Spring Practice

[vamosjackets]

CPJ said something in the last interview that wasn't satisfying for us propositional truth seekers. Regarding the OL, he said WTTE "The guys who have played were pretty good, and the guys who haven't played weren't very good." So, is it that those second OL guys aren't very good because they haven't played, or is it that those second OL guys haven't played because they aren't very good. You hope it's the former, but fear it's the latter.

 

[vamosjackets]

I've said this before.

We have done a good job recruiting OLs in the last few years. Then, since 2014 …

- We loose Griffin (a potential AACC). Preddy, and Whitley to career ending injury (and we might lose Marshall too, but absit omen).

- We have several OLs quit for career reasons (Fromayen, Brown, and someone else who I can't remember).

- We have a potential AACC OL - Klock - moving on due to the Hill.

That's 7 OLs down in the last 3 seasons due to matters that have a lot to do with bad luck or personal decisions by the athletes. And among those were 5 who were either starters or were expected to start soon. (Losing Brown and Klock really hurt.) You can say that this speaks to the need to recruit more OLs, but that means fewer players at other positions that can be just as important (particularly AB where you need a lot of bodies on the bench).

We need to temper our concerns here, imho. With the new kids coming up and the semi-new kids (The Twins and Marshall) working into form after injury, I think we can easily field a decent 2-deep on OL. People here are getting distracted by Coach, I think; he wants a perfectly blocked play on every down and grouses when he doesn't get it. And less experienced players, like our 2nd unit on OL, are more likely to disgust him. He'll play them when he needs them, however, and I suspect they'll do just fine.

This is an important point. I'll also add the totally weird recruiting situation with the former-commit whose family had the run-in with the security officer who some said could be really good, and there's one more down.

 

[jacketup]

Our problem is we have bodies but some of them just are not players. To me if you have not demonstrated an ability to contribute by your third year you should be cycled out of the program so we can recruit more people who might become players.

Go Jackets!

I agree. You pay money to go to school and you flunk out if you don't put in the effort. In many cases, if you were given an academic scholarship, you lose it if you don't make certain grades.

Why should a player who is not putting in the effort keep his scholarship?

 

[bke1984]

I agree. You pay money to go to school and you flunk out if you don't put in the effort. In many cases, if you were given an academic scholarship, you lose it if you don't make certain grades.

Why should a player who is not putting in the effort keep his scholarship?

The reason this works at Alabama is that they can easily just get the next crop of stud players even when they do crap like this. If we start doing this sort of thing it might actually make recruiting harder...remember that a lot of recruiting is based on relationships with high school coaches. You start shuffling players out of your program because they don't perform and you might have a hard time recruiting from the schools those guys came from in the future since we aren't afforded the same luxuries as Alabama.

 

[vamosjackets]

I agree. You pay money to go to school and you flunk out if you don't put in the effort. In many cases, if you were given an academic scholarship, you lose it if you don't make certain grades.

Why should a player who is not putting in the effort keep his scholarship?

If it really is effort, then I agree with you. A lot of times, lack of effort ends up taking care of itself because that kind of guy ends up miserable, disconnected from the team, object of wrath from coaches, perhaps even encouraged (but not forced) to transfer/quit ... that usually results in a transfer or quitting football. BUT, if the guy is working hard but just not finding his way on the field, that's completely different and shouldn't be dishonored by not fulfilling commitment on our end (he is fulfilling his end). The problem with making it the coach/school's decision is how you define "lack of effort". Saban/Bama would define it as "not getting me another ring". CPJ/GT would define it as not showing up to stuff (or late), slacking off or goofing off in training, etc (all in a habitual fashion). This is what I believe, and what appears to be true from known evidence. The problem is no system can deal perfectly with human nature/depravity, so IMO, you're left with pragmatism constrained by morality.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

If my memory is right I believe the 90 team was 2 deep on the OL .

I don’t think I recall that being the case. How many minutes did 2nd string play?

But let’s just concede that one year regardless. It would be a vast outlier. Certainly not the norm.

 

[Jacket in Dairyland]

I've said this before.

We have done a good job recruiting OLs in the last few years. Then, since 2014 …

- We loose Griffin (a potential AACC). Preddy, and Whitley to career ending injury (and we might lose Marshall too, but absit omen).

- We have several OLs quit for career reasons (Fromayen, Brown, and someone else who I can't remember).

- We have a potential AACC OL - Klock - moving on due to the Hill.

That's 7 OLs down in the last 3 seasons due to matters that have a lot to do with bad luck or personal decisions by the athletes. And among those were 5 who were either starters or were expected to start soon. (Losing Brown and Klock really hurt.) You can say that this speaks to the need to recruit more OLs, but that means fewer players at other positions that can be just as important (particularly AB where you need a lot of bodies on the bench).

We need to temper our concerns here, imho. With the new kids coming up and the semi-new kids (The Twins and Marshall) working into form after injury, I think we can easily field a decent 2-deep on OL. People here are getting distracted by Coach, I think; he wants a perfectly blocked play on every down and grouses when he doesn't get it. And less experienced players, like our 2nd unit on OL, are more likely to disgust him. He'll play them when he needs them, however, and I suspect they'll do just fine.

