[NU Sports] Lack of explosiveness

[Jonathan Hodges]

RE: offensive line

In Randy Walker's final years at the helm, the offensive line recruiting
arguably fell off, ending with the 2006 line that just wasn't very good.
The 2007 line and even last year's OL got by thanks to a feisty runner in
Sutton and a guy who got rid of the ball quickly in Bacher.  Without
Sutton's yards after contact this year, we're beginning to see the effects.

Fortunately, Fitz has really brought in some solid OL recruits: two who are
redshirt sophomores finishing up their second years starting (LT Netter & C
Burkett) and four who are redshirt freshmen (Deiters and Mulroe have played
a lot so far), along with true freshman Ward who has even played some this
year.  The past two seasons we've seen juniors and seniors passed over in
favor of the younger guys on the depth chart.

Unfortunately, as has been mentioned, these guys are still young, relatively
inexperienced, and haven't had the large amount of time training as others
at opposing schools.  Despite having some guys with some starting experience
under their belts, they are still young.

Also, don't discount the fact that NU lost OL coach Ingalls to the Saints
this past offseason (something that myself and others have mentioned
before).

Hopefully things will really start to improve next year - I also think
solidifying the starting 5 has begun to help - through the first 7 games
they were almost routinely rotated in and out of the game.

Jonathan

On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 3:25 PM, Tom Maycock <tkmaycock at yahoo.com> wrote:

> > That is one reason why you rarely see even RS Sophs playing
> > one of the 4 up front positions, and centers are sometimes exempt from
> the rule, but still you like to see at least 2 years on the
> > team before you throw them into the fray.
>
> According nusports.com, we started:
> 1 RS Freshman, 3 Sophomores, 1 Junior
>
> According to PSU's site, they started:
> 3 seniors, 2 juniors
>
> Big, big difference there. Heck, just the difference in the cumulative
> hours spent in the weight room at the college level is huge.
>
> As for *why* we are starting such a young line, I'll leave that to someone
> else who has followed recruiting and the status of our linemen over the
> years.
>
> Tom
>
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