Is Devine really 370?

[buzzinanut69]

Back in the Dark Ages when I was young, the Jets had an OT named Sherman Plunkett. He was 6'5" and weighed right at 380. He was a great football player, nonetheless, and for the same reason Devine will be: quick feet. I remember an opposing DL saying that trying to get around Plunkett was like "… hitting a giant, dancing marshmallow." He was so big that, as long as his legs held up, muscle mass was completely irrelevant. When his legs gave out, his career was over.

I don't think Devine - or Joe, for that matter - is anywhere near as chubby as Plunkett was; he may have been the fattest good football player since Fats Henry. But I also think that, as long as Devine's legs hold out, we don't need to worry too much about his effectiveness. I think he starts next season; shoot, if he had stayed healthy, he would have started last season.

Haha I laughed pretty hard at the dancing marshmallow part. Good thing is that either way, he does have the whole summer to get in shape.

 

[JazzyD95]

I see him all the time. In the summer he looked about 370-380 now he looks like 350ish. Still a lot to trim off but he has the potential

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

 

[Buzztheirazz]

The arms and legs look strong. Has a lil bit of a spare tire but I do too right now and I'm only 6'1 195. The winter will do that to ya. The heat of the summer workouts will help a lot I'm sure.

 

[GTRanj]

Jesus guys, let it go, Devine is going to be an excellent lineman. Everybody gets a little fat in comparison to their natural body size every once in a while. He'll be fine, ya'll are going to get in his head, lets let it go.

 

[Longestday]

I can't wait to see Devine on the field!

 

[augustabuzz]

That's a good picture of Laskey being bigger than 6'-1" and 217#.

 

[collegeballfan]

Jesus guys, let it go, Devine is going to be an excellent lineman. Everybody gets a little fat in comparison to their natural body size every once in a while. He'll be fine, ya'll are going to get in his head, lets let it go.

OK.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Jesus guys, let it go, Devine is going to be an excellent lineman. Everybody gets a little fat in comparison to their natural body size every once in a while. He'll be fine, ya'll are going to get in his head, lets let it go.

The only reason I bring this up is because you hear stories about guys getting after it in the weight room preparing for next season and then you see Devine waaaay out of shape. I'm sure the coaches don't want him at 370. It just puts a question mark in your head about his work ethic.

Talent does not ensure success. Hard work combined with that talent is what does. Michael Jordan, arguably one of the most talented basketball players of all time, was one of the hardest workers you'll ever see.

One of our own never reached his full potential due to weight/work ethic issues.

 

[GTJason]

He doesn't look different than he did 2 summers ago at the NFTC where he consistently beat out 4-5 star DEs in drills. Anyone that thought they could speed around him was sadly mistaken, the others who tried to jam him at the line and make a quick move around got laid out. Had he not been committed to GT during the camp he would have been ranked higher. If he can move himself at 350-370 then he needs to stay at that weight. Half of the GT fans complain how we don't have SEC sized linemen and they get shoved around, the other half complains how Devine is too fat. You can't have your cake and eat it too (<----- insert fat joke here.)

Find me 9 Michael Johnsons for our OL and DL then we can have a debate whether a lineman is more effective as a body builder or as a big guy with girth. The people who say he's too fat act like he's not in a state of the art S+C program and the team doesn't have nutritionists planning out virtually every meal for the players. It's the coaches job to make sure he's effective at that weight and he's done nothing to show he's not. CPJ even considered burning his RS last year because of depth so he was clearly good enough to play.

 

[Boomergump]

If you took a photo of about one third of all NFL OL with their pads off, that is what you would see. Call me crazy, but when I look at that photo, all I see is a guy with the prototypical OL type build. He is huge and the concentration of his weight is at the COG or below. His arm length is phenomenal. Because his lower half is naturally so huge it makes his upper look ordinary, but it truth, he looks pretty physical up top to me as well. He may never make an impact (I would be more than surprised) but if he doesn't, it won't be because of his body make-up. As with any other lineman in this offense, the questions are going to be:
1. Can he bend enough to drive block? (the word on the street is a very resounding yes from last year. I remember Sewak discussing that in particular)
2. Can he move his feet well enough to get leverage, whether in retreat or coming off the LOS? ( I have seen this with my own eyes during the NIKE camp video. He was large during that video too, but nobody could get past him even when isolated one on one in open space. The answer is a resounding yes.)
3. Is he good with his hands? (once again the NIKE video, absolutely yes.)
4. Does he have a motor/mean streak? ( I have no idea)
5. Is he smart enough to block our scheme without hesitation? (I have no idea)
6. Will he have the stamina, at that weight, to play several series in a row? (Probably not. Most likely what we will find is that, through camp and work outs, he loses about 20 from where he is now. For a guy that size it is like most people losing 8 or 10. Even if he doesn't, having him play two of every three series would be very beneficial)
7. Is he fast enough to be effective at the second level? (probably not)

Please do not look at this kid and think about a recent NG who was also huge. That guy wasn't a good enough athlete, plain and simple. It didn't have that much to do with his weight either. Would I like to see Devine lose weight? Not really. Would I like to see him redistribute about 5-10% of that weight? Absolutely YES and he has about 4 years to get that done. Do you guys remember "the Fridge"? People used to call him the "avalanche" based on what he looked like when he pulled his shirt off over his shoulders. That guy was a pretty good player despite the weight.

For goodness sake, how long have we been complaining about having small linemen? We finally get a truly big one........

 

[Boomergump]

He doesn't look different than he did 2 summers ago at the NFTC where he consistently beat out 4-5 star DEs in drills. Anyone that thought they could speed around him was sadly mistaken, the others who tried to jam him at the line and make a quick move around got laid out. Had he not been committed to GT during the camp he would have been ranked higher. If he can move himself at 350-370 then he needs to stay at that weight. Half of the GT fans complain how we don't have SEC sized linemen and they get shoved around, the other half complains how Devine is too fat. You can't have your cake and eat it too (<----- insert fat joke here.)

