Offensive Line Observations Spring Game

[Jerry the Jacket]

After watching the game and seeing how much more effective the white offense was than the gold offense was, I thought I would break down the composition of both groups and analyze a little more of what was going on here.

In looking at the Gold Roster you had 9 linemen of which only two that I know of have ever actually been on the playing field. Their names were as follows:

Trey Smith - a 255 lb. walk on redshirt freshman. I did not even know he was on the roster.
Cheyenne Hunt - a 245 lb. walk on redshirt freshman. Same as above.
Jake Whitley - a 286 lb. redshirt freshman who we have heard has some ability.
Jake Strickler - a 261 lb. redshirt freshman who appears to be undersized and a project.
Michael Muns - a 271 lb. redshirt junior who has played some as a fill in late in blow outs.
Michael Preddy - a 274 lb. redshirt freshman who was injured and is still an unknown.
Will Bryan - 285 lb. true freshman who is highly touted and many think can play now.
Shamire Devine - a 370 lb. redshirt sophmore who has played but remains out of shape.
Gary Brown - a 288 lb. redshirt freshman who we have high hopes for.

I think you can see the common thread here is undersized and inexperienced. I think you can look to this group of guys as being scout team material for the most part. Devine if can drop 20 to 30 lbs. has a chance to crossover to a player we can use like we did last year. Brown may be a good one but I did not notice him much Friday night. Bryan has some ability and made some nice blocks but physically I think he needs a redshirt year and we really don't need him to play just yet.

The White offensive line consisted of the following players:

Andrew Marshall - a 270 lb. sophmore who did not play but we know he can.
Bryan Chamberlin - a 295 lb. redshirt Senior who was a starter last year.
Niko Anderson - a 277 lb. redshirt sophmore who has played some and is pretty good.
Freddie Burden - a 302 lb. redshirt junior starter from last year.
Kevo Yeremian - a 290 lb. redshirt freshman walk on with no experience.
Trey Klock - 273 lb. redshirt freshman who played and played well.
Chris Griffin - a 284 lb. redshirt sophmore who did not play and is gone for 2015
Tim Seager - a 293 lb. redshirt senior walk on who is a perennial scout team player.
Errin Joe - a 313 lb. redshirt senior who was a starter from last year and played well.
Nick Brigham - a 294 lb. transfer redshirt junior who played very well.
Trey Braun - a 294 lb. redshirt junior who was a starter from last year and played well.
Eason Fromayan - a 290 lb. redshirt sophomore who played some last year.

So of these 12 guys only 10 were actually available to play. Of those ten. four were starters last year at the end of the season. All are very experienced and big around the 300 lb. mark. It's really no surprise how clearly this group won the day at the Spring game. I did not notice Chamberlin much but Joe and Klock played really well at the tackle spots. Burden moved to guard and a long with Braun played really well there. Brigham played center and I think he won him some playing time maybe not at center but certainly somewhere. I think he is definitely in our top 10 of offensive linemen.

So going into next season. I see our two deep as follows:

Tackles - Joe and Chamberlin or Klock and Fromayan
Guards - Braun and Burden/Marshall, Brown (just a guess), Devine (if he gets in shape
Center - Marshall/Burden, Brigham

I think Burden looked real good at guard and if Marshall is ready to go we may play him at center and Burden at guard. I am concerned our depth at Guard is not what I hoped it would be with big question marks in my mind about Devine and Brown coming on like I thought they would. This may open up more playing time for Brigham and Fromayan as we shuffle our best guys around to achieve the best result.

In any event, barring injury we should be very solid on the offensive line for 2015.

Go Jackets!

 

[jayparr]

I believe Fromayan played a pretty fair amount last year. Good report!

 

[danny daniel]

After watching the game and seeing how much more effective the white offense was than the gold offense was, I thought I would break down the composition of both groups and analyze a little more of what was going on here.

In looking at the Gold Roster you had 9 linemen of which only two that I know of have ever actually been on the playing field. Their names were as follows:

Trey Smith - a 255 lb. walk on redshirt freshman. I did not even know he was on the roster.
Cheyenne Hunt - a 245 lb. walk on redshirt freshman. Same as above.
Jake Whitley - a 286 lb. redshirt freshman who we have heard has some ability.
Jake Strickler - a 261 lb. redshirt freshman who appears to be undersized and a project.
Michael Muns - a 271 lb. redshirt junior who has played some as a fill in late in blow outs.
Michael Preddy - a 274 lb. redshirt freshman who was injured and is still an unknown.
Will Bryan - 285 lb. true freshman who is highly touted and many think can play now.
Shamire Devine - a 370 lb. redshirt sophmore who has played but remains out of shape.
Gary Brown - a 288 lb. redshirt freshman who we have high hopes for.

I think you can see the common thread here is undersized and inexperienced. I think you can look to this group of guys as being scout team material for the most part. Devine if can drop 20 to 30 lbs. has a chance to crossover to a player we can use like we did last year. Brown may be a good one but I did not notice him much Friday night. Bryan has some ability and made some nice blocks but physically I think he needs a redshirt year and we really don't need him to play just yet.

The White offensive line consisted of the following players:

Andrew Marshall - a 270 lb. sophmore who did not play but we know he can.
Bryan Chamberlin - a 295 lb. redshirt Senior who was a starter last year.
Niko Anderson - a 277 lb. redshirt sophmore who has played some and is pretty good.
Freddie Burden - a 302 lb. redshirt junior starter from last year.
Kevo Yeremian - a 290 lb. redshirt freshman walk on with no experience.
Trey Klock - 273 lb. redshirt freshman who played and played well.
Chris Griffin - a 284 lb. redshirt sophmore who did not play and is gone for 2015
Tim Seager - a 293 lb. redshirt senior walk on who is a perennial scout team player.
Errin Joe - a 313 lb. redshirt senior who was a starter from last year and played well.
Nick Brigham - a 294 lb. transfer redshirt junior who played very well.
Trey Braun - a 294 lb. redshirt junior who was a starter from last year and played well.
Eason Fromayan - a 290 lb. redshirt sophomore who played some last year.

