One of the things I liked (yes, liked) about our OL under Paul was that it was always a lean, mean fighting machine. No guts allowed and every man was expected to hit somebody - that's hit, not waltz with - somebody on every play. When we got an OL of big guys, as in 2014, the results were even better.
I think one of our problems today is that we have emphasized sheer size over the ability to move. I get that Ugag, for instance, has a really big OL that can move. That's because they recruit better OLs then we can get into Tech. We used to get around that by being able to out run and out hustle opposing Ds. Not so much anymore. Our OLs appear to have a real trouble coping with agile DLs and most everybody has those these days.
Mind, I'm not calling for a return to the good old days; the style of O we now play needs guys who can waltz around DLs and LBs. But do they all have to be carrying 10 - 15 pounds more weight then they should just so we can say we are as big as the other side? When I look out at Minihan and Cooper, all I see is a couple of guys who used to be 295 and 305 respectively and were better OLs for it.
But, of course, that isn't going to happen. Maybe another year of conditioning …