Find me 9 Michael Johnsons for our OL and DL then we can have a debate whether a lineman is more effective as a body builder or as a big guy with girth. The people who say he's too fat act like he's not in a state of the art S+C program and the team doesn't have nutritionists planning out virtually every meal for the players. It's the coaches job to make sure he's effective at that weight and he's done nothing to show he's not. CPJ even considered burning his RS last year because of depth so he was clearly good enough to play.

I guess you were writing this while I was writing mine. Well said. I didn't mean to essentially repeat what you said.

 

[Eric]

Great post Boomer...great summary.

The only worry I have ever had is #4. He just comes off as a gentle giant and didn't play with a mean streak back in his HS days from what I've seen. Hopefully we seen that mean streak show up in college.

 

[SidewalkJacket]

I see absolutely nothing wrong with this picture. In fact, I love it. Go read The Blind Side (read, not watch) for a great look into the physical attributes that make for an NFL offensive lineman. Nothing about this picture can take away quick feet, knee bend, explosion, big strong butt, long arms, good punch, understanding of leverage. Eat up, Shamire! As long as you can open that hole, I support the beef!

 

[SidewalkJacket]

Boomer, I did the exact same thing you did! Starting banging out a post about NFL linemen body-types and never saw your post pop up!

 

[Techster]

If you took a photo of about one third of all NFL OL with their pads off, that is what you would see. Call me crazy, but when I look at that photo, all I see is a guy with the prototypical OL type build. He is huge and the concentration of his weight is at the COG or below. His arm length is phenomenal. Because his lower half is naturally so huge it makes his upper look ordinary, but it truth, he looks pretty physical up top to me as well. He may never make an impact (I would be more than surprised) but if he doesn't, it won't be because of his body make-up. As with any other lineman in this offense, the questions are going to be:
1. Can he bend enough to drive block? (the word on the street is a very resounding yes from last year. I remember Sewak discussing that in particular)
2. Can he move his feet well enough to get leverage, whether in retreat or coming off the LOS? ( I have seen this with my own eyes during the NIKE camp video. He was large during that video too, but nobody could get past him even when isolated one on one in open space. The answer is a resounding yes.)
3. Is he good with his hands? (once again the NIKE video, absolutely yes.)
4. Does he have a motor/mean streak? ( I have no idea)
5. Is he smart enough to block our scheme without hesitation? (I have no idea)
6. Will he have the stamina, at that weight, to play several series in a row? (Probably not. Most likely what we will find is that, through camp and work outs, he loses about 20 from where he is now. For a guy that size it is like most people losing 8 or 10. Even if he doesn't, having him play two of every three series would be very beneficial)
7. Is he fast enough to be effective at the second level? (probably not)

Please do not look at this kid and think about a recent NG who was also huge. That guy wasn't a good enough athlete, plain and simple. It didn't have that much to do with his weight either. Would I like to see Devine lose weight? Not really. Would I like to see him redistribute about 5-10% of that weight? Absolutely YES and he has about 4 years to get that done. Do you guys remember "the Fridge"? People used to call him the "avalanche" based on what he looked like when he pulled his shirt off over his shoulders. That guy was a pretty good player despite the weight.

For goodness sake, how long have we been complaining about having small linemen? We finally get a truly big one........

#4 is what I'm ready to see. I don't think Devine is a pushover, but he doesn't have that mean streak that great OLs have...that attitude where you want to put the guy opposite you in the dirt on every play and just kill their will to even line up again. We've got a couple of new signees that don't have SD's physical gifts, but they are just nasty mean (Klock, Gary Brown).

#7 with what we ask our guards to do in this offense, I don't think CPJ puts Devine at guard if he isn't mobile enough to be effective on the 2nd level. Also, from his HS film, this guy gets out their pretty quickly, which is natural for someone with quick feet like him.

 

[Boomergump]

#4 is what I'm ready to see. I don't think Devine is a pushover, but he doesn't have that mean streak that great OLs have...that attitude where you want to put the guy opposite you in the dirt on every play and just kill their will to even line up again. We've got a couple of new signees that don't have SD's physical gifts, but they are just nasty mean (Klock, Gary Brown).

#7 with what we ask our guards to do in this offense, I don't think CPJ puts Devine at guard if he isn't mobile enough to be effective on the 2nd level. Also, from his HS film, this guy gets out their pretty quickly, which is natural for someone with quick feet like him.

In regards to #4, how do you know this? Have you seen him in practice? I ask sincerely, not to challenge your statement. In regards to #7, you are probably correct. I have to trust the coaches on this one.

 

[Techster]

In regards to #4, how do you know this? Have you seen him in practice? I ask sincerely, not to challenge your statement. In regards to #7, you are probably correct. I have to trust the coaches on this one.

I don't know about #4...that's why I said that's what I'm ready to see.

 

[Boomergump]

I don't know about #4...that's why I said that's what I'm ready to see.

OK cool

 

[dressedcheeseside]

In the original post, I didn't mean to imply he's too fat to play. In fact, my intention was quite the opposite. The pic makes it look like he's no where near that weight (370).

I was also under the impression that we didn't really want prototypical NFL weighted OL's as they have to be both nimble and fast to block our scheme. The second part of that combo is what's in question, the speed. Another issue, as pointed out by others, is endurance.

I guess my real question is what is the ideal weight the coaches want him to be and is he at it now? If not, is that a concern?

It's the offseason and good topics of discussion are few and far between. It seems this topic has spurred some good discussion.