usual.” Because Tech is so young, missing essentially 2 entire spring practice years would be detrimental to development and we may be worse off than if we had to take some beatings on the scoreboard this fall.

I think the best thing that could happen would be playing an 8-9 game conference or regional schedule where only conference championship games are played and there is no playoff or bowl games. That way everyone will be able to see how much progress is being made, and there will be something to compete for without records being relevant over the run. With the added bonus of a 0% chance of a Dwag national championship, and who wouldn’t want that?

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

I hope the NCAA will count this year as a year of eligibility used whether they play the season or not. Most of these guys are playing the game for fun and will moving into the real world of 9 to 5 jobs once they finish. I think granting them another year of eligibility would only delay the inevitable and would be more for the benefit of the schools, the tv networks and the coaches, not the individual players. Just my take.

Go Jackets!

 

[VintageWreck]

Id imagine we’re going to be a very attractive option for OL graduate transfers for the next few years at least. Great school for a masters, available PT, and Key coaching. Guessing we’ll look to take 1 or 2 again for 2021. Kind of crazy how much the portal has changed roster management. A lot easier to fill roster gaps these days.

_________________________

Rower you are on your game today! I like it!

 

[4shotB]

I hope the NCAA will count this year as a year of eligibility used whether they play the season or not. Most of these guys are playing the game for fun and will moving into the real world of 9 to 5 jobs once they finish. I think granting them another year of eligibility would only delay the inevitable and would be more for the benefit of the schools, the tv networks and the coaches, not the individual players. Just my take.

Go Jackets!

Why not give them an extra year of eligibilty and let each individual make the best decision for themselves? Some will move on(we see guys leave with eligibility on a regular basis), some will stay. I am sure the 85 schollie rule can be tweaked for this one off situation. I would hate to have my athletic career (no matter what level - HS, college or pro) end without the chance to compete.

 

[slugboy]

It’s hard to look at yardages from last year because we had some really bad games with some 4th quarter garbage points/yardages. We were definitely more competitive during the second half of the season (Miami, Pitt, UVA, and NC State) with a couple bad losses sprinkled in between. The UGA game was expected as they had one of the best defenses in the country so we were going to be outmatched.

Last year was the perfect storm of a system switch, injuries across the line, lack of OL depth, and inexperience at QB. Quinney and Defoor should be better this year and Johnson, Cochran, and Cooper should upgrade their respective positions. I’m hoping to have an average ACC line if we can stay healthy

I wouldn’t call Pitt a good game on offense, and I don’t know why you would look at UVA and NCST as a trend and leave out the VT and UGA games. With Pitt, we held them to 14 and we lost. VT was a thorough rout with no real offensive production.

If you look at first downs through the year, we usually had less than 20 for a game, and that number didn’t move much for the year. It sure didn’t show a trend that I saw.

Here’s the overall offensive radar. You’d think line improvement would show up in efficiency, but there’s nothing there

Connelly used to publish his spreadsheets with a per-game look at the numbers. We could get a trend for that if we could pull it up.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[LibertyTurns]

@slugboy We should have built around the lower right quadrant and as we matured worked the upper left. We chose the alternative and got smoked.

 

[CuseJacket]

I started jotting down notes weeks ago about OL expectations with the intent of writing up a preview, however time has not been my friend these days. So pasting shorthand here.

Reasons to keep expectations low

• Continuity - we are inserting 2 xfer OL and had multiple injuries last year. Hard to "trust your neighbor" when you are just learning who your neighbor is.
• Continuity, again - we did not have spring practice, which is huge in the normal year 1 to year 2 progression
• Continuity, again!? - who the heck knows how Covid plays out, both in terms of summer/fall reps and who is available come showtime. We're at least 1 year away from claiming we have meaningful depth.

Depending on where you look, there are wildly mixed assessments for 2020.



Reasons to raise expectations

• Experience - Needless to say, I don't believe OL is plug and play. That being said, that is effectively what we were forced to do year 1, and we're doing it with pieces that have more relevant experience in year 2 i.e., Cochran, Johnson and those who participated in game action last year
• Strength & conditioning - our guys are being built and molded for the offense. Ex: Zach Quinney weight gain
• Better fits - disclaimer: my position has always been to never expect a freshman nor sophomore to be hugely productive on the lines. That being said, we brought in bigger/longer-armed athletes, whose measurables are better fits for our new offense. An argument can be made that they'll be more game-ready than, say, a walk-on recruited to the flexbone.

Reasons for optimism are highlighted in the first 2 minutes of this interview with defensive end Antonneous Clayton (video courtesy of Rivals).

 

[YJMD]

All we can say is that we will be better in every way on the OL in 2020. Size, experience, system fit, health, depth, versatility...

Where does that put us? Who knows. But I really doubt it's last. I'll want to see a lot more consistency in run blocking, especially on 3rd and short which was abysmal last year. We need a passing game that hits slants and takes advantage of our physicality at receiver on bubble screens and the like. We couldn't do the basic stuff last year. It's really important to keep the chains moving.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

If there is indeed no football, it is doubtful the NCAA will strip a year of eligibility from the athletes. Of the ones you mentioned, Lawrence might leave, but everyone else will still be able to play.

I doubt the NCAA will strip a year away as well but other teams will lose players to the pros. We won’t. We may lose some guys to life but UNC losing a year of Howell is huge because he wouldn’t use the extra year of eligibility. Same with a lot of doggies. They all think they can go pro so many will declare even with years of eligibility left. We may have that problem in a year or two but not right now. I hate losing a year but my analysis says it won’t hurt us nearly as bad as many of our competitors.

 

[yrp]

 

[kalld12]

Can anyone name these guys?