Thanks for your thoughtful analysis. I certainly hope you are right. It's not so much what Coach says, although that is a factor. It is the poor showings against UVA , Dook , and the Dwags last year that have me concerned. We will see before we are too deep into the season.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I've said this before.

We have done a good job recruiting OLs in the last few years. Then, since 2014 …

- We loose Griffin (a potential AACC). Preddy, and Whitley to career ending injury (and we might lose Marshall too, but absit omen).

- We have several OLs quit for career reasons (Fromayen, Brown, and someone else who I can't remember).

- We have a potential AACC OL - Klock - moving on due to the Hill.

That's 7 OLs down in the last 3 seasons due to matters that have a lot to do with bad luck or personal decisions by the athletes. And among those were 5 who were either starters or were expected to start soon. (Losing Brown and Klock really hurt.) You can say that this speaks to the need to recruit more OLs, but that means fewer players at other positions that can be just as important (particularly AB where you need a lot of bodies on the bench).

We need to temper our concerns here, imho. With the new kids coming up and the semi-new kids (The Twins and Marshall) working into form after injury, I think we can easily field a decent 2-deep on OL. People here are getting distracted by Coach, I think; he wants a perfectly blocked play on every down and grouses when he doesn't get it. And less experienced players, like our 2nd unit on OL, are more likely to disgust him. He'll play them when he needs them, however, and I suspect they'll do just fine.

This is spot on.

 

[tech_wreck47]

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Recruiting too many "ifs"........If he can add some strength and size, if he can learn to keep his pads down , if he can learn the playbook , if he improves his drive blocking, if he can improve his pass blocking .........you get the point. Then I look at coaching - are they able to teach these young men to be QUALITY contributors. To me it's a combination of both.
I don't believe " recycling " is the right way, that is for the factories. But I would prefer to see us raise the level of our recruiting to reduce " mistakes . And I mean that only in the sense that the SA might not be capable of contributing to the level we require, not to question his desire or effort.

This is the whole point of increasing our recruiting staff. The whole idea, imo, is to refine our targeting so that we sign more perfect fits, if there is such a thing. More boots on the ground (on the interwebs looking at film, etc) can only help that end.

 

[danny daniel]

OL depth is catch 22. CPJ believes his OL players can go 60 plays without rotation. His game plan puts us in the 60 play arena most games. (for some players like Cooper and Braun he will go way more than 60 plays). If your plan is to not play more than 5 OL players most times then you will not build quality (experienced)depth. That is how and why we are where we are with OL depth, catch 22.

The other issue could be that the performance demands on the OL players in this O as CPJ wants to play it are too severe and we need to simplify their role.

 

[AE 87]

OL depth is catch 22. CPJ believes his OL players can go 60 plays without rotation. His game plan puts us in the 60 play arena most games. (for some players like Cooper and Braun he will go way more than 60 plays). If your plan is to not play more than 5 OL players most times then you will not build quality (experienced)depth. That is how and why we are where we are with OL depth, catch 22.

The other issue could be that the performance demands on the OL players in this O as CPJ wants to play it are too severe and we need to simplify their role.

8 OL

 

[jgtengineer]

8 OL

Usually most teams will only play 7-8 OL in a season. Usually your center doesn't really switch out that often for exchange reasons.

 

[jwsavhGT]

 

[tech_wreck47]

 

[Madison Grant]

Usually most teams will only play 7-8 OL in a season. Usually your center doesn't really switch out that often for exchange reasons.

The point of the OL depth is not that we rotate more bodies, but that when 3 or 4 starters turn up injured (which ALWAYS happens) that we aren't filling in with true freshmen or walk-ons because we never have any quality, experienced depth. And we aren't then watching our QB get raped repeatedly in the backfield all day.

 

[stech81]

CPJ said something in the last interview that wasn't satisfying for us propositional truth seekers. Regarding the OL, he said WTTE "The guys who have played were pretty good, and the guys who haven't played weren't very good." So, is it that those second OL guys aren't very good because they haven't played, or is it that those second OL guys haven't played because they aren't very good. You hope it's the former, but fear it's the latter.

I take it to mean we don't need anyone hurt.

 

[pbrown520]

OL depth is catch 22. CPJ believes his OL players can go 60 plays without rotation. His game plan puts us in the 60 play arena most games. (for some players like Cooper and Braun he will go way more than 60 plays). If your plan is to not play more than 5 OL players most times then you will not build quality (experienced)depth. That is how and why we are where we are with OL depth, catch 22.

The other issue could be that the performance demands on the OL players in this O as CPJ wants to play it are too severe and we need to simplify their role.

We usually play at least 7 players on OL in a game. I don't think CPJ platoons a lot, but 3rd tackle/guard typically see a good bit of playing time during the year.

 

[jwsavhGT]

 

[jwsavhGT]