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re: Am I nuts to be cautiously optimistic about the o line ?
Posted on 5/27/25 at 8:49 pm to Pauvetibete
Posted on 5/27/25 at 8:49 pm to Pauvetibete
quote:
Brother, what? They gave up 10 Sacks all season with 6 coming in one game due to injuries.
We lose those 2 bookend tackles that have been starting since they were freshman. I’m expecting growing pains at tackle.
0
Posted on 5/27/25 at 9:00 pm to Draco Malfoy
quote:
Yes. Brad Davis hasn’t shown us any development
Nice to see ppl finally admitting this. Pass blocking is great but run blocking is terrible.
Posted on 5/27/25 at 9:03 pm to thunderbird1100
Our defensive line pass blocked really well. We can move a couple of those guys over.
Posted on 5/27/25 at 9:38 pm to OutOfNames
Yes, you're NUTS. (Or not seeing the reality of the situation)
Lost Campbell, Dellinger, Jones and Frazier. (That's 4)
Found Thompson and Moore in the Portal. (That's 2)
All returning OL's are either too inexperienced to make a big difference in the SEC and/or hot garbage.
Something doesn't add up here.
Brad Davis can't effectively teach run blocking and is so inept, that BK had to go hire another Coach (Atkins) to hold his hand and help out in the run game. If you "Need Help" as an OL Coach in the SEC, it's all over and done with.
Hopefully, Thompson and Moore take over in the fall and Bordelon takes one of the Guard spots. (He's steady, if unspectacular and knows what he's doing)That only leaves 2 positions to throw the duct tape on. My guess: Adams at LT, Thompson at LG, Moore at Center, Bordelon at RG and Davis at RT...........
Lost Campbell, Dellinger, Jones and Frazier. (That's 4)
Found Thompson and Moore in the Portal. (That's 2)
All returning OL's are either too inexperienced to make a big difference in the SEC and/or hot garbage.
Something doesn't add up here.
Brad Davis can't effectively teach run blocking and is so inept, that BK had to go hire another Coach (Atkins) to hold his hand and help out in the run game. If you "Need Help" as an OL Coach in the SEC, it's all over and done with.
Hopefully, Thompson and Moore take over in the fall and Bordelon takes one of the Guard spots. (He's steady, if unspectacular and knows what he's doing)That only leaves 2 positions to throw the duct tape on. My guess: Adams at LT, Thompson at LG, Moore at Center, Bordelon at RG and Davis at RT...........
Posted on 5/27/25 at 10:18 pm to Alt26
quote:
LSU was 9th nationally in sack % (i.e. percentage of sacks relative to amount of pass attempts). Much of that came in the 2nd half of the season after Dellinger was lost for the year (including 7 sacks vs. Florida). Before Dellinger was hurt vs. A&M, LSU had only allowed 2 sacks in 7 games.
IMO, the struggles in the running game were more about the approach than anything else. LSU, more or less, tried to have the same type of approach as they did in 2024...except one massive variable was missing...a QB who was one of the best runners in the nation. It's hard to believe the OL could be so good in pass pro, yet so bad in run blocking. Particularly when almost that entire OL was pretty good (9th nationally) in rushing the year before. Even good OLs will struggle when defenses have the upper hand in defending a poor gameplan.
IF Sloan realizes he has to change the running game approach this year I think the OL can be fine. If he tries the same approach things will get bad because LSU will have lesser players (compared to last season) trying to execute an equally bad gameplan.
I've been saying the same thing about Sloan. I truly believe Alex Atkins is going to help with the scheme and run game overall.
Supposedly some new plays have been put into the running game.
Posted on 5/28/25 at 7:10 am to OutOfNames
quote:
WHAT!? I have every single offensive group worse than last year.