So of these 12 guys only 10 were actually available to play. Of those ten. four were starters last year at the end of the season. All are very experienced and big around the 300 lb. mark. It's really no surprise how clearly this group won the day at the Spring game. I did not notice Chamberlin much but Joe and Klock played really well at the tackle spots. Burden moved to guard and a long with Braun played really well there. Brigham played center and I think he won him some playing time maybe not at center but certainly somewhere. I think he is definitely in our top 10 of offensive linemen.

So going into next season. I see our two deep as follows:

Tackles - Joe and Chamberlin or Klock and Fromayan
Guards - Braun and Burden/Marshall, Brown (just a guess), Devine (if he gets in shape
Center - Marshall/Burden, Brigham

I think Burden looked real good at guard and if Marshall is ready to go we may play him at center and Burden at guard. I am concerned our depth at Guard is not what I hoped it would be with big question marks in my mind about Devine and Brown coming on like I thought they would. This may open up more playing time for Brigham and Fromayan as we shuffle our best guys around to achieve the best result.

In any event, barring injury we should be very solid on the offensive line for 2015.

Go Jackets!

Good assessment. A few points: Chamberlain was injured and also did not play. At some point during spring practice there was a plan to move Chamberlain to LG and move Braun to RG. This may be as a result of Brown and Devine not quite ready to fill G shoes. The highly touted RS OL players have not yet developed as many of us thought, and CPJ has been saying that in post practice interviews. Klock may be an exception. Also I thought the back 7 on D was pretty even on both teams whereas there was the huge difference you demonstrated in the OL play. I think a similar analysis of the back 7 on D for both teams will show a lot of parity when you factor in how well Lewis, JJohnson, and Kagawa played in the game.

 

[jayparr]

Good assessment. A few points: Chamberlain was injured and also did not play. At some point during spring practice there was a plan to move Chamberlain to LG and move Braun to RG. This may be as a result of Brown and Devine not quite ready to fill G shoes. The highly touted RS OL players have not yet developed as many of us thought, and CPJ has been saying that in post practice interviews. Klock may be an exception. Also I thought the back 7 on D was pretty even on both teams whereas there was the huge difference you demonstrated in the OL play. I think a similar analysis of the back 7 on D for both teams will show a lot of parity when you factor in how well Lewis, JJohnson, and Kagawa played in the game.

Very good reply, and I completely agree on the younger guys!

 

[takethepoints]

I think Devine will play a lot at guard next year provided he loses some weight. I think Coach will want to see that as evidence of commitment more then anything else. How much? I'd say about 20 lbs, but it'll depend on how much his off season conditioning improves his ability to pull (Eric's right) and his ability to play multiple series.

The thing here is that Shamire played quite a bit last year and did well. That counts. We'll see.

 

[awbuzz]

Big thanks to JTJ!!! That makes me feel better about the gold team. Some very big differences in weight and experience.

 

[alaguy]

I watched the OL a bit last nite on tape.
THe Ctrs did amazing well considering their exp and supposed talent level.
Jerry, you are so right.The White line had so much more ability.Braun,Burden,Joe--say no more.
Brown is much better on run blocking.Klock did as well as could be expected.Devine is erratic.Will Bryan doesn't look as large as listed at 6-4.285.
With Marshall and Griffin out , I'm sure that our OL is quite as strong as we thought as we shuffle guys..

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

No wonder I did not notice Chamberlin much. I did see him on the sideline and thought he was in on some plays, but now that I think of it, I never actually saw him on the field.

Go Jackets!

 

[collegeballfan]

Since many are spending 2 cents - here goes mine.

Looking at last seasons participation, and only those players now available for next season:
Chamberlain - started & played in 13 games
Braun - started & played in 14
Burden - started & played in 14
Joe - played in 13, last 7 games as starter
Fromayan - played in 13, started 1 (Duke for injured Chamberlain)
Devine - played in 13
Marshall - played in 10
Brigham - played in last 7 games

My guess (as of today) is that from L to R it will end up being the 5 most experienced guys, less Devine's conditioning.
Fromayan, Chamberlain, Burden, Braun, Joe

Can Chamberlain make the move from T to G???

 

[danny daniel]

Since many are spending 2 cents - here goes mine.

Looking at last seasons participation, and only those players now available for next season:
Chamberlain - started & played in 13 games
Braun - started & played in 14
Burden - started & played in 14
Joe - played in 13, last 7 games as starter
Fromayan - played in 13, started 1 (Duke for injured Chamberlain)
Devine - played in 13
Marshall - played in 10
Brigham - played in last 7 games

My guess (as of today) is that from L to R it will end up being the 5 most experienced guys, less Devine's conditioning.
Fromayan, Chamberlain, Burden, Braun, Joe

Can Chamberlain make the move from T to G???

I agree with your guess. I believe Chamberlain will make the adjustment to guard. I also believe Klock will get a lot of rotation at LT. Fromayan has played both sides and is an ideal backup to Joe and to play some at LT with Klock. Devine and Brown can occasionally spell the guards and Andrew the C. Brigham is insurance for injuries and can spot play at multiple positions. Not a bad OL situation at all!