Spring Practice

bke1984

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RonJohn said:
Transcribing:
Question: "Offensive line wise any..?"
CPJ: "Uh they weren't very good today ... as a general rule I don't think."
Qeustions: "Anybody pushing the sarters?"
CPJ: "No. Second team is horrendous on the offensive line."

He did say that the second team is horrendous. However, he did not say that the starters aren't very good as a general rule. He said that they weren't good on that particular day as a general rule. I see an extremely large difference in those two statements.
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I'm sure the performance of the 1's has been all sunshine and rainbows every other day...

Look, I'm all for being optimistic, but it sounds like that unit is struggling right now...and I think CPJ has been pretty honest about that...this particular interview being one example. So he flat out stated the second team is horrendous...that's concerning to say the least. Beyond that we're returning four starters and a guy who would have started if not for injury. That's promising, but let's not forget that those guys didn't exactly light it up last year...the pass blocking particular was atrocious at times.

I love that we have the experience coming back, but the O Line worries me. Even if the 1's end up being solid it sounds like we're a sprained ankle away from a partially "horrendous" O Line right now...

It's only the Spring, so it's nothing to sweat too much as of yet. Lots of time to improve...but that is exactly what they need to do
 
dressedcheeseside

dressedcheeseside

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"It's never as good or as bad as it seems...."

The D is appearing better than it is, most likely, and the opposite is likely true for the O. Remember, the offensive play calling isn't trying to exploit any D weaknesses at this point, they are running a small part of our base stuff and the D knows our calls and plays. On the other hand, the D, in it's simplified and attack-mode form, has the advantage, just read one simple key and react as fast as you can. Also remember that guys are shuffling in and out so the coaches can get a look at everybody. It's got to be hard to get consistency if that is the case.

My guess is that once the season starts we'll see the typical strength of the team assert itself. The O will be the stronger of the two units and have to carry the team on it's back until the new D can get it's sea legs.
 

MountainBuzzMan

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dressedcheeseside said:
"It's never as good or as bad as it seems...."

The D is appearing better than it is, most likely, and the opposite is likely true for the O. Remember, the offensive play calling isn't trying to exploit any D weaknesses at this point, they are running a small part of our base stuff and the D knows our calls and plays. On the other hand, the D, in it's simplified and attack-mode form, has the advantage, just read one simple key and react as fast as you can. Also remember that guys are shuffling in and out so the coaches can get a look at everybody. It's got to be hard to get consistency if that is the case.

My guess is that once the season starts we'll see the typical strength of the team assert itself. The O will be the stronger of the two units and have to carry the team on it's back until the new D can get it's sea legs.
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The flip side of this is will it still be better than Roofs D while it is getting it's sea legs?
 

bke1984

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dressedcheeseside said:
"It's never as good or as bad as it seems...."

The D is appearing better than it is, most likely, and the opposite is likely true for the O. Remember, the offensive play calling isn't trying to exploit any D weaknesses at this point, they are running a small part of our base stuff and the D knows our calls and plays. On the other hand, the D, in it's simplified and attack-mode form, has the advantage, just read one simple key and react as fast as you can. Also remember that guys are shuffling in and out so the coaches can get a look at everybody. It's got to be hard to get consistency if that is the case.

My guess is that once the season starts we'll see the typical strength of the team assert itself. The O will be the stronger of the two units and have to carry the team on it's back until the new D can get it's sea legs.
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Possibly...my gut is telling me that for once it's going to be two units that are both somewhere in the middle. I think we're probably going to see more significant improvements on the defensive side of the ball. I hope I'm wrong, of course, but I just worry about how dynamic we are on offense right now. If TQM improves his pitching and passing that can all change, but we looked very one dimensional last year IMO...
 
RonJohn

RonJohn

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bke1984 said:
I'm sure the performance of the 1's has been all sunshine and rainbows every other day...

Look, I'm all for being optimistic, but it sounds like that unit is struggling right now...and I think CPJ has been pretty honest about that...this particular interview being one example.
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I don't know how they have performed on other days. It's just that leaving "today" out of CPJ's comment made your points rock solid, but it wasn't accurate. If the O-line looks bad during the season, or if comments are made now or during summer camp that they aren't cutting it, then I will be concerned. I'm not going to get too concerned or too excited during Spring camp. We won't have any indication of how GT is performing when they compete against themselves. I believe CPJ always says what he thinks, but I don't think he will give away strategic information before the season starts.(And actually none during the season either)
 

takethepoints

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danny daniel said:
Not thin by the numbers but thin by experience, a product of not playing some of our backups when there was an opportunity. For example the first backups such as the Morgans (4 years in the system) have almost no PT. Last year Stickler was pressed into starting (also 4 years in the system) and had very little previous PT. Last year we played a frosh and burned his RS but he saw virtually no action in 9 games. If you want depth you have to build it while being smart with some PT.
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Both the Twins were hurt last year and couldn't play much. Stickler didn't play because he had good, experienced OTs in front of him. We had depth last year that didn't play, but that was largely because they needed a year with the weights and learning the O. You want to play the OLs who you think give you the best chance to win.
 
Eastman

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I think it is important to note how CPJ uses criticism. The starters on o-line are certainly a known entity to CPJ. He also has a good grasp of the backups that have been around a few years. Getting the backups to be close in performance to the starters would provide the depth we need for a long season and CPJ also knows that. I think his criticism is designed to motivate toward better practice and better performance. That's why some days he criticizes an individual one day and says they are doing some good things (his type of effusive praise) shortly thereafter. He wants better performance out of them and will likely continue his criticism until he feels they are coming around.
 

danny daniel

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takethepoints said:
Both the Twins were hurt last year and couldn't play much. Stickler didn't play because he had good, experienced OTs in front of him. We had depth last year that didn't play, but that was largely because they needed a year with the weights and learning the O. You want to play the OLs who you think give you the best chance to win.
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I believe CPJ plays the best players to win. I know from previous comments CPJ has made (and his track record) that he thinks OL players can play about 60 snaps without too much fatigue. Since in a lot of games we rarely exceed 60 plays or so he seems to not rotate OL players much. As a result we do not routinely build much OL depth in games. IMO There were opportunities last season to play some OL backups but it did not happen.
 
alentrekin

alentrekin

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There were opportunities for backups to start last year, but a walk on beat them out. My guess is we played the guys who were field ready, like we did in '15 starting three freshmen.

I am not worried about us not developing OL. I am worried that we don't have the roster depth to survive two ankle sprains.
 
Eastman

Eastman

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danny daniel said:
I believe CPJ plays the best players to win. I know from previous comments CPJ has made (and his track record) that he thinks OL players can play about 60 snaps without too much fatigue. Since in a lot of games we rarely exceed 60 plays or so he seems to not rotate OL players much. As a result we do not routinely build much OL depth in games. IMO There were opportunities last season to play some OL backups but it did not happen.
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Agreed but if our backups become closer in performance to the starters then they would certainly play more, if only when a starter has been "dinged" up and not quite 100%. Hopefully we will have some backups with little drop off this year because there is little doubt they will be needed.
 
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