Could not disagree with you more. Not sure how you could think Nuss won't be better....WR, the Kentucky guy is better than Lacy IMHO, Hilton will be here and healthy from jump, unlike last yer, and we added quality depth so we're better there, RB added one of the best freshman in the country and Durham was hurt most of the year last year so that's no-brainer better.....Green at TE ready to step in and I think give us even more big play ability than we had with Taylor and the OU transfer that's a pretty darn good tandem. Not sure how you can say we're worse at those positions....we're not - in fact the only area that I think is even debatable that we are not better is TE, only because Taylor was so good but - honestly I think Green's ceiling is higher.
O-line as I said is the only area for me that's a question and I spoke to that. It is a concern specifically for the first game as Clemson has studs on the D-line.
And defensively we are better and almost every position talent wise and I don't think that's debatable.
So Kelly - time to earn the salary this year, I think it's the most overall talent and depth of talent that we've had since he's been here.
This post was edited on 5/28/25 at 7:12 am
Posted on 5/28/25 at 7:23 am to Cd104
quote:
5 star true sophomore Weston Davis who only needed spring camp to lock up the RT spot which should be a big sign about how talented that kid is.
I don’t know if the line will be good or bad, but I do know you are putting a positive spin on everything. Weston locking up the spot in spring could be a sign that Weston is great, or it could mean that although he is not very good, his competition is even worse.
Posted on 5/28/25 at 7:25 am to Captain Crown
quote:
Are we going to be able to have a run game?
Hate to say this but the offensive style Joe Sloan runs is much more effective for running QBs like JD. Nuss needs to see more time under center and running more of a play action pro style offense. DL's get too much time to react to running plays under the current offensive scheme. With Nuss going under center he could really keep them guessing with a couple of play actions and when they do run the OL will all of a sudden look like a great run blocking unit. And after a couple of successful runs you can start to lean on the defense.
Posted on 5/28/25 at 7:35 am to Alt26
quote:
How much of that was because of poor OL play vs. a shitty overall approach to the running game along with a key injury?
It's a mix of both.
Campbell and Jones had huge expectations coming into the season and both would flat out tell you they didnt come close to meeting them. They were far from bad or even average (At least in Campbell's case), but werent the elite players they were billed up to be. The PFF grades bear that out:
Campbell 2024 - 72.2
Campbell 2023 - 82.8
Jones 2024 - 61.7
Jones 2023 - 73.9
Clear regressions from both book ends. At center, we went from an average/above average guy in Charles Turner to an absolute travesty in DJ Chester who had a PFF grade below 50 on the season. Dellinger and Frazier were about the same as they always had been, which is to say above averaqe to good, then Dellinger went down and Mubenga was a notable downgrade from him as well.
So the OLine themselves certainly didnt play well as a unit, with some exceptions; the run scheme is to blame some on the run end, but thats only part of the full story.
Posted on 5/28/25 at 7:37 am to Pauvetibete
quote:
Brother, what? They gave up 10 Sacks all season with 6 coming in one game due to injuries.
They pass blocked very well, the run blocking was among the worst in the country. We didnt have a single Olineman, even one who played a few snaps all season, grade out over a 69.7 in run blocking. That's almost impossible to do.
The expectation was it was supposed to be the best OL in the country, or at least among it, it had very high expectations. The reality is they were an above average unit due to extremely poor ability in the run blocking game.
You cant just look 1 of the 2 main aspects of what an OL does and call them elite. They were great at keeping Nuss clean, they did everything wrong in opening holes in the run game though on the other end.
This post was edited on 5/28/25 at 7:39 am
Posted on 5/28/25 at 7:44 am to Cd104
quote:
Am I nuts to be cautiously optimistic about the o line ?
I'm completely confident our OL will be fine. I really don't worry at all about that position group. LB depth is my main concern.
Posted on 5/28/25 at 8:18 am to GumboPot
Good stuff right there. Hopefully we do get to see us use his legs. It’s not like he can’t run. He just seems to have that Brett Favre mentality of gunslinging.
Posted on 5/28/25 at 8:35 am to Cd104
quote:
Yes breaking in a lot of new starters up front is always a concern as that’s position more then ever where cohesiveness and continuity matters. However, people worried that our o line will get dominated I don’t really understand.
Good QB play will take a lot of pressure off of an OL. However they will be tested early by Clemson and UF.
Good running game will also help.
Posted on 5/28/25 at 10:09 am to Captain Crown
I think you're right Nuss needs to take easy yards. Defenses never had to account for him which allowed them to be eccentric in the defensive calls. I'm not advocating for Nuss to run 20 times a game. However, he has to run some just to keep the defense honest, especially when they're giving him easy first downs.
Posted on 5/28/25 at 10:43 am to rar
quote:
It isn't hard to believe that you can excel in pass blocking and not be a very good run blocking team...skills are different.
Not so different to create such a huge discrepancy. And remember, 4 of the 5 starters in 2024 were starters in 2023. LSU was 9th in the nation in rushing. Did those 4 simply forget how to run block over the course of a summer?
Obviously, a big part of the rushing success in 2023 was because of Daniels. But if you take away Daniels you still saw guys regress in 2024. Josh Williams say his average yards per carry drop over a yard from 2022 and 2023. Kaleb Jackson looked like he was ready to break out in 2024. Instead, he could never get started. The only reason Durham had any success is because he was very good at making defenders miss on his own. Defenders that were in the backfield often.
What changed? Probably the fact defenses didn't have to worry about a QB breaking off a 40, 50 yard run if they gave him even a sliver of room to do so. Instead, they could crash into the backfield with impunity because Nuss was no threat as a runner.
Now, you can argue "Nuss should learn to run more". But that is clearly not his game and something he isn't comfortable doing. So instead of trying to jam that square peg into a round hole, how about adapt the offensive approach to fit what your personnel does best?
Posted on 5/28/25 at 10:52 am to Alt26
quote:
how about adapt the offensive approach to fit what your personnel does best?
I agree with this
quote:
you can argue "Nuss should learn to run more"
I still argue this. Not that he should run a ton but he has to pull a zone read every now and then (like once every other game) but WAY more importantly, he needs to run when it opens up. EVen if he just takes 5 yards and slides. TAKE THE YARDS and make the defense have to worry about it.
In 2019, Burrow pulled maybe 10 xone reads all season and honestly it may have been more like 5. But he ran when it was open and he made defenses pay when he did decide to pull the ball. But back to point 1, the offense had defenses scrambling to keep up in every way possible so a QB running all the time wasn't necessary to keep them guessing.
Posted on 5/28/25 at 10:57 am to Bert Macklin FBI
Burrow was a stud athlete, Nuss is prone to seizures
Posted on 5/28/25 at 10:58 am to Cd104
No
Posted on 5/28/25 at 10:58 am to Lakeboy7
quote:
Burrow was a stud athlete, Nuss is prone to seizures
While I would never argue that Nuss is as athletic as Burrow, Todd McShay did a deep dive on Nuss and specifically mentioned that Nuss has sudden quickness and could use that skillset to run. Mentioned he is not a statue and doesn't fall all over himself, he just doesn't run.
Posted on 5/28/25 at 11:03 am to The Ramp
quote:
I'm completely confident our OL will be fine.
In the long run, I agree. There is just too much talent in that room to not find a servicable 5. My worry is week 1. Kelly has shown he does not have the ability to figure out his best players during camp and often has to reshuffle a good portion of starters throughout the first few weeks to figure out his best starters. Against Clemson, picking the wrong 5 could cost us the game.
I could totally see us rolling out with Adams, Echols, Chester, Thompson, and Davis against Clemson and by week 4, we see an OL of Adams, Chester, Moore, Curne, and Thompson and they play well as a unit. or something along those lines.
This post was edited on 5/28/25 at 11:04 